River Valley Saddle Club opens in Lozeau

SUPERIOR – A local equestrian club has opened a new facility off the Lozeau exit in Mineral County.

The River Valley Saddle Club is hoping that drivers will take notice of the new arena that is visible from I-90.

On June 14, the first annual horse games will be held in the new facility. The event starts at 10 a.m. and carries over to June 15 at 9 a.m.

The club plans to host many competitions in the new facility in the next couple months. Any event held is free of charge to the public and is an o-mok-see event.

O-mok-see is Indian horse riding games, and riders participate in multiple events.

The riders will try and show off their riding abilities by directing the horse around barrels, performing figure eights, and in the pole bending event.

Most participate in flag races, keg races and barrel races.

The owners provide all the participating horses. The club only provides a place to compete.

Those associated with the saddle club hope people will catch on and come out to enjoy some family friendly entertainment.

“We want the public to come out and enjoy,” said Cheryl Crabb, vice president of the River Valley Saddle Club. “We want people to know we have a brand new facility.”

The individual competitions being held are members only, but feature some kids as young as three-years-old.

Every Wednesday the group hosts an open arena day at 6:30 p.m. Owners can bring their horses down and compete.

The construction of the new arena began early March, and was built by hand with help from the saddle club and community volunteers. Trees were cleared which made way for the new arena.

A horse arena is mainly a wide-open space for competition, which is fenced in to keep the animals in. The arena is  similar to a rodeo area.

River Valley will be hosting another competitive event in August. For the event, the saddle club is currently working to get 1,000 people to attend.

On event day, some of the competitions feature slaloms around wooden barrels.