2662 Downing St SW, East Sparta, Ohio 44626

January’s Featured Horse & Rider
Rebel & Sandi Mercorelli

This is my Tennessee Walking Horse ROYAL REBEL ROUSER.

I have owned Rebel for six years. He is a rescued horse and was really thin and not a very nice animal. He bit and kicked and just hated people in general.

He is registered with the Tennessee Walking Horse Association and was shown as a 2-year-old. His front leg blew out so they got rid of him. He had 3 owners before me. I gained his trust and took him to a trainer of Walkers because he did not gait, but paced. The trainer got him to slow down in the pace, and I now ride him ok. 

I retired recently (May 2010) so I got a lot of hours on him this summer. I dress him up for Halloween and parades as you can tell by this picture. I take him to many parades. He has been the Pink Panther, and was a referee with Nike shoes on. He has such a pleasant personality and is very good with children. He is my boy!!!!!!!!

I am riding for points with the Walking Association and hoping to maybe win it by this time next year. This all has to do with trail riding and nothing else.

February’s Featured Horse & Rider
Jericho & Lisa Ackerman

Meet Jericho, he is my 9-year-old Foundation Quarter Horse.

From the first time I saw Jericho, I knew he was the one. When I was approached by his previous owners, who are friends of mine, about purchasing him, I just couldn’t resist.

Jericho and I have done so many things, and we have put a lot miles on together! We love to travel different places and have even done hunter pace competitions. In 2010 we placed 6th at a hunter-jumper competition.

Back in December 2009, when we were riding out to meet up with another rider, we spooked up a deer. I tried very hard to control Jericho, but it was too late. He had lost me, and gone through a fence (which resulted in puncture wounds). Worst of all, he had gotten one of his hind legs tangled in the reins after I came off, resulting in a broken jaw. I was so devastated!  After many vet visits, a special diet, abscesses, a ton of TLC, and 4 long months Jericho pulled through, and he was stronger than ever. And so was our bond!!

We are back out on the trails, and I am so proud of him! We will be best friends forever!

Pictured are Jericho and Lisa Ackerman

March’s Featured Horse & Rider
KC and Kevin Smith

Here is my Tennessee Walker horse. His name is KC. I got him last year. He is 18 years old and16 hands tall. He has been a good boy for me so far.  I am happy to get him.  We went to Salt Fork with some friends last summer for a week and rode the trail there.  He even went into deep water for me. I would like to use him to park cars this year and do some of the parades too.

April’s Featured Horse & Rider
Terri Willard and Adam Joe

My Hero!

Terri is my hero. I don’t know if I could have been as upbeat as she has been through all she has been through. She is one tough cookie and one heck of a horsewoman,. She has been riding since she was very tiny. My Mom used to say she was born on a horse. She has a very nice, soft hand with horses but doesn’t take any crap from them; they all seem to love her.

Her horse now is Adam Joe, a 16hh Polish Arabian. They are doing dressage and jumping. She takes lessons every week when she feels good. They have a big show and jumping season ahead of them. Last October, they took 2nd place out of 15 teams in a hunter pace in Bath, Ohio.  Her partner for that event was Lori Moore.

Terri also likes to trail ride and has been an active member of Tri-Co all her life.

(Submitted by Terri Willard’s loving mother and biggest fan, Ellen VanPelt.)

Pictured are Terri Willard and Adam Joe

May’s Featured Horses & Riders
 Helen, Alicia and Abby, with Rocky, Christy, and Pepper

We are fairly new horse owners. We have only owned horses for 4 years.  For our first horse, I wanted the girls to learn that owning a horse isn't all about riding, so I chose to purchase a 6-month-old and raise her so we could learn all aspects of nurturing the animal. It was awesome. We have learned so much and still are learning every day. We have made mistakes, and I'm sure we will keep making them, but that's what is so great about being a member of Tri-Co.  Whenever we have questions or have a problem, we have good horse friends to turn to for help! 

All of our horses are rescues. Alicia's horse Christy was seized in a drug raid and in the process was shot in her leg. She was very mistrustful people but Alicia has done wonders with her!

Abby's Pepper is blind in one eye but she can get him to do just about anything. We have voice and hand cues for stepping over things and she can even get him to jump!

My horse Rocky was retired from a stud farm. He is green-broke and still learning.

We love horses and we enjoy giving special horses a chance to be a part of family where they are loved and cared for. We have six rescues all together, each with special needs or problems.

The Murray Family would like to thank Tri-Co for all the helpful info that you allow us to glean from you as we continue to grow and learn with our horse family!

Pictured are Helen Murray and Rocky.

Pictured are Alicia Murray and Christy

June’s Featured Horse & Rider
 Sundance Rankin and Rain

Meet my Quarter Horse Rain. He is 13 years old, and an awesome horse! He was bought from Denise Jones as a gift from my husband.

He is quite talented - see, he can bow!  He can also do a couple of other silly things.  However, Rain is most of all  my source of joy!  Whenever I am with him, he always keeps me smiling.

August’s Featured Horse & Rider
Valerie Crawford and “P”

Meet “P.”  She is 14 years old.  The first time I saw her, she was for sale and I was going to buy her for my daughter-in-law.  But they did not hit it off too well, and another friend bought her.  She only kept "P" for about a year and called me one day telling me she had to sell her.  I told her that I would take her.  So I've had my trusty mare for about 6 years. Not knowing what anyone did with her, or what she could do, I wanted to trail ride with her. I found Tri-Co about 3 years ago.  I don't know who loves it more, my horse or me. But she is a real champ and does great.  I could never part with her; she is one of a kind.  Sometimes cranky, sometimes loving, and then she has her days when she does not want to be bothered at all.  But I still love her no matter what kind of day she is having. We do not get to ride as much as we would like.  I went back to college after losing my job 2-1/2 years ago to be a Medical Assistant. I will graduate in February 2012.  Look out then, we can ride a lot more -- after I find a job, of course!

September’s Featured Horse & Rider
Alexis Hane and Gracie

I'm Alexis and my trusty steed is Gracie. She is a 6-year-old AQHA registered grulla-colored Quarter Horse mare. Her registered name is "HH Frontier Gracie.”  I got her when she was 3 years old and almost everything she knows I taught her myself. She's an excellent trail horse and she's completely bomb proof!  You can shoot guns from her, crawl all over her, and even ride her bareback or backwards. We have done many parades, and she was one of Sandi's favorites because of how calm she was.  We also have done hunter paces, and I'm hopefully going to take her to her first show and some more hunter paces this month.  I also want to try cutting, endurance, and extreme cowboy races with her. One of our favorite places to trail ride besides Tri-Co is Saltfork State Park. She and I love to go swimming in the lake!  I am hoping for many more years with her and maybe even a foal for two!

Pictured are Alexis Hane and Gracie

October’s Featured Horse & Rider
Neva Gibson and Sierra

This is my horse, Sierra. Sierra had a rough start in life. Her mom rejected her shortly after she was born, and the people who owned her worked so they didn’t have time to spend with her. A so-called “trainer” got hold of her when she was about 1 ½ years old, and when I came into the picture a few months later, Sierra had a ton of fear issues. I have been working with her over 4 years now. I can honestly say that I think she has taught me a lot more than I have taught her!

At 6 1/2, she is smart and sassy. There is nothing she likes more than when I let her have her head and she can run like the wind! Sierra is a wonderful trail horse, and although she is young and sometimes can be rather challenging, I am very blessed to have her as my own. We both are looking forward to spending more time at Tri-Co next year camping and riding with friends.

Pictured are Neva Gibson and Sierra

November’s Featured Horse & Rider
Janet Scrimo and Dakota

This is Dakota and me when he was a foal— June 1998. I was so excited when he was born; I took pictures every month as he grew.  They grow so fast!  I have a complete photo album of all the baby pictures. Everybody I worked with had to see the pictures I brought into the office once a month. They graciously looked at the pictures each month for almost a year, LOL.  All my fellow employees just had to “put up” with me, as I was acting like a brand new Mother with her newborn. It was so much fun handling a colt from the day he was born.  I even had a halter on him after 7 days old and was leading him around. At 3 ½ months old, I put him in the horse trailer with Lacey, his mother and trailered them all the way to Beaver Creek State park.  The rest of that year we all went to Beaver Creek every weekend.  I rode Lacey and little Dakota just followed along, in the deep water and whatever, because he was still nursing, he was not going let mom out of his sight. I never had to worry about him straying off while on the trail. Then winter came and camping stopped, but I just continued to handle Dakota almost every day.  I had to board him and Lacey because I don't have my own property.   When Dakota was a year old, I had the Vet geld him, awww, happy birthday Dakota.  I still took him to Beaver Creek a few times that next year, but  he had a lead line on now, just ponying him along with his Mom.   I was still taking pictures from time to time. When he was 2 years old, I saddled him, put a bridle and bit on him—and even sat on him.  I was the first one to get on him, but someone was holding him with a llead line, just in case.  I am no horse trainer by any means and had no clue what to do. Then the worst happened; my Mother died, and I lost it, lost all desire to even ride Lacey for awhile, so Dakota just grew up as another year went by while I was struggling with getting myself back together. Finally when Dakota was 3 years old, I sent him to someone to break him. I started riding him at Tri-Co and have been an active member of this club ever since. We have even earned  Tri-Co’s Trail Rider of the Year once and been near the top several times!

Pictured are Janet Scrimo and Dakota

December’s Featured Horse & Rider
Patty Farmer and Sunny Go Playboy

His name is Sonny Go Playboy.  He is red roan/overo. He was born March 1993. He is 15.3 hands high. He is sired by Sonny Go Dynasty and his dam is J Bars Playgirl. When I first saw him, he was breathtaking--being a used stud, he had all the looks.  He was gelded in May 2001, I bought him - greenbroke in July 2001.  For a while, things were not pretty. Having never been pastured with other horses, he was mean to my niece Connie’s horse, Buster. She told me to sell him. I tried, but not very hard; no one wanted him because he was still acting like a stud. So, I sent him to a trainer for 2 months.  We starting bonding when I got him back from the trainer. Our riding was really crazy for a while; we rolled in creeks, snow, raced up hills, needed safety glasses because I got my eye scratched from a tree branch while running up hills, and I needed a kidney belt because he was digging his hind quarters in the ground.  After a year, things settled down and our riding was wonderful.  Playboy was never mean to me, never tried to hurt me, and Buster and Playboy became best friends.  My niece and I traveled all over Ohio, camping and riding, and have had a wonderful time.

I’ve had him for 9 years now.  We both have some problems with arthritis and we are getting older together, but still having fun, just going easier.

He is 18 yrs old now and he has been a great horse.

Ps: We still roll in creeks when he is hot; I always have to be a step ahead of him

Pictured are Patty Farmer and Sunny Go Playboy