How do I say it?
How can this be?
Why do I love
The NATRC?
Is it the friends and
Fellowship and fun, of course
Or the moments that I am
One with my horse?
The camping, competing
Laughing and tears
The hours on trails
Overcoming our fears.
Perhaps it’s the challenge
For us as a team
To cover the distance
And come through so clean.
Or maybe it’s the weather
That nature delivers
To test our commitment
From which others have shivers.
The mud and the muck
The rain and the sleet
The snow and the wind
The humidity and heat.
The forests of shade
The high mountain land
The rivers to cross
The deserts of sand.
The rocks and the pebbles
The bogs and the grit
The tree limbs and branches
We duck for a bit.
The cool of the evening
The dark shade of night
The heat of the day
Under the sun so bright.
What is it that draws us
To travel so far
For a chance to ride
Under a morning star?
To see private places
And public ones, too,
The parks and the ranches
Which to us are so new?
What drives us away from
The current horse fashion
To forever and ever
Remain true to our passion?
It is to be blessed
To enjoy the divine
To be one with the earth
And to get lost in time.
PART 3
Our oldest author in the series, Bev Roberts, chose to explain why she loves the sport of competitive trail riding in NATRC in a poem. With more than 30 years of competitive experience, she will be one of the first to say that she is always learning from other riders, management, judges, volunteers and, of course, the horses.
Early morning on the trail at the Bell Cow Rendezvous CTR on a sunny November day in Oklahoma
NATRC welcomes riders of any equine breed, including grade, and
from any discipline
www.natrc.org
Bev Roberts
38 / Sport and Trail Magazine
DRAWN TO THE SPORT Part 3
Photo Credit: Brandy Steele of Optical Harmonics