Memories of Herb

From Pat Dye

I will never forget the time that I took my horse Riffraff, an Arabian gelding, for his first trail ride over 40 years ago soon after I joined the club. At the time he was a green-broke 2-year old and I was pretty green myself. We were at a club ride hosted by Edd and Donna Bloyd at their ranch in Battle Ground. All went well until we came to a creek and apparently Riff Raff had never crossed water before and he saw no reason to do so that day. After as much not-so-friendly persuasion as I could muster on my part without any progress, the good old boys in the club (Don Andrews, Herb Christopher, Duke Sheets and Edd Bloyd) decided that they were not going to go on without us. With the help of some lead ropes and other means of attitude adjustment, they managed to convince Riffraff that the creek could be crossed. I breathed a sigh of relief and ended up having a great ride, the first of many more to come. Riffraff took me (and countless others) on rides all over the state for another 23 years. I will always remain grateful for the help extended to me and the rest of the members by the club veterans. No matter what the problem, they were always there for you.