Ellington Stables: Horse Angels, ACTHA and Red Hats Purple Chaps

Red Hats Purple Chaps sponsored an ACTHA ride the first weekend in June at Midwest Trail Ride. The proceeds will be donated to Horse Angels horse rescue in Spencer, IN.

American Competitive Trail Horse Association riders compete for accumulative points throughout the year.

Dr. Sue Whitman, DVM operates Horse Angels, a rescue operation that heals the bodies and minds of rescued horses. Dr. Sue has the horses trained and works hard to find them 'forever homes'.

Maggie Whitlow was in charge of the ACTHA event, Karen Humphries was in charge of the obstacles and Kathy Ellington Swango got together all the prizes. Kathy was also a judge and Mary Ann was her a judge's helper, a timekeeper.

We stayed in one of the sweet cedar cabins with a beautiful back yard.

Yikes! Where are Flash and Rio?

They were back at home in Bloomington. On again-off again storms Thursday and Friday helped them decide to stay dry and eat hay. Friday night the storms were in full gear and Saturday morning the rain was still coming down.

Judges met early Saturday morning and the majority of riders agreed that doing the obstacle ride around camp was the safe option.

The Saturday ride was a great example of COWGIRL UP! Riders, judges and helpers did their jobs in the pouring rain with no whining.

We were stationed at the final obstacle, the Wildlife Box, full of scary wild flora and noisy, big-eyed fauna. Some horse and rider pairs negotiated the path in the box calmly and gracefully. Others … not so well. Either way, it was a good learning and sacking-out experience for both horse and rider.

After the outside shower, a shower inside seemed like a good idea.

The weather cleared up the in the afternoon and a bunch of us drove up 446 to the Scenic View Restaurant for supper. Yum!!!

Then a little further up the road to Brewsters. Can you say Red Raspberry Chocolate Truffle?

Sunday morning was dry, but the sky was giving mixed messages. Nestled in the fluffy, sunny clouds were ominous storm buds.

The rain stayed away and the ACTHA ride went up into the woods. Hooray!

Look carefully and you can find Allison and her black and white pony going up the trail.

We were stationed at the first obstacle, the Mailbox. Most of the horses had dealt with mailboxes before, but a few seemed to have forgotten that they had ever seen one.

Judge Kathy waits for a horse and rider.

Mary Ann times an imaginary horse and rider.

Winners of Open, Pleasure and Junior were awarded ribbons, ACTHA bucks and their choice of prizes from a large selection of horse-related and personal items.