BI club back in the saddle again

Melissa Davis is a jack-of-all trades when it comes to riding, especially quarterhorses like the one she has now, “Joe.”

“Quarterhorses can do anything,” she said. They “are always up for the next adventure.”

Davis started riding when she was 7. “My dad surprised me with a pony.” Her parents had horses, too, and they would ride in nearby Manzanita Park.

After a few years, she joined the Bainbridge Island Saddle Club. She rode Western style and showed horses that way but then joined the Pony Club and everyone rode English style and was into jumping so she did that.

Davis got into rodeo for a time and did barrel racing and also carried flags as part of the grand entry team. Following that she was on the sheriff’s mounted posse team that shot at targets with a 45-caliber revolver while galloping on her horse.

The last 1½ years she’s been passionate about Mounted Archery, so much so she’s helping put on a two-day class at the Saddle Club in June. She got interested after seeing a friend’s picture of the event at a competition in Arlington. “I have a horse that could do that,” she thought.

In September of 2019 she picked up a bow for the first time. She bought an old-style recurve with some arrows for $70. She learned how to shoot on YouTube then introduced her horse to it. “He didn’t care at all,” she said of Joe.

The closest trainers are in Arlington and Vancouver, WA, so “my goal now is to form a BI archery club.”

In June, a trainer will teach riders from the ground up. “If you’ve never shot, that’s not a problem,” Davis said, adding equipment will be supplied and by the end of the clinic everyone should be successful at it.

She said a key to the sport is riders have to be able to “drop your reign while you take that shot.” Davis said that’s asking a lot of a horse. Not only are you on its back, but so is a new object (bow) that makes a new sound. “You’re asking that horse to override fear” and you don’t have the usual contact with the reigns. “You have to empty your mind like meditation and be together with the horse.”

Competitions include walk, trot and canter, and more-advanced riders are timed. “You have to weigh how fast I can go and still hit a high score,” she said.

Davis said she has had to practice a lot. “I knew I wasn’t going to be naturally talented at it,” she said, adding much of the time she practices in her back yard off her horse. Her goal is 500 arrows a week. “I don’t think I’ll ever get bored with this discipline.”

She sure never got bored riding as a kid. She said during summers she would meet up with a bunch of other girls at Grand Forest Park. They would ride all around the island for five hours. “Cell phones weren’t invented yet,” she said, so people would see them riding and call their parents to tell them they were OK.

“When the school bus showed up that fall the horses would breath a sigh of relief” because that meant they finally got a break, she said.

Davis also has some great memories of the Saddle Club. A weeklong camp was “always a highlight of the summer as a kid.” Her favorite day of the month from April to October were Saturday shows. The day before she would give her horse a bath. First thing the morning of she would saddle it up and spend the day at the Saddle Club. There was a dedicated space in the China hutch for all her ribbons and trophies. “I treasured those; they were beautiful.”

Saddle Club back

COVID-19 reigned in events at the Saddle Club this past year, but members are ready to get back in the saddle again now that some restrictions have been lifted. The Saddle Club was probably hurt by the coronavirus more than other local equestrian organizations because it doesn’t stable horses or anything like that. It’s strictly for show, and it was only able to have two last year.

“We’re a community resource to hold shows,” said Pam Knudsen, president of the club, a nonprofit that has been on the island for 74 years. She said the club is perfect for those new to competing or who can’t make the bigger shows in the state or nation. “It’s a friendly, low-key local atmosphere,” she said.

Knudsen said many of the local boarding barns bring members there for shows and to use the facility, even during COVID, wearing masks and social distancing of course. Saddle Club members get unlimited use of the 8.3 acres of riding area for $120 a year per family, or $75 for an individual.

She said the club is excited about entering Phase 3 of the COVID recovery plan because now it can have spectators up to 25 percent capacity. “We have a lot of grandparents” who like to watch, she said. “We’re back to full steam now on shows.”

The first show, April 17, is Dressage. Knudsen explained that each performer has a set routine of movements, depending on their expertise. “It’s a specific pattern in the ring,” she said.

Knudsen, who has been with the club for six years, said members have all kinds of horses: quarterhorses, fresians, arabian and so on. The 160 club members range in age from 7 to senior citizens. The first Hunter-Jumper show will be April 24.

Not only is the Saddle Club back, it’s also adding some new events. One is Mounted Archery, but the other is a Trails Clinic, where obstacles will be brought in to the arena. “Not all horses are comfortable with bridges,” Knudsen said.

Website

The Saddle Club promotes good horsemanship and fosters amateur equestrian sports. We host a variety of educational activities such as schooling shows and clinics for children and adults, as well as member-only events including equestrian gaming and demonstrations. We provide a fun and supportive environment for all to learn and gain experience with their horses in financially accessible competition. The Saddle Club also is home of the Bainbridge Island Pony Club, which sponsors horsemanship certifications, show rallies, summer camp and social events.

Events

Hunter/Jumper Shows: May 15, June 5, Aug. 14, Sept. 18

Dressage Shows: July 10-11, Aug. 28

Fun Member’s Event: July TBD

Wine Ride: August TBD

Contact information

7650 NE Day Road W., P.O. Box 10456

Email pamknudsen@gmail.com or call 206-660-3485

www.bainbridgesaddleclub.org

bainbridgesaddlclub@gmail.com

Fundraising

Several capital improvements were put on hold due to loss of income from canceled shows. The Saddle Club is part of the One Call For All Red Envelope campaign that takes place each fall, although donations are accepted year round.