Maine Trail Riders is a horseback riding club based in
Litchfield, Maine. Members of the club take turns hosting the other
members to come and ride their home trails or trails that they are
familiar with. That gives members the opportunity to ride
trails all over the state of Maine. We also hold two trail rides
every year from our clubhouse property located in Litchfield. In
addition, we host one or two horse shows per year at our clubhouse and
one at the Topsham Fairgrounds.
MTRA Trail Rides are a minimum of three hours long. Many of the
rides are in the four to six hour range. We pack lunch in our
saddle bags and make a day of it. Club members sign in at each
ride that they attend and pay our ride fee (currently $3). At the
end of the year we have an awards banquet at which we give out awards
based on the number of hours a member has ridden. With as few as
16 hours of riding time with us you will qualify for an award.
Guests are always welcome on our rides, but you cannot earn a year end
award unless you are a member.
MTRA also has a great Junior participation program. Juniors in the
program must attend some of the membership meetings, some of the rides,
and participate in fundraising and volunteer activities. At the
end of the year the club matches whatever they have earned up to $200.
Then the money is distributed right back to the kids based on the number
of meetings, rides, and volunteer hours they put in. Some of the
kids walk away with hundreds of dollars. The only restriction is
that the money be spent on something horse related. Some get
new tack, some pay for riding lessons, others pay for shoeing or shots.
