Mineola Nature Preserve October Trail Ride, Costune Contest and Hay Ride

The Mineola Nature Preserve ride was a success. We had several cancellations due the forecast of rain, but the rain held off until late Saturday night.

On Friday, several riders scouted which trails were not too muddy for our Saturday morning trail ride and found that all the trails south of the Old Tyler Highway were in mucky conditions. We had beautiful weather for our Saturday’s ride. Two groups of riders, a slow and medium group, headed out on the trails. Both groups met up twice on the trail, once at the lake and the other at Greer Hill, where we stopped to have lunch.

The equine and K9 costume contests were a blast! We had six contestants in each category. The winner of the K9 contest was Paula Tucker. Her dog was sporting a Duck Dynasty costume. Her dog had a beard and Paula had the duck calling whistles. The winner of the equine contest was Joe and Phyllis Petronella. Their horses were dressed in Hawaiian attire, grass skirts, a ukulele, coconut bra, and leis around their necks. After the contest, Lainie Ereno treated everyone by playing her violin. After supper, we had another fun event. Buster Green took us on a hay ride. I think he must have been watching the radar because we made it back to camp just before the rain.

We did something different on this ride, we asked everyone to bring their own food, and we provided a chef that would cook their food for them. The Derby’s newest attraction is an Event Grill. The grill allowed our chef Joe, to cook 20 steaks at once. Any group that stays at the Derby will have access to the grill, but you will need to bring your own propane bottle, cooking utensils, and clean the grill after every use.

We had so much fun we decided that we are going to make this an annual event.

Please visit TETRA Facebook page to view all 200 pictures of this ride.