Despite the early rain, which gave way to a lovely, eerie misty morning in the forest, the
Berks Equine Council Judged Trail Ride enjoyed another successful year!  After wrestling
with Mother Goose to provide answers to the tricky questions related to the historical facts
behind the fairy tales, and earn an important coin to carry on their journey, our riders
entered the Enchanted Forest of South Mountain.

With assistance from the Three Blind Mice at the road crossing, they met the knife-
wielding farmer’s wife who, feeling somewhat guilty about cutting the tails off the mice,
asked the riders for assistance in re-attaching the rodents’ tails.  Their next encounter
was with the Goose that Laid the Rotten Eggs, where the kindly farm maid presented
them with trivia questions and directed the riders to remove an egg from the goose to
carry with them.  After trekking through the forest, our riders entered a misty clearing to find
Spanky Doodle astride her rubber horse, hoping that someone could pick a fancy feather
for her hat and complete the lyrics to the Spanky Doodle song she was working on.  We
learned that some of our riders can really sing, and some of them should just keep their
day jobs.
           
Across the clearing from Spanky Doodle, the riders again entered the forest and rode up
to the King’s Castle.  Here was Humpty Grumpty atop the wall, broken eggs and empty
beer cans littering her domain and contributing to her foul mood.  Humpty Grumpty
handed each rider a spoon on which they carried their egg over to the King.  The King
needed help counting his herd of horses, and directed each rider to circle the serpentine
pattern of elegant black and chestnut war horses, counting the horses while balancing the
egg on the spoon and then depositing the egg in a bucket at the end of the course.  Then
it was off to the Pinnacle to enjoy the view and attempt the dreaded bridge crossing at
Three Billy Goats Gruff.  Met by two trolls and a motley goat, the riders had to pay their
cherished coin to the trolls to cross the bridge and avoid being eaten by the trolls.

Penniless and drifting through the Enchanted Forest hoping to find a happy ending to their
fairy tale, our riders chanced upon Cinderfella, a distraught maiden which the wicked fairy
godmother had turned into a fellow, left the coachman in a state of half-horse half-man,
downsized the coach horse to pint-sized pony, and turned the coach into a sport utility
farm wagon.  Worse yet, Cinderfella had lost his magic slipper, his only hope of
restoration to a more feminine version of himself!  Here, our riders dismounted, tied their
horses to a high line, sifted through the pile of shoes and tried one on Cinderfella, before
remounting their horses from the opposite side.  Finally, young Ms. Libby Emmich seized
upon the perfect match for Cinderfella, and placed the shoe on his foot.  Ms. Libby wins a
free entry for next year’s Judged Trail Ride, but poor Cinderfella remains under the wicked
fairy godmother’s spell and appears to be doomed to spend the rest of his days trapped
in a gender limbo.
           
Meeting the Three Blind Mice at the road crossing again, our riders descended into the
valley below where the Dish that ran away with the Spoon and the Spoon himself were
busy constructing their Moonshine Still.  Although the Moonshine Still was an ingenious
contraption, the Cow refused to jump over it until our riders helped themselves to a gallon
of water and poured it down the whirligig funnel, sending a flume of water through the
hose, into the watchamacallit, through the thingamajig, and into the still, which lit a fire
under the lazy milk cow and caused her to leap over the Moonshine Still.  Truly an amazing
feat, and you had to see it to believe it, even in a fairy tale!

And they all lived happily ever after.

The End.

Special thanks to our dedicated team of volunteers and judges whose tireless efforts and
imagination make this event possible every year, and to our loyal riders who join us for the
fun each year!   Thanks, too, to South Mountain YMCA for partnering with the Berks Equine
Council for this event.   Be part of the magic of the Berks Equine Council and join us for
the 2011 Judged Trail Ride!  Once you’ve ridden with us, you won’t want to miss this
special event.