The first time I ever drove through our little town of Reading, it was a few summers ago while I was headed to GMHA to volunteer at an endurance ride. I remember driving through town and then over the big hill to South Woodstock, thinking- wow, this place is breathtakingly beautiful, who gets to live here?
It turns out that there’s a quirky mix of folks around, many of whom who are here because of horses. Some whose families have been farming for generations. Some ‘snowbirds’ who bought old farms to keep their horses here in the summer and fall before decamping for the sandy pastures in Florida. And there are others who have nothing to do with farming or horses and just retired here for the beauty of it, and its proximity to Woodstock and surrounding amenities.
As you can imagine, there is tension between people “from here” and people who aren’t, particularly if you’re not here year round. Our realtors told us to expect it to take seven years for locals to believe we moved here for the right reasons and that we’re likely to stay. I don’t know how to resolve this tension, and to be honest, I think some people “from here” are never going to be open to people who aren’t. That said, I also see a lot of people “from away” who treat this place like a playground with no respect for people who live here. I guess it’s just always going to be complicated. But the simple fact seems to be that all of us who are here now are going to have to figure out how to make it work, because there aren’t enough people to be too fussy about who’s legit and who isn’t if we want the local businesses we love to stay open and thriving.
One of our local treasures is the Green Mountain Horse Association. Volunteering here for the first time a few years ago gave me the endurance bug, and while I’m still struggling to get to my first endurance event as a rider, I absolutely love volunteering. And thinking about economic development, last year Rich hosted a panel at the Radically Rural conference where the ED of GMHA talked about how the organization is a driver of local economic activity by bringing so many people from out of the area into the community nearly ever weekend during the summer. Last weekend, they hosted a weekend of horse trials, and something like 300 horses took part- that’s a whole lot of trailers full of horses and people rolling through town and enjoying how beautiful it is.
Yesterday, I volunteered as the in/out timer at the GMHA Spring 50/25 endurance ride (as part of a “Green Bean Challenge” team through the American Endurance Ride Conference, volunteering earned some points toward my team’s totals). It was a truly gorgeous day, and a well attended ride. There were ~40 riders across the three distances: 10 mile intro/25 mile LD/50 mile endurance. I think being the timer is my favorite volunteer job, as you get to chat with everyone while they’re waiting to get sent out, and it’s so nice to be the person to welcome them back in to the hold or the finish. Since it’s been such a miserable spring here, a lot of people were taking things pretty easy as they get back in shape. There were lots of young, green horses doing their first rides. Lots of horses that Northeast riders had picked up in Florida over the winter, and it’s a pretty big shock for a Florida horse to take on Vermont hills for the first time! 
I love that in endurance you can meet the “legends” of the sport alongside people just like you, and everyone is very accessible and generous with their time and advice. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sad that I wasn’t out there riding. I have so much doubt about whether or not I’m ever going to get it together to get out myself. But the next ride is in August, and provided I can find a trailer ride there, I think that’s attainable.
Some photos from the start of the 25 mile ride:
