- Sign Up Now For the 2025 NATRC Virtual Mileage Challenge – Every NATRC member is
highly encouraged to sign up for the NATRC Virtual Mileage Challenge. Top Trail hosts this
fun challenge for us and continues to be a huge supporter of NATRC. They recently invested
a lot of money to our benefit with the development of an actual Top Trail app along with a
complete redesign of their website.
At the end of the year, the top three riders from each region, along with the top ten riders
nationally, will be recognized at our 2026 NATRC National Convention. Pricing remains the
same ($35 for Top Trail and $25 for the NATRC Virtual Mileage Challenge group).
Our Virtual Mileage Challenge, with the instant NATRC standings, is a great motivator for
getting out there and getting those conditioning miles in. - 2026 Proposed Rule Changes Zoom Meetings – There are still two more zoom meetings
scheduled to provide our members an opportunity to learn more about the proposed rule
changes and provide input. The remaining meeting dates are:
a. June 9 at 6:30 CDT
b. June 24 at 6:30 EDT
The rule proposals can be found on our NATRC webpage under Resources, and then
under Rules, and then click on Rule Changes/Proposals. Please be sure to visit with the
national board members from your region between now and the first of July regarding these
proposals so that they know how they should vote to represent your region. The NATRC
board will vote on these proposals during their July meeting. - NATRC “Come Ride With Us” Promotional Video – A couple of years ago, Region 3 put
together a nice NATRC promotional video as part of their marketing efforts. Some of you
may remember seeing it at our National Convention in Albuquerque a couple years ago,
hosted by Region 3 or you may be one of the over 1,400 viewers of this video on our
NATRC YouTube Channel.
Region 6 has used this video at multiple NATRC horse expo booths. The video is played
continuously, and it definitely draws attention for sure!
Here is the YouTube link for this video Come Ride With Us Be sure to check it out. Thank
you, Region 3! - U.S. Mail Service – For whatever reason(s), the U.S. Mail Service has been slow from time
to time. Items that used to only take a couple of days to reach their destination are often
taking much longer. Consequently, anytime you need to send something to the national
office, we are encouraging you to send everything you can electronically. Any items that
must be mailed need to be sent early. Waiting until the last minute is highly discouraged. - Ride Management Webinar – If you are a current ride manager or if you are considering
giving back to our favorite sport by becoming a ride manager, then I would encourage you to
check out one of last year’s “Let’s Ride” webinars. The NATRC Ride Management Power
Session webinar, moderated by our Executive Director Sarah Smith, is an excellent
June 2025
resource. It provides a comprehensive overview of what is involved with managing a ride
and it breaks it all down in easy-to-understand steps.
We always welcome and encourage our members to step up and become ride managers. If
not for ride managers and our volunteers we would not be able to enjoy our favorite sport.
You can find this webinar on our NATRC YouTube channel. You can even download it to
your favorite device and watch it at your convenience.
- Importance of Ride Entry Deposits – Cheryl Bohling from Region 6, gave the following
brief explanation last year about the importance of ride entry deposits that are a part of the
process of registering for a ride. I included her explanation in my November 2024
Membership Update and thought I would share it again as a good reminder for all of us to
sign up for rides as soon as you can and submit your ride deposits and/or entries
immediately after signing up. And please, please, please, try as best you can to avoid
signing up at the very last minute. We want you to still attend and we understand things do
happen sometimes that cause the last-minute sign-ups. It just makes planning and
preparing more difficult for our ride management teams when that happens.
To complete your registration in RMS, you must choose either a deposit amount or your
whole ride entry. By selecting one of these options, the Ride Secretary and Ride Manager
are notified that you will be sending a payment to secure your spot in the ride. And then we
wait to see what arrives in the mail or via a payment app, hopefully within a week or two.
This money can then be used towards expenses a Ride Manager incurs prior to the ride. For
example, $75 is the cost of the ride sanction, $288 (plus a $10.08 fee) is the cost for
insurance, and every ride pays these upfront. It might take twelve deposits just to cover
these two expenses. Then there may be charges like plane tickets that need to be bought in
advance, camping spots reserved, event permits at the ride locations. The dollar amount a
Ride Manager starts to financially carry can grow quickly. There are a couple programs
available to assist with these upfront costs, which are then paid back after the ride is over,
but a lot of it could be handled simply by receiving deposits or full entry payments in a timely
manner. So please help your Ride Managers and Ride Secretaries out by signing up when a
ride first gets opened in RMS and then quickly send in your deposit. There is SO MUCH
WORK that these two people do to put on the rides for you. So please, do what you can to
help them out. And if you see a ride struggling to get enough riders, send them a donation if
you are able. - Reminder: Regional NATRC Clinics – Every region has been asked to offer two or more
clinics in 2025. Clinics are a lot of fun to put on. Our webpage has a lot of helpful information
and resources that will help your clinics be successful. NATRC supports clinics nationally by
reimbursing two clinics per region $100 for insurance costs. This is determined by the
earliest clinics to apply for their sanction and request the $100 reimbursement. - Reminder: Keep Our NATRC Membership Growing – Click here to renew your NATRC
membership for the 2025 ride season. Our NATRC membership saw another year of growth
this past year making it the highest since 2019. We are once again offering FREE
membership to first time NATRC members! Be sure to tell your friends and neighbors. Since
2016, when our free membership program was first introduced, 64 percent of the current
renewing memberships have originated from this program.
The procedure for obtaining the Platinum membership has changed. This benefit is still
available to our members, but it is offered differently. Instead of being purchased with a
membership and NATRC brokering the service, members will directly purchase the benefit
through Equisure using the direct link from our Member Benefits page. Member Benefits
page. Same great pricing and benefit! - Reminder: 2026 National NATRC Convention – Next year’s national convention will be
held in Austin, TX, the live music capital of the world, the weekend of February 20-21 with
Region 4 as our host. Be sure to save that date. - Reminder: New Honorary and Appreciation Awards Deadline – Mark your calendars
now for the new deadline for regions to submit this year’s Honorary and Appreciation write-
ups. The new deadline is Wednesday, October 1 st at 10:00 p.m. CST. Write-ups go to Ruth
Mesimer RuthM9496@gmail.com - Follow NATRC on the Web: Be sure to make our NATRC webpage natrc.org the startup
page for your internet browser. When you do, each time you open your browser, your
opening tab will be our NATRC webpage. It is an effortless way to stay current with NATRC! - Stay Current: Keep up to date with NATRC by following us on social media.
a. Follow us on Instagram @natrc_ctr. There are now 450 NATRC pictures on here!
b. Follow us on Facebook with our North American Trail Ride Conference (NATRC) page. - Subscribe today to our NATRC (North American Trail Ride Conference) YouTube
channel. Be sure to check this resource out. We currently have twenty-nine videos posted
here that are specific to our sport. It is a wealth of extremely helpful information. All previous
Let’s Ride webinars are here as well.
Follow me on Apple Music @j_zeliff
Follow me on Instagram @johnzeliff
And then be sure to follow me to that next NATRC ride!
John Zeliff, President
