Cheryl Lewis of Oswego hosted a trail ride for women, May 3-4, on the Lewis/Charles farm north of Oswego.
Twenty-two women from across Kansas signed up for the weekend ride. They were from as far west as Medicine Lodge and Lindsborg and the Topeka area to the north.
Planning for the trail ride began a year before when Steve Lewis was in the Wood-Dulohery Agency at Parsons and in a conversation with Susan Searles who works there. Lewis heard about the trail rides which Susan and her friends go on across the country. He mentioned that she should get in touch with his wife Cheryl and come down for a ride on the farm as Cheryl has always loved horses.
Susan and Cheryl did visit and in October of 2007 Susan brought a small part of her group to the farm (along with a horse for Cheryl to ride) on a Sunday morning and they rode over part of the farm. The girls in the group suggested that Cheryl ought to have a trail ride some time and so the trail ride of May 3-4 began.
Cheryl, knowing nothing about trail rides, relied heavily on Susan for guidance. Cheryl thought that 20 was probably as many riders as she should take on for the first time. Susan sent out the word to her friends and riding group about the ride. Cheryl worried about getting enough riders but Susan kept reassuring her with,“don’t worry, they will come, they will come.”
As the weekend came closer Cheryl enlisted the help of her husband Steve and Steven Charles to cut trails and her mother, daughter and daughter-in-law to do some cooking. Everything was coming into place except that Cheryl had no horse.
Things fell into place again as Steve and Louise Lynn had a horse for sale that was perfect for Cheryl. She had a few weeks to get accustomed to her new horse and was ready for the trail ride.
Friday evening, May 2, saw quite a convoy of trucks and horse trailers with living quarters, come into Oswego and head north to the Lewis/Charles farm. It was quite a sight at the farm with all the trucks, trailers and portable horse pens circled. Cheryl was impressed with the independent self-reliant nature of these women. But most of all she was impressed with their friendly comraderie. She instantly felt as if she was among friends she had known for a long time.
The group ranged in age from 12 to 70. Their vocations were also wide ranging as there was a veterinarian, teacher, nurse, bus driver and secretary to name a few. The common bond tying all these women together was their love of horses and horse back riding. Their first thought upon arriving was taking care of the needs of their horse and that continued throughout the weekend.
The group rode all day Saturday on the farm ending with a steak dinner and bonfire in the evening. After a short devotional on Sunday morning they rode over to the city park. Everyone then packed up, loaded up their horses and mules and headed home.
Cheryl hopes to have a limited number of trail rides in the future but knows that none will probably ever live up to this one. She did come away with more knowledge about taking care of her horse and trail rides as everyone was very helpful sharing their knowledge with her.

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Cheryl Lewis, Oswego, trail ride