The Begining----- On or around the middle of January, 1950 a group of horseman and horsewoman with a love of horses and  the shared enjoyment of riding them on the local horse trails and desire to improve these trails met in the kitchen of Mr. & Mrs. Verne Weare in Whitefield. They met for the purpose of organizing a riding club. And so they did. The charter members of what was known as the Whitefield Riding Club were as follows: Mr. & Mrs Verne Weare, Mr. & Mrs Tom Sheehe, Mr. & Mrs Clyde McCullock,  Mr. & Mrs Elmer Black Jr, Miss Marjorie Wilson, Mrs. Alice Barnett, Miss Beatrice Thompson, Lyle Huntoon, Maynard Gallagher, John Stiles, Gordon Virge, Mr. Almon D. "Cass" White, and daughter Sally and later George F. Carter.

 

      It didn't take long for word to spread about the club to horse owners and riders in the neighboring towns, such as Lancaster, Lisbon and Littleton. They too were interested in joining the club and in bettering the many horse trails in the area. So in the late part of 1950 what started out with 17 original members had now grown to 43 members. It was at this time that it was decided to change the club's name. As now the membership was made up of members from more than just Whitefield. It was decided to become the White Mountain Riding Club.

 

      Since the early days the big event for the club has always been it's annual horseshow. From the club's archives this writer has discovered that the first club run horseshow was on June 7th, 1950 at the Lancaster Fairgrounds. And though the classes have changed drastically over the years the fun is still the same. The first show had classes such as Three gaited with mane, Three gaited without mane, Morgan classes, Palomino classes, Calico classes, Pet pony, and Stock Horse Parade and the ever popular jumping classes.

      It seemed that during this era each Sunday during the summer there was a horseshow being held by some organization or another or by a large resort such as the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods.

 

      As the years went by the membership of the White Mountain Riding Club continued to grow. The monthly meeting that had started out meeting at different members homes now were meeting at the Community House in Littleton. It continued to grow even more. So it was decided to find some land and build a clubhouse. Which it did. During the middle 1950's the members could be found at the clubhouse site on Dalton Road in Whitefield pouring the foundation and building the clubhouse. The club met  there on the first Wednesday of each month for many, many years. Enjoying cookouts, potluck dinners, Christmas parties and trailrides. But in the 1990's with a lack of interest and other things it was decided to sell the clubhouse.

 

     NOW----The White Mountain Riding Club is now enjoying a resurgence of interest in horses by a new generation of horseowners. In the past two or three years our membership has almost doubled and more people are attending the monthly meetings. It seems in this writer's opinion that we have come full circle. We now meet, during the summer at different member's homes. And sometimes we enjoy a cookout and trailride before the meeting begins. We still have our annual  horse show each June. And try to have clinics to inform the people about different aspects of horse ownership.

 

      After over fifty years in existence the club has come a long way, with a long way to go. We are still growing and changing with each passing year. We are lucky to still have many of the charter members with us. And there are still six active Life members from the early 1950's. The membership also has two fourth generation members.