I usually pay dues to Back Country Horsemen, But I rarely attend any of their meetings.  Once in a while I will join them for ride. They seem to get access in some areas that I wouldn't be able to access on my own.  I do support their efforts to keep trails open and to improve trail heads for horse use.

I'm not a big fan of riding in large groups.  But as my daughters have grown up it's harder to find friends to ride with.

We belong to the Kansas City Regional Missouri Foxtrotter Club. We joined so we could find other gaited horse trail riders to ride with and really enjoy the commardorie of the show people too. Both the show crowd and the trail crowd with this group are very supportive or each others riding disciplines. I have met some great peope through the club and made lots of friends. We attend almost all the scheduled trail rides and we participate in the club show.

Weekend trail rides are the best as we get to socialize and share stories around the campfire. Even some show people attned the trail rides so it's a nice varied crowd.

If you are in the KC area and have a gaited horse (foxtrotter or other breed) or would like to learn more about the club, see KCRFTHA website. You do not have to have a gaited horse or even a horse to be a member.

http://www.mofoxtrot.com/kcrftha/

Member of 2 clubs since '95 - the South Fla Trail Riders of Broward County and Dade County, but do more with Broward since I live in that county.

We have day rides, about 15 campouts a year, fund raising events, trail work days, parties, meetings, volunteer in the community, etc  We've had several members that were city council members (one is currently the Mayor) and that has really worked to our advantage.  We have an extensive urban trail system and have gotten the Town of Davie to install 2 bridges over canals linking trails.  We are currently doing the 100 miles of Davie trail ride this year, broken up into 12 loops and then get an award for doing all the rides. We have about 6 parks designated as horse parks with trails, trailhead, restrooms, water troughs, wash racks, etc.

     We have also gotten the nearby town to put in horse trails, a horse park, etc   We work with the builders and have gotten them to put in multi-use trails and it really has made a huge difference.  We also work with Water Management and local state parks and have built stalls, paddocks, put in water lines, paddocks, etc  Both groups have done a tremendous amout of work for the horse community and I'm proud to be a long time member and active one.

    The state of Fla is chock full of places to ride, not as great a scenery as you have out west, but we have tons of places to ride year round.  Just went camping last weekend and have a 10 day trip planned after Christmas.

   I think it's really important to support the local clubs as well as other ones as being political can help to get things accomplished.

I am member of the Pike County Horse Club and an AQHA member.  I have let my membership to APHC expire.  Really need to renew it.

I am a long time member of Circle T Trailriding Club.  We have members from your area, and have about 12 weekend or day rides per year, including a one week trip along the Horseshoe Trail.  These people are hospitable, experienced, happy go lucky, and host wonderful rides!  www.circlettrailriders.com

Tell them Eleanor sent you 

We belonged to two different saddle clubs over the years and the only activity was showing, no club trail rides.  That was fine and we enjoyed it except for the fact we ride Racking and Walking horses and we seemed to be a bother to most of the non-gaited members of the club.  They were happy to see us on work days but on ride nights all we we heard were complaints about how every class is alike and we really only need one class.  At the end of the season saddles were given to high point riders in non-gaited events and we were told if we wanted to give a saddle in the gaited events we would have to raise the money ourselves.  Keep in mind we paid the same dues as other riders.

Anyway, it didn't take long before both these clubs lost us and many of the other gaited riders.  I guess that made them happy and now all we do is trail ride which has made us happy.  Maybe I need to send out a few thank you notes! LOL

Use to belong to one...very disorganized..to many chiefs and not enough indians...when it came time to "do anything"  the grumbling was enormous.  too much conflict with the "show" peeps and trail riders... the officers were not open to new ideas / options for fund raisers and weren't all that interested in deligating responsibilities ( they want all the credit) so in the end it basically dissolved. 

I recently join the ACTHA..I am hoping for a better experience.

I would very much like to see another local riding club start up but I wouldn't know where or how to start.

AQHA, Backcountry Horsemen, Arkansas Horse Council, Arkansas Trail Riders Association, ACTHA......

I wouldn't exactly refer to them as riding clubs, more of associations.......mostly trying to support horse trail/outdoor experience/horse & mule trail and public land access.....