Taking to the Trails
By Anne Loiselle

On track and the trail, McJeno Wellmanor is a campaigner.

At Michigan tracks, the Walter McKlyo gelding raced for seven years for owner Fred Webster, Jr., of South Lyon, Michigan. Born in 1970, he battled in 200 races by the time he retired in 1981. His 27 wins helped him earn $25,678, taking a lifetime mark of p,2:06 m at age 9.

Two years later, Valerie McCormick was looking for a trail horse and read ad for a driving horse that was trained to saddle in The Philadelphia Inquirer. She took a look and took home the bay Standardbred.

"In six months, he was completely trail broke," McCormick said. "We have very steep hills (in Birchrunville), where you just about have to slide down. I was very impressed with how he got used to the terrain."

For most of the last 16 years, McCormick and the gelding, whom she nicknamed "Barney," explored the hills and trails for up to four hours a day. McCormick describes the bay as having exceptional ground manners, but he is not beginner trail horse, because he still occasionally shies on the trail.

"He’s not a stupid horse," she explained. "He does have his spooky moments, but (he’s) never dangerous."

A few months ago, McCormick said she was riding him on the trail and "all of a sudden, he had wheeled around and jumped back down the trail. I thought, ‘What was that about,’ and I turned around to see."

"I saw a dead tree had fallen on the trail where we had been. I wasn’t anything I was expecting, but he heard it and got us out of the way."

Barney is 29 now, and McCormick has eased back on the amount of riding and the difficulty of the rides. However, she has no plans to retire him fully, since he is sound and enjoys his work.

"He’s stiff when he comes out of his stall in the morning, but he works out of it," she said. "He doesn’t have any lameness."