We are an all-breed club with a mission to ride and have fun in a non-competitive atmosphere.

Next meeting - Thursday, September 18, 7:00pm

The meeting will be at Thomas' Country Buffet, 4122 Emory St, Covington, Georgia.

Meetings are held the 3rd Thursday of each month at 7:00pm.

Announcement List Established

We have established an announcement list to send out newsletters and other information. If you receive an email from announcementlist@rockdaletrailblazers.org asking you to confirm your subscription it is legitimate.

If you like you can join the announcement list here.

Upcoming Events

Check out our new feature! RTB WebCalendar

Click here to add an equine event to the RTB Web Calendar.

October- RTB FALL ride

Fort Mountain contact Gene Owen (404-234-9993)

Don Patton

The Rockdale Trail Blazers lost one of it's most active members July 17 with the passing of Don Patton. He was our Treasurer, Back Country Horseman board member and supporter of many clubs and associations in the Southeast. We will all be looking for him in camp, on the trail and on the dance floor for a long time to come.

A Note From Don's Family

During a time like this we realize how much our family and friends really mean to us. Your expression of sympathy will always be remembered. Don truly loved the Rockdale Trailblazers and talked of all of you so often. It was so comforting to meet some of you and talk about the "good times" - this has helped us more than anything. Please keep looking for him in camp,on the trail and on the dance floor and so will we. Much love and appreciation to each of you. Sincerely,

The family of Don Patton

You can view Don's Everlasting Memorial here.

Don Cooper Patton, 64, of Winder, died Thursday, July 17, 2008.

Born in Barrow County, he was the son of the late Richard “Jack” and Mattie “Sue” Cooper Patton. He was an installer for Lucent Tech, and was a member of First Christian Church and a member of Rockdale Trail Blazers Club. Mr. Patton was a veteran, having served in the United States Air Force.

Survivors include children, Jackie Don Patton, Winder; sisters and brothers-in-law, Martha and Joe Harbin and Sandra and Charles Maddox, all of Winder; and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, July 19, at 4 p.m., at Winder First Christian Church with the Rev. Jim Brooks officiating. Burial will be in Rose Hill Cemetery. The family will receive friends Friday, July 18, at the funeral home from 6 to 9 p.m.

Smith Funeral Home, Winder, is in charge of arrangements.

Here is a tribute written by Linda Weatherly-Ramirez, one of his childhood friends.

A Tribute To Don Patton
By Linda Weatherly-Ramirez

I have never written a tribute for anyone until now. But then, I have never lost a friend as special to me as Don Patton. If I weren't grieving so much as I write this, I would almost find it humorous to refer to him as my special friend. Why, you ask?  Because the very first time I ever noticed Don (in 1959, when I was in the 9th grade), my first impression of this young boy was that he was an "obnoxious flirt"!  But please don't misunderstand, he was not flirting with me, but with 3 or 4 girls circled around him at recess in the Winder schoolyard! It was obvious that those girls didn't think of him as obnoxious, they were enjoying his teasing and flirting ever so much!  I could not have foreseen on this day so long ago, that this boy would become one of the dearest friends I've ever had the honor of knowing.

A year later (1960), my family moved to a new house across town. Don lived around the corner from us with his family, but our paths still had not crossed.

My first encounter with Don only confirmed my first impression of him! I had been shopping at Peskins Department Store, and was waiting in front of the store for my Mama to pick me up.  All of a sudden, someone from behind flipped my ponytail up and over my head! It both shocked and scared me!  I was then surprised to see that it was that obnoxious boy! As he walked past me, he laughed and looked back to see my reaction!  I gave him such a dirty look!  I thought to myself "How dare this boy, who didn't even know me, touch my ponytail!"

Somehow, and I don't remember how it happened, we became friends. Maybe being neighbors, maybe while swimming at the Winder Pool where he was a lifeguard, maybe while dancing together at parties, or maybe all of the above? We both became showoffs at school dances and at the Woman's Club dances that were held for teenagers. Don added many happy memories to my teenage years.

On one hot summer day, Don drove up in his truck at my house with 2 of his friends. He asked if I and some of my girlfriends wanted to go swimming at Rohr Lake with them? Well, sure we did! He made us girls ride in the back of his truck, but we didn't care, it was fun! After swimming for a few hours, and trying to avoid being drowned by Don and his friends, we headed back for home, again with us girls in the back of the truck.  One of girls asked if I thought Don would take us through town because that would be a fun thing to do!  I knew if I asked Don to do something that would be fun for us girls, he would probably say no. But I also knew Don well enough to know how to handle this. I leaned over to Don's open truck window, and had to yell because of the rushing wind as we rode down the Atlanta Highway, "Don, we want to go straight home, because our wet hair looks awful, and we don't want anybody to see us like this!  So please don't drive through town! OK? The girl looked at me, confused, and thought I had misunderstood her request. She opened her mouth to correct me, but I winked at her and told her to just wait and see what happens. Well, if you know Don Patton at all, you know that boy drove that truck straight to downtown Winder, and while LAUGHING at our (pretend) cries of protest, he took us right through the middle of town, honking his horn all the way!

What fun!

There were a few times that my Mama got a group of us kids together and took us to Atlanta to be on a local TV show featuring teenage dancers. It was Atlanta's version of American Bandstand. They would tape the show on one Saturday afternoon, and present it on TV the next Saturday. Don and I were dancing to "Ahab The Arab" when the camera was scanning the dancers, and came to us. We could see ourselves on the monitor, so we immediately went into a special, preplanned routine that made the camera stop on us! I turned toward the camera and put my pointed hands together above my head with my elbows bent (as in an Egyptian pose) and moved my head and body from side to side in beat with the music. Don stepped in behind me with the same pose, except he was moving in the opposite direction from me. It was the perfect dance for "Ahab the Arab", and we were the stars!

Don and I never dated or became romantically involved, but we were close friends who loved and cared about each other.  Don and my Mama were big buddies, too, and sometimes they even plotted against me.

Young girls don't always choose "nice" boys to date, because sometimes they are attracted to someone a little on the wild side, and I was no exception. If Mama didn't like someone I was dating, without my knowledge she would let Don know what time my date was coming to pick me up, and so help me, if Don Patton wouldn't show up at the same time as my date! I would be so embarrassed and humiliated when Don would come in the door with my date, hug me, and carry on about me! He would even put his arm around my shoulder as he told my date that he better take care of me, get me home on time, and so on, and so on! Those young boys usually didn't ask me out for a second date after an experience like that, so Don and Mama were probably very proud of themselves!

In 1966, when we were 22, Don was living on his country farm that he had bought, and I was going to Hawaii with my friend, Sheryl, to live and work, and hopefully have a fun Hawaiian adventure. The week before we left for Hawaii, Don and my Mama gave us a Luau. Don went to so much trouble to make the party a success! He even surprised Sheryl and me with grass hula skirts, which he insisted that we put on, and do the hula! Oh, my!

Don came to see me in Hawaii almost 3 years later, shortly before I returned to Georgia. He rented a car, and I gave him a tour of the island! We had a fun week!

When I got back home to Georgia, Don was planning to marry a beautiful girl. I can't remember her name now, but when the wedding day came, my Mama, my two younger sisters, my brother, and I were there for the happy occasion. As we sat in the church, quietly waiting for the ceremony to start, my little 10 year old sister turned to me, and said in a voice loud enough for the ladies behind us to hear, "Well, Linda, I guess this is a sad day for you!"

The ladies behind us giggled! I gasped, and quickly explained to my little sister, "Oh, no! Debbie, Don is just my good friend!  I'm HAPPY for him that he is getting married!"  I gave a quick glance over my shoulder at those smiling ladies, and hoped that they believed me!

I moved to St. Louis Mo soon after that, and Mama wrote to me sometime later, that Don's marriage had ended in divorce.  I was sad to hear the news, and hoped that he was OK

Don and I would lose touch from time to time through the years, but we would always reconnect at some time or another. When my mother died, he was there to comfort me. He was always the kind of friend that you could count on.

In our 40's, we would meet up at the Frog Pond in Athens to dance, and also at the Athens Singles' dances.  Even though Don had many ladies lined up wanting to dance with him, I like to think I was his special dance partner. I'm sure he made all of us ladies feel that way!

It became tradition that on Beach Night, which was once a month at the Frog Pond, that Don and I would start off the first dance, which was course would be a jitterbug! My friend, Sheila, had heard us talk many times reminiscing about our teenage years, and she told me after we had danced one night, "As I watched y'all dance, I could just picture you and Don as teenagers, cutting a rug on the dance floor!"  She couldn't have said anything to please me more!

There was a time when I became disheartened, and told Don that I was almost ready to give up the hope that someday I would meet Mr. Right and get married. He said, "You can't give up. You have to stay "out there" so he can find you when the time is right! Someone is there for you, just be patient."  He always gave me good advice, and his words gave me a glimmer of hope.

I did meet someone a few years later, and I sent Don a wedding invitation. I didn't hear back from him, so I didn't know if he would be at our wedding, or not.  But he did come!  I laughingly told him it's a good thing that he came to my wedding, he owed me that, since I was at HIS first wedding!  Don and I had our last dance together at my and Joe's wedding reception, and we happily have it on our wedding CD!

So along with the pictures of me and Don as teenagers and in Hawaii, the pictures made at my and Joe's wedding were the last pictures to record our happy times together and the friendship we shared. The end came too soon, and unexpected.

I received some nice emails from some of Don's friends from the Rockdale Trail Blazers Club, expressing their sorrow along with mine, and how much we all will miss him.  I wrote back to one of his friends, telling her how Don and I had shared the love of dancing, but knowing how much he loved horses, if I had been a "cowgirl", maybe I could have seen him more through the years!

I didn't realize how much it would hurt to lose Don. I think it's because I believed he would always be around, always laughing, always joking, always teasing.  I'm so grateful that Don somehow convinced a silly little girl almost 50 years ago, that he wasn't obnoxious at all, but was the dearest, sweetest, friend anyone could wish for!

Hay Shortage

If you are having trouble finding hay, you might find the following links useful.

Georgia Farm Bureau Hay Directory - http://70.150.96.39/comm/hay.htm
Internet Hay Exchange - http://www.hayexchange.com/index.php
The Hay Barn - http://www.haybarn.com/main/index.asp
Bid4Hay.com - http://www.bid4hay.com/index.php
Georgia Cattlemen's Association Hay Directory - http://www.gabeef.org/gca/haydirectory.html
Mississippi Hay Directory - http://msucares.com/livestock/beef/mshay.html
Pick Tennesse Products Hay Directory - http://picktnproducts.org/farm/hay.html
Southeastern North Carolina Hay Directory - http://onslow.ces.ncsu.edu/index.php?page=animalagriculture
North Carolina Department of Agriculture Hay Directory - http://www.agr.state.nc.us/hayalert/Advanced_HaySellers.asp
Farm Service Agency - Hay Net - http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=online&subject=landing&topic=hay

Gwinnett County Information Line

Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation will now have a phone number that we can call to find out if the equestrian trails will be closed at a particular Gwinnett park (due to abundance of rain, maintenance, a special event, etc.). They also plan to post the information on their website; however, the most current information should always be recorded on their information line - and that number is: 770-978-5270

Before hauling your horse to a Gwinnett County Park, call the above info number and be sure the trails are open.

Hope everyone is getting an opportunity to ride the new equestrian trails at Little Mulberry Park - they're awesome and the parking lot is really nice too (remember to keep it clean and use the manure container provided there).

We are very fortunate that Gwinnett County has remembered us at so many of their wonderful parks:

Whenever you have a chance, remember to say Thanks! You can view more information on these parks using the following link.

http://www.co.gwinnett.ga.us/cgi-bin/gwincty/egov/ep/gcNavView.do?path=Departments|Community+Services|Parks+%26+Recreation|Our+Parks+%26+Facilities|Parks+by+Amenities

Back Country Horsemen

Back Country Horsemen are concerned men and women dedicated to conserving public lands and protecting equestrians' historic right to use back country trails. You don't have to ride or even own a horse to be a member, just recognize the need to preserve our heritage and right to ride public lands and be willing to voice your support and work toward preserving this right. They need our help to assure that our "right to ride" is recognized and continues for future generations.

The purpose of Back Country Horsemen is:

1. To perpetuate the common sense use and enjoyment of horses in America’s back country and wilderness.

2. To work to insure that public lands remain open to recreational stock use.

3. To assist the various government and private agencies in their maintenance and management of said resource.

4. To educate, encourage and solicit active participation in the wise use of the back country resource by horsemen and the general public commensurate with our heritage.

5. To foster and encourage the formation of new state organizations and BCHA.

Back Country Horsemen of America
Back Country Horsemen of North Georgia
Back Country Horsemen of Middle and South Georgia

Click here for a Back Country Horsemen of North Georgia membership application.

Click here for a Back Country Horsemen of South Georgia membership application.