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Website Management

What is Western Trail Rider All About?

This evening I was thinking about my next horse pack trip and what needs to be done before the departure date arrives. That got me thinking about the reason I started Western Trail Rider. Maybe it’s worth a short blurb to remind myself, as well as to invite others to share their experience or advertise their goods and services.

Dad, packing in the Blue Range Primitive Area, Arizona

During 2010, a friend of mine and I began discussing the possibility of a horse pack trip from the US/Mexico Border to the Canadian Border. As the idea grew, I began to do research and ask a lot of questions on various forums and websites. It didn’t take me long to discover that the trip has not been made but by a very few intrepid travelers, and even fewer on horseback. There is very little documentation available about the trails, mileage, water, feed, etc.  As I got deeper into the research and had made the decision to actually attempt such a trip by horse or mule, a number of people suggested that I start a web log, otherwise known as a blog, to document my research and the pack trip, so that others might be able to track of my progress and enjoy the trip with me, vicariously.

Well, I quickly realized that the available blogging services were not quite what I wanted and I didn’t care for the prospect of their advertisements on my blog and their profiting from my posts and personal information. A little study revealed that I could create my own website and host my own blog at a very reasonable cost and that with a little study and effort I could manage it myself with open source software available on the Internet.

So, Western Trail Rider was born. It is my website, created to host my blog about my own experiences and learning with regard to horses and horse packing. I have since created a facebook page, also called Western trail Rider, that supports this website and blog. Whenever I create a new post on my blog, it automatically posts to my facebook page, which links it back to the website.

Over the past several years, I have been able to revise, update, and improve the website, bringing it to what you find today at https://westerntrailrider.com. There is a photo album page, as well as a link to my Western Trail Rider Youtube channel. I have also been able to link my Delorme/Garmin GPS device to the website, so that my followers can actually track me via the linked active map.

I have also expanded the purpose of the website to include an open invitation to others who might be looking for a way to document and share their own experiences for posterity. I consider it a great means of keeping a sort of journal that is available to my kids and grandkids at the click of a few computer keys. All of the above services are available to anyone who blogs under the WTR banner.

Packing in the Bob Marshal Wilderness Area

So, if you’re looking for a way to document and store information about your horse-related experiences, or advertise your horse-related goods and services, shoot me an email. It takes me a few minutes to set up a blog site and to provide you with email addresses for the administration of it. There is no cost at all.

Your blog can be set up to post to the Western Trail Rider facebook page, like mine do, or to your own page. The whole idea being that your blog becomes searchable and “googleable” as part of Western Trail Rider’s website content. The more blogs we have on the site, the greater becomes our exposure to search engines, such as Google, Safari, Bing, etc.

For those offering services, such as guides, lodging, or outfitting, additional exposure and free advertising certainly can’t hurt your business enterprise.

The only requirements I have is that the content be family friendly and horse or mule-related. You may post events, advertise goods and services, and even take payments and donations on your blog. If there are services you would like that are not currently available, we can talk and see what we can do to rectify that. I’m pretty easy.

Talk to me and let’s see what we can do.

Tony Henrie
tony.henrie@westerntrailrider.com

Me, J, and Lucky, at the Continental Divide Trail in Montana
Great Western Trail, Website Management, Western Trails

Hmmm. I need to update the website….

I recently created a new website for a sports fan group I have belonged to for more than ten years. We are die-hard fans of everything related to Brigham Young University sports, especially football. We had been using a forum service, YUKU, for a lot of years and finally got tired of the poor service and goofy advertisements they slipped into our forum. We had to pay a fee not to see advertisements. Finally we got so fed up with it that we began to talk about looking for a new home for our forum. As we discussed it, I realized that it would be a pretty simple solution for us to buy a domain name and create our own website and forum. So, that’s what we did, using my web hosting account with Bluehost. So, I created byufans.net. It is a closed group, though, so membership is limited to the current members and those individuals who are personally invited by a member.  Sorry.

Anyway, what does that have to do with Western Trail Rider? Well, the new website looks so good and works so well and is so easy to manage that I was quite impressed with myself (hehehe). But, when I switch over to my WTR site, well, it started looking a bit drab and old. Now, every time I look at WTR I think I need to update it.

So, I’m going to be looking at new themes and other apps and programs that might sort of dress up the site and make it more user-friendly and easier to manage. Once I decide what to do, I’ll let everybody know that it may be down for a few hours…that is, if everything goes well…or a few days, if I mess up. Now, nobody need suppose that I am a website developer or otherwise expert, or even knowledgeable, about websites and blogs. I just trip along until something looks pretty good and works ok. WordPress has made things pretty simple for guys like me. It is mostly a matter of figuring out what I like, then plug-and-play. Still, I seem to be able to mess things up pretty well, as I try mixing and matching different services on the site. The challenge is going to be ensuring that I don’t lose any of the photos, information, posts, and serviceability of the current site.

Also, I understand how each provider of an app or service can spend thousands of hours developing a simple app for dummies like me to “plug-and-play” and that they certainly deserve to be paid for their efforts. However, when a guy like me starts adding up the various fees and subscriptions and donations, the cost starts to reach a significant level per year, particularly when I am not making a penny on the website.

I created the website shortly after I started planning my big horse pack trip a few years ago. A number of folks suggested that I start a blog, so they could keep up with my planning, gear purchases and reviews, and other developments, as well as documentation of the trip itself. It occurred to me that I might just as well purchase a domain name, start a website of my own, and invite other horse and trail riding folks to blog along with me. The thought was that we, together, might create a website where like-minded people might come to find information about horse trails in the western U.S. and to get first-hand information from people who had actually ridden those trails. I’m not talking about state and national park trails – there are numerous websites for those places. I’m talking about the backtrails and places that are almost unknown except to riders from the local areas. Places folks hear about, but few ever see. I figured that eventually there might be enough bloggers on the site that a little advertising income might be generated, to pay for the website maintenance. That hasn’t developed, so I’m content with simply using the site as a place to document my horse adventures for a few faithful followers to enjoy.

Still, I’d like to make it an attractive and interesting website. So, I’ll be working on updating it over the coming couple of months.

Stay tuned to see what I come up with!

P.S. The invitation is still open for anybody who would like to start their own horse-related blog under the WTR banner or to link an existing blog through WTR. The only requirement is that it be related to horse trails in the western U.S. or some aspect of horse or mule packing. There is no charge and I maintain the site at no expense to you…unless you would like to help out.  If you have interest, send me an email at tony.henrie@westerntrailrider.com.

 

Great Western Trail, Website Management, Western Trails

For those of you who have been asking….

Over the past several months, a number of friends and followers of my blog have asked how they might contribute to helping Dad and me get underway on the second leg of our Mexico-to-Canada horse pack trip. I have always been pretty much a “do-it-yourself” kind of guy, having been raised by a father who was that way, so asking for assistance is sometimes difficult. However, we have been the grateful recipients of help in many ways, including support on the trail, guides, farriers, transportation, gear, stopover points, and also a bit of financial help.

Over the years, I have enjoyed the good feelings I get when I have had opportunity to share in another’s success by helping in any way I can. Sometimes the only way I can help is by a small financial contribution. While time is always more valuable than money, good causes are always worthy of help and sometimes there is no other way for me to contribute positively than to donate financially. Well, maybe it’s our turn to be on the receiving end.

This adventure of ours has been far more expensive than I had anticipated. I have had to draw from family savings because the expenses have exceeded the income I have been able to bring in from my current post-retirement work. I purchased almost all our gear last year, including a well-used 4-horse trailer. Our total expenses for last year’s trip exceeded $23,000.

This year I purchased about $1,500 worth of gear as well as a new horse for the trip, as I had to replace my Fox Trotter mare, who is game, but proved not to be the right horse for the trip. Many of the expenses for this year’s trip have been unanticipated. Last month, on the return from our tune-up trip to Moab, Utah, I blew the engine in my truck. The rebuild and other repairs associated with getting the truck ready for this year’s trip have run in excess of $10,000 over the past two months. Since I bought the horse trailer I have blown four tires on the rear axle. Two were brand new tires. Last week I took the trailer in to have it checked, to see what might be the cause. The problem was diagnosed as a slightly bent rear axle. Having a new axle installed, along with having the front bearings repacked and the brakes and backing plates replaced, ran me $2170. The trailer is still at the shop with further adjustments being made. Hopefully, this will fix the problem of having to buy a new set of trailer tires every other trip. Last week I replaced four tires on my truck. There went another $1,000.

My plan for the year was to be able to cover all our expenses for gear, vehicle, fuel, etc, and have $5,000 in my trip account before I started. All the above unanticipated expenses have shot that plan all to heck and I’m back into family savings. My good wife, bless her heart, is still supportive of our trip.

Recently we received good news that much of our horse feed would be donated by an anonymous donor. Friends and family are donating time. Still to come are expenses for fuel for the trip, including fuel for our support help, horse feed, people feed, and other expenses we will incur once we actually start making tracks.

For those of you who have been following the blog and enjoying our father and son adventure through my writing and who have been asking how you may help, I have created a “Donate” button on the website. It connects to my PayPal account. You will find a “Donate” menu item on the main menu. It will take you to the page with the PayPal Donate button. For those who wish it, I will keep the donations confidential. For those who don’t mind, I will create a list of contributors to post on the website after the ride this year is done.

And thank you very much for your help.

Great Western Trail, Website Management

Happy New Year 2016!!

I spent some time yesterday with my journal, reviewing the past year. It has been a productive year for me. During 2015 I realized a number of personal accomplishments and goals that have opened a number of opportunities to me. I’ll list some of them.

  • I became an NRA Certified Firearms Instructor (NRA Basic Pistol)
  • I became a Utah state certified Concealed Firearm Permit Instructor
  • I became a licensed Armed Private Security Officer in the State of Utah
  • I became a certified PACSCO instructor for training Unarmed and Armed Private Security Officers for licensing in the State of Utah
  • I became the Director of Training for Bedrock Protection Agency
  • I obtained a Private Investigator Agency License in the State of Utah
  • I became the Private Investigator Agency Licensee for Bedrock Investigations
  • I started Mountain Enterprises, LLC, registered in both Utah and Arizona, to be the parent company for my business enterprises
  • I started Guardian Personal Firearms Training, as a firearms training business for the Utah Concealed Firearm Permit courses and other defensive firearms training for private security officers, individuals, and families
  • I registered Western Trail Rider as a business under Mountain Enterprises, LLC
  • I made and sold my first three pairs of chaps
  • I started improvements on my property in Arizona with an eye toward hay production in the future
  • I finished outfitting and preparations for the Mexico-to-Canada horse pack trip for Dad and me
  • Dad and I made the first leg of our M-T-C trip, from the US/Mexico border to Eagar, AZ – 355 miles in 28 days.
  • The most important thing of all, is that my wife and I saw our youngest daughter off to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon). She’ll be serving for 18 months in the Argentina-Mendoza mission.

Suffice it to say, I have been very busy this year. I expect to be even busier this coming year. I have always been very goal-oriented. Keeping a journal has helped me in accomplishing my goals and fulfilling my dreams and desires. Documenting my goals and writing about my victories and failures helps me keep track of my progress…or lack thereof, during the year. Just like everyone else, I make a lot of goals and have a lot of dreams, most of which fall by the wayside each year. Not that they go away, but that either the opportunity did not materialize or I failed to put forth the necessary effort to realize them. As I have aged, I have seen a lot of my dreams come to naught and many of my former desires I no longer wish for. And, surprisingly, a few new desires crop up here and there. Still, looking back through my journals it is plain to see that I have a few interests, dreams, and desires that have persisted throughout my life. These are the ones I have begun to focus on since I retired from government service several years ago. One of these is my love for horses and horse packing. Another is my desire to have a small farm or ranch.

The most important things in my life have always been God and family, yet I often find myself selfishly putting other things before them. As the scriptures tell us, one cannot serve God and Mammon (or worldliness) at the same time. Over the past several years, this has been on my mind a lot. How can I serve God and also support my family and myself? Are my desires and dreams incompatible with service to God? I don’t think so.

I have come to the conclusion that God intends for us to be happy in this life. That doesn’t mean life is intended to be easy, but that we are intended to have joy in this life by making the most of what the Lord gives us to work with. I believe God loves us. I believe He knows “the end from the beginning” – that He knows all things past, present, and future. I believe all things are under His control and in His power. I believe also, that God gave us our Free Will, and that he does not dictate our actions. We have the ability to choose our way and make our own decisions. It follows, then, that whatever opportunities and challenges come to me, ruling out problems I bring upon myself through my own mistakes and unwise choices, are, in fact, given me of God. Which opportunities I choose to follow and how I choose to respond to challenges is my God-given prerogative. My improvement of those opportunities and challenges, therefore, is my service to God. Giving my best effort in all things good pleases God. This is what I believe.

I also believe that as I please God by giving my best effort to improve what he has given me, He will increase my opportunities as my ability to improve them increases. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think God cares much about whether I make a lot of money in this life. I do believe, however, that improving the opportunities He provides me can result in monetary success as well as spiritual growth. My desire and efforts should be in good service, and let the chips fall where they may.

God has been good to me.

I have but one New Year’s resolution this year and that is to put forth a better effort in everything I do. I want to be more efficient and effective in the use of my time in all aspects of my life. That means I will put forth better effort in my employment, in developing my business prospects, in keeping up my website and blogs, in keeping up my family and church responsibilities, and in improving my own health and personal conditioning. By doing this, I expect that the opportunities I have been blessed with in the past several years will begin to bear fruit in the coming year and going forward. I believe this will be pleasing to my Lord.

Some things I hope to accomplish during 2016 are:

  • First and foremost, to see that my daughter is supported to the best of my ability on her mission
  • Secondly, to see that Dad and I make the second leg of our Mexico-to-Canada horse pack trip

After those two:

  • Put in10 acres alfalfa on the place in Eagar
    • Get the well repaired and functional
    • Get irrigation established
    • Improve fencing
    • Get a barn put up for hay and tack storage
    • Buy 4 calves to start on the place
  • Get regular firearms training classes scheduled and working in Utah and Arizona
    • Get more NRA Instructor certifications (work toward becoming an NRA Instructor Counselor)
    • Design and offer advanced defensive firearms courses
  • Improve the Western Trail Rider website
    • Take and document at least 3 horse pack trips during the year, other than the M-T-C ride
    • Completely document the M-T-C ride and all preparations with my blogs, video, and photographs, product reviews, etc
    • Recruit/approve at least 6 individuals to keep blogs under Western Trail Rider
    • Increase follower and subscribership on Western Trail Rider to 1,000 and views/clicks to 300 per day
    • Create a way that outfitters and suppliers can advertise their services and products on the website that will improve their exposure and help the website

So, there it is. That’s my list of things I wish to accomplish over the coming year. There are a few other personal and employment goals, but I’ll keep those in my personal journal.

Good luck with your goals and planning for the coming year and have a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Welcome 2016!

Website Management

Some changes coming for the website…

So, friends and followers,

I have engaged Fifth Mission Marketing to revamp the website.

In the near future we will be remaking the Western Trail Rider website.  For about the past year I have been having trouble keeping the website functioning. When I set it up, back in 2012, I had plenty of time on my hands, having recently retired, so I was able to spend the time to create the website using all open-source software, including WordPress for the blog, Coppermine for the member photo gallery, and PHPBB3 for the forums. I was able to tie all three programs together using WP United, which allowed a single log-in to enter each of the aforementioned programs on the website. Then, during the fall of last year, while I was moving, the website came under fire from spammers. While I wasn’t paying attention the site received more than 5,000 spam member registrations on the forums, which I had to delete manually, almost one-by-one, because PHPBB3 didn’t have a function for bulk member deletions. There was so much good information on the forums already that I didn’t want to simply trash it all. I cleaned it all up, but still couldn’t seem to keep spam operators from registering on the site. I just didn’t have the time to monitor it every day to keep up with them.

Then came along several major updates to WordPress, which broke the functionality of WP United, so the programs no longer talked to each other. WP United is no longer supported, so it’s broke for good. Then came updates to the other two programs, by which time I was lost and none of the programs were functioning properly. I hired Fifth Mission to get the website functioning just in time for Dad and I to embark on the first leg of our Mexico-to-Canada horse pack trip last spring. It worked for a little while, but another major update from WordPress while I was out broke things again.  Well, I was frustrated and sort of gave up on it for a while, besides, I was fully engaged in building up a new business.

Now that I’m back in gear and working on planning and preparations for next year’s second leg of the pack trip, I’m also working on getting the website back in gear.

Here’s the plan:  Fifth Mission will be hosting my website. They will redesign it using a new WordPress theme, adding several new and “high-speed-low-drag” functionalities to the site. The new theme incorporates a photo management function, which will replace Coppermine as the member gallery. There will be a map, sort of like what you see on Google Maps, with small icons on it that are clickable by members. When you click on the icon, you will go to a page that holds photos, comments, and writeups on a particular trail located under that icon on the map. This will take the place of the forums. We are still working out details of how to conduct other discussions, such as gear, trail tactics and strategy, etc., in a forum-style format, but there will be something.

The downside is that all the current website members and followers are going to have to register again. Sorry about that, but in order to keep the spammers off, we are going to have to start from scratch and rebuild everything. This time it will be all under one program and with one company hosting it and watching over me and the website. When there is an update, everything will be compatible and will keep on working. I am optimistic that in this way I will be able to keep things up and running.

So, in the not-too-distant future, look for some major changes on the website.

Stay tuned for new updates on my preparations for the second leg of the big ride.

 

Website Management

WTR will be getting a face-lift this week…

Thank you to all my followers and WTR members who have tolerated my DIY mentality and the associated problems on this website.

With the big ride coming up next month, I finally “bit the bullet,” so to speak, and hired a company to get this website in order. I just don’t have the know-how or mental capacity to keep this thing up and running. Andrew Goodwin, of Fifth Mission Marketing, Provo, Utah, has taken on the re-vamp project. Within a few days I expect this website to be looking great and humming right along.

Some of the features we hope to have available and working on the site are the following:

  • A blog site, not only for my blog, but for anyone who regularly does trail rides and/or pack trips in the western United States, and wishes to blog about it. That includes outfitters, guides, and just plain old people like myself, who just love to do it.
  • A gallery for members to post favorite photos of their trail riding and packing adventures, viewable by the public, or set to private at the discretion of the member.
  • Forums for discussing and archiving detailed information about the trails we ride (facebook is great for one-liners and posting photos, but lousy for real discussion and making the information retrievable).
  • Blog posts, comments on blog posts, gallery photos, and forum posts may be shared on other social media, such as facebook and twitter.
  • An embedded link to a live map that will show in real-time the where Dad and I are on our Mexico-to-Canada pack trip. We hope to be able to do the same for other members and their trips.
  • Future ability to add advertisement and sales on the page, for outfitters, suppliers, and other members who have goods/services to offer.
  • The future ability for members to schedule and pay outfitters and guides who advertise on WTR.

I’m pretty excited about all this, particularly with regard to my blog followers and the members being able to follow our trip in real time on the map. The ride was the reason behind all this effort in the first place. The rest is simply icing on the cake.

My hope is, and always has been, that WTR will eventually become a site where people can come to find up-to-date and detailed information about places to ride and camp with horses in the western United States. My particular focus has been to document the little-known trails on BLM and USFS land, that are only know to the locals in the immediate vicinity. Many of these trails have existed for a century or more, but are quickly becoming impassable and disappearing, due to lack of use. Who knows whether the website will ever take hold and go, but it won’t die for lack of effort. I hope this ride Dad and I are taking will encourage others to join in and help keep our back country trails open and our rights to ride them secure.

Thanks again for all who have followed along. By this time next week, I hope the everything is back in order and working. It may look a little different, but I’ll still be “the man behind the curtain”.

Website Management

Forum may or may not be working….

Sorry that I have let the forums go for so long. Last year I let it go because it was getting little use and it took huge amounts of time to administer. I just couldn’t keep up with it.

It wasn’t the users who were the problem, but the spammers. I finally installed a good anti-spam plugin, but by then I had other problems with the software. After a couple of updates to WordPress, things on the phpbb forum got goofy. I spent untold hours trying to figure it out, but couldn’t, so I just let it go.

I started trying to look into it again this week and was discouraged to see that I got hit with another round of Russian and Chinese spammers. I have spent the past two days deleting more than 4,500 spam comments and over 1,500 spam users from the forum, all of whom hit since about mid-December 2014. On top of that, I still can’t get the integration between phpbb and WordPress working.

I looked for help this morning, after getting the spammers cleaned up last night, only to find that the integration plugin WP_United has been abandoned. Their support forum hasn’t been maintained since about last May and even their forum has been taken over by spammers.

So, I’m looking for other software to try to integrate the forum, gallery, and the main WP website.

I’ve installed a plugin that is supposed to allow integration of the memberships of the website and the forum, such that registering on one automatically registers you for the other, but I’m not sure whether it’s working, or even whether I have been able to successfully remove WP_United, and I don’t know whether it even recognizes the Coppermine photo gallery. So, we’re in a rebuilding stage.

I may end up having to completely take down the forum, and maybe even the website, and install new software altogether. Hopefully I’ll be able to save the information already posted, because there is some good information there.

Sorry for the inconvenience. Had I know this was going to be such trouble and such a time-sink when I started it, I don’t think I would have even attempted. I figured it would be a good learning experience and be good exercise for my gray matter. I find that nowadays it’s not the learning that is difficult, but the remembering what I learned from one day to the next.

Still, I’m trying. I still believe there could be value in this website and forum for those of us who enjoy spending time out on the western trails for pleasure, as well as for those with business interests – those who make their living as guides, suppliers, and outfitters. The vision was to make this website a clearinghouse for information specific to horse and mule packing in the western United States, whether for people who like to go it on their own, like I do, or to get those who would rather have a guide and outfitter in contact with people who can supply their needs.

It may never get there, but it won’t be for lack of trying on my part.

Thanks for following along through this ordeal. I’d much rather be out riding my horse in a snow storm than sitting in front of this computer trying to make sense of software programming.

Website Management

Start Your Blog Here at Western Trail Rider!

I was recently contemplating all the work and effort I have put into creating this website and starting my Great Western Trail Ride blog. There was a while there when I was pulling all-nighters just trying to get one or two problems on the website working properly. Then I crashed the website while trying to migrate it to another web host. I lost everything and had to start completely over. Luckily, I was able to restore all my blog posts from caches on another site. Still, it was a lot of work. Just creating a single well-written blog post is a lot of work!

I started wondering whether it was all worth the effort, and trying to define exactly what my goals were for starting the website and blog. The bottom line, I decided, was that I hoped that eventually the information I posted would be helpful to others, or at least entertaining, and maybe feed their dreams the way others have fed mine. For that to happen, I needed to be able to reach people, or it would all be wasted effort.

Which is why I am writing this post. The title makes it sound like blatant promotion of the website, but read on. If you are interested in sharing information relating to horse packing, camping, and trail riding, or related topics, or if you currently maintain such a blog (short for web log), but are not getting the readership or following you would like (sort of like talking to yourself), then this may interest you. Read on.

For a blog or website to have any value, other than being a simple release of energy and creative juices, somebody has to read it. Then, for you to get any gratification, they have to be able to respond to your posts, comment on them, and share them with their friends. For that to happen at all, people have to be able to find your blog. This is done by means of search engines, such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, Pinterest, and others.

Search engines operate by means of tiny computer programs known as “bots” and “spiders”, that wander through the Internet attaching themselves to anything that moves, and reporting back to the search engine. For instance, the Western Trail Rider forum currently has fifty such bots registered on the forum. These bots feed on the information posted in the forums and report back to their respective search engine any particular key words they find that might be attractive to people using that search engine.

Have you ever wondered how the computer knows just what advertisements to put on your home page, or how facebook knows to send you “suggested pages”? Same thing. The bots take a look at the things you search for and look at, and report back to their search engine. Invasion of privacy? Yup. So what? We have all checked that little box that says they can do it if we want to use their services…and we do.

So, in horses bots and spiders are bad. On your blog, they are good…most of them. They get you noticed by the search engines. Notice by search engines gets you subscribers and followers. A long-running blog that has a large following can turn out to be a money-maker, through Internet advertising, although for most of us that’s not the real goal. Most of us just want to share our experiences with others, and the more followers we have, the happier we are.

In order to maximize a blog or website’s ability to get noticed by the major search engines, there are free and paid sources of software out there geared to maximize your “SEO” (search engine optimization). They help create “slugs” and search-friendly key words, categories, and tags, that help get your blog or website noticed. WordPress, which is the software behind Western Trail Rider, has excellent SEO software built-in.

Now comes the kicker. If you have a desire to create a blog to document your trail rides or pack trips, or share your experience as an outfitter in Wyoming (for instance), wouldn’t it be to your advantage to start your blog under a website that already houses similar blogs, already has a following, and already ranks well with the major search engines? Can you see the application of the old saw, “Strength in numbers”, here? Brings to mind the flash floods we used to see in Arizona. One minute the wash is dry, then next it is flowing full, all because a lot of rain drops fell to the ground, then joined together to run into the same flow, creating volume by their numbers.

I have looked at numerous blogs on websites of suppliers, outfitters, and just simple bloggers, who have posted half-a-dozen short posts and given up, because they had no following, and it became a non-productive expenditure of time and energy.

Our vision, here at Western Trail Rider, is to create a website where people like yourself can share their western trail riding adventures and practical experience, discuss related matters in a healthy and active forum, and actually get their information into the hands of people who are looking for it. As we get more bloggers and forum members under the WTR banner, the better will be our search engine ranking, and greater will be the exposure for all.

So your options are essentially this: Do it yourself…the hard way…or come join us and we’ll all do it together.

If this interests you, hit me with an email at tony.henrie@westerntrailrider.com. It will take me a matter of minutes to get you started. It’s easy. You don’t have to be a computer whiz. We’ll get you started, we’ll take care of you.

In the meantime, check out our current blogs: Trail Rides with Jon (by Jon Tanner) and Tony’s Great Western Trail Ride (by Tony Henrie). Join the forum. Create a photo album of your favorite trail.

Just click on the menu item at the top of this page.

 

Website Management

OK. The site is back up…

But it looks like I’m going to have to rebuild from the ground up. I have fixed some bugs that I introduced into the previous site, and hopefully I have learned enough to be more careful in the future.

New: I have integrated the WTR site with the Forum and Gallery, so that when you register on the WTR site, you are automatically registered for the other two. If you encounter problems, let me know and I’ll see if I can screw it up…er…I mean, fix it.

I changed the “Comments”, and “Share” buttons. It is not quite as busy as what I had, so let me know whether you like this or prefer the traditional facebook boxes. I am not yet sure whether facebook comments will be integrated with it yet. We’ll see.

Those who previously “followed” or subscribed to the site or posts may need to do that again.

I am working on restoring my previous posts. I may end up having to rebuild those as well. I will also reload my photo albums to the Gallery. I should have everything back up to speed by the end of the week.

Thanks for your patience.

Thanks for you patience.