Local kids have new sports opportunity

St. Louis-area youngsters have a brand new sporting venue. Although playing horseshoes might be new to local kids, the sport got its start in ancient Greece.

The National Horseshoe Pitchers Association Hall of Fame and Museum opened last month near Wentzville. The museum is equipped with both indoor and outdoor horseshoeing pits.

Indoor horseshoe pits

Roy Evans is vice-president of the Quail Ridge Horseshoe Club. That's the host club that operates the Hall of Fame and Museum complex at Quail Ridge County Park.

That facility is near the intersection of U.S. 40-64 and Interstate 70 in St. Charles County. The horseshoe association has leased three acres in the new county park. The 250-acre county park has a special area for dog training as well as hiking trails and playgrounds.

Evans, who lives in unincorporated St. Louis County, said "One of our museum's big goals is to start kids leagues here."

He said there will be leagues in two different youth divisions. One is Cadets, for kids 10 and under. The other is Juniors, for kids 15 and under.

Evans said the Missouri chapter recently was given an award as the state that had recruited the largest number of junior players. Missouri regularly ranks either first or second in the total number of participants in horseshoeing, he said.

Kids use the same horseshoe pits as adults, but the distance between pegs is shortened.

For instance, the horseshoe pegs are spaced 40 feet apart for adults. For Juniors, they are 30 feet apart and Cadets throw at pegs 20 feet apart. The standard adult horseshoe weighs a maximum of 2 lbs, 10 oz.

Juniors and Cadets throw shoes that weigh 1 lb., 14 oz. But, Evans said both ages oftentimes throw adult shoes because they are throwing from shorter distances.

Evans said, "If you're just starting with horseshoeing, we have people who can help you improve." He said Rich Altis of Ballwin heads up the group of club members who will help both kids and adults.

The Quail Ridge club operates open horseshoeing hours on Sundays, from noon to 5 p.m.

(If you are interested in signing up for a youth league, you can visit the club's website at www.quailridgehorseshoes.com. Or you can stop by the museum and pick up an application form. Or you can call the museum at (636) 327-5270.)

The facility is open Mondays and Wednesdays, from noon to 8 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.

League play started late last month. Mixed leagues for men, women and juniors compete on Monday evenings with 16 4-member teams competing. On Wednesdays, 12 men-only teams of from five to seven compete.

Evans said the drive to relocate the national hall of fame and museum in Missouri started about 2½ years ago. He said the facility was formerly in Tennessee.

"A doctor had given money to the national association to build the hall of fame and museum there. However, the donor died and the horseshoeing club there couldn't maintain the facility," Evans said.

He said the New Melle Horseshoe Club made a push to build a new facility in Missouri. The St. Charles Parks Department was building the 250-acre Quail Ridge Park and agreed to lease three acres of land for 30 years at $100 a year.

The national association then sold the buildings in Tennessee and used the money to build at Quail Ridge Park. The new facility was dedicated last month. The biggest part of the building is for the indoor pits.

Evans said he's been horseshoeing since he was "about 9 or 10" and living in Michigan.

When moving to St. Louis, he joined a couple different clubs. But, he moved to the New Melle club because it had indoor pits. "I thought, 'Boy, I can throw all year around,'" he said. The New Melle club changed its name during the move to the new facility.

He said horseshoeing dates its beginnings to ancient Greece. "It was under a different name then," he said.

Horseshoeing was a natural for the United States in the early days because of the use of horses for both farm work and transportation.

Horseshoe hall of fame and museum

But, the new hall of fame and museum certainly makes horseshoeing look like a modern sport. The indoor throwing area looks more like a bowling alley. The only dirt is around the pegs and the rest of the area has flooring.

The new facility will host the Missouri state horseshoeing tournament next Labor Day. And the club is hoping to land the world championships in 2010.