July 2020 FCOHC Newsletter

I have taken the easy way out for the past 2 months and only produced an abbreviated club newsletter. Well time to buckle down and go for the real deal.

Life, as we knew it prior to March 16th, is sill not on the immediate horizon, but most of us are returning to a more active existence. Our ponies for the most part got a little fatter than normal from lack of saddle time, but that probably isn’t all bad as most gear up to hit the trails and make up for lost time.

I have seen several posts on FaceBook where our members have been to Tennessee, Kentucky, W.Virginia, as well as numerous local state parks and forests. A few pictures accompany this newsletter. Personally, I was fortunate enough to be in the group that went to W. Virginia. We have hills in Ohio, but W.Virginia has honest to god mountains. The scenery was beautiful, but it took a toll on several of the horses. We kept the local equine Chiropractor busy for a couple of days putting vertebra back in place to relieve sore backs on some of our mounts.

As most know by now, Hocking State Forest horse camp and equine trails reopened June 15th. The trails are currently open to Old Man Caves. The Hocking State Park is slated to open on July 2nd and I would assume that will also open up the horse trails that go from Old Man Cave to Cedar Falls and Ash Cave. I will verify and let everyone know by way of email later. I personally rode at Hocking last Thursday and found the trails in great shape. Dave Glass’s crew finished the sign project. The trees have all been cleared from the trails and 2 new manure bins have been built at the state horse camp. Also, I saw where some covert work had been done at a few of the campsites plus new stone had been spread on the road through camp. Kudos to Dave and his forest crew.

Our club has attempted to hold a couple of rides, but so far Salt Fork is the only one that actually happened. Five trailers and 9 members made the trip. The pictures with this newsletter would indicate they had a good time. Several of us that had been on the W. Virginia trip normally go to the Salt Fork ride but had just gotten back from a week away from home and had to play catch up on home chores. Our loss, a nice park that we look forward to each year, but you can’t play all the time.

Not sure who all went to Dillon the last weekend in June, but was told a hand full were going up to hang out with the Licking County OHC group. Licking county had originally scheduled a regional ride but that was canceled due to the COVID virus. I saw several storms went through the Dillon area Friday and Saturday, hope all survived without ugly stories to tell.

Our next club ride is scheduled for the 4th of July weekend at Zaleski State Forest. We do have the group camp reserved from Thursday the 2nd through Sunday the 5th. Tie posts are available in the group area, but you will need to bring rope to make a tie line. The regular camp is also open for those that may wish to go prior to Thursday. We will not be having a community meal on Saturday evening. That is one of the activities the state has asked that we avoid at this time.

We have not had a meeting since February. However, Fat Cat’s have given us the go-ahead to hold a meeting on Sunday, July 12th. The meeting will take place at 7 pm and as has been the case in the past, you can come early and eat if you like. There are a number of items to discuss as you might imagine since we have not had a meeting for 5 months but I promise to not keep anyone up past their bedtime. We are going to have a short presentation from a guest speaker, Toni Turk, regarding her evolvement with the local humane society. Other topics to discuss are work projects, our state ride at Scioto Trails over Labor Day, Christmas party and whatever else the group feels will benefit the club. Oh yea, wear a name badge so I can remember who you are. Kidding mostly.

That about catches us up to date. I hope to see several at Zaleski and or on the 12th for our meeting.

Chris