From the President
Well fellow OHC members, we are not in Kansas anymore. We will all come through this current situation, but for now our comfortable, carefree world has been turned upside down.
I trust everyone has heard the state forest and park camp grounds are closed until further notice. All of the equine horse trails except Wayne National Forest are open for day riding. Wayne National closes there trails every year from December 15th until April 15th. I have not heard other wise so I am going with the assumption that those trails will reopen on April 15th.
Locally, I am sure you have seen Face Book post that we have had a couple super work days prior to the social distancing order. Twenty-one volunteers showed up at Scioto Trails on March 14th to assist with the tie line project which will greatly improve the facilities for our Labor Day ride. The project expanded the camping area from approximately 20 campers to something over 40. We greatly appreciate the park manager, Bryan Kelly, for giving us the go ahead for this park improvement. If you bump into him, tell him thanks.
Tom and Julie McGuire, plus myself finished painting the orange and silver trails a couple weeks back. Last Saturday, on the 28th, I hiked the red trail in the Buckskin Canon area and finished our project to make the trail paint colors match the new equine map that was released late last summer. For everyone that has rode the Buckskin Canon area, going over the hill to the creek in the bottom is no big deal. Hiking back up the hill gives you a whole new appreciation for our ponies. In any case, the map and trails now all match. The Hocking forestry personnel have been out hanging the new maps at major crossing intersections. The maps are blown up, laminated and mounted on aluminum blanks that were provided by the Hocking Horse Trail face book group. On each sign, there is an arrow indicating "You Are Here." This is a major step forward to assist all of our equine friends not as familiar with the park as some of us locals.
As all should have heard, Equine Affair was canceled. I saw a new date for some time later in the fall but can’t remember it. When my senior moment clears up, I will get back to everyone. More important to our club, as of the last conversation I had with the All American Youth Show organizers, it is still on. The current situation makes every thing we do fluid and not carved in stone. I will keep everyone up to date as I get new info.
I heard this morning that the social distancing order is extended until April 30th. This came from Washington DC, not Columbus, but assume Ohio will follow suit. If Ohio does follow these recommendation, there will not be an April meeting. Like wise, the parks will remain closed and our ride at Great Seal will be canceled. I’m not going to speculate on our Mohican ride the first weekend of May. Stay tuned. We have a work day in April. Tom and I will get together in a couple weeks, assess the work needs at Hocking, then I will send out a special email with our plans.
On a brighter note, all parks are still open for day riding and some of our members have taking full advantage of their time off from work and logged a bunch of miles for this early in the year. The weather forecast for this week is mostly dry and in the 50 s. Going to add to my total, how about you?
To finish up, I turned in our grant application to South Central Power Foundation. At the last meeting, I had indicated the manure bins were on hold. We were giving a commitment from Dave Glass, Hocking Manager, that he will complete the new concrete manure bins by Memorial Day. With that commitment, my application included a request for enough money to do both the concrete bins and the tie rails we have talked about. Keep in mind, our side of the expenses is tied to the AAYS. If it is canceled, we will most likely have to punt on part of these plans.
At this point you know all that I know.
Chris
