January 2022 FCOHC Newsletter

Wow, where did the year go? Most of 2021 is in the rear view mirror and for the most part I think it was a good one. Yea, we all had our ups and down with this Covid thing, but I for one think it’s time to move on with our lives.Our club can certainly be proud of our accomplishments for the year. Under less than ideal conditions we were able to complete a nice schedule of rides throughout the state. Thanks to the generosity of Larry Addington, Kim Davis and Charles Bolton, who made a cash donation to our club, we were able to make  improvements on the equine trails at Hocking State Forest. Thanks also to several people who made donations to our club for the silent auction at the state ride that we hosted at Scioto Trails. Best we can observe, our Scioto Trails ride has the largest attendance of all of the state OHC Rides. A special thanks to Donna White who made and donated pies to our club that were auctioned off at meetings throughout the summer with the proceeds going to help with state ride expenses. Special thanks to everyone that donated time to help on the work days throughout the summer. The list goes on and on, but you can stand up, pat yourself on the back and be proud to be a member of the Fairfield OHC club.

As we finish up the year, just a reminder, turn your trail miles into Tom McGuire. These need to be at the state office by January 31st. Last year we were 2nd in the state for total miles. Let’s see if we can move up a spot. All miles count regardless of how many or how few. This does not have to be on a fancy form, just put it in an email and send to Tom. The same holds true with work hours. Email to Tom by January 31.

Moving on to the future, first I want to tackle the new state forest trail closer policy. Tom McGuire had the opportunity to participate in these discussions. In fact David Lane, deputy director of forestry for ODNR, came and spend  5 hours viewing the trails at Hocking with Tom. In the end, he announced his decision, but more importantly he came away with a much better understanding of the equine trail needs in the state forest. Not all of the Forest have the same requirements and as we all go forward it is our goal that more flexibility will enter into the closer formula. For now, most of you have probably read, all of the state forest trails will close January 3rd and reopen no later than the first weekend of April. The good news associated with the closer, as an individual or group, you can make a request for a special use permit to ride at your favorite state forest. The request has to be made no less the 5 business days in advance to the manager of whichever forest you hope to ride. At the same time, we have been promised that improvements will be made to the trails during this closer period, weather permitting. Not a home run from our point of view, but light years ahead of the state’s first proposal. Kathy Smith made the comment about Tom McGuire - she said he is a tough negotiator. Nice to have him on our team. To finish this topic, the trail closers do not affect the state park equine trails, for example Great Seal, Salt Fork, Dillon, and others.

Speaking of Kathy Smith, earlier in the summer she entered into talks with the management of the Slate Run metro park near Marcy. Kathy’s goal was to expand the number of trail miles available to local Fairfield county riders. Currently Slate Run has 2 miles of trails. Kathy, Anita, Tom and a couple others representing Franklin county met multiple time to discuss Kathy’s ideas. The process is still on going but it appears that in 2022 an additional 2 miles will be added with another possible 2 miles to be added down the road. We at Fairfield OHC may be called on to provide some financial assistance and possible trail maintenance labor. In my book, this was a win for Kathy and her team. Thanks!

Looking on to 2022. During the negotiations with the state forestry, Dave Glass, manager of Hocking, made specific request of us as a club when we put together our work improvement goals for the equine trails. Most of those request will not cost us financially, but do involve labor. You have all heard me say it in the past, but I will repeat myself again. As a club, one of our main assets is the donation of member time. This donation of time is a major part of why we are an OHC club. It is our main goal as a club to improve the riding experiences of the people that visit the parks where we are involved. It takes everyone not just a few to accomplish that goal. Back to Dave Glass, he has asked that we repair the split rail fence at Airplane Rock and Chapel Cave. He has the fence. This is simply labor. We need to repair the tie lines at Airplane Rock. We have the cable, again its just labor to repair and replace current damage. We have been asked to repaint all of the trails at Hocking. Again, no out of pocket cost, just time. We have been asked to add tie rails at one specific site and others at our discretion. These will require us to purchase supplies plus round up labor. Tom and I have discussed repairing the hard pack under some of the tie lines in the state camp. This was relayed to Dave and he has basically signed off on it. This project will require money and labor. Beyond Hocking, we need to replace a pole and repair the tie lines at Great Seal State Park. As a club we did commit to assisting with the maintenance at Great Seal many years ago. And if time permits, we have been asked to assist with repairs to the Tar Hollow camp grounds. The state is removing all of the triangles used in the past to tie up horses. They have asked for assistance to replace these with over head tie lines similar to Hocking. Ross OHC is struggling, hence the request to us for help. Is your head spinning yet?

Now the good news for 2022. I got an email from Vickie Byrd, Chair of the AAYHS, and 2022 is a go. The dates are May 12th through the 15th. This is, or should I say was, our main source of income in the past. This does require people again to donate time, but that time affords us the ability to accomplish the majority of our other goals. More on this a little later into the spring.

For those that have not heard, we held the election of officers for the club for 2022 at our November meeting. I will stay on as President , Kathy Campbell will be the new Vice President, Margaret Hite will stay on as Treasurer, and Sue Keller will be the new Secretary. I feel very good about these selections as all are very active members in the club. Tom McGuire will stay on as trail boss, and head negotiator (sorry Tom couldn’t resist).

To finish up my ramblings, we had a great Christmas party on December 5th. Thanks to Chip Sharp, we were able to reserve a banquet room at the Eagles in Lancaster. Chip is a member of Eagle and made all of the arrangements with them for us. Off the top of my head, I think we had 46 members and guest in attendance. Our club provided a ham and chickens  plus some drinks, those attending brought a covered dish or dessert. It is nice to have a meal catered, but I guarantee the food would not compare to the feed our club cooks provided. If you left hungry, it was your own fault. As always, a gift exchange took place after the meal. I also used this evening as an opportunity to thank my team of officers with a gift from June and I. While I had the floor, I also wanted to recognize a few special people for their contributions to our club. I selected Keith and Donna White as our volunteer members of 2021. Their unselfish donation of time is beyond any words I can vocalize.  Thanks guys! And to finish up my special recognition awards, I selected and presented a plaque to Anita Hoon as this years’ recipient of the Silver Spur Award. Anita has donated her heart and soul to our club for the majority of her adult life. She attended the very first organizational meeting of the future Fairfield Co. OHC. Over the years she has always been a cheer leader of the benefits of OHC and has donated countless hour of her time to make it a success. Her dedication to our equine community is evident in her involvement with the trail expansion project at Slate Run. I have never seen any guidelines for this specific award, but I am 100% confident no one eats, breaths and bleeds the essence of deserving this plaque more than Anita.

Our first meeting of 2022 will be January 9th, 7 pm at the Pizza Cottage on west Fair Ave. in Lancaster.

Hope all had a great Christmas, looking forward to a busy but hopefully productive 2022.

Chris