June 2022 FCOHC Newsletter

Good morning members of the best OHC club in Ohio. I mean that and firmly believe it.

This spring has offered up some challenges for our farmers and non farmer’s alike. Rain, rain and more rain seemed to be the non ending weather forecast. Most of us are way behind our normal goals in terms of miles to ride for the year. And if you farm, your planting schedule went out the door weeks ago.

Let’s back up a little and start this letter. In the last newsletter, I expressed the frustration with the lack of the promised trail improvements at Hocking State Forest. One small project on the orange trail just west of SR 374 was completed last fall. But, when the trails closed January 3rd nothing happened until May 30th. Emails have been sent, phone calls made and the bottom line we as a whole equine community got lied to by the powers that be at the ODNR, Forestry Division.

June and I camped at Hocking from Tuesday the 30th through Monday, Memorial Day. A crew showed up to work on a new trail at the back end of camp that ties in with the red trail at the creek. I know the workers, so I started asking question. These were not management people, just hard working laborers that do what they are told. As it turned out, back in January they had been reassigned to help cut a 60 acre tract of trees at another state forest. They just finished that cutting project on May 27th. These type projects are normally put up for bid to private companies. For whatever reason, the upper level management in forestry chose to do this project in house. Their choice, their Forest to manage, but the end result was nothing got accomplished on the equine trails as promised during the closure.

To add to the on-going lack of direction at Hocking, Dave Glass asked to be reassigned to Tar Hollow State Park. It was announced a new manager would be hired for Hocking and the job was posted way back in the winter. As it turns out, yes the job had been posted, but no interviews were done until May 30th. In the mean time, I got an email from Dave Glass that stated he is now full time at Tar Hollow and Steven Rist is the day to day supervisor of Hocking until his replacement is hired.

All very frustrating when we as a club have worked so hard to improve the park for the thousands that ride there every year. Starting in early March through early April, a handfull of us donated 176 hours to the state as we cleared trails and made tie line improvements at Hocking. When I hear about the states lack of commitment to the park, I wonder why we do what we do. I’m not going to start a campaign against the ODNR Forestry, but if you know someone farther up the food chain and get a chance to voice an opinion, don’t be bashful. Tom McGuire is all over this issue as well as myself. Things will get better. At this point it is the only direction they can go.

Moving on to something more satisfying our club held its first organized ride of the year over Memorial Day. As you know, mid-week was damp, ok wet. But the weekend turned out beautiful. We has 14 or 15 camping rigs in camp plus a couple day riders each day. Those of us in camp rode every day including Friday when someone’s phone said there was a dry window from 11 till 2. The weatherman was a hair off and 2 o’clock last Friday camp at 12:30. Yea we got wet, but you know what, none of us melted. Saturday through Monday were fantastic. One of the benefits of the rain was the best ever water falls in the park any of us can remember.

On Saturday evening we had our traditional community meal. Two tables full of food and somewhere in the 30 range of members and guest to enjoy it. The cooks did not disappoint. After dinner, Bryan Black played some old time country music as we sat around the fire. A slightly unique song about, Bryan and his long johns was in my mind the hit of the evening. Maybe they weren’t Bryan’s long johns, but that is my memory of this story. Good time!

Coming up in just a couple weeks is our next ride at Caesars Creek. You do need reservations through the state park for this ride. From what I hear we are expecting another great crowd.

Our joint ride with the central region at AEP Conesville in July is a ways off, but you also need reservations for it. Those reservations need to be made through our central regional rep, Becky Porter. If you need a form holler at me, I have them.

To finish up, back in mid-May, we did our thing at the AAYHS in Columbus. As most know, this has traditionally been our main source of income. The past 2 years the show was cancelled due to Covid. We have struggled at times the past 2 year to generate income. Several members stepped up with donation of money and money generating ideas and I personally thank those that did. However, nothing is easier that the work we do at the youth show to generate income. It's four days broken up into shifts, so no one bears a huge burden. Thanks to those that volunteered their time to this project. In my book in addition to making us some easy money, it is fun. Nothing beats watching a 7-year old show their horse for the first time.

That’s it for now. Hope the hay gods smile on us soon.

Chris