From the President
I just looked at the long range forecast. It would appear the groundhog has a better than 50/50 chance of being right in the regard to the early spring. Now if we could get the ground to dry out a bit.
I have seen several post on facebook of members on horseback logging some cool weather miles. If you have not yet saddled up your old pony yet, give it a try. Fifty degrees is a super comfortable temperature for horse and rider. Especially if your pony is out of shape from not being rode sense last fall. Much better than taking that first ride when it is 80-degrees plus.
Winter Trail Ride at Scioto Trails
Last month I listed the top locations that were ridden by our members last year. I now have a complete list of the individual member miles. To summarize, 48 members turned in 27,137 miles. Ten members logged over 1000 each. 13 more members logged over 500 but less than 1000 miles each and 4 members had between 250 and 500. Our top 5 riders were Sam Underhill, Old Jim McGuire, Jamie McGuire, Larry Addington and Kim Davis. Great job everyone. I tried to find out where that ranked us with the other OHC clubs state-wide, but can not get a response. I am confident we are somewhere near the top of the list for what that is worth. I am very proud of the fact we are an active riding club.
At our last meeting we firmed up our summer riding and camping schedule. The complete schedule is located on our web page. At the same meeting we put together a tentative work schedule. Those dates are always subject to the weather cooperating with the planned task. I would point out our first project is scheduled for March 14th at Scioto Trails state forest. This project involves erecting an additional 18 poles to expand the tie lines in the camping area. Some of the poles have been delivered to the airport parking area, the others poles have been delivered to us and will be available on the 14th by Mike or Richard. We will talk more about this project at our meeting this coming Sunday the 8th.
As mentioned at the February meeting, our application to the state OHC for grant money was declined. I have put together an application to the South Central Foundation for grant money to assist us with our goal of erecting addition tie rails at commonly used rest spots out on the trails at Hocking State forest. Their time frame for this round of applications ends March 31st, with the announcement of approved projects in mid April. I'll keep everyone in the loop as we move through this process.
At our meeting last month, I passed around a sign up sheet for members willing to volunteer at the All American Youth show in Columbus. I am super stoked at the number of members that signed up but we still have some open slots. For those not familiar, we volunteer to assist the management of the show with whatever task they need accomplished. We do this in 4 hour shifts. Mostly it is checking in the show participants or opening and closing gates. In return, we earn $2500 for the club. This money is used by the club to support our various projects, Christmas party, etc throughout the year. After our March meeting I will post a worksheet online. If you have not signed up but see an opening you can cover, contact me and I”ll lock it in for you.
We still have a few members from last year that have not renewed their membership with OHC. If you choose not to, that is fine, but there is still time to pay your 2020 dues if that is a to do item that fell off your radar.
About a week or two back, a notice showed up in our local news regarding 2 horses that had been seized by our local humane society. Toni Turk agreed to take them in with the goal of nursing them back to health. Unfortunately one did not survive, the other is starting the long road to recovery.
That is a rap for today. See everyone Sunday.
Chris