Horsemen's Corral January 2023

The

Horsemen’s Corral is

Ashland Paint & Plain Saddle Club

Avon Lake Saddle Club

Black Swamp Driving Club

Buckeye Equestrian Association

Central Ohio Saddle Club Association

Central Ohio Wagoneers

Classical Attraction Dressage Society

Colorado Ranger Horse Association

Creek Side Mounted Archery

District One National Show Horse

Dusty Boots Riding Club

Flatlanders Dressage & Combined Training Association, Inc.

Geauga Horse & Pony Association

Great Lakes Appaloosa Horse Club

Hoosier Quarter Pony Association

Knox County Horse Park

Lake Erie Mounted Vaqueros Massillon Saddle Club

Miami Valley Horse Show Association

Michigan Trail Riders Association, Inc.

Mid-Eastern Farriers Association

Mid Ohio Dressage Association Mid-Ohio Marauders

National Pole Bending Association

Northern Ohio Dressage Association

Northern Kentucky Horse Network

Northern Ohio Miniature Horse Club

Northern Ohio Outlaws

Ohio Appaloosa Association O.H.I.O. EXCA

Ohio Foundation Quarter Horse Assoc. Ohio Haflinger Association

Ohio High School Rodeo Association

Ohio Horseman’s Council

Ohio Gaited Horse Trailriders

Ohio Morgan Horse Association

Ohio Paint Horse Club

Ohio Quarter Horse Association

Ohio Ranch Horse Association

Ohio State Buckskin Association

Ohio Western Horse Association, Inc.

Ottawa County Horse Foundation

Ohio Valley Team Penning Association

Pinto Horse Association of Ohio

Premier Mount N Trail

Pure Gold Stables

Tri-County Trail Association

Tri-State Rodeo Association

Wayne County Saddle Club

Western Reserve Carriage Association

The Corral Staff

Editor Bobbie Coalter

Advertising Sales & General Manager Joe Coalter email joe@thehorsemenscorral.com

Basic Broodmare Nutrition 42

Bulletin Board 50

Corral Calendar 34

The Cowboy Perserverance Ranch 46 New Year, New Ideas in Training ....................................... 20 Ride In Sync 8

TrailMeister 24

View From the Cheap Seats 40

Western Dressage 52

Club News

Black Swamp Driving Club 30

Colorado Ranger Horse Association 10 Geauga Horse and Pony Association 47

Knox County Horse Park ................................................... 22

Lake Erie Mounted Vaqueros 12

Miami Valley Horse Show Association 22 Michigan Trail Riders Association, Inc. 14

Northern Kentucky Horse Network 18 Northern Ohio Dressage Association 48

Northern Ohio Outlaws ...................................................... 28

Ohio Gaited Horse Trailriders 26

Ohio High School Rodeo Association 44

Ohio Horseman’s Council, Inc. 53

Ohio Paint Horse Club 16

Ohio Valley Team Penning Association 27

Ohio Western Horse Association 29

Pinto Horse Association of Ohio 25

THE HORSEMEN’S CORRAL is published monthly by Horsemen’s Corral, 8283 Richman Road, Lodi, Ohio 44254. (ISSN 0164-6591). Published as Periodicals at the Lodi Post Office USPS 889-180 with additional entry points of Cleveland, OH 44101 and New Philadelphia, OH 44663. Periodicals postage paid at Lodi, Ohio, and additional entry offices. Subscriptions may only be purchased through Horsemen’s Corral member clubs. Single copies, $3.00 at select distributors. For subscriptions, address changes, and adjustments, write to: Horsemen’s Corral, P.O. Box 32, Lodi, Ohio 44254.

Manuscripts, drawings, and other material submitted must be accompanied by a stamped self-addressed envelope.

POSTMASTER: All subscription addresses are properly screened through CASS per USPS requirements. The Horsemen’s Corral will not accept returns of magazines deemed undeliverable for any reason. Please discard copy of any issue deemed as undeliverable.

The Horsemen’s Corral cannot be held responsible for unsolicited material.

MAILING ADDRESS & PHONE: P.O. Box 32, Lodi, Ohio 44254

OFFICE: 330/635-4145

Tri-County Trail Association 50

Wayne County Saddle Club 6 Western Reserve Carriage Association 41

Eighty-Four Years Strong, Join WCSC in 2023

Happy New Year!

I sincerely hope you had a great,

spirit-filled Christmas and New Years’. As I’ve noted previously, the Wayne County Saddle Club (WCSC) annual banquet, awards, meeting, election, and dance is/ was Jan. 14. My crystal ball (this letter was written Dec. 11) projected a fine turn-out and folks enjoying the get-together. It’s actually the only time during the year all the members gather in one place at the same time.

Contest and Pleasure folks,

while different in their equine disciplines, share one very important thing in common. That is, of course, their love of horses. I don’t know about you but the critters in our barn are hairy and muddy. And they don’t get ridden as much as in ‘nice’ weather. Plus, when it’s below freezing the daily chores are a bit more like ‘chores.’ But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

As I write this, the NFR (National Finals Rodeo) in Las Vegas just finished its 10 day series of events. The best 15 cowboys and cowgirls in seven different events of 2022 compete 10 times during the 10 days. It has been awesome to watch the best of the best competing for the money but most importantly, the triumph of achieving such victory.

Most of us who ‘show’ at the Hollow aren’t rodeo competitors. But I’m pretty sure our love for horses and entering the ‘arena’ of our choice and capability is of exceptional meaning to us, too. Whether we ride trails, show pleasure, or contest, dressage, or any style of riding, our admiration of these amazing animals is universal among horse lovers

throughout the world. Climbing on my favorite critter regardless of the weather, renders a feeling beyond explanation for me most, if not all, of the time very good! I gotta admit some rides aren’t as much fun as others but it still comes down to the inexpressibly outstanding feeling of riding— just riding.

Lord willing by the time you read this I will have had my annual New Year’s Day ride. It’s one of those things that didn’t start out to be a tradition but I think I’ve been doing so many years that it might qualify. Either way, I always try to get a (often brief) ride in to start the year out.

With the election looming, it’s time to thank those who have served and those who are going to serve as officers or directors. It’s due to those folks that this organization has survived and flourished for 84 years. Special thanks to all those who worked to make the banquet a success. And, all of you who have been/will be any part of the Wayne County Saddle Club—Thank you!

2023 promises to be another great year at the ‘Hollow.’ Why not join us?!

~Stan

Wayne County Saddle Club

In previous articles we have talked about proper rider body position and how to use your body to help your horse perform. In our quest of learning to dance with our horse, we need to consider rhythm or cadence. As with any dancer, you have to dance in a tempo which matches your music. With horses, you need to develop a method to feel the rhythm or cadence of their feet. Not always an easy thing to do, but essential to becoming a dance team with your horse.

As with any good dance team, there needs to be a leader and a follower. And yes, you guessed it, you must be the leader, not your horse. The leader in the dance must know how to guide their partner through a series of moves. If the leader’s timing is off, the follower cannot achieve the desired movement. That’s when feet get stepped on and you get voted off the show!

Cadence and rhythm being

Horsemanship Through Cadence

by Terry Myers

important, how do you achieve it? If you can count to four, you can begin to learn your horse’s rhythm. While walking your horse in a circle, start to feel the rhythm of your horse’s feet and start your count with the inside front leg. One-two-three-four. Your goal is to have all four feet hit in an even cadence, similar to the beat of a metronome (one of those gadgets that your piano teacher put on the piano that goes tick-tick-tick). So you count your horse’s feet over and over. As you count, pay attention to your count. If you are beginning your count with the front inside foot, are you counting ONE-two-threefour, with the ONE count being more pronounced? That means your horse is heavier on that foot. Not sure what we mean? Listen to the hoof beats and determine if one is louder. If so, your horse is heavier on that foot.

Try cadence at the trot, a two beat diagonal gait. Most people

count ONE-TWO-three-four, indicating the horse is forehand heavy. With the horse’s power coming from the rear end, this type of beat tells you that the horse is pulling themselves rather than driving from behind. This problem cannot be fixed by slowing the horse down, but by speeding them up and driving them into the bridle.

Once you routinely count your horse’s cadence, you start to become aware of the movement of your horse’s feet one foot at a time. This will enable you to start to time your request for a transition, based on the position of their feet. Example: you ask for a left turn as your horse begins to step off with that front foot. If you ask for the turn just as they put the left foot down, it is much harder for the horse to make the turn.

In previous articles we have talked about singing as a way to relax the stomach. There is another benefit, sing a song in the same tempo as your gait. It becomes very easy to tell when the cadence of your horse’s feet change. This is particularly beneficial at the canter. You will quickly realize when your horse has slowed and collected, to allow you to release rein pressure. Doesn’t matter if you are a good singer, your horse is not a music critic!

When starting to try to feel the feet, you naturally focus on the front feet. The goal is to learn to feel all four feet. This will enable you to feel movement from the back end forward, which is important in all disciplines. Once you can start to feel your horse’s feet, you start to gain the ability control all parts of the body and you begin to become the leader in the dance with your horse.

Terry Myers is a national clinician and champion horse trainer with a depth of knowledge developed from over 50 years in the horse industry. Myers has been a popular clinician at multiple expos in the U.S. and Canada. To learn more about Myers’ Ride-InSync methods as well as clinic and training services available, visit www.tmtrainingcenter.com or on Facebook.

Programs and Open Show Point Keeping Tips

If you have participated in programs before, you know the record keeping can be time consuming. To save time and energy in pursuit of your next award, I present six tips I have found helpful over the years with tracking open show points:

of looking up the number of exhibitors in every one of your classes. If you have someone at the show with you who can snap a picture of the class in the lineup, then all you have to do is pull up the picture and count the horses.

by Monica Doddato

Welcome to 2023, I can’t believe it’s here already, how about you? As you look at your year ahead, perhaps attaining some awards through one of the Colorado Ranger Horse Association (CRHA) programs should be added to your dream board or the goals you’re setting for the year! Upcoming articles will highlight members who attained awards in 2022. CRHA offers programs for Open Show Points, Youth, Distance Riding and Logging. Information and applications for these programs can be found on the website at www.coloradoranger.com.

1. Complete the form before the show. Take a few minutes while you are planning your schedule for show day and fill out the form, the class name and information, everything you can complete ahead of time so that it’s that much less you must do at the show. (A break at work is a great time to do this as it doesn’t take out other show prep time).

2. Form and pen placement. Keep the form hung neatly with magnets or a clip on the trailer or stall door to make it easier to record the placing as soon as you get back from the class. A magnetic pen or pencil on a string is also a great idea so you do not have to search for it.

3. Photograph the class lineup. In this modern day of technology, work smarter not harder. Show secretaries aren’t usually fans

4. Keep copies. Accidents happen and whether it’s the U.S. Postal Service, the points program’s chairperson or some other crazy circumstance, keeping a copy of your point sheets ensures you have a record of your accomplishments.

5. Labels, envelopes and stamps. If you have to mail the hard copies of the points form, take some time to create some labels for both the return and destination address. Keep these in a folder or envelope all together. When the form is complete, you copy it, stick it in an envelope, and add address labels and a stamp so then that form’s ready for the mail and you are ready to start preparing for your next show!

6. Have fun. That is why we got into horses isn’t it?

Pictured above: Diamond D Ginny Lane won the John

Morris Memorial Most Versatile Horse Award at the 49th CRHA National Show. She is owned by Shelly Daggs and was ridden by Zayda Moyle. They were also the winners of Grand Champion Pleasure Horse, Reserve Champion Performance Mare and Senior Youth Grand Champion.

Happy New Year and happy goal-getting my horsey friends!

PRESIDENT, Toni Lukavich; 1ST VICE PRESIDENT, Charmaine Wulff; SECRETARY, Barbara Summerson; TREASURER, Jane Montgomery. WEBSITE, www.coloradoranger.com EMAIL, riderangerhorse@yahoo.com

Diamond D Ginny Lane

Remembering Former Member Frank Houser

PHONE, 330-719-3290

EMAIL, karenld0819@gmail.com

WEBSITE, www.lakeerievaqueros.net

by Karen (Chilipepper) Davis

Thanksgiving morning around 5:30 a.m. we got a call that we lost a former member of the club, Frank Houser. He was a member with the Lake Erie Mounted Vaqueros for about four or five years. He loved the sport, loved shooting and his horse Magic was everything in the world to him. Frank never missed an event when he got started and came to all of our meetings. His health and balance started giving him problems so he had to quit riding and had to give up his horse which we have when he could not take care of her anymore. Magic is 31 years

old and still going. I remember we had a practice at Carmen and Nancy Virzi’s house when Frank was still able to get around some. We took his horse Magic so he could see her, helped him get in the saddle and led him around the arena on her. He had tears in his eyes to be able to get on his beloved Magic and see her one more time. Frank also enjoyed and loved his dog Goldie, his golden doodle, who stayed by his side 24/7 while he was home. Frank passed in the hospital with his long-time girlfriend, Dolores

Champlin and his family around him. May he rest in peace.

I would like to thank Carmen and Nancy Virzi for hosting our November meeting!

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

Big Dee’s Vet and Tack Supply, where you can get all your pet supplies and everything they need; CMSA; Lonesome Pine Ammo and Curly’s Ammo; Uncle Jimmy’s Brand Products, for all your pet treats, The Corral; Stagecoach West; Park Side Trailer Sales and Service, new or used horse trailers or parts or service on the one you have; Siracki Realty, if you are

looking for a new house, apartment or need a place to rent; Altmyer’s Trailer Sales in Jefferson, Ohio, looking for new or used horse trailers, cargo trailers, car mate trailers, American Haulers; Rockin C Leather, Ben and Tammy Clark, for all your leather needs and accessories; Wendy Shaffer, Wendy Shaffer, MMCP, Agile Equine Bodywork; Rocks Farm and Garden; Junction Buick GMC in Chardon and Kiko Meats, Ron and Diane Kiko, for great tasting roasts, burgers and steaks.

PRESIDENT, R. David Davis VICE PRESIDENT, Mike Sheets SECRETARY/TREASURER, Karen Davis;

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2023 Proposed Ride Schedule

by Kristen Humble

Welcome to the new year!

Michigan Trail Riders Association (MTRA) has some great plans for 2023 so renew your memberships and mark your calendars for these upcoming events.

March 25 is the first event of the year. It is the MTRA annual banquet. This is our only indoor and ‘horseless’ event and it is held at the Doherty Hotel in Clare, Mich. Members of the club enjoy coming together in their finest western wear for a buffet dinner and live entertainment. It’s a great time for members to eat, drink and be merry.

After the annual banquet, we have a ‘proposed’ ride schedule. The MTRA works with the DNR

to confirm ride dates, so things are subject to change, but as of now we will be holding one workbee in the spring and six rides. Here’s a little of the general information about each ride.

May 4-7 will be the proposed May Blossom Ride. Come enjoy the fresh Michigan spring. The woods are typically a little chilly in the morning but it’s a bug-free experience with fresh flowers beginning to bloom and the trees just starting to come to full beauty with their new leaves. This ride is a ‘circle ride’ where members will be staying at the Luzurne Trail Camp the entire time.

June 2-12 will be the proposed 1st June Ride. This is a trophy ride where riders will journey camp to camp each day starting from a northern camp in Cheboygan and riding south and then west ending at Lake Michigan. Riders that complete the entire journey will receive a trophy commemorating their accomplishment.

June 16 through July 1 will be the proposed 2nd June Ride. This ride is also a full crossing but it ventures from the east side of the state at River Road Trail Camp to the west side of the state ending at Lake Michigan. Riders in this ride will enjoy the full experience of a 235 mile shoreto-shore ride but the schedule allows for several layover days where riders can relax or take part in extra activities like canoeing or shopping in the Amish communities.

August 5-12 will be the proposed August Family Ride. This ride is a stationary ride where riders will stay the entire time at Schecks Trail Camp. This camp has lots of great trails and includes great destination rides like riding to Dollar Lake for

a swim, riding to a historical tombstone, riding to Ranch Rudolph or even riding nine miles to a small store that sells pizza and ice cream. This ride also includes fun activities for kids and families (crafts, tubing, music, bonfires, etc…)

September 7-18 will be the proposed September Ride. This ride goes from Garey Lake to Lake Huron which is a full crossing. Those who complete the ride will receive a trophy for their accomplishments.

October 7-15 will be the proposed October Color Ride. This ride goes from Schecks trail camp along the south spur to Cadillac. Come enjoy the beautiful fall leaves and colors of northern Michigan on this ride. Again, these dates are a tentative schedule, but stay tuned to the MTRA website for any changes. There are so many great things always happening in the MTRA club. Get your membership today and come ride with us. Check out our website at www.mtra.org and our Facebook pages to keep up to date with all the happenings. Ride on!

Kids making tie-dye shirts on the August Family Ride.

Kristen Humble, Sam Gomez and Cheryl Tersen finishing the June Ride in Lake Huron.

The Gould family at the MTRA Annual Banquet.

OPHC Extends

Welcome to Each Exhibitor

by Hannah Dunn

Hello, Corral readers! We here at the Ohio Paint Horse Club (OPHC) hope you have had a

great holiday season and New Year. 2023 is already shaping up to be an exciting year, and we hope to see you at our shows.

OPHC’s 2022 season’s results have been posted to the Ohio Paint Horse Club Facebook

page. The awards banquet will be held March 4 at the Courtyard by Marriot in Springfield, Ohio. Reservations are required, if you plan to attend, be sure to visit the Facebook page to reserve your spots. Congratulations on a great season, exhibitors!

The OPHC extends a warm welcome to each exhibitor for our 2023 show season. In 2022, nearly all APHA classes were pointed, with several being three and four point classes, such as the Amateur and Amateur SPB Showmanship classes. Several of the Performance Halter classes boasted numbers of 16+!

OPHC’s tentative 2023 show schedule is as follows:

MAY 5-7: Great 8 Zoneo-Rama, C Bar C Arena, Cloverdale, IN MAY 13-14: Buckeye Extravaganza, Fulton County

Fairgrounds, Wauseon, OH

JUNE: OPHC Show, Pending location

JULY 29-30: Border Bash, Fulton County Fairgrounds, Wauseon, OH

AUG. 26-27: Amateur Club Show, Clark County Fairgrounds, Springfield, OH

SEPT. 16-17: Hoosier Buckeye Palooza, Hoosier Horse Park, Edinburgh, IN

Please note that shows are subject to change date, venue, judges, etc., but all communications will always be sent well in advance of the shows. To stay up to date on show announcements, be sure to connect with us on our various Facebook groups: Ohio Paint Horse Club, Zone 8 APHA, Ohio Paint Horse Amateur Club, and Zone 8 Solid Paint Bred Exhibitors.

PRESIDENT, Tim Snapp VICE PRESIDENT, Luke Wadsworth TREASURER, Jill Krofft Davis SECRETARY, Heather Collins WEBSITE, www.ophc.org

Northern Kentucky Horse Network Join NKHN for Annual Membership Dinner Meeting

PRESIDENT,

SECRETARY, Susan Dickinson TREASURER, Monica Egger WEBSITE, www.nkhn.info EMAIL, nkhn@nkhn.info

by Nancy Kissinger

Hello 2023! The Northern Kentucky Horse Network (NKHN) is starting the year off with our annual membership dinner meeting on Jan. 29, 2023 at the Boone County Enrichment Center, Burlington, Ky. The dinner is held every year to welcome new members and those who renew membership to NKHN. Elections are held for our Board of Director members and will be announced at the meeting. Awards are presented and scholarship recipients are announced. You will have an opportunity to shop our vendors and sponsors before and after the meeting. Doors open at 12

p.m., dinner is served at 1 p.m., with a business meeting to follow dinner. We hope you will join us. Call 859/586-6101 to make your reservation.

Our vision is to promote, educate, and protect all breeds and disciplines of the equine community and we could use your support and help. This is not just for Kentuckians. We are getting quite a bit of support from Ohio and Indiana. We have many activities planned for 2023. For more information, follow us on Facebook; visit our website, nkhn.info; or email, nkhn@nkhn. info.

We would like to take a moment to reflect back on 2022. It was good to be able to get back to some normalcy without COVID restrictions. This made for a successful show and event season for us. However, none of this would have been possible if it had not been for our many dedicated volunteers and sponsors. We thank all of you for your generous contribution of time and money. Happy New Year!

PRESIDENT, Trisha Kremer VICE

Tracey Schoen

New Year, New Ideas in Training

by Lisa Kiley

As the New Year approaches and we are settled into the colder and snowy months, you may be looking for something fun to do with your horse that doesn’t require saddling up. Maybe you don’t have an indoor to work in, or you prefer to stay bundled up, but still want to feel like you are accomplishing something with your equine partner. While the idea of clicker training for horses isn’t exactly new, the idea of using this positive reinforcement (+R) technique is something that is starting to gain ground in different facets of the horse world. Could this be the year that you decide to give it a try with your horse? I had the chance to talk with Brittany McDonnell of The Equine Haven LLC in Ostrander, Ohio, about how she has incorporated clicker training into her work with horses and humans.

McDonnell is a Licensed Social Worker who is also a lifetime horse person, and in addition to working with humans, she also runs a non-profit horse rescue where she utilizes positive reinforcement through clicker training. Her clients are also able to work with the horses within this therapeutic setting. While employing the benefits of +R/clicker training now, McDonnell grew up as most of us do, using conventional training techniques and admitted that she wasn’t so sure about the concept at first. However, when she started working with wild Mustangs, it became very clear that many of the traditional methods she had been taught just weren’t going to work to gentle these feral horses. Upon further investigation, the idea that she could teach a horse without punishment and/or negative reinforcement felt more aligned with the relationship she wanted with her horses.

What exactly is +R/clicker training? It’s a training method that is commonly with for dogs, but it is also used to teach all sorts of animals including elephants and dolphins and can be applied with horses as well. As McDonnell described, you mark the correct behavior the animal exhibits by using the click and then reward following the click with a treat. As the horse begins to associate the behavior with the click and reward, they will start to seek to do the behaviors that are rewarded. This means that as you are working with your horse, timing of the click and reward is important, so they can correlate what they are being rewarded for. In the beginning, the rewards should be frequent and high value. As the horse gets good at something, you can build duration between their action and the reward. Eventually the rewards will become increasingly intermittent but are never completely removed. The possibility of reward will keep them engaged and motivated.

While gaining in popularity, training horses with treats is out of the wheelhouse for many of us who have grown up with traditional horse training methods. Often, horse owners are admonished for giving treats at all, fearing it would lead to pushy, aggressive horses that learn to bite. McDonnell was very clear that when properly trained, +R/clicker training using food rewards is not going to create a ‘treat monster’. She advises that one of the first things that should be taught is the ‘Calm Default’—which she learned from Madison Shambaugh aka ‘Mustang Maddy’—this is when the horse learns to stand calmly with a lowered head. The biggest key is that when training with food reward, the horse never be allowed to come to you for the treat. The reward must be given to the horse when the horse is standing calmly and staying out of your space. They will quickly learn they do not get any rewards for getting in your bubble. She also advises that when you start using food rewards in training, you stop giving your horse random treats—this will help eliminate confusion and they will start to understand rewards come with correct actions.

McDonnell shared that one of the exciting things about clicker training is that horses pick up on it quite quickly and they start wanting to engage and work with you. She expressed that by creating positive associations with the horse, they are more confident in knowing what the right response is. This prevents working through confusion and fear associated with other methods. However, you don’t have to completely retrain or change your program for your horse to benefit from +R/clicker training. There are plenty of things that you can work on from quietly picking up their hooves for the farrier to stress free trailer loading. Introducing +R/Clicker training is just a better way to build a strong relationship with your horse and can have a positive impact on how you work together overall as a team.

McDonnell encourages everyone to do some research on the method, there are many good resources available to help with understanding how your horse learns and can give a better foundation when trying something new like this. A clicker (or just a click noise) and some treats are all you need to get started. Start slow and make sure that you are asking your horse to respect your boundaries by teaching a ‘Calm Default’ first. McDonnell also suggested videoing yourself so you can see if you are rewarding at the correct time and enlisting the help of someone who is more familiar with these methods is always a great idea. Check out McDonnells Facebook page @The Equine Haven LLC to get more information on upcoming clinics and training sessions. It’s time for new year’s resolutions as we head into 2023, maybe trying something new with your horse should be on the list this year.

Lisa Kiley is a lifelong horse enthusiast who has worked in the equine industry and shown horses for many years. She is a proud member of the Cashmans Horse Equipment Team. Cashmans Horse Equipment, located in Delaware, Ohio, has been providing top quality products to the equine and agricultural community for 40 years. They have a commitment to sourcing environmentally conscious merchandise and items made in the U.S.A. Cashmans strives to educate customers and provide products that put safety first so you can enjoy more time with the horses you love. www.cashmans.com

Whisper a BLM Mustang from Shawave Mountains Nevada HMA

Fundraiser for Lights

by Donny Cline

Hello Cowgirls and Cowboys!

The November meeting was our election of officers and trustees for the upcoming new year and years for some. With Anna Chadwick moving to Missouri it left a huge hole in the officers. Thank you Debbie Cole for taking minutes of the meetings when she could attend. Also Rannay stepped in on taking minutes. We thank her for doing that too. We managed to keep up with entries with several stepping up with that for the remainder shows. Thank you Sue Ross and Pam Niner, I know I probably forgot someone else.

Our shows were a success and I hope next year will bring more people out. We are planning an open house event in April and hopefully have a schedule in place for the year.

There’s been contact information for a mini show again in May, also arena trail challenge and Cowboys vs Cowgirls trail challenge on the obstacle course.

Welcoming new officers to the secretary position which ended in a tie vote, so with the duties of the secretary we let the tie stand.

Congratulations to Lexi Snyder and Madisyn Weekley for the next two years. Trustee’s were voted on which brought young people into the club with Colton Snyder, Anna Maglott, Shelby Kerr, Madisyn Weekley and Lexi Snyder. Claude and Ken were reelected and Sue Ross and Rannay terms were not up yet.

The club is in the process of a fundraising for lights, we are going with a solar lighting system which is going to help with shows and events. If you want to donate go to our Facebook Fundraising site to donate—every little bit helps us. A $500 donation will get you or your company a plaque with your information. See you in the new year 2023!

Miami Valley Horse Show Association

MVHSA Offers Friendly Showing Environment

finished our 2022 show season— what a year it has been!

VICE

SECRETARY, Rebekah Martindale

TREASURER, Emily O’Daniel

SHOW CHAIR, Betsie Moore

EMAIL, bekahmartindale1133@ gmail.com

WEBSITE, www.MVHSA.com

We are looking forward to our February banquet. Last March, we gave away $7,000 worth of prizes to those who earned year end awards.

by Rebekah Martindale

Our members are what make MVHSA the outstanding organization that it is. Ranging from youth to adult, we offer a family friendly showing environment that centers on the development of our youth. We are happy to meet you and hope that you attend one of our shows as an exhibitor or spectator to see our group in action.

PRESIDENT, Donny Cline VICE PRESIDENTS, Travis Ross and John Weekley; TREASURER, Pam Niner; SECRETARY, Lexi Snyder and Madisyn Weekley CONTACT, dcline458@gmail.com FACEBOOK, Knox County Horse Park Inc

Rannay and Ms.Mary

Knox County Horse Park

Anna Maglott in the Mt Vernon Christmas Parade.

The Miami Valley Horse Show Association (MVHSA) has

PRESIDENT, Kenny Matthews

PRESIDENT, Beth Roosa

Is your Truck Ready for Trail Riding?

by Robert Eversole

Your truck. Unless you’re one of the fortunate few, your horses aren’t leaving home without a vehicle to pull your horse trailer. Despite the care you give your truck and trailer, you never know when they might give you some mechanical trouble. Unarguably, one of those times could be while you’re in the middle of nowhere on the way to a great ride. The views might be gorgeous but seeing a broken-down truck when cell phone signal bars aren’t in the picture is less pleasant.

Despite regular maintenance and thorough checks before each trip, I’ve had or been around urgent needs for emergency roadside help three times this past year. Each time I was far removed from cell phone service, let alone a repair shop, I was on my own. Fortunately, I believe in and carry tools in my truck for such occasions.

Although roadside assistance services are helpful, they are pricey and can be pretty slow to arrive. Getting help is even more complicated if you’re stuck in a remote location. That, of course, is assuming that you have cell service. Having the tools on hand to make repairs takes a lot of the wonders and “what ifs” out of your towing adventures.

Over the past decades, I’ve settled on 34 items with a permanent home in my truck.

The Four Essentials

• Fire extinguisher: Keep a small fire from becoming unmanageable.

• Jumper cables: Save the day if you leave your headlights on.

• Jump starter battery pack: Save the day if you leave your headlights on and are on your own.

• First aid kit: Be your own doc until a real one can arrive.

The 10 Tools

• Phillips head and flat-bladed screwdrivers: Tighten and loosen screws and prying items apart.

• Pliers: Hold stuff while installing, removing, or squeezing items together.

• Channel-lock pliers: Dealing with big machine nuts or turning pipes.

• Adjustable Crescent wrench: Tighten and loosen bolts and machine nuts.

• Claw hammer: Straighten what got bent, bend what got straightened, drive nails and stakes, pull them out again, and provide ‘persuasion’ where needed.

• Pocket knife: Cut rope and twine, strip wire insulation, or just carve if you’re inclined.

• Wire cutters: Cut electrical wire or turn metal coat hangers into marshmallow skewers.

• Small tape measure: Determine how much ground clearance you’ll have while getting over that boulder embedded in the road.

• Mini hacksaw: Cut away twisted bolts, damaged metal work, and thicker plastics. Anything where a knife won’t work.

• Folding tree saw: Remove trees that have fallen across the only road home, and you can’t back up.

Three Things to Keep Stuff Together

• Glue: While glue won’t mend a broken heart, it’ll fix lots of other things and can keep a situation from going from bad to worse.

• Zip ties: Bundle bits and bobs and keep them out of the way.

• Duct tape: A universal fix-it that’s good for any repair.

Five

Things to Help Keep the Lights

On Nothing is more aggravating than trailer lights blinking on and off on their own or having a police officer pull you over because a brake light is out.

• Electrical tape: Prevent sparks and keep fuses from blowing.

• Spare Fuses in various amperage ratings: Replace blown fuses on your power panel.

• Spare bulbs for brake, turn and running lights: Save yourself from a traffic violation or worse.

• Head-mounted LED flashlight: Work in the dark where you need both hands free.

• Multi-meter: Rapidly identify electrical problems.

Nine Tire Changing Tools

• Roadside Triangles: Be seen if you have to change a tire on the side of the road. Get at least three that are DOT approved.

• Reflective safety vest: Be seen if you have to change a tire on the side of the road.

• Wheel chocks: Keep the vehicle from rolling when you don’t want it to

by Kaylee Clagett

Who Wants a Golden Ticket Certificate?

Pinto had two of our shows rank in the Top 5 biggest shows for pinto in the 2022 show season! We could not have done that without our membership! With a new show season upon us, that means new goals for 2023!

“Ask yourself if what you’re doing today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow”—Unknown

As you start planning and thinking what 2023 show season will look like for you, here is what our goals are to help our membership. New for 2023 we have done away with the yearend award nominations paper and fee it is now included in your

membership. We have some added money classes at our two Garwood shows, who wouldn’t want to win extra money! The best for last, we have a great Golden ticket certificate that will be given out to the first 100 horses that enter and show at our Spring Fling show! We are keeping it a secret as to what the golden ticket will be worth. Let me tell you this it will be worth coming to the first show!

Truck Ready

• Trailer aid: An easier way to lift a trailer for changing a tire.

• Lug wrench: Change that tire.

(continued)

Happy end of the year! Wow what a great 2022 show season. A huge thank you to all of our members and exhibitors for a wonderful show season. In 2022 we had our last show of the season at the new facility. We were lucky enough to get in to Garwood Arena, everyone loved it! I’m proud to announce Ohio

• Why should you carry a breaker bar instead of a cordless impact wrench for lug nuts? Simply put, a length of pipe is not only much less expensive than a battery-powered gadget, but it also cannot fail. A pipe has no batteries to check on and nothing to break. The same cannot be said of an expensive tool that relies on equally costly batteries.

• Can of Fix a Flat: A temporary tire fix until you can get into a repair shop.

• Gloves: Keep your hands in one piece while making repairs.

• Tire pressure gauge. Make sure your tires are ready to roll.

• Portable air compressor. Inflate flats the easy way.

Three Miscellaneous Items I Won’t Go Without

• Multi Tool: Solves a million and one everyday problems.

• Permanent Maker: Marking your things and keeping track of which wire is which.

• Communications Device other than a cell phone: These can get help when there are no bars on the phone.

Everyone has run into truck or trailer trouble on the road. Perhaps someone was around to help, or maybe you were lucky and had cellular service. But what do you do when you’re in the middle of nowhere? By investing and keeping these tools in my truck, I’m helping to ensure that should I have a problem while away from home, I’ll be able to at least get home where a professional can make a more permanent fix.

For more information on trail riding and horse camping, please visit us at www.TrailMeister.com. TrailMeister is the world’s most extensive guide to horse trails and camps and a resource for information to keep your rides enjoyable and safe. The best-selling book “The ABCs of Trail Riding and Horse Camping” features 180 more topics for the active or aspiring trail rider. From how to train your horse for the trail to how to use that GPS. Get your copy on Amazon.

In the next few months, we are working hard to finalize and get everything ready for our yearend awards banquet. The awards banquet will be held on Feb. 11, 4 p.m. at Cedar Corners, in Sandusky, Ohio. Soon after the banquet, we start in to show season. New this year, we are trying out an early March show. Our first show is March 31- April 2 at Garwood Arena. Everyone is always so busy in May we were hoping to break it up a bit to give everyone some much needed rest. We then have our Summer Warm up at Wauseon May 19-21. June is Pinto World

Championship, good luck to everyone attending! July 21-23, we have our Lots O Spots show at the University of Findlay. This is always a hot show, but we have wonderful sponsors who donate cold water for the exhibitors in the arena and paddock. End of July, July 29-30 is our Jubilee show head with Indiana Pinto, in New Castle, Ind. Remember the Jubilee show counts towards Ohio points. August 25-27, brings us to our Summer Sizzler, at the Champion Center. Then we end our year back at Garwood Arena, for our Fall Wind Up show, Sept. 22-24. This show and our Spring Fling show will have an added money open western pleasure and hunter under saddle class. This year we added solid amateur walk- trot classes, and as always, we will have Youth activities, and exhibitor give-aways at every show.

As always check out our Facebook page, and our website, Ohiopinto.net. We look forward to seeing everyone in 2023! Happy New Year!

PRESIDENT, Kaylee Clagett VICE PRESIDENT, Angie Wolfe SECRETARY, Leslie Watson TREASURER, Amy Leibold EMAIL, diamondkfarm20@gmail.com WEBSITE, www.ohiopinto.net

The “Blessing of the Hounds” on St. Hubert’s Day

by Richard Anderson

The first Saturday of November is known for a long standing fox hunting tradition, referred to as the ‘Blessing of the Hounds’, which is celebrated around the English-speaking world as the opening day of the hunt. It is a celebration to kick off the hunt season that begins when the crops are out of the field, and the Master of the Hunt takes his fellow land holders along with their hounds to rid the land of pests, as a favor to their tenant farmers, in order that they may be able to continue to pay their rent. Quite obviously, this is no longer the purpose of the hunt, and it is now largely symbolic of this ancient tradition.

But it has become an annual tradition for a religious ceremony to be held on or about Nov. 4, or St. Hubert’s Day, and it is a custom that has survived since medieval times, with its origin in the belief that, by this blessing, the hounds, riders and their mounts would be protected from disease and petulance. St.

Hubert, the patron saint of the hunt, or chase, was born in the middle of the seventh century. His early life was given to pleasures and worldly vanities, and his chief passion was the hunt. At the age of 27 on Good Friday morning, when all of the faithful had repaired to church, Hubert, in open defiance of pious customs, went forth on the hunt. As he was pursuing a stag, the animal turned, and between its antlers was seen to Hubert a crucifix. Shaken by this event, Hubert renounced all of his honors and rank and gave all of his personal wealth to the poor and entered the priesthood. And since his canonization, St. Hubert has been the patron saint of archers, forest workers, hunting, hunters, and hounds.

It is also the kick off to the formal fox hunting season (foxes are never killed), which continues until mid-March of each following year. The riders are led by a bagpiper to the blessing field, and during the Blessing, each rider dismounts, and on bended knee, receives a

A photo of our bagpiper leading a parade of riders preparing for the blessing of the hounds at the Rocky Fork Country Club.

personal blessing from a local pastor as well as a St. Christopher medallion to wear around the neck, and is offered a ‘Stirrup Cup’, a centuries old tradition intended to bolster the spirit of the hunt. Following the Blessing, the Master of the Hunt (MFH) takes the hounds, along with the ‘Whipper’s In’, whose job it is to keep the hounds together in pursuit of their quarry. And, following ancient tradition, each hunt is capped off by a celebration

called ‘High Tea’, where all riders gather together to discuss the hunt and imbibe in libations of their own choice, which to my knowledge has never actually included tea. It is a fun tradition, and one we look forward to every year, and while it marks the end of our trail riding adventures here in the Midwest, it also marks the beginning of the fox hunt season. It is also an opportunity to begin plans for next year’s exciting trail riding adventures.

Master Stephanie Phillips preparing hounds for the hunt at the blessing of the hounds celebration.

Ohio Valley Team Penning Association

OVTPA Celebrating 33rd Year of Ranch Sorting in 2023

by Jamie Davis

What a great show season 2022 was for Ohio Valley Team Penning Association (OVTPA)... and we are looking forward to 2023! Lots of fun times, memories and good riding. OVTPA is so fortunate for wonderful sponsors and supporters! What great prizes were given away during the shows! Buckles, coolers, chairs, tack cases, grooming products, totes, treats to name a few. Oh Yeah, how about some cash! Don’t forget the cash!

The OVTPA board of directors and promoters work hard to put together a wonderful day of ranch sorting at every show!

The annual year-end awards banquet will be held Jan. 14 at the Holiday Inn in Boardman, Ohio.

Get ready for some great awards! The awards committee has been hard at work to bring some perfect prizes for the members of OVTPA! Lots of fun in store for this evening with yummy food, awesome raffle prizes, games, dancing and fun! It will be a celebration you won’t want to miss! Can’t wait to see everyone there. Watch for pictures and results in the upcoming issue of the Horsemen’s Corral.

OVTPA is planning for the 33rd year of the great sport of ranch sorting! Everyone is welcome, there is something for all levels of riders, don’t be shy! The draw ride system will pick you a partner which is a great way to meet friends and sort some cows. The dates will be announced shortly for the 2023 show schedule. Mark your calendars!

OVTPA shares fun times with all of our members, many families enjoy the family friendly atmosphere! Youth classes for riders 18 and under, Western Heritage class to sort cows without cantering, rated riders’ classes, and more. The OVTPA 2023 showbill is in the works! Like us on Facebook to stay up

to date with OVTPA and check out the Horsemen’s Corral calendar for upcoming shows starting in the spring of 2023.

PRESIDENT, John May VICE PRESIDENT, Beth Moss SECRETARY, Sue Mangus TREASURER, Debra Lyons

EMAIL, ovtpasecretary@gmail.com FACEBOOK, Ohio Valley Team Penning Association

Strayer Family enjoying OVTPA shows, John, Brytanne, Levi and Finley in the winner’s circle.

Rich and Pam Bradshaw, father-daughter team in the winners circle!

Northern Ohio Outlaws

Gearing Up for Another Fun Season

what this sport is about!

TREASURER, Mark Maxwell

EMAIL, northernohiooutlawsinfo@ gmail.com WEBSITE, www.nooutlaws.com

The 2023 Northern Ohio Outlaw shoot schedule weekends are April 29-30, June 10-11, July 8-9, Aug. 5-6 and Oct. 7-8. All events are held at the Wayne County Fairgrounds, in Wooster, Ohio.

The Northern Ohio Outlaws are gearing up for another fun season. Here are some important dates to put on your calendars!

The annual awards banquet will be held on Feb. 25 at the Amish Door Restaurant in Wilmot, Ohio.

The spring New Shooter Clinic is tentatively scheduled for April 15-16 at Ruggles Arena in Cardington, Ohio. Check out our webpage for more information and sign-up forms. We would love to have you come and learn

Nominations were taken and votes were counted for 2023 Officers and Directors. Officers: President Dwayne Joyner; Vice President Tony Ruper; Secretary Janessa Hill; Treasurer Mark Maxwell.

Directors: New Directors Jayne Maxwell, Ron Kiko, Deb Harris, Stacie Tschiegg, and Rodney Massie. Returning Directors: Travis Gibson, Steve Tschiegg and Jim Bussel.

Check out our website at nooutlaws.com for more information about our club or check out our Facebook page at Northern Ohio Outlaws CMSA.

PRESIDENT, Dwayne Joyner

VICE PRESIDENT, Tony Ruper SECRETARY, Janessa Hill

Ohio

More Ranch Classes Being Added to 2023 Showbill

Happy New Year to all our Corral readers! Ohio Western Horse Association (OWHA) hopes that each and every one of you had an amazing holiday season. May 2023 bring you good fortunes and memories. Now let’s set those new 2023 goals and achieve them!

Ohio Western Horse Association held the December meeting on Dec. 1, 2022 at AM VETS in Kenton, Ohio. OWHA Board members reviewed results of the annual banquet, which everyone thought went very well. There was continued discussion on the location of the 2023 Fall Round Up that currently is located in Urbana at the Champaign

County Fairgrounds. The board reviewed and discussed several rule changes for the 2023 show season. It was approved to add more ranch classes to the list of OWHA approved classes that could be offered at shows. Those classes include Conformation Halter, Ranch Horsemanship, Ranch Pleasure, Ranch Showmanship, Ranch walk and trot and Ranch Riding for each age group. OWHA recognizes the growing interest in ranch and hopes this will give our members a variety of classes to show!

Once again, the annual awards banquet was held on Nov. 19, 2022 at the Moose Lodge in Kenton, Ohio. It was a fantastic night of recognizing those OWHA members for having an awesome 2022 show season. First, OWHA would like to recognize our third annual hall of fame winners. This year the recipients are Ken and Peg Seiemer. Ken and Peg have been members of OWHA for many years and have held a variety of offices for OWHA. We cannot thank them enough for their

support through the years! Next, OWHA would like to recognize the 2022 Highpoint and Reserve award recipients as follows:

HIGHPOINT OPEN PLEASURE: Krista Beck with Ebony Elvis; RESERVE: Samantha Peoples with Impulse Hotrod Dreams

HIGHPOINT ADULT PLEASURE: Wilma Fox with Zipped N Classic; RESERVE: Krista Beck with Ebony Elvis

HIGHPOINT YOUTH 14-18 PLEASURE HORSE: Taylor Schoen with Dutchess; RESERVE: Renee Sweigart with KC Chips Sheik

HIGHPOINT YOUTH 9-13 PLEASURE HORSE: Noah Reed with Slippin Around HIGHPOINT YOUTH 8 & UNDER PLEASURE: Michaela Haundenschield with PF No Problem

HIGHPOINT YOUTH 14-18 PLEASURE PONY: Taylor Schoen with Cupcake; RESERVE: Taylor Arthur with Cruiser HIGHPOINT OPEN CONTESTING: Madisynn Gossard with Scooter; RESERVE: Ashley Haudenschield with Fergie

HIGHPOINT ADULT CONTESTING: Ashley Haudenschield with Fergie; RESERVE: Loretta Rudasil with Ace HIGHPOINT YOUTH 14-18 CONTESTING: Lauren Mullins with Rebel; RESERVE: Kinze Sprang with Dimples

HIGHPOINT YOUTH 9-13 CONTESTING: Madisynn Gossard with Scooter and Maddie Duvall with Zeenie HIGHPOINT YOUTH 8 & UNDER CONTESTING: Michaela Haundenschield with Patty; RESERVE: Michaela Haundenschield with Jazzy

HIGHPOINT YOUTH 6 & UNDER LEAD IN CONTESTING: Easton Haundenschield with Fergie; RESERVE: Bella Hooker with Baby Sky

Lastly, we would like to say congratulations to all our division award recipients. It was a great 2022 show season. Thank you to all the OWHA Board members for putting on a great awards banquet. OWHA is very thankful to all those who dedicate their time, knowledge and friendship into making OWHA what it is!

PRESIDENT, Marc Beck VICE PRESIDENTS, Loretta Rudasill, Renee Liedel SECRETARY, Jonda Cole TREASURER, Eric Haudenschield WEBSITE, www.owha.org

Black Swamp Driving Club Black Swamp Driving Club Enjoys Banquet

Hayhurst was busy making sure everyone had a ticket for the door prize drawing. A beautiful, heavy quilt was the top prize— perfect for sleigh rides or chilly drives around the country.

by Mary Thomas

About three dozen Black Swamp Driving Club members gathered Nov. 12 at the Good Hope Lutheran Church, Arlington, Ohio, for the 2022 year-end celebration. At 5 p.m. President Sharon Hayhurst called for attention and set up the Bingo game. Although it took some time to get the first shout of ‘Bingo’ there were soon winners galore. Hayhurst had brought plenty of prizes and no one went empty handed.

A large selection of dishes made the potluck exceptional. The Hayhursts had supplied a spiral ham and there was a whole

A crazy ‘white elephant’ gift exchange was hotly contested. Names were drawn to pick out a gift, but that gift was in danger of being stolen. A set of monogrammed towels was in serious jeopardy along with a couple other ‘treasures’. A last call for bids in the silent auction was made, again helping the club to raise money for more activities.

Throughout the evening, Treasurer Sue Murray collected dues for 2023. President Hayhurst ended the festivities with a reminder to be thinking about the upcoming election of board members and ideas for drives and events for 2023. The next meeting will be Jan. 8 at the Good Hope Lutheran Church, Arlington, Ohio, from 2 to 4

PRESIDENT, Sharon Hayhurst VICE PRESIDENT, Angela Hohenbrink SEC. & TREAS., Susan Murray WEBSITE, www.blackswampdrivingclub.com

Horse Facility for Rent Canfield, Ohio

Heated

JANUARY 2023

JAN. 6-8 — 2023 ARHA Judges Seminar, Center For Rural Development, 2292 US Hwy. 27, Somerset, KY. FMI: American Ranch Horse Association, 606-271-2963, www.americanranchhorse.net

JAN. 7 — Michigan Quarter Horse Association Service Sale, Okemos Convention Center, Okemos, MI. FMI: 616225-8211, mqha@hotmail.com, www. miquarterhorse.com

JAN. 7 — El Winter Bash IBRA Buckle/ Award Series, Edmiston Arena, 670 Carpenters Creek Rd., Hustonville, KY. FMI: Ashley, 859-779-0397

JAN. 7-8 — Foster Equine Boarding & Rescue Snowball Series, 60500 Patch Rd., New Concord, OH. FMI: 740-291-3556, www.facebook.com/fosterequine

JAN. 7-8 — YEDA Show, Champion Center, Springfield, OH. FMI: Molly Niese, 419-9577379, www.showyeda.com

JAN. 7-8 — Blue Lakes Farm Winter Series Contest Show (7th) and Pleasure Show (8th), 14037 Auburn Rd., Newbury, OH. FMI: 440564-7303, https://bluelakesfarm.wixsite. com/website, tomsnyder8@gmail.com

JAN. 8 — CS Roping Series, 9918 Ridge Road SE, Uhichsville, OH. FMI: Cooper, 330340-2255

JAN. 13-15 — 2022-2023 Youth Rodeo Series, Garwood Arena, 2538 Middleton Rd., Columbia, OH. FMI: 330-717-4329, www.garwoodarena.com

JAN. 14 — Pure Gold Stables Golden Winter Dressage Award Series, 3325 State Route 45, Salem, OH. FMI: 814746-2664, puregoldstables1@gmail.com, wwwpuregoldequine.com

JAN. 14 — Rockin R Ranch Youth Rodeo, Rodeo Run Arena, 11641 Alspach Rd. NW, Canal Winchester, OH. FMI: Raynelle Rickly, 740-538-1491, www.facebook.com/ rockinrranchyouthrodeoassociation

JAN. 14 — Horse Sale, Mt. Hope Auction, Mt. Hope, OH. FMI: 330-674-6188, www. mthopeauction.com

JAN. 14 — Carhartt Classic Fuzzy Performance Show Series, Copper Mare Ranch, 6090 N. State Route 53, Tiffin, OH. FMI: 567-2076339, www.coppermareranch.com

JAN. 14 — Chilled Classic 2023, Sundance Arena, 310 Fredonia Rd., Fredonia, PA. FMI: Alicia Zygarowski, 724-679-0186

JAN. 14-15 — YEDA Show, Lake Erie College, Painesville, OH. FMI: Molly Niese, 419-957-7379, mniese@showyeda.com, www.showyeda.com

JAN. 15 — Breakaway Series, Treharne’s Training Center, 49053 Fredericktown Clarkson Rd., Negley, OH. FMI: 330-6921271, dttrainingcenter@gmail.com

JAN. 21 — Henderson’s Arena Buckle Series, Henderson’s Arena, Jackson, OH. FMI: Kelsie Bauerle, 937-728-9422

JAN. 21 — Tack Sale, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Heart of a Warrior Farm, 6545 Beecher Rd., Granville, OH. FMI: 614-604-4565, https:// www.facebook.com/HeartofaWarriorFarm

JAN. 21 — Tiedown and Breakaway Cold Calves Series, Cooper Mare Ranch, 6090 N. St. Rt. 53, Tiffin, OH. FMI: 567-287-6339, www.coppermareranch.com

JAN. 21 — Davis Ranch Fuzzy Show 2023, 11 a.m., 385 East US Hwy. 150, Hardinsburg, IN. FMI: David Davis, 812-620-5707, dave@ daviddavishorsemanship.com

JAN. 21-22 — YEDA Show, Garwood Arena, Columbiana, OH. FMI: Molly Niese, 419957-7379, mniese@showyeda.com, www. showyeda.com

JAN. 22 — 1st Annual Wilmington College Tack Swap, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., 1535 Fife Ave., Wilmington, OH. FMI: Allie Pitt, 614832-6342 (text), doublertack@yahoo.com

JAN. 25-29 — Winner Circuit, C Bar C Arena, 253 W. Stardust Rd., Cloverdale, IN. FMI: Kathy Avolt, 765-714-4324, www. anequineproduction.com

JAN. 27-29 — AQHA/KyQHA Special Event - Poles & Barrels, Briken Hill Arena, 1509 Red House Road, Richmond, KY. FMI: Kay Kass, 859-229-2416, kyhorseshowsec@ gmail.com

JAN. 28 — 12th Annual Ashland Paint & Plain Saddle Club Tack Swap, Ashland County Fairgrounds Mozelle Hall and Green Building, 2042 Claremont Ave., Ashland, OH. FMI: Taylor Rebman, 419606-5164, taylor9377@gmail.com, www. ashlandpaintandplain.com

JAN. 28 — Pure Gold Stables Blizzard Classic Winter Jumper Series, 3325 State Route 45, Salem, OH. FMI: 814-7462664, puregoldstables1@gmail.com, wwwpuregoldequine.com

JAN. 28 — Henderson’s Arena Buckle Series, Henderson’s Arena, Jackson, OH. FMI: Kelsie Bauerle, 937-728-9422

JAN. 28 — 24th Annual Contenders 4-H Club Tack, Pie & Misc. Item Auction, 5 p.m., Ramser 4H Activity Center, 700 Perimeter Dr., Mount Vernon, OH. FMI: www. facebook.com/contendersauction

JAN. 28— Chilled Classic 2023, Sundance Arena, 310 Fredonia Rd., Fredonia, PA. FMI: Alicia Zygarowski, 724-679-0186

JAN. 29 — Annual Membership Dinner, Boone County Enrichment Center, Burlington, KY. FMI: Trisha Kremer, 859743-0296, nkhn@nkhn.info

FEBRUARY 2023

FEB. 4 — Carhartt Classic Fuzzy Performance Show Series, Copper Mare Ranch, 6090 N. State Route 53, Tiffin, OH. FMI: 567-207-6339, coppermareranch@ gmail.com, www.coppermareranch.com

FEB. 4 — MQHA 21st Annual New & Used Tack Sale, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., MSU Pavilion, East Lansing, MI. FMI: 616225-8211, mqha@hotmail.com, www. miquarterhorse.com

FEB. 4-5 — Foster Equine Boarding & Rescue Snowball Series, 60500 Patch Rd., New Concord, OH. FMI: 740-291-3556, fosterequinerescue@gmail.com, www. facebook.com/fosterequine

FEB. 4-5 — YEDA Show, Treharnes Arena, Negley, OH. FMI: Molly Niese, 419-9577379, mniese@showyeda.com, www. showyeda.com

FEB. 10 — Cabin Special Sale, Tack 10 a.m., Horses 12 p.m., Sugarcreek Stockyards, 102 Buckeye Street, Sugarcreek, OH. FMI: 330-831-1720, www.sugarcreekstockyard. com

FEB. 10-12 — 2022-2023 Youth Rodeo Series, Garwood Arena, 2538 Middleton Rd., Columbia, OH. FMI: 330-717-4329, www.garwoodarena.com

FEB. 11 — Portage County OHC Valentine’s Bingo Night, 5 p.m., Edinburgh Town Hall, 6856 Tallmadge Rd., Rootstown, OH. FMI: Cathy, 440-476-1138, www.facebook. com/Portage-County-Ohio-HorsemanCouncil-NEOTRA-194147080613531

FEB. 11 — Horse Sale, Mt. Hope Auction, Mt. Hope, OH. FMI: 330-674-6188, www. mthopeauction.com

FEB. 11 — Rockin R Ranch Youth Rodeo, Rodeo Run Arena, 11641 Alspach Rd. NW, Canal Winchester, OH. FMI: Raynelle Rickly, 740-538-1491, www.facebook.com/ rockinrranchyouthrodeoassociation

FEB. 11-12 — 4H Tack Sale, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Champion Center, 4122 Laybourne Rd., Springfield, OH. FMI: Colleen Martin, 614-374-6149

FEB. 11-12 — Champions All Breed Association Show, Champions Center, 4122 Laybourne Rd., Springfield, OH. FMI: 937324-4353, www.championscenterarena.com

FEB. 12 — Pure Gold Stables Blizzard Classic Winter Jumper Series, 3325 State Route 45, Salem, OH. FMI: 814-7462664, puregoldstables1@gmail.com, wwwpuregoldequine.com

FEB. 12 — Great Lakes Appaloosa Horse Club Swap Meet, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., University of Findlay Equestrian Center Western Farm, 14700 US 68, Findlay, OH. FMI: Jim Hollis, 269-214-6194, www.glaphc.com

FEB. 12 — Breakaway Series, Treharne’s Training Center, 49053 Fredericktown Clarkson Rd., Negley, OH. FMI: 330-6921271, dttrainingcenter@gmail.com

FEB. 12 — Chilled Classic 2023, Sundance Arena, 310 Fredonia Rd., Fredonia, PA.

FMI: Alicia Zygarowski, 724-679-0186

FEB. 18 — Tiedown and Breakaway Cold Calves Series, Cooper Mare Ranch, 6090 N. St. Rt. 53, Tiffin, OH. FMI: 567-287-6339, www.coppermareranch.com

FEB. 18 — Davis Ranch Fuzzy Show 2023, 11 a.m., 385 East US Hwy. 150, Hardinsburg, IN. FMI: David Davis, 812-620-5707, dave@ daviddavishorsemanship.com

FEB. 18-19 — Blue Lakes Farm Winter Series Contest Show (18th) and Pleasure Show (19th), 14037 Auburn Rd., Newbury, OH. FMI: 440-564-7303, https://bluelakesfarm. wixsite.com/website, tomsnyder8@gmail. com

FEB. 18-19 — YEDA Show, Garwood Arena, Columbiana, OH. FMI: Molly Niese, 419957-7379, mniese@showyeda.com, www. showyeda.com

FEB. 18-19 — YEDA Show, Champion Center, Springfield, OH. FMI: Molly Niese, 419-957-7379, mniese@showyeda.com, www.showyeda.com

FEB. 19 — Pure Gold Stables Golden Winter Dressage Award Series, 3325 State Route 45, Salem, OH. FMI: 814746-2664, puregoldstables1@gmail.com, wwwpuregoldequine.com

FEB. 24-25 —Two Day Draft and Driving Horse Sale, LaRue Livestock Auction, 1059 Richwood-LaRue Rd., LaRue, OH. FMI: 231-246-0290, www.facebook.com/ LaRueLivestockAuction

FEB. 24-26 — The Challenge presented by SOQHYA, Champions Center, 4122 Laybourne Rd., Springfield, OH. FMI: Kathy Avolt, 765-714-4324, www.soqha.com

FEB. 24-26 — AQHA/KyQHA Special EventPoles & Barrels, Briken Hill Arena, 1509 Red House Road, Richmond, KY. FMI: Kay Kass, 859-229-2416, kyhorseshowsec@gmail.com

FEB. 25 — Coshocton 4H Horse Committee Tack Swamp, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Coshocton Co. Fair, 707 Kenilworth Ave., Coshocton, OH. FMI: Alonna Hoffman, 740-622-2265

FEB. 25-26 — Outlaw Mounted Shooters

Saddle Series, The Circle Bar C Ranch, 1424 Bluegrass Pkwy., LaGrange, KY. FMI: 502322-4861, circlebarc95@yahoo.com, www. circlebarcranch.com

FEB. 26 — Tack Swap Fundraiser for NBHA Ohio 02, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Blue Lakes Farm, 14037 Auburn Rd., Newbury, OH. FMI: Amy Snyder, 440-479-8503

MARCH 2023

MARCH 1-5 — Indiana Quarter Horse Association Shamrock Shuffle, C Bar C Arena, 253 W. Stardust Rd., Cloverdale, IN. FMI: Kathy Avolt, 765-714-4324, www. AnEquineProduction.com

MARCH 4-5 — Foster Equine Boarding & Rescue Snowball Series, 60500 Patch Rd., New Concord, OH. FMI: 740-291-3556, fosterequinerescue@gmail.com, www. facebook.com/fosterequine

MARCH 4-5 — YEDA Show, Garwood Arena, Columbiana, OH. FMI: Molly Niese, 419-957-7379, mniese@showyeda.com, www.showyeda.com

MARCH 4-5 — YEDA Show, Champion Center, Springfield, OH. FMI: Molly Niese, 419-957-7379, mniese@showyeda.com, www.showyeda.com

MARCH 5 — Breakaway Series, Treharne’s Training Center, 49053 Fredericktown Clarkson Rd., Negley, OH. FMI: 330-6921271, dttrainingcenter@gmail.com

MARCH 6-10 — Mid Ohio Draft Horse, Carriage & Tack Sale, Mt. Hope Auction, Mt. Hope, OH. FMI: 330-674-6188, www. mthopeauction.com

MARCH 10-12 — 2022-2023 Youth Rodeo Series, Garwood Arena, 2538 Middleton Rd., Columbia, OH. FMI: 330-717-4329, www.garwoodarena.com

MARCH 10-12 — On The Road with Dawn & Clea Half Baked Series, Champions Center, Springfield, OH. FMI: www. ontheroadwithdawnandclea.com

MARCH 10-12 — 40th Anniversary Michigan Horse Expo, MSU Livestock Pavilion, 4301 Farm Lane, East Lansing, MI. FMI: info@michiganhorsecouncil. com, www.mihorseexpo.com

MARCH 11 — Pure Gold Stables Blizzard Classic Winter Jumper Series, 3325 State Route 45, Salem, OH. FMI: 814-7462664, puregoldstables1@gmail.com, wwwpuregoldequine.com

MARCH 11 — Horse Sale, Mt. Hope Auction, Mt. Hope, OH. FMI: 330-6746188, www.mthopeauction.com

MARCH 11 — Tiedown and Breakaway Cold Calves Series, Cooper Mare Ranch, 6090 N. St. Rt. 53, Tiffin, OH. FMI: 567-2876339, www.coppermareranch.com

MARCH 11 — Great Lakes Championship Bull Riding Association Finals “Mane Event”, MSU Pavilion, 4301 Farm Lane, East Lansing, MI. FMI: https://www. facebook.com/greatlakesbullsandbarrels

MARCH 11 — Chilled Classic 2023, Sundance Arena, 310 Fredonia Rd., Fredonia, PA. FMI: Alicia, 724-679-0186

MARCH 11-12 — Blue Lakes Farm Winter Series Contest Show (11th) and Pleasure Show (12th), 14037 Auburn Rd., Newbury, OH. FMI: 440-564-7303, https:// bluelakesfarm.wixsite.com/website

MARCH 18 — The Horsemans Mission Select Sale featuring Gypsy Vanners, Fell Ponies & Feathered Crossbreds (Stallion Presentation March 17th), Rocking T Ranch, Sullivan, OH. FMI: 330-275-4015, thehorsemansmission@gmail.com

MARCH 18 — Rockin R Ranch Youth Rodeo, Rodeo Run Arena, 11641 Alspach Rd. NW, Canal Winchester, OH. FMI: Raynelle Rickly, 740-538-1491, www.facebook.com/ rockinrranchyouthrodeoassociation

MARCH 18 — Carhartt Classic Fuzzy Performance Show Series, Copper Mare Ranch, 6090 N. State Route 53, Tiffin, OH. FMI: 567-207-6339, www. coppermareranch.com

MARCH 18 — Two Minds, One Mission Brain-Based Horsemanship, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sand Hill Stables, 4311 State Route 303, Mantua, OH. FMI: 724-456-0237, www.horseofadifferentcolor.org

MARCH 18 — Davis Ranch Fuzzy Show 2023, 11 a.m., 385 East US Hwy. 150, Hardinsburg, IN. FMI: David Davis, 812-6205707, dave@daviddavishorsemanship.com

MARCH 18-19 — Spring Fling Open Horse Show, Champions Center, Springfield, OH. FMI: Buckeye Equestrian Events, 740-6104129, www.buckeyeequestrianevents.com

MARCH 18-19 — Outlaw Mounted Shooters Saddle Series, The Circle Bar C Ranch, 1424 Bluegrass Pkwy., LaGrange, KY. FMI: 502-322-4861, circlebarc95@yahoo. com, www.circlebarcranch.com

MARCH 19 — The 37th Annual Great Tack Exchange, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Greene County Expo Center & Fairgrounds, 120 Fairgrounds Rd., Xenia, OH. FMI: 513-4091344, greattackexchange.webs.com

MARCH 23-26 — Road To The Horse, Kentucky Horse Park Alltech Arena, Lexington, KY. FMI: 325-736-5000, www. roadtothehorse.com

MARCH 24-26 — Amberley Snyder Barrel Racing Clinic, Pine Creek Arena, 23937 Big Pine Rd., South Bloomingville, OH. FMI: Deana Davis, 740-641-6543

MARCH 24-26 — AQHA/KyQHA Special Event - Poles & Barrels, Briken Hill Arena, 1509 Red House Road, Richmond, KY. FMI: Kay Kass, 859-229-2416, kyhorseshowsec@ gmail.com

MARCH 25 — Ride-A-Test with Sara Justice, Brecksville Stables, 11921 Parkview Dr., Brecksville, OH. FMI: Classical Attraction Dressage Society, 234804-8735, CADSrider@gmail.com, www. cadsdressage.org

MARCH 25 — 1-Day Back In The Saddle Clinic, Terry Myers Training Center, 4170 Stover Rd., Ostrander, OH. FMI: 740-6661162, www.TMTrainingCenter.com

MARCH 25 — Horse Health Day, Alexandria Fairgrounds, 100 Fairgrounds Road, Alexandria, KY. FMI: Donnie Orth, 859-393-7012, nkhn@nkhn.info

MARCH 25 — Chilled Classic 2023, Sundance Arena, 310 Fredonia Rd., Fredonia, PA. FMI: Alicia, 724-679-0186

MARCH 31 - APRIL 2 — Pinto Horse Association of Ohio Spring Fling, Garwood Arena, 2538 Middleton Rd., Columbiana, OH. FMI: www.ohiopinto.net

For more equine events visit our website www.thehorsemenscorral.com

View From the Cheap Seats

You Say Toe-May-Toes, I Say Salsa!

by Sarah Vas

Lots of folks tell me that carriage driving looks intimidating. There’s tons of equipment, straps going every which way, weird extra stuff on the bridles, a long fishing pole of a whip nonsense going on. Big tack trunks, big trailers, big wheels, big pony butts staring you right in the face. The horse is way up there. You’re way back here. It can feel like operating your truck and trailer from the back slot of your 12-horse slant load. And if you already know riding vocabulary, driving terminology is very confusing. Let’s have a vocabulary lesson, shall we?

Carriages all have a basic Shafts-Wheels-Seat foundation. Like our modern transportation industry, we also call any carriage a Vehicle. There are endless makes and models. Not all carriages are Carts. Not all

carts are Buggies. Not all twowheel carriages are Gigs. If you don’t know the official type, just call it a vehicle or carriage and you won’t insult anyone. If the aforementioned three elements, or any major components in connection with such, are not in sound functioning order either singularly or in combination, we call that vehicle Wrecked. Not all wrecked vehicles are repairable but that depends on whether you’re the one buying it, selling it, fixing it, or getting back in behind the horse that wrecked it.

The long horizontal sticks are called Shafts and not all carriages have those, either. Some vehicles have a Pole between two horses hitched side-by-side. That’s called a Pair. Two horses hitched single-file to one vehicle is a Tandem. One horse is hitched between the shafts, pulling the vehicle. The other one, the Leader, is out there in the open air with very little connecting it

to the vehicle, its buddy, or the driver. Sometimes, that horse decides to turn around and let the other horse lead. That’s bad. Incidentally, tandem drivers get very proficient at backing out of what we call a Tangle.

Even as we know it to be the Harness, the big belt around horse’s middle is still called a Saddle but there’s no seat for a rider. If you see a person mounted on a hitched horse, that’s called Riding Postilion. That rider wrangles a second horse hitched to the right while steering their mounted animal with reins. Nobody needs to do this anymore except the Royal Family coachmen or military reenactors pulling artillery around a fake battlefield. Roman riding in shorts and flip flops around the backyard with your cousin in a red wagon, knotted lunge ropes tied up to both horses ain’t the same.

The leather loops on both sides of the saddle that hold up the shafts are called Tugs but the horse doesn’t ‘tug’ the vehicle with these loops. The horse pulls the weight of a vehicle using a Collar. Whether a vehicle requires a Breast Collar or Full Collar depends on it’s Line of Draught. Totally unrelated to beer, this defines the towing line and angle from horse to carriage. That’s the responsibility of the Traces attached to the collar. These straps are the real tug ropes between the two but without a properly fitted set of Breeching and Holdbacks, the vehicle will crawl up a horse’s britches every time it tries to halt. Traces are generally connected to the Single Tree. Some call it a Swingle Tree, maybe because that thingamajig is supposed to swing. Others go old school with the rarely used term, Whiffle Tree, although it has nothing to do with baseball. Not all vehicles connect the harness traces to a single tree. Maybe the vehicle has Roller Bolts or stationary Pig Tails or even rings meant for Quick Release Shackles. Changing one elemental piece on either the harness or vehicle is bound to affect something else, somewhere else. Knowledgeable drivers can spot a cobbled together harness from fifty paces but anyone who’s driven long enough has combined

mismatched harnesses on one horse. When it comes to diving equipment, one size does not fit all. Size definitely matters.

Many carriages have a Dashboard but no glove compartment even though you’re supposed to wear gloves. Brown gloves, not black! You put your feet in the Boot, not on the floor.

Hounds and hunting dogs go in the Back Boot but only if there’s louvers on the sides so they can breath. There’s an actual horse show class for Carriage Dogs. They don’t go in the boot but instead, sit with the driver. They’re judged on cuteness and manners. The dogs, not the drivers.

As the driver, you sit on the Box Seat but first, you tell your horse that you’re Coming Up. Sometimes, the driver sits on a Wedge but it’s not supposed to give you a wedgie. They’re not reins but Lines and you never whack them on your horse’s bum to get him to go unless you’re preventing a wreck! The eye flappies on a driving bridle are called Blinders or Blinkers or Winkers but your horse can still see up ahead. They only prevent your horse from thinking that the vehicle or whip-wielding driver is chasing it. If the horse acts on this conclusion, the driver should avoid an emergency dismount at all costs. That’s also bad. Otherwise, the vehicle is about to be Wrecked.

Turnout doesn’t mean play time. It’s what we call the horse, harness, driver, and vehicle all as one. It’s also a specific subdivision of carriage driving classes and focuses on your Turnout being as correct as possible in all it’s matchymatched glory, perfect for

Western Reserve Carriage Association

WRCA New Year Planning

SECRETARY,

MEMBERSHIP

by Cathy Rhoades

Happy Holidays and New Year!

2022 ended with two nonWRCA clinics held by members. Barbara King and Dan Speese had a Desensitizing Clinic at Golden Horse Farm Nov. 5. There were a number of great challenges presented to the attendees and their horses. It was an extremely windy day which added a little spice to the environment. Inside the arena there was a mounting block, a bridge, posters on the wall, feed bags to walk over, a giant blowup horse, Clyde and an arch with a flapping tarp covering it to exit the arena. Throughout the farm there were other scary objects such

Salsa

persnickety, detail-obsessed fashionistas like me. It’s not equitation, but Reinsmanship. Cones classes use tennis balls but no rackets. Gig classes don’t require guitars or musicians. The Picnic class is as close to bribing a judge as it gets, what with serving them champagne and crudité from your boot (the vehicle’s, not your feet, silly). So, don’t let the language dissuade you. Our Gambler’s Choice is legal in all 50 states.

Sarah Vas, a second-generation horsewoman, writes about her decades of adventure and mayhem among several breeds and disciplines, and countless equine educational endeavors

as a flapping flag, blankets on a clothesline, a shredded curtain to walk through, big bouncing balls, a walk past barking dogs in a kennel and a creek crossing. It was interesting to see what bothered individual horses, not always what you expected! Some of the WRCA members participating were Heather Raw, Michele and Tim Stevens, Peggy Milburn, Jo Ann Murr, and Cathy Rhoades.

Stacey and Meredith Giere offered a driving clinic and derby Nov. 11-13 at Maple Crest Farms. International competitor Carrie Ostrowski was the clinician for the weekend. Private lessons were given over a two day period with lots of great instruction. Janet Yosay, Becky Salinger, Julianna Bedel, Linda Eick, and Shellie Kwikowski were just some of the WRCA members driving throughout the weekend. On Saturday morning there was a junior driving clinic well attended by around a dozen youth. It is wonderful that so many are taking an interest in our sport! Sunday there was a driving

derby which is always a lot of fun. Stacey is planning another weekend of instruction with Sterling Graburn Jan. 27-29.

The new board has not been elected at this writing. When the results of the vote are available, the membership will be notified by email. The current board is working on events for early in the year. Sunday, Feb. 5, we will offer another educational Zoom meeting presented by Myrna Rhinehart of IVC Carriage. Details and link will be sent by email.

March 12 will be our fundraiser and auction. It will be held at Fieldstone Therapeutic Driving Center in Chagrin Falls. This will be a potluck and open to members, family and friends. We can use auction donations! Contact Ann Petersen if you have items or questions.

We also welcome new members, ideas for meetings or

drives, new venues. Please share any ideas you may have.

Carlisle Driving Dates: Tuesday Jan. 3; Saturday, Jan. 7; Thursday, Jan. 12; Sunday, Jan. 15; Saturday, Feb. 4; Tuesday, Feb. 7; Thursday, Feb. 9; Sunday, Feb. 12.

Have a happy, healthy, horsey new year!

both as student and teacher. Sarah owns and operates a continuation of her parents’ original business, Winfield Farm & Forge, Ltd., that which couldn’t currently exist without constant gratitude for Kevin, her very forgiving, ridiculously supportive husband. Together, they are quietly beginning to explore the Farm’s newest chapters, both in and out of the horse world. They are returning to Sarah’s family roots, this time as breeders of Arabian/Welsh Sport Ponies for dressage and carriage while husband and wife indulge their pent up creativity producing a variety of rustic décor and iron work.

PRESIDENT, Jo Ann Murr VICE PRESIDENT, Ann Petersen TREASURER, Ann Petersen

Cathy Rhoades

SECRETARY, Henry Rish. WEBSITE, www.wrcarriage.com

Barb King with Misty meeting Clyde.

Basic Broodmare Nutrition

by Kristen Janicki, MS, PAS

During pregnancy, the mare’s daily nutrient requirements allow her to maintain her own body condition and nutrient requirements, as well as support those of the growing fetus. Gestational weight gain can be around 12-15 percent of the mare’s initial body weight, mostly made up of fetal and placental tissues. Proper nutrition during pregnancy will set your broodmare up for successfully raising a healthy foal. Follow these tips on nutrition for the pregnant mare.

Weight Managment

The amount of energy, or calories, a mare needs above maintenance levels typically doesn’t elevate upwards until the fifth month of gestation as the fetus undergoes most of its development. A 1,200-pound mare requires approximately 20,000 calories per day in early gestation and increases to 26,000 during late gestation. The best way to know whether your broodmare is eating enough calories is by Body Condition Scoring (BCS), evaluating the amount of fat deposited on the ribs, along the neck and spine, and behind the shoulder. The typical scoring system uses a 1 to 9 scale, where a horse with a score of 1 is emaciated and 9 is obese. Ideally, a broodmare should be at least a BCS of 5.

What little we know about restricting calories during pregnancy suggests that broodmares with a low Body Condition Score (BCS) during pregnancy will most likely result in underdevelopment of the fetus and reduced placental function. When an outbreak of Streptococcus equi affected Thoroughbred mares mid-pregnancy, causing a loss of about ten percent of their bodyweight, foals born from these mares weighed around five percent less at birth compared to foals from healthy mares (Wilsher et al., 2006). However, this is a severe case of weight loss and moderate reductions in weight during pregnancy don’t appear to have such a drastic effect on foal birth weight.

Obesity of the mare appears to generally affect hormone concentrations in the foal, with particular concern for future development of metabolic disorders. A recently published study compared insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance to different diets in foals from normal or obese mares at 6, 12 and 18 months of age. Obese mares produced more insulin resistant foals at six and eighteen months of age (Robles et al., 2018). Also, more yearlings from obese mares were affected by osteochondrosis lesions versus yearlings from normal mares, but no differences between the offspring were detected at 6 or 18 months of age.

Forage

A broodmare’s diet should consist of at least 1.5 percent of her body weight in forage for proper digestive function. Considering the length of a mare’s gestation, you are more than likely going to need some combination of pasture and hay. If your broodmare is on pasture, make sure to know the species of grasses that are growing in that pasture. Most tall fescue grass in the US is infected by a fungal endophyte. Consumption of this endophyte-infected fescue in late gestation can cause early term prolonged pregnancy, retained placentas and even foal death. When pasture isn’t available, hay that is nutritious and safe should be provided. Same with fescue hay - unless tall fescue hay has been tested and is known to be endophyte-free, it should not be fed to pregnant mares.

Feed

Broodmares may be able to meet most of their nutrient requirements with forage alone up until the fifth month of gestation. Forage alone won’t be able to provide the protein, amino acid, mineral and vitamin requirements necessary to support the foal’s growth rate, so consider either adding in a commercial grain mix specifically for broodmares or a ration balancer. If the mare is losing weight during the last six months of her pregnancy, consider feeding a commercial grain specifically targeted for pregnant mares. Most commercial grains for pregnancy include calorie sources from fat and fiber and 14-16 percent crude protein with guaranteed amounts of the amino acid lysine. If the mare can maintain a BCS of fiveor above easily with forage, add a ration balancer to provide essential amino acids, minerals and vitamins not provided for in the pasture or hay but necessary to support fetal growth.

Take Home Message

A broodmare’s nutritional requirements begins to change after the fifth month of pregnancy and meeting those requirements is vital to supporting the growth and development of the foal. Reach out to your veterinarian or equine nutritionist for help in balancing your broodmare’s diet.

Kristen Janicki, MS, PAS is an Associate Digital Brand Manager for MARS Horsecare US/BUCKEYE™ Nutrition, responsible for technical nutrition support, digital and social media, and working collaboratively with the Senior Nutrition Manager in providing high-quality nutritional content. Headquartered in Dalton, Ohio, BUCKEYE Nutrition has been manufacturing quality products since 1910. BUCKEYE Nutrition takes feed safety seriously, implementing many programs mandated in human food manufacturing facilities. With the backing of the WALTHAM Petcare Science Institute, a world-leading authority on pet care and widely renowned as an institution of the highest scientific caliber, our equine nutritionists provide scientifically based equine nutritional solutions which guide our formulations and our BUCKEYE Nutrition brand promise of being the highest quality, fixed formula feeds available. BUCKEYE Nutrition is a 100 percent equine-focused company, 100 percent medication-free facility, sourcing 100 percent traceable, pure ingredients for consistency. www.BuckeyeNutrition.com. 800/898-9467.

Ohio High School Rodeo Association

Current Event Leaders from Fall Rodeos

NATIONAL DIRECTOR, Nikki McCarty

PRESIDENT, Ryan Corzatt

VICE PRESIDENT, Clint Cummings SECRETARY, Tyler Stillion PHONE, 419/566-5041

FACEBOOK, Ohio High School & Jr High Rodeo Association; WEBSITE, www.ohiohighschoolrodeo.org

by Tana Drew

We just wrapped up the fall rodeos of our 2022-23 OHSRA season. It’s been quite a competitive year in our High School and Junior High divisions. Here is a look at current event leaders!

In our High School division, Avery Roese in Barrel Racing, Hadassah Mullet in Pole Bending, Tana Drew in Goat Tying, Emma Wyant in Breakaway Roping, Clayton Drake in TieDown Roping, Ayden White in Steer Wrestling, Arly Kinser and Jarica Winkleman in Team Roping and Dawson Edwards in Bull Riding.

In our Junior High division,

Morgan East in Barrel Racing, Braelynn Gardner in Pole Bending and Breakaway Roping, Madison Corsi in Goat Tying, Morgan and Matt East in Ribbon Roping, Reid Strickler in Boys Breakaway and Goat Tying, Wesley Gardner in Chute Doggin, Matt East in Tie-Down Roping, Matt East and Wesley Gardner in Team Roping and Bryson Shiver in Bull Riding.

In our shooting events, Mya Dimmerling in High School Light Rifle, Garrett Miley in High School Trap Shooting and Bryson Shiver in Junior High Light Rifle. In our Ranch Horse and Cutting events, Jalee Winkleman in Ranch Horse, Lexie Saint in Girls Cutting and Luke McKinsey in Boys Cutting.

Over the winter break, our Queen Zoey McBride and Princess Madison Corsi will be hosting the annual ‘Cowboy Prom’ on Jan. 28 for all the contestants to get together.

It’s not too late to join us for our spring rodeos! Visit ohiohighschoolrodeo.org for more information!

2022 Junior High National team.

2022 High School National team.

by Rob and Tanya Corzatt

During service at our church on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, our Pastor shared a tweet that was supposedly posted by Ohio State Buckeye quarterback CJ Stroud after a heartbreaking (at least to those of us in Buckeye Nation) loss to the team up north. I have always been very fond of CJ, as he is an unabashed Christian man who never fails to give the glory to God and Jesus Christ, win or lose. I do not recall the exact words he posted on Twitter, but I do remember the scripture that was included in the tweet. Romans chapter 5, verses 3 through 5 read “3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has

been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us”. I had already decided on a topic for this article but hadn’t yet searched for the appropriate scripture to include. After hearing it during service, I felt it was more than appropriate. You all will most likely be reading this after the New Year rolls in. The New Year always gives us a feeling of a fresh start or a reset on our lives. I have to be honest that for the most part, I am not going to miss 2022. I am sure it wasn’t any tougher for us than it probably was for most of the people reading this article. Everyone is feeling the pain at the fuel pumps, at the grocery store, with their utilities. I am sure I am also not the only one that has had to reconsider their retirement timing due to the downturn in the stock market. Many are dealing with the loss of a loved one in 2022. I can’t recall a time in my life when people in this country

seemed to be so vehemently at odds with one another. Add in the war in Ukraine, the fact the red wave never happened in the midterms (I am a conservative if you haven’t figured that out yet), and a second loss to the TTUN and I am glad that 2022 is in the rearview mirror.

On a very personal level, we have dealt with several painful events amongst our family and friends over this past year. The Memorial Day weekend was one we would especially like to forget. It was at that time, that one of our sons began to deal with what would ultimately become a separation from his wife. Another son and his wife found out that their home builder had declared bankruptcy about halfway through construction of their home. As parents, T and I both couldn’t help but feel some of the pain our children were experiencing. Despite our assurances to them that everything would work out, we were both initially very bitter about both situations. I won’t go into details, but it has been a slow process working through the bitterness that each situation caused.

While T and I were on vacation this summer, I got a text from one of my very dear friends that their family needed prayer because their oldest son had committed suicide. Their pain is magnified because none of the young man’s family, friends or work colleagues could fathom what led him to take his own life. I can’t even begin to imagine the emotions the family has had to deal with, especially during the recent holidays. Our friends’ Christian faith and the support of their friends and church are the only thing helping get through this difficult time.

Family members have been dealing with health issues that reared their ugly head in 2021. Some doctors attributed it to ‘long COVID’. No appetite, messed up sense of smell and taste, little energy and ‘brain fog’. Another family member was dealing with their own health issues and needed to stay away from others due to their immune system being compromised. The holidays at the end of 2021 and throughout the early part of 2022 weren’t the typical cheerful Corzatt gatherings.

Someone else very near and dear to us had to deal with the decision to take their father off of life support after a sudden and very debilitating neurological disorder. They did so on the Sunday after Thanksgiving and he passed quickly with the family around him. We were notified after church that day and I couldn’t help but think about the scripture from Romans that I quoted earlier. Despite that, I pray that I, T or our children never have to make a similar decision.

If I stopped this article right now, you might think this was just a plea for some sympathy, but you would be wrong. We, like so many others, have had to deal with some unpleasant things over the past year, but we have also been able to enjoy some very good things as well. We never wished for our son’s separation. Since we can’t rewind the clock in order to go back and make it all better, we all, including our son, have moved on knowing that God is in control. What was once bitterness in our hearts is slowly changing into a heartfelt wish that both our son and his former wife will find a new joy in their lives. I must admit this is the closest we have felt to our son in a few years now and we praise the Lord for that. He has also had some new opportunities presented to him that may really boost his horse training business (subject for a future article perhaps).

Our other son and his wife were able to find another contractor to finish their home. Even though it ended up costing them more money, and their move in date got delayed about six months, they were able to move in a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. We all got to celebrate the first birthday of our beautiful granddaughter, Indy, a week after they moved into their new home. Grandma T and I have taught her how to make a ‘scrunchy face’ and we like to greet her with it when we go to visit. It’s our little thing with her and it makes us forget about a lot of other

Tanya and Rob Corzatt

Geauga Horse and Pony Association

Open and Contesting Show Dates are Set for 2023

by Debbie Schwartz

The dates have been set for next years Open and Contesting shows. The Open Shows will be on Sunday, May 28, June 18, June 9, and Aug. 6. The Contesting Shows will be Friday nights under the lights on June 9, June 23, July 14, and Aug. 11. All of the shows are held at the Geauga County Fairgrounds in Burton, Ohio. All shows will once again be pre-registration online before the show. Be sure

Goodbye (continued)

things going on when she makes her cute little face all ‘scrunchy’ right back at us. Our third son also got engaged recently. We are excited to add our future daughter-in-law to our family and our extended barn family.

Our Corzatt Thanksgiving get together was extremely special this year. Almost the entire family was able to attend. Both family members that had been dealing with medical issues were doing so well. I actually cried a couple times during our time together because it was such a blessing that one of the family members (my mother) was doing so much better than she had been for over a year. As far as I was concerned, Christmas came early for me. I honestly got teary eyed again writing this paragraph.

The Cowboy Perseverance Ranch has also been blessed. The barn family continues to grow. There is a waiting list for lesson slots for the horsemanship students and training slots for several horses. Hay was abundant this year and we were blessed to find a new source that may just be able to take care of all of the hay we need to get by for the year. We are blessed with some great horses. They have to be to put up with a multitude of different rider skills (or lack thereof) during lessons. The horses all appear to be fat, happy

to renew or sign up for a new membership in 2023. We look forward to another wonderful show season.

Geauga Horse and Pony Association adopted a local Geauga County family for Christmas. Members purchased gifts and gift cards for meals and delivered the presents to the family. We are very thankful for all of our kind and generous members.

The youth group Saddles and Spurs has been busy with service projects over the holiday season. The group raised money for a family in Guatemala to help ensure they had a wonderful Christmas. Saddles and Spurs also stuffed stockings for women and children at WomenSafe.

Trails and Tails, GHPA’s new youth group has been established. If you have a youth member (or would like to become a youth

member) please contact Frank at f-muellner@sbcglobal.net.

A HUGE THANKS

GHPA thanks Big Dee’s Tack for their generous support of our organization through their Bonus Buck’s program. Likewise, thank you to Schneider’s Saddlery for their generous support. We really appreciate the support that both of these wonderful companies give to us.

and mostly healthy. Especially since they got a two-week break at the end of the year!

Each year has its own ups and downs. There is no promise that 2023 will be any better or any worse than 2022. Life assures us that we will continue to suffer through some hard times in our lives whether it be financial, physical or relationship struggles. The suffering will require perseverance on our parts and that will hopefully lead to a strengthening of our character and our hopes for greater things. Although many of us have, or hopefully, will reach out to the Lord for his saving grace, we don’t receive a ‘get out of pain free’ card. What we do get is the promise of a struggle and pain free eternity with Him once our time here on Earth has passed. Persevere! Have Faith and Hope! We here at the CP Ranch pray for your comfort, peace, and prosperity in the new year and beyond! God Bless you all.

The Corzatt family owns and operates the Cowboy Perseverance Ranch (CPR) in Marengo, Ohio. CPR is a faith based operation and our mission is to build a strong foundation and relationship with our training horses and students. We are blessed to be able to provide western horsemanship lessons infused with biblical

scripture to students of all ages. One student has described her time here as “CPR for the soul!”

Visit our website at www.cpranch. wixsite.com/home or follow us on Facebook.

PRESIDENT, George Baker

1st VICE PRESIDENT, Lisa Formica 2nd VICE PRESIDENT, Scott Burroughs TREASURER, Shauna Gingrich SECRETARY, Debbie Schwartz WEBSITE, www.ghpa.us

Northern Ohio Dressage Association

Northern Ohio Dressage Association 2022 Year End Award Winners

Awkward Silence, 70.786%; RESERVE: Jamie Hines, El Capitan, 61.187%

EMAIL, president@nodarider.org WEBSITE, www.nodarider.org

RECOGNIZED RIBBONS & SCHOLARSHIPS TRAINING LEVEL

JR YR: CHAMPION: Fern Humphreys, Sheza Shining Supernova 68.540%; RESERVE: Valerie Grava, RRF-Minuit, 64.138%

AA: CHAMPION: Bitsy Gascoigne, Awkward Silence, 70.582%; RESERVE: Heather Soones, Charming Cosmo, 69.778%; 3. Tracy Browne, Payback Beacon, 65.574%; 4. Tracy Browne, RB Magic Chant, Tracey Fronk, 65.259%

OPEN: CHAMPION: Anne McClintock, GV Rubins Arington, 70.071%; RESERVE: Anne McClintock, DD Afire Marshal, 69.241%

FIRST LEVEL

JR YR: CHAMPION: Laura Stepic, Honey Badger, 63.967%; RESERVE: Laura Stepic, El Rayito, 64.371%; 3. Kayda Strah, Buddy Van De Stamberg, 60.867%

AA: CHAMPION: Bitsy Gascoigne,

OPEN: CHAMPION: Danielle Hebler, London Birkemose, 69.657%

SECOND LEVEL

AA: CHAMPION: Lauren Wade, Lord Burberry CCSH, 65.803%; RESERVE: Maria Johnson, Balmullo’s Catfish, 65.268%; 3. Jennifer Tulleners, Crossed Sabres, 61.578%

THIRD LEVEL

OPEN: CHAMPION: Sarah Freeman, Worth The Wait, 65.840%

FOURTH LEVEL

AA/JR YR: CHAMPION: Linda Toll, Fantasia, 63.486%

OPEN: CHAMPION: Cassandra Hummert-Johnson, Dianella, 66.146%

PRIX ST. GEORGE

OPEN: CHAMPION: Meghan Kelley, Holo Holo, 66.066%

INTERMEDIATE 1

OPEN: CHAMPION: Meghan Kelley, Holo Holo, 68.732%

UNRECOGNIZED RIBBONS & SCHOLARSHIPS INTRODUCTORY OPEN LEVEL RIDER

PROFESSIONAL: CHAMPION: Alyssa Moran, Bellamy, 60.469%

INTRO-OPEN LEVEL RIDER AA: CHAMPION: Paulina Krebs, Casey’s Artful Treasure, 70.547%; RESERVE: Anita Barton, Knights Moonshadow, 68.594%; 3. Adrienne Knauer,

Dancin After Midnite, 66.125%; 4. Ericka Dorko, Golden Sunrise, 64.829%

INTRO-OPEN LEVEL JUNIOR RIDER: CHAMPION: Quinn Gallagher, Legacy’s Traveller, 68.360%; RESERVE: Olivia Steelman, Final Expenses, 60.938%

TRAINING LEVEL

OPEN TRAINING LEVEL

PROFESSIONAL: CHAMPION: Anne McClintock, DD Afire Marshal, 69.319%; RESERVE: Rachel Jelen, Thatcher, 66.043%

OPEN TRAINING LEVEL AA: CHAMPION: Bitsy Gascoigne, Awkward Silence, 71.984%; RESERVE: Tracy Browne, RB Magic Chant, 67.069%; 3. Mosie Welch, Aleksandr Robyn, 65.992%; 4. Tracy Browne, Payback Beacon, 65.166%; 5. Pam White, Flash in the Knight, 64.049%

OPEN TRAINING LEVEL-JR RIDER: CHAMPION: Fern Hemphreys, Sheza Shining Supernova, 68.783%; RESERVE: Valerie Grava, Capricious, 66.042%; 3. Isabella Beamer, Two Tall Jigs, 65.027%; 4. Valerie Grava, RRF Minuit, 64.871%

FIRST LEVEL

FIRST LEVEL PROFESSIONAL: CHAMPION: Alyssa Moran, Easton, 63.407

FIRST LEVEL-AA: CHAMPION: Bitsy Gascoigne, Awkward Silence, 70.326%; RESERVE: Cheryl Morris, Swing Hard, 66.680%; 3. Allison Ray, Little Star of PVAMD, 65.125%; 4. Mosie Welch, Aleksandr Robyn, 61.000%

SECOND LEVEL

SECOND LEVEL AA/JR: CHAMPION: Allison Ray, Bella Ragazza, 68.334%; RESERVE: Jennifer Tulleners, Crossed Sabres, 59.647%

THIRD LEVEL

THIRD LEVEL PROFESSIONAL: CHAMPION: Sarah Freeman, Worth the Wait, 67.063% FOURTH LEVEL

FOURTH LEVEL PROFESSIONAL: CHAMPION: Sarah Freeman, Worth the Wait, 64.035%

DRESSAGE SEAT JR

CHAMPION: Isabella Beamer, Two Tall Jigs, 69.333%; CHAMPION: Fern Hemphreys, Sheza, Shining Supernova, 69.333%

WESTERN DRESSAGE

WESTERN BASIC LEVEL-AA: CHAMPION: Agatha Smithers, Fizzical Therapy, 73.782%; RESERVE: Juli Gilson, Tall Dark N Good, 68.021%; 3. Tracy Browne, Payback Beacon, 67.812%

WESTERN LEVEL ONE-AA: CHAMPION: Agatha Smithers, Fizzical Therapy, 70.459%; RESERVE: Tamara Roberts, Chips Eternal Skip, 64.788%

WESTERN DRESSAGE LEVEL 2 AA-JR/YR: CHAMPION: Peggi Ignagni, Rey Jay Ron, 70.794%;

RESERVE: Tamara Roberts, Chips Eternal Skip, 65.032%

WESTERN DRESSAGE SEAT AA: CHAMPION: Juli Gilson, Tall Dark N Good, 78.333%

UNRECOGNIZED TROPHIES

LEAD LINE ACHIEVEMENT, Laurel May Kinsworthy, Aleksandr Robyn

THE FOX SMITH TROPHY, Fern Humphreys, Sheza Shining Supernova, 69.333%

LADDIE ANDAHAZY TROPHY, Cheryl Morris, Swing Hard, 66.681%

THE SWEETER AWARD, Quinn Gallagher, Legacy’s Traveller, 67.235%

THE ROWDY MEMORIAL TROPHY, Tracy Browne, Payback Beacon, 66.638%

THE GIVING SPIRIT AWARD, Bitsy Gascoigne, Awkward Silence, 69.310%

RECOGNIZED TROPHIES

ALESSANDRIA MEMORIAL TROPHY, Meghan Kelley, Holo Holo, 68.823%

MUSICAL FREESTYLE (NODA), CHAMPION: Meghan Kelley, Holo Holo, I - 1, 72.308%; RESERVE: Lauren Wade, Lord Burberry CCSH 2nd, 71.933%; 3. Cassandra Hummert- Johnson, Dianella 3rd, 70.700%

MICHAEL VON DER NONNE TROPHY, Anne McClintock, Payback Beacon, 62.429%

RICHARD GASCOIGNE TROPHY, Linda Toll, Fantasia, 63.468%

RICHTER 5 TROPHY, Anne McClintock, GV Rubins Arington, 70.071%

SINDARIN TROPHY, Bitsy Gascoigne, Awkward Silence, 73.341%

RECOGNIZED AND UNRECOGNIZED TROPHIES

JOAN RAPP TROPHY, Valerie Grava, RRF Minuit, 67.347%, Mini Trial/Hunter Jumper Shows

THE GRETCHEN SINGLETON AWARD, Bitsy Gascoigne, Awkward Silence, 73.341%

GALLANT LAD TROPHY, Paulina Krebs, Casey’s Artful Treasure, 72.292%

THE MOODY MARE AWARD, Anita Barton, Knights Moonshadow, 68.594%

FULL OF GRACE AWARD, Fern Humphreys, Sheza Shining Supernova, 71.090%

CATTAIL RUN TROPHY, Paulina Krebs, Casey’s Artful Treasure, 70.547%

NODA WESTERN DRESSAGE YOUTH TROPHY, Madalyn Trend, Out of the Blu, 67.625%

VINTAGE WESTERN DRESSAGE RIDER TROPHY, Agatha Smithers, Fizzical Therapy, 74.109%

WESTERN DRESSAGE TROPHY, Agatha Smithers, Fizzical Therapy, 74.109%

PRESIDENT, Danielle Menteer VICE PRESIDENT, Kathy Kirchner TREASURER, Dee Liebenthal SECRETARY, Beth Scalabrino

Tri-County Trail Association

Happy 2023 From Tri-County Trail Association

by Kelly Jo Heffner

Happy New Year from TriCounty Trail Association! We here at Tri-County are excited for the upcoming events we have scheduled for the 2023 season. There will be tack-swaps, weekend events (Ox Roast weekend and Summer Bash weekend to name a few), and many, many opportunities for everyone to come out and enjoy the warmer days as they come!

The event calendar is posted on our website as well as in the Trailways (our club newsletter). Feel free to contact us anytime if you need more information about the club, events, or any question you may have!

2023 is also welcoming some new members to the board! We have several new Board

members, Adam Brewer (our new president), Harley Miller (our new vice president), a return to the board for Cindy Krumm (secretary), Beverly Mills (treasurer), and new trustees Pat Boone, Candy Werstler, Sandy Vaught, and Kliff Crawford. The trailways editor, Kelly Jo Heffner, was renominated and voted in. Ellen VanPelt, Rick Kauffman, Leroy Wilson and

Terri Morris held their positions for the 2023 season. A huge thank you to our previous president, Jim Mike, for being president the last seven years! As well as the other board members for doing a job well done for 2022. It’s an exciting time here at Tri-Co after the elections!

Our first event for the 2023 season will be our annual Chili Cook Off. This event is a one

day event usually held in March at our club pavilion. Although it is usually too cold and too wet to travel the trails on horseback, it is always filled with fun times, awesome chili and lots of laughs! Be sure to bring your favorite chili and have a great time making new friends along the way!

Have a wonderful new year! Looking forward to seeing everyone out on the trails soon!

PRESIDENT, Adam Brewer VICE PRESIDENT, Harley Miller SECRETARY, Cindy Krumm TREASURER, Beverly Mills WEBSITE, www.tri-cotrails.com

Pictured (back row left to right): Klif Crawford, Leroy Wilson, Harley Miller, Adam Brewer. (Front row, left to right): Cindy Krumm, Sandy Vaught, Rick Kauffman, Ellen VanPelt, Kelly Jo Heffner, Candy Werstler, Beverly Mills, Patricia Boone.

How Western Dressage Equitation is Judged

by Kelley Bitter

Western dressage has evolved over the last several years. Watching so many people get involved and ride this great discipline has been fun. I am thrilled to see more shows incorporating the equitation class into their programs. This month I want to talk about what western dressage equitation is and how it is judged. First and foremost, the objective of any equitation class is to evaluate the rider’s ability to perform, in partnership with the horse, maneuvers and gaits with confidence while maintaining balance, function, and correct body position. That means your hands, seat, and aids are looked at very closely, as well as how the horse responds. The judge wants to see the harmony between the horse and rider. Maneuvers and transitions should look effortless.

Western dressage equitation has three divisions. There is equitation on the rail, horsemanship, and medal class. There are two pattern tests at each level that the rider may be asked to perform in horsemanship and medal class. What’s nice about that is that there is a defined score sheet.

On the rail, the class can be walk-jog or walk-jog-lope classes, performing the gaits in both directions of the ring with no pattern. The judge is looking at your position, how you use your aids, effectiveness of aids, harmony of horse and rider, and accuracy of the gaits. Something to note here; you cannot post in equitation. You will not be eliminated for posting, but you will be marked below other riders who did not post.

The horsemanship class uses a pattern test and score sheet. Tests can be found on the WDAA website under equitation. There are two tests, test A and test B, for each level. If it is only the horsemanship class, there is no rail work. Patterns have five maneuvers each scored

from 0-10. The objective in horsemanship is to perform a set pattern in harmony with the horse, and exhibit poise, confidence, balance, correct body position, and precise maneuvers. Again, along with each maneuver being performed accurately, the judge is looking at the rider’s position, effective use of aids, and hands position. Each rider can be scored a total of 0-50 points for the test. Again, no posting at the jog unless it is a lengthened jog. If you post, you receive a 0 score for the entire maneuver you posted.

The medal class is fun. This class is specifically for basic and firstlevel youth or amateur riders. You do both equitation on the rail and a pattern. There is a score sheet for this class as well. You would be scored 0-50 on the rail and then 0-50 on your pattern work. The objective is the same for both on the rail and the pattern. The pattern has five movements, each scored 0-10. Once again, you can only post at the lengthened jog.

That all sounds good, but there are a few things to remember. All the equitation classes have what are called universal faults and universal eliminations. Let’s talk about those. A fault will decrease your points. An elimination removes you from the class, and you will not be scored or placed.

Universal faults for equitation and patterns: 1. Posting the collected or working jog; 2. Not completing the course as written; 3. Breaking gait; 4. Looking down to check leads; 5. Missing a lead; 6. Not properly performing a gait; 7. Loss of stirrup; 8. The horse is carrying its head behind vertical or too low; 9. Loss of rein; 10. Holding on to the saddle; 11. Bucking, kicking, rearing.

Universal eliminations: 1. Off course (the judge cannot tell if the rider is using a correct pattern); 2. Inappropriate entry or misrepresentation; 3. Entering with the incorrect number; 4. Excessive spurring or schooling; 5. Fall of horse or rider; 6. Prohibited equipment; 7. Prohibited use of hands; 8. Horse’s tongue-tied 9. Unauthorized assistance; 10. All four feet leave the arena; 11. Blood on horse; 12. Lameness; 13. Concerns for the safety of the horse, rider, other exhibitors, or spectators.

Another item to remember with equitation is that the patterns must be ridden from memory. You cannot have a test caller for the patterns. You really get tested on precision and knowing the pattern. Remember, you are being judged on your horsemanship. How well you handle the pattern, how you and your horse work as a partner, and how well-balanced you are in the saddle. Judges like to see a smooth ride with horse and rider working together. The training wheel is still part of the scoring process, even though the focus is on the rider. So how well do you, the rider, keep your horse’s gait in rhythm and steady. How do you, the rider, use your aids to complete a circle or a gait transition.

Additionally, how does the horse respond? Is the horse quiet or fussy when the aids are presented? A good partnership reveals a quietly responsive horse. All these concepts make a good ride and score whether the class is on the rail or a pattern. I’d like to see everyone out there try western dressage horsemanship. I know you can do it! Western dressage equitation is a fantastic division, and I hope to see more classes added to shows. I also hope to see you in these classes. Remember to enjoy your ride and your horse.

Kelley Bitter is the owner of Buckeye Performance Horse Center and The Winning Edge Mental Performance Coaching in Newbury Ohio. A second- generation horsewoman. Kelley began riding and showing at 4 years old. In her teens, she started riding Arabians in various discipline and won several Regional and USEF titles over the last 50 years. Kelley started riding Western Dressage in 2016. In 2018 Kelley attended the WDAA Train the Trainer program. She has won several titles including placing two of her Arabians in the WDAA World show in 2020 top 15. At the WDAA International Challenge 2021 she placed with her Quarter Horse, Arabians and her student received top ten in the Gaited Division. Kelley currently runs The Western Dressage Academy. Kelley also holds certifications as a Mental Performance Coach, Equine Massage Therapy, Equine Laser Therapy and Equine Nutrition. Kelley has also completed the WDAA Judges training and is currently working on her “r” status.

Ohio Horseman’s Council, Inc.

Member of American Horse Council ohconline.com

SECRETARY

Ranee Vititoe 740/505-2713 secretary@ohconline.com

TREASURER

Jo Ellen Reikowski 330/806-3146 treasurer@ohconline.com

Greetings From Your President

The OHC State Mid-Winter meeting is on Jan. 15 at the Salt Fork State Park Lodge. I hope to see you there.

The next OHC State general membership meeting will be on Saturday, March 11 at the Elks Lodge in Newark, Ohio. If you

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ASHTABULA

Greetings from Ashtabula County. The core group of this chapter has kept themselves busy with the local Christmas parades. They have been in four or five and the pictures I’ve seen look like they were enjoying themselves. The McIntyres brought their newest mini, Cisco, and he was an added attraction for the onlookers. Not too sure about Santa.

The annual Christmas party was a great time. The food was excellent, and the Dirty Santa game was a hit as usual. Thanks to the event planner, Jessica Sheets, the Dirty Santa game leader, Cathy Isenberg and Pam Champlin for making a lovely gift that was once again desired by many. I think it had more owners in an hour than anything else. I believe it finally went home with the Pelton family.

After many years I am passing my pen to Kathryn Ring. I have enjoyed my time and the interaction will all of you. I loved watching the events that I wrote about to unfold. If I see something, I may report it to Kathryn so she can write about it.

The next meeting will be on Jan. 3, 2023. Please bring your ideas as we will be putting next year’s events on the calendar. Hope to see you all there.

‘Til next time, give thanks for all the good things and give your horse a hug.

~Pearl Ann

are a member of OHC, I hope you have been supporting your local chapter. Chapter meetings are a great way to meet new friends and to meet with current friends. If you are new to horses and trail riding, chapter meetings are a great way to find

PRESIDENT Eric Estill 513/266-9823 president@ohconline.com

MEMBERSHIP

Catherine Estill 513/319-2517 membership@ohconline.com

VICE PRESIDENT Nancy Strayer 740/694-1007 vicepresident@ohconline.com

OHC COUNTY LINES EDITOR

Martie Ackerman 713/553-9644 countylineeditor@ohconline.com

CLARK

Happy New Year and welcome to 2023! Clark County is taking a cue from the 50th anniversary organizers and participating in our own bingo card this year. Lisa Thibeault has put together a challenging and beautiful card and there will be several prizes and lots of fun throughout the year. Stay tuned for more information at our January meeting.

We ended our year with a Christmas party at the Plattsburg UCC in South Charleston. We appreciate our At Large friends, some of whom attended the party, as they are always there for trail maintenance and group events. There was a lot of good food and nobody went home without a prize (I personally scored a 50th anniversary coaster and a great smelling candle!). There were gift cards, jewelry, a horsey throw and something special from Chris Price. Wiley made sure to snag that one quick!

We will have a table at the Clark County 4-H Horse Committee annual Tack Swap and Sale on Jan. 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The start of a new year is a good time to clean out that tack room and donate items for someone else to utilize. Please contact Kailene Wells if you have a donation.

Congratulations to Kailene Wells on becoming the new president of Clark County OHC. The other officers remained the same: Chris Price as vice president, Anne Demmy as

experienced people to talk to. If you are experienced, then I hope you will be willing to share your experience with other chapter members.

Many chapters hold group rides. If you don’t know the trails in your area, chapter rides

are a great way to learn about the trails.

Please consider volunteering for an office or a committee position in your local chapter, you will find the work rewarding.

~Eric Estill OHC President

treasurer and myself as secretary. We would like to give Polly Agle a big thank you for her time and service as president; I am sure Polly will still be a very active member in our chapter. Our first meeting of 2023 will be Jan. 14 at The Plattsburg UCC located at 1715 S. Urbana Lisbon Road, S. Charleston at 5:30 p.m. Hope to see you there! Come ride with Clark County!

~Jonna Ledyard

CLINTON

Hello fellow horseman, I hope you have been enjoying this crazy weather. Eighteen one day, 60 the next—Ohio!

Since we talked last, lots has happened. We had the beautiful holiday Thanksgiving, spending time with family and some OK weather. Members Alison and Lauren McCleary went out at CCSP. It was nice, then they got snowed on. But they were in the saddle, so all was good!

Members Amanda Snell and Diana Spencer went to visit member Abby Fox at her cabin in Tennessee. They had some amazing rides and did some shopping.

If you find yourself by the Big South Fork you need to visit Muddy Pond. Great Leather work found at Jays and so many great shops and going to the Porch to eat lunch is amazing! There are some great finds and a chance to make great memories.

Tennessee is one of my most favorite places to ride, so I say if you can go, you’ll find the best views, the best trails, and the people are amazing!

I’m trying to teach my grandson Casyn life is work and also fun. Horses show you how that works, you do all the labors of love then

Christmas party.

Casyn

get to trail ride or camp out with your horse. We love our horses, we love the ride, the work comes with it. When you are truly in love and have the passion for horses it is a true labor of love. I always say take a kid riding and see the future. Happy New Year.

~Susan Lamb

CUYAHOGA

If last year’s motto was ‘Try something new in 2022’ What shall we say for this year? ‘Where will we be in 2023’might work. There are so many parks, forests, and lands with bridle trails and this could be the year to venture out and explore.

There are OHC chapters all over Ohio, consider joining one of them if you are not yet a member, or join a second chapter if you are already a member. This way you get an additional newsletter or more, and information that might open up new trails, new friends and new worlds to you. Of course, we always hope you will join Cuyahoga chapter first and come ride with us. We love our 100 miles of well-groomed trails in the Cleveland Metroparks and we try to have a ride in each of the seven reservations that have bridle trails throughout the year. These are weekends and weekdays and are usually fairly small groups geared to the safety of all levels of riders.

This year is also a brand-new year for Cuyahoga Chapter leadership, new ideas, new events, new exciting plans. We look forward to hearing what the team of Kathy King as president, Christa Abood as vice president, Chris Slavik as secretary and staying on the team, Cathy Rutti as treasurer will come up with. Stay tuned as you don’t want to miss the fun.

As the past team (Penny, Mary Kay, Carole James) steps aside, we will still be there to help as needed and we look forward to what will come next. Now what to do with all that free time? I for one will saddle up and hit the trail more and wait for news of what will be planned next in the Cuyahoga chapter. We all appreciate your support, friendship and the help you have given us throughout the past years. We had a great run because of you.

~Penny

complete for the year and prizes for completing those tasks. Our members really enjoyed this activity.

We have a great year planned and as we head into a new year. We hope to ride and meet new members from other chapters.

Happy Trails, ~Teresa

DELAWARE

Roughton

Greetings and Happy New Year to all our OHC family and friends!

DEFIANCE

Greetings from Defiance. Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays. We would like to congratulate Kara Schnitkey on doing a great job at Congress, and congratulations to Patty Porter Solak on her year-end awards for NQPA and OQPA. Our chapter did a play off the bingo game this year. We had an activity list to

Time to start planning all your 2023 horse adventures while the ‘Ole Man Winter is here! First, a friendly reminder to renew your membership for 2023 if you haven’t already done so. If you are new to OHC and are thinking about joining, we enthusiastically encourage you to join our funloving and friendly group. We look forward to meeting you!

An evening of fun, food, and cheerful camaraderie was enjoyed by all who attended our chapter Christmas party last month. Food was plentiful and delicious. The ‘Secret Santa’ gift exchange (aka ‘steal’) generated lots of laughter and some hilarious sportsmanship moments as it seemed one gift package, was repeatedly stolen prior to the end of the game. Thank you to members, Mike Shott, and Ron Tupps, for serving as our judges for the holiday ugly sweater competition which featured 11 participants. Winning first prize was Robin Lawson with Judy St.

Jean taking home a second place prize. Congratulations ladies!

Our chapter will hold its first meeting of 2023 on Feb. 3 beginning at 7 p.m. at the Kilbourne United Methodist Church on SR 521. This meeting will feature a presentation by Alex Sydney on the topic of roadway safety, dangers inherent in various roadway surfaces and their impact on your vehicle’s tires, towing capability, and handling. Our business meeting will follow, as we plan to finalize some of our chapter activities and events for 2023. Light refreshments will be available. Don’t forget to bring a donation of a non-perishable food item(s) for the church’s food pantry.

Your chapter officers plan to meet this month via virtual format to come up with a workable list of chapter activities that we can present to our members for discussion during the February meeting. As always, we welcome ideas from all our members with suggestions for speakers, chapter day rides and campouts, and nonhorse related group activities too. Thus far, we are planning a group outing in April to enjoy Equine Affaire’s Fantasia and of course, our annual ‘Autumn at Alum’ trail ride and campout in September. Stay tuned for more details and a calendar of activities coming soon in our monthly newsletter and our Facebook postings.

As stewards of Alum Creek State Park bridle trails, our trail maintenance crew continue to monitor trail conditions and perform trail repair and maintenance even in the wintertime. Alum Creek is a

Amanda Snell and Diana Spencer.

Snowy rides in Tennessee.

Kara Schnitkey showing her hard earned jacket.

Patty Porter Solak pictured with Willow at one of the NQPA and OQPA competitions.

Newest and youngest member, Asher Rohrer, holding the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance.

Robin winning the holiday ugly sweater competition.

Christmas party ugly sweater competitors.

Laura Brentlinger and Batiste at Alum Creek.

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beautiful location to ride this time of year. However, we recommend that horseback riders check the status of the bridle trails before hauling to Alum Creek. Our secretary and trail maintenance volunteer, Bobbi Arters, encourages riders to contact her for the latest trail conditions. In damp and snowy weather, our ravines, hills, and platforms can become quite slick which can turn into a dangerous situation for both the rider and horse if you are not prepared. Remember, call, before you haul. To help ensure a safe experience, we also ask that riders keep to the designated trails and avoid going off trail. If you encounter a downed tree or other trail obstacle needing attention, please contact Bobbi Arters. Make a note of which trail you are riding and the obstacle’s approximate location along the trail.

In February’s column, I hope to share highlights from the OHC midwinter planning meeting at Deer Creek State Park lodge, scheduled for Jan. 15. This meeting is open to all OHC members and begins at 9 a.m. Seminars and presentations on a variety of OHC-related matters will be featured. Lunch is provided. There is no charge to attend.

Come join us in Delaware chapter. We look forward to welcoming you!

~Theresa Burke

ERIE

Greetings from Erie County! Lynn and Tim Sparks attended the OHC State meeting and anniversary celebration this year. Bingo prizes were won by Beth Behrens, Shelley Hayes, Lynn and Tim Sparks. Congratulations to our club winners.

Willard’s Annual Christmas Parade was attended by members, Kathy W., her horse Snickers and Rebecca and Echo The horses and their partners were dressed for the holidays, spreading Christmas cheer as they rode.

Elections were held and all current officers were reinstated for another year. We are well under way in planning our new year. The Vision Committee will meet at Jim’s Pizza Box in Milan. It will be held on Jan. 26 at 6 p.m. Plan on attending and bring your ideas. February 9 will be our monthly meeting, which will be held at The Coupling.

Our Valentine’s ride is being held Feb. 12. Meet us up on Mason Road trailhead at 1 p.m. Happy New Year! Life is better on the trail, ~Shelley

FAIRFIELD

Sorry that I’ve missed a few issues! We finished a project at the end of 2022. One of our members, John Kougher, had donated construction materials to our club for use as tie rails and benches out on the trails at Hocking State Forest. We had set aside enough of this donation to construct two tie rails and one bench on the red trail in an area known as Buckskin Canyon. A fantastic crew showed up and within an hour and a half the project was complete. The Buckskin Canyon area is a little isolated from the main trails, but well worth the ride. Water falls, rock formations, creeks and just flat beautiful riding. Give it a try next trip to Hocking

At our November OHC meeting, we elected our officers for 2023. For better or worse, I’m still President (Chris Streitenberger), our new vice president is Tanna Rhoads, Margaret Hite will continue to be our treasurer and Sue Keller was elected to stay on as secretary. This is a fantastic, active and dedicated crew. I feel honored to have the opportunity to work with them for another year.

We finished up our clubs’ official slate of activities for 2022 on Dec. 4 at our annual Christmas party. Like last year, we held it at the Eagles Lodge in Lancaster. This organization has been fantastic to work with. Great

banquet room, cash bar for those who were interested and the best part, the room is free since we are a non-profit organization. Our club supplied the main entrees of smoked pulled pork, fried chicken and lasagna. Diana Burton made the lasagna, Keith and Donna White made the arrangements for the chicken and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was asked to smoke the pork butts. Each member attending brought a covered dish of some kind and/or a dessert. We had 49 in attendance and all went home stuffed to the gills. Bryan Black is one of our members and our local poet laureate. I had planned to ask him for a poem but he beat me to the punch and volunteered. Actually, he offered up two, both had a cowboy, western slant to them and both flat out funny. I’m not going to go into great detail, but the first involved two cowpokes, a wild Longhorn steer and a jug of moon shine. Let your imagination lead you from there. To finish up the evening we had a gift exchange for those that chose to participate. We formed a circle, passed out the gifts, and a story is read about the Right family. As the story is told, the gifts move around the circle left and right. At the end of the story, the gift you are holding is yours to keep. Sounds a little stupid, but it doesn’t take much to amuse most of us. Try it, it is fun. Looking forward to an early spring in 2023. See you on the trails.

~Chris

FULTON

We hope everyone had a good holiday season and is ready for the new year! As expected, November was warm enough for more camping trips. Members went to Alum Creek, Reed Road, and Van Buren. Members also had several opportunities for day rides in Oak Openings when it wasn’t too cold. And Tammy and Doug Royer hosted our Fat Saturday ride on the Saturday following Thanksgiving.

December was busy with indoor activities. We had our Christmas party at Otsego Park on Dec. 2. It was nice to see members that we haven’t seen often as well as the ones we see at every event. The potluck dinner was wonderful as always; we have very good cooks in our group! The festive dressup contest was won by Cheryl Zielinski and Marge Jabri and their ensembles were amazing!

Our Cowboy Christmas tack swap was Dec. 4 at the WB Ranch in Swanton. We had over 70 spots filled with a good variety of vendors and it was well attended. I’m all excited about the purple mountain bike I got at the tack swap! There were free pictures with Santa, raffles with really nice raffle prizes and, of course, a 50/50 raffle. We also gathered donations from members for the Christmas boxes we put together for our park rangers and maintenance personnel. Jo and Connie always do an outstanding job putting it all together and getting the goodies to our awesome park people.

Speaking of our awesome park people, the trees have been trimmed at the Rider Center in Oak Openings. It should be easier to park without encountering low hanging branches. I’ve heard that oak trees can only be trimmed at specific times which is why they had to wait until now to trim them.

In December, we also donated the money we raised from our Oaktoberfest dessert auction to five local food bank charities. And we continued to collect and donate pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House and Tribute Feeds POP’s for Harry Hughes Youth Equestrian Center.

After a break for the holidays, we’ve moved on to planning our events for next year. We start the new year with a New Year’s Day ride hosted by Tammy and Doug. Then we usually have Winter Blues Brunch gatherings in January and February, one on

Christmas parade.

Fairfield County OHC

a Saturday and one on a Sunday. And I’ve already heard people discussing camping trips and wanting to make reservations early to avoid getting shut out. Our chapter meetings will continue to be on the first Monday of the month at the Bunker Bar and Grill in Holland and everyone is welcome.

If you’d like to know what we’re up to in real time or want more information on our activities, check our website fcohc.com, Facebook group Fulton County OHC or Facebook page Fulton County Ohio Horseman’s Council. We hope you all are well and safe and we look forward to seeing you in the new year!

~Kathy

and being available in case any drivers have an issue. There are two parades, one at 1 p.m. and another at 7 p.m. Volunteers are fed and given really nice commemorative ornaments, and we get to catch up with friends we haven’t seen for a bit. Several of us do this every year and it’s always a good time. And with Jeannie Nicol there, I have the photographs to prove it. So, thanks to Jeannie for the photos for this month.

Work continues at Caesar Ford. A new bridge was just installed at a creek crossing that was problematic. I haven’t seen it in person yet, but the photo I saw is impressive. I look forward to checking it out. I believe the shelter house at the campground is making progress as well.

If you haven’t sent your trail miles/saddle hours to Todd Rider yet, please remember to do so. His information is in your newsletter. It’s good to list these, as this information is turned into State/county officials and it shows usage for the parks where we ride. Usage can translate to funds for upkeep.

Nothing else going on for this month. Stay warm!

~Mickie

GUERNSEY

By the time you read this Christmas and New Year’s will hopefully be a bundle of pleasant memories made with family and friends. Speaking of memories, here’s some more pictures from our club ride at Elkins Creek Horse Camp. The first one is of Dee Dee posing in front of Balancing Rock. I think this is one of the best pictures I’ve ever taken! The one of the horses and riders in the cave is of Lynn and me, with the ears of Marcie’s horse in the bottom of the photo. The last one is of Don and myself at Balancing Rock.

In January, our Annual Salt Fork Bridle Trails Work Days begins. We typically work each Thursday all the way through the end of April. If you would like to help us, and in a way, give back to the park for providing us a place to ride; join us! You will need to sign a volunteer form. Each week on our Facebook page I will post what trail is being worked on and where we will meet. Our Facebook page is Salt Fork Bridle Trails.

Life is better with a horse! I hope to see you on the trail!

~Lee Randolph

HANCOCK

Hello, I hope you and your family had a Merry Christmas and happy holiday! What better way of ending the 2022 trail riding season than accompanying an OHC youth upon her young steed on their first ride outside the fence? Members of our chapter family rode alongside Rachael and her palomino gelding, Blue on their maiden voyage.

Our chapter celebrated Christmas together on Dec. 11. We had delicious eats, a white elephant gift exchange, and a lot of good laughs!

We wish you and your equine friend happy trails in 2023!

~Carol B.

GREENE

If you have never attended or worked the Lebanon Carriage parade, you really should join in. We have a great time every year, helping watch the crowd,

HOCKING

Well, 2022, is a wrap! I think because we have gone back to our ‘normal’ lives, without Covid dictating what we can or can’t do, so the year seemed to go by pretty fast! I know a lot of us experienced budgeting issues with the uncertainty of gas/diesel prices and overall inflation. It was a belt tightening summer for sure. However, we adjusted and just kept riding!

We ended our yearly meetings in November with the election of the 2023 officers: President Raven Rau, Vice President Brenda Lehman, Treasurer Dianna Lowe, Secretary Robbyn Truax.

Our club participated in the Logan Holiday Parade on Dec. 2. The day started out stormy with rain, but cleared out with enough time for our members to show up, and get ready for the parade. It ended up being a lovely day! I’m almost sure that we were the only equestrian unit to enter. I guess this means that we win that division!

Plans are being finalized for our annual ‘After Christmas Party’ party. It will be held on Jan. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Union Hall, 956 E. Front Street, Logan, Ohio. Dinner will be catered. Please bring a dessert and BYOB. Bring

Sam at Hueston Woods.

Elise at Hueston Woods.

Christine at Hueston Woods.

Greene County OHC

Jen Hemphill and Zeppe with Eli Hemphill driving.

Elkins Creek

Hancock County OHC

a gift for the gift exchange at a $25 limit. Bring a gift for your child so every kid has a gift. Raven has created an event on the Hocking County OHC Facebook page. Please RSVP so that we can make sure to give an accurate number of people attending to the caterer.

Plan on attending our meeting Feb. 19, as we start to plan the yearly calendar. We are looking for people to sponsor rides and guest speaker ideas for 2023.

Our club is very family friendly and we meet at the Olde Dutch Restaurant and Banquet Haus (Oak Room) in Logan, the third Sunday of every month at 7 p.m. Come in earlier for dinner and relaxed conversation prior to the meeting.

Watch our Facebook page for more information about our club and upcoming events!

~Donna Shade

HOLMES

Here is the January 2023 article, well it’s December now, but it is the last article written in 2022. We hope all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and are settled in for the winter, be that at home or away. Our chapter is not meeting until March 2023 since this winter is a slow season for our

activities. Officers were elected at the November meeting. They remain the same with the addition of Diane Tankred as secretary. Many thanks to her for accepting the nomination. President Vickie Zook gave a detailed report on the State meeting held in November. One of the topics discussed was the mobile trail app, DETOUR, from ODNR. Sounded interesting, so I downloaded it. As Vickie said, it is a work in progress, but I will keep tabs on it.

While our beloved Mohican sustained extensive damage from a tornado this summer, a great deal of work from ODNR and volunteers allowed for parts of the trails to be opened sooner than expected. During winter break for our trails is Nov. 28 through April 1, 2023. We look forward to spring when all trails will hopefully be fully opened and more damaged areas improved. Spring will also give us an idea of how the new bike trails in the state park section of Mohican will impact our trails. Thank you to the members of Ohio Horsemen’s Council who are following this issue closely. We plan on following their recommendations for involvement.

We managed to get to Mohican the day before closing and enjoyed beautiful weather and spectacular views. We hope to get to Malabar or Salt Fork if we get a nice day here and there. But mostly it’s time to clean the

trailer and tack, add up the trail miles, and make some plans for next year. More importantly, to get a good close look at our horses and ready them for winter. Take care.

~Bev Hanna

KNOX

Not a lot to report this month as we move into winter and it is already January.

Memberships were due in December, especially if you buy the equine insurance. Several of our Knox County members who actually live in Morrow County have elected to join Morrow County OHC. While we will miss them and the activities we have all enjoyed together, we applaud the move as I am sure Floyd and Doc will appreciate the uptake in membership as they have worked hard to keep Morrow County OHC on track. I am sure we will hear more from Morrow County on Facebook.

We need your trail miles recorded! OHC keeps records on your riding activity in parks, forests, as well as home and saddle hours. These recorded miles are used in discussions with local, state, and even federal parks managers as leverage towards securing and maintaining trails and camping facilities throughout Ohio. We appreciate you turning in your recorded trail miles by Jan. 5 to Barbara Stevens who has graciously volunteered to be our recorder for 2023.

Knox County elected to skip the December meeting for several years and not hold a traditional Christmas party since many of our members have full schedules during the holidays with travel and family activities. So instead, we hold a Winter Bash where we all come together, play games, pass out awards for the previous

year and just say hello after a very active holiday season. Thus, we have reserved the Fuller Center in Centerburg for Jan. 14.

Doors open at 4 p.m. for games, meal to start at 6 p.m. Meat for the main course is provide by KCOHC and our good member, Barbara Stevens, has once again stepped up and will secure same from GVS. We also look forward to recognizing our top riders at our annual Winter Bash.

Hope you enjoyed last year’s slide show because we may bore you once again with a new slideshow intended not to offend, but just have some fun with our members’ past activities. Photoshop is powerful. You may find yourself riding in Paris.

We have secured the Martinsburg Activity Center for our annual Tack Auction on Feb. 25. It’s not a hard place to find as it’s right on Ohio 62 just west of the intersection in downtown Martinsburg, Ohio.

Doors open at 3:30 p.m. with auction starting at 4 p.m. Blair Ferguson will be providing tack for sale with Dennis Hershberger Auctioneer. Blair was actually the tack supplier last year and Dennis Hershberger is a local auctioneer from Glenmont area that serves the Danville monthly auction. There will be a non-tack silent auction on the side where

Raven, Hudson and Gunnar.

Donna and Laura.

Brenda, Quincy and others.

Tom Bahl and his daughter whom we ran into at the Teepee at Mohican.

Tom Ames and Tim Guthrie at our last ride at Mohican this year.

My good friend Paso letting me know I was a little late feeding that morning.

Knox County OHC

County Lines

you are welcome to donate and to shop for items such as horseshoe art made from used shoes which members donate. The kitchen will be open with good food to enjoy while you mingle with friends. Hope to see you there.

It is our plan to hold a planning meeting in January to establish a calendar of events for 2023. Watch our Facebook page for details. We have new members and we’re looking forward to an active year.

We welcome Craig Santee as our new OHC Central Region representative. Craig will be attending meetings at the state level of OHC representing 12 Ohio counties in the central region. It’s difficult to get people to step up and take a leadership role and we thank Craig for doing so.

We meet the third Monday of the month at 7 p.m. currently at Donato’s Pizza on South Main in Mt. Vernon. Watch our Facebook site for any updates.

Come on over to Knox County where the gates are wide open, the grass is greener, the horses leaner (as we do ride them) and everyone is welcome.

~Terry L. Baker

LAKE

Ride on new year, ride on! It’s a new year with many adventures ahead of us. We hope your holidays were great. We hope your days to come are fun, safe and enjoyable.

In December our OHC group met at the Firehouse Grill in Willoughby Hills to honor our outgoing president of 16 years, Michelle Sheliga. The Firehouse walls helped with our celebration as they were decorated with pictures and paintings of fire engines and fire wagons drawn by racing horses and driven by volunteer firemen from the 1800s to the 2000s. Donna’s sparkling Christmas tree added to the

charm. Barbara Jurgens, our new president, arranged for a cake and roses. Placed in the middle of our table was a soft blue jar for members to place a special memory of Michelle which they had written on special horsey paper. Speeches were given as well as stories and jokes involving Michelle. We also had a white elephant gift exchange. Lake Farm Park sent a thank you letter for supporting their Back a Breed program to which we donated.

Our new president stated that she has many plans for our future horse endeavors.

We hope to see you riding and enjoying your horses with us in the months to come.

~Rayneen Tisovic

LICKING

I hope this article finds you well. Christmas is over, the new year has begun, and old man winter has definitely arrived. For me this is always a difficult time because we are kind of in between seasons, so to speak. Christmas season is over, and spring has not arrived yet. And this in between time always seems to take the longest. But this year I think I’m going to use it to plan the year ahead. All the camping trips that are on my own list and all the fun rides we are going to plan with our trail committee for our chapter. This should be our best year yet. Watch for it in the coming months so you don’t miss any of our fun events. We’ll also have some trail maintenance coming

up which is always a good time full of jokes, camaraderie and trail work. Come on out for those too because we all enjoy the trails when they are cleared of winter debris.

I guess that’s what we are looking forward to—a new season of riding, making new friends and spending time with old ones. The location of the meetings is staying the same as before at the Sleight Room in the Warner Center on the COTC/OSU Newark Campus. Starting January 2023 and going forward we will always meet the last Sunday of every month at 7 p.m. I hope to see everyone on Jan. 29.

Can’t wait to meet you if I haven’t yet. Somebody said once that strangers are just friends we haven’t met yet! If you’d like to meet us, our meetings are always open to new friends. See you there.

~Sigrid Batten

LOGAN

Logan County OHC was represented well at the State meeting and the 50th year celebration. We had three members win at 50th year Bingo; Barb Corwin won a $25 for Big Dee’s tack store, $20 gift card for Rods was won by Deb Hubbard, Becky Porter won weekend of free camping at Pleasant Hill Horse camp and Larry Howell won the 50/50.

Our November meeting and tack swap at Marmon Valley Farms is in the books. The tack swap did well and we elected a new Treasurer Deb Hubbard.

Our Christmas party was held Dec. 3. Cynthia Orr and Becky Porter decorated the East Liberty Lodge for the event and we had 15 members show up to feast on the ham and turkey that Logan County OHC provided. Logan County OHC collected canned goods for the needy in Logan County and there was a

wonderful gift exchange between cowgirls and cowboys. Good times were had by all.

Happy New Year to you all!

~Cynthia Orr

LORAIN

Happy New Year everyone! Here in Lorain County, we have many great rides and events to choose from this year, please feel free to check us out on our Lorain County OHC website. We’d like to thank Centerra Country Store, with nearby locations in both Grafton and Medina, for being our January calendar sponsor, www.centerracoop.com.

Our November day ride was the Turkey Trot and several council members were able to enjoy riding the trails at Carlisle on this pleasant, sunny day. We held our Christmas party at Gray Hawk Golf Club on Dec. 3. There were 41 in attendance for this fun evening. The venue was nice with plenty of delicious food. Several members kicked up their heels on the dance floor while others enjoyed each other’s company. We had door prize giveaways provided by our council and individual members, and a prize (horse treats donated by Parada located in Oberlin) for the person who guessed the number of dog treats in the Mason jar. The winner of the horse treats went to Cheryl Garn who guessed the exact number! We’d like to thank Sandy Shudy for her effort to get our membership packets ready to hand out at the Christmas party. We’d also like to thank Sherry Hoover for volunteering countless hours of her time to head up the calendar project, including

Santa visited Lake County OHC.

Barbara Jurgens, Lake County OHC President.

Lake County former President Michelle.

Members Linda and Nancy on a winter ride.

Logan County OHC

overseeing the information and sorting through many great photos that were submitted. The custom calendar is filled with information on rides, meetings and events for the year, a great array of awesome photos of members at the various events and an organized list of the monthly event details in the back of the calendar. Space for horse information is also included. Additionally, our 2023 Lorain County OHC officers are listed including: Jim Wallace, President; Karen Norton, Vice President; Wendy Pugh, Secretary and Monica Haschak, Treasurer. Our 2023 Committee Members include: Laura Wallace, 50/50 Raffles; Kathy Duncan, Corral Reporter; Kathy Duncan, Emails; Lara Monyak, Fundraiser Coordinator; Holly Thompson, Facebook; Ken Cornish, Lorain County Metro-Parks Liaison; Sandy Shudy, Membership; Sue Mollica, Refreshments; Johnathan Field and Laura Wallace, Sunshine; Brenda Lang, Trail Miles; and Vince Mollica, Website. A great big round of applause is in order to all our officers and committee members for stepping up for the 2023 season. We appreciate all that you do for the good of our chapter. Once again, thank you to all our 2022 officers and committee members for all their dedication to our chapter last year. Many helping hands makes for more fun for everyone.

Please note that we will hold the 2023 budget meeting at the Wallace’s on Jan. 9 at 7

p.m. January 16 we have our membership meeting at Carlisle Visitor Center, Black River Room at 7 p.m. We will enjoy a soup dinner at 6:30 p.m. so please bring a soup or side dish to share if you are able to attend. Payment is due at this meeting to secure a campsite at Pine Creek Horse Camp for Oct. 19-22. This camp is located in S. Bloomingville, Ohio, with riding at Hocking Hills. You must be a member to reserve a campsite. Please bring cash or a check made out to LCOHC. Cabin reservations call Pine creek office direct at 614/706-9081. Mention that you’re an OHC member to receive a 10 percent discount. Contact Jim Wallace with questions.

Please remember to send your mileage to Brenda Lang for 2022 before the week of Jan. 15 as it is a way to document our trail usage that in turn helps the state determine how to delineate funds. Looking ahead to Feb. 11, we will have a Sweetheart Day Ride at the Equestrian Center with the ride beginning at 1 p.m. Happy Trails to all!

~Kathy Duncan

MEDINA

You may know that the month of January is named for the Roman god Janus. He was the god of doorways, gates, and thresholds; and, so of beginnings, endings, and transitions. He was depicted with two faces, one looking forward and one looking backward. As we face the new year we look forward to new events and new acquaintances, but we also bid farewell to some good friends. Larry Bell was a long-time member and friend; the tall lanky fellow with the warm smile. He also spent many Christmas seasons as the toy soldier greeting children on the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad North Pole ride. Jeni Gaffney DVM, was our friend and trusted

advisor in all things that could befall our equine companions. Her knowledge got many folks through some tough times. Bonnie Evans was an early member of Medina chapter and served as treasurer as well as on other committees such as the banquet. She and her husband Bob (who was a great auctioneer) dedicated many hours to our chapter before moving on to the Cuyahoga chapter. I always enjoyed working with her and though I had not seen her in a while, will miss her just the same. Lastly, we lost a true Valley Girl. One of our former presidents, wearing a Harry Potter outfit or no clothes at all, Sherry Eucker was a class act. She was a free spirit, ready for anything. She left us with one of our most iconic calendar pictures, her silhouette in a barn caring for a horse. A memorial service will be held sometime this month. Our hearts go out to their families, especially Reuss Griffiths, Sherry’s husband and a truly valued member of Medina chapter and a State OHC committee member and map master. Next time you go for a ride, remember these people and picture them enjoying better times again on those trails in paradise. Housekeeping note: Be sure to get your trail miles for 2022 to Raydeen Ryden (reysden@att. net or 334/663-7361) and send trail work hours to Rosemary Young (440/382-7980 or rosemary4medinaohc@gmail. com) by Jan. 20. These hours are important factors for OHC influence in our state and make a difference when ODNR make plans for parks and improvements.

Join us Jan. 21 at the Masonic Lodge in beautiful downtown Richfield for our combined banquet with Summit Chapter. We had such a good time last year we decided to do a do-over. Of course, there will be good food, awards, prizes and other fun stuff. Contact Rosemary Young (440/382-7980) or rosemary4medinaohc@gmail.com or Molly Eastwood (330/603-0820 or mollyeastwood@aol.com) for information and reservations or if you want to volunteer.

Let’s camp again! We are planning a special Memorial Day weekend at Mohican State Park. So far, we have a reservation, all we need is to flesh out the details. Stay tuned!

Remember, we have no general membership meetings in January or February. The rest of the

winter monthly meetings (MarchMay) will be will be back at the Hinckley town hall at the SW corner of Ridge Road (SR3) and Route 303. Happy New Year from this valley girl.

~Rosemary Young

MEIGS

Greetings, friends! The riding season has slowed as everyone has settled in for the main haul of winter and unwinds from the excitement of the holidays. The Meigs County Chapter of the OHC has had a few fun events to close fall and welcome winter. Many horses and riders appreciated the beautiful fall day for our annual Festival of the Leaves Trail Ride which was followed by delicious food and raffles. Our chapter hosted pony rides for our community and enjoyed a wonderful turnout filled with smiling faces and excited children! In the beginning of December, members of the OHC Meigs Chapter enjoyed a fulfilling Christmas dinner and

2022 Christmas party, Jane and Sandy.

Tony, winner of the 50th Anniversary quilt.

Karen at our Christmas party with the longest noodle ever.

Larry Bell, soldier

Meigs County OHC

County Lines

the always entertaining white elephant gift exchange. Rounding out the year was the highlight for many of our club members as we were able to bless five local children with some Christmas joy! These children were provided dinner, received a visit from both Santa and The Grinch and were taken on a shopping spree to pick out some of their very own Christmas presents.

I am beyond proud and so thankful to be part of a group with so many selfless individuals who not only work hard to provide and give back to the community, but who also share a passion and love for horses. Happy trails and stay warm, my friends!

~Beka Setzer

PERRY

Now that 2022 is a wrap, it’s time to put on our thinking caps and start planning for 2023. The Perry club has formed some committees moving forward so we can get some fresh ideas and accomplish more goals. One of the new committees will head up a trail ride schedule. I’m looking forward to seeing some new events put together. It takes a lot of people to get involved and I think we have some great ideas.

We recently purchased new club T-shirts with the Stone Church picture on the back. They’re really different and I feel they highlight a little bit of the county’s history and the namesake of the Wayne Forest’s Stone Church horse camp. Thanks to Vicki Wagner for heading up this project and coming up with the design.

Our holiday party is set for Feb. 4 and promises to be bigger and better. It’s held at the Holiday Inn Express in Zanesville and includes a catered meal so no cooking on that day for us girls!

Speaking of holidays, several members participated in 2022’s Logan Christmas parade including Brenda Lehman, Laura Owings and Donna Shade. I hate missing that activity but the Chip Dip is not quite suitable for parades.

It’s hard to remember from month to month what I ramble on about, so in case I didn’t include it last month, president and vice president remain the same and Heather Stengle stepped up as secretary.

Our January meeting will be held at the Mexican restaurant in New Lexington. We will decide at that meeting if we want to

continue meeting at that venue or move onto another place. It’s hard to find somewhere to meet which is free and in a convenient location. The former meeting location changed their hours and closes at 8 p.m., which doesn’t afford enough time for us to include guest speakers and I have to say, there was quite a bit of comfort issues since the temperature at the venue was over 80 most of the summer.

Stay tuned.

Here’s to a happy and prosperous 2023 filled with good health, family, friends, laughter and of course our 4-legged companions. Happy Trails and Tails until we meet again!

~Marianne Patton

PIKE

Winter greetings from Pike County. We are embarking on a new year of fun. I hope that all of you enjoyed the holidays with family and friends. The months behind us have been challenging, but rewarding. The weather and bugs tried their best to slow us down. However, we managed to keep the trail miles adding up both here in the forest and on the road. Members found themselves at Mohican State Forest, Lake Vesuvius, Shawnee State Forest, O’Bannon Woods in Indiana, Deer Creek, Scioto Trails, Brushy Creek, and Paint Creek. We’re already planning to take in Brown County and Mohican! We have enjoyed the cooperation of our state forest crew who helped us re-route a trail around a wet and muddy area, clear a new connector trail, and spent many hours on tree removal. It is a great feeling when we all work together. The riding here in October and November was spectacular. This fall gifted us with optimum leaf color and I actually met a dozen new riders on the trails. It is fun to meet riders who have never ridden here and hear them they say how much they love it, and

compliment us on the condition of the trails. We met with riders who have not been here for many years and they report that it is as good as ever.

Now with snow approaching, I will be rearranging my barn to make a small arena. My fiveyear-old grandson is showing signs of wanting to go out on the trail, so we’ll start inside and see how long he keeps smiling. I will try to make it fun for him and his partner, Hobo. After all, we have to keep the younger ones interested in riding. I also hope that I can teach the other two horses a trick or two by spring.

We are all extending a big congratulations to our president, Penny Cooper. She is only a couple weeks away from moving into her newly built home! We are so happy for her and are looking forward to joining her for a fun house warming!

~Debby Sears

PREBLE

It has been some time since I wrote an article for Preble, and for that I apologize. I hope everyone had a glorious and happy holiday and are ready to move on to a New Year. I know Donn and I certainly are. Sending out good wishes to all my friends out there especially Theresa Burke and a warm greeting to Michelle with the Corral, I have missed our conversations.

On to news here in Preble County, we had a great State ride and a wonderful holiday. Many of our trail riders enjoyed the not so cold fall weather and were able to get in some late year camping and trail riding. Gene and Jill and Donn have been working on keeping trails open but sometimes there just isn’t enough time in a day.

Our members have decided that we will hold off on monthly meetings until March when it should be a little warmer and more spring like. We will also be having our spring fun show the last weekend in April and not have one on Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day is when Butler County Saddle Club has their big two-day show. We will have our July 4 show as usual and our Labor Day show weather permitting.

The State ride will be the first full weekend in October. Three glorious days of fun, food, fun shows, trail riding and of course our raffle for the $750

gift card from Rural King along with our great Chinese auction. We will hopefully have a band available for entertainment. More information will come as it becomes available.

Here’s wishing everyone a great New Year and happy trails for 2023. See you all soon. Hopefully on the trail as we hope to be able to ride this year.

~Becky

SANDUSKY

Happy New Year to all of my horse family! Wow, where did 2022 go? Time flies when you’re having fun. We did have our personal ups and downs in 2022, but horse time is like free therapy, and boy does that help. Hoping you all had wonderful and safe holidays and have settled in for the long winter ahead. I know many of you will still ride and find ways to keep your toes warm—did you know they have heated socks?! I generally spend the winter doing something inside like painting or making something, not freezing so much.

We have the 50th anniversary party under our belts. It was a fun year full with many small celebrations and one big one at the end! I won a $100 gift card to Big D’s and bought two hay bags and a necklace. (OK, I might have swapped prizes with my husband but what would I need the truck repair card for!?) I was amazed at the generosity of all the giveaways, and I’m sure they were very much appreciated by everyone. Sandusky County just might have been the rowdiest table at the dinner, but we had a blast. Many awards were given out, then we enjoyed a great dinner with dessert. The night ended with a singer and lots of dancing (which if you weren’t there, I’m sure you’ve seen proof of this on Facebook.) I have to admit we were not the best at the dancing part. Our little club turned in the second most Bingo cards for the 50th anniversary event. Man, we are awesome!

Hope is staying on as our fearless president and Al is vice president. Faye will continue to do a great job as our accountant and Sandi is taking a break from being our secretary (she’s done a fantastic job since 2016!) Thank you so much, Sandi, for doing such a wonderful job for so long! We now welcome Annette as our new secretary. I’m sure she will do a great job!

Donna Shade in the parade.

Our trail committee has finalized this year’s riding schedule. We will be riding the first Sunday of every month at White Star. We will also be doing an overnight once a month and another day ride in addition to White Star once a month. We are hoping that by scheduling these event times far enough ahead of time, we will get more involvement. Also, with the variety of rides, there should be a date and time that works for everyone at some point!

Our meetings are the second Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. at the First Brethren Church in Fremont. We usually meet for supper at 5:45. Visit our Facebook page under Sandusky County Horseman’s Council for up-todate information. Also check out the state web page, ohconline.com Give your fuzzy four-legged partner a good scratch on the neck and a New Year’s wish, life is good.

~Marla Sidell

STARK

Happy New Year from those of us at the Stark County OHC Chapter. Reflecting back on this past year, one of our members spent her free time building bird

houses and feeders. Her neighbor (who is also an OHC member) provides her scrap wood from where he works. She has been creative in the way she puts them together. Stacy paints horses and birds on them and provides instructions on how to use them. She then donates the proceeds to our Stark County Chapter. She has been doing this for a few years now. You might have seen them at Barkcamp when she attends the Gibby Ride.

This month our chapter will be setting up our calendar for the year. Hopefully, we will have a good year. Have a great year!

~Jo Ellen

SUMMIT

Hi from all the great members of Summit OHC. We wish you a great new year ahead. It is an opportunity for a do over or just a chance to savor any opportunity for an extra dose of happiness. We still have a few things to wrap up, no pun intended, from 2022. The holiday overachievers did not have enough seasonal decorating and festivities at home so they branched out far and wide. It just wouldn’t be the Akron Christmas Parade without Carolyn Sullivan and Romeo decked out in all their holiday finery. Lights of red, white and green decked out the pair from ear to tail powered by all the energy from the crowd.

Amy O’Neil and Michelle Crew volunteered to be the muck bucket brigade following the equine units. Their ride back in a warm truck to waiting trailers by one of Akron’s finest capped off their great start to the holiday season.

A local celebrity, Sonny the Christmas Horse made several more appearances at Richfield Heritage Preserve Events. The weather cooperated and he and Molly delighted kids of all ages at Winter Wonders. It is said that he listened patiently and nickered to them that Santa could only bring so many horses in his sleigh and they might have to wait until next year for one of their own.

Nostalgic horse-drawn carriage rides around the park added even more to the winter magic. These events at RHP are a community favorite. The public has really embraced sharing these events and trails with the horses in the park. We hope this interaction keeps our equine community thriving now and in the future. Our chapter was also invited back to decorate a live tree at the park. Kathy Cockfield and Molly Eastwood did a fabulous job recycling last year’s horsey decorations while adding some new ones, and trimming with Day-Glo garland of blue nylon baling twine. Decorations were to be handmade and animal friendly so their creativity really helped. Santa’s red sequin and white fur trimmed hat topped their creation and no doubt was not on any critter’s menu.

We will hopefully be enjoying our winter banquet on Jan. 21 along with the Medina County OHC Chapter. After two years of cancellations and a three month rescheduling last year all due to COVID, everyone is really chomping at the bit to start the year off with friends to share all the wonderful and sometimes crazy things that happened in 2022. The menu looks amazing and we have some great surprises to share with everyone joining us. It’s Ohio, so be prepared for anything on the roads as we’re heading into the Snow Belt and not away from it. If you haven’t signed up yet, the deadline is Jan. 11 and the $20 is worth every penny. Finally, we would like to offer a special thank you to Roxanne Owens who served as president for the past six years. It meant a lot to all of us that she stayed on and helped keep our chapter alive. Thanks as well to the other long serving officers Molly Eastwood, Carolyn Sullivan and me, of course. We welcome Catherine Matonis who volunteered to take on the presidency and bring her own

special vision to this office. We feel privileged that both of you want this great chapter to continue under your past and present leadership. So, let’s get this New Year rolling and please follow all our adventures in the Corral ~Joann Ulichney

UNION

I hope everyone had a happy holiday season. By the time you read this, the holidays will be a memory and winter will be well underway. However, the days will be slowly getting longer.

Our 2023 officers are President Jim Strayton; Secretary Debbie Strayton; and Treasurer Julie Belli.

The 50th Anniversary Celebration held on Nov. 5 was a blast. Bingo 50, raffle prizes, caricatures, food, speeches, music and dancing. I won a Big Dee’s gift card for the 27 squares I completed on my Bingo 50 card. Thank you to the planning committee for a year of awesome activities celebrating the Ohio Horseman’s Council.

On Sunday, Jim and I found the Big Apple Café, a great place to eat breakfast, and then attended the general membership meeting. Overall, an enjoyable weekend spent in Newark, Ohio.

Several of our members attended the Delaware chapter’s

Dancing at the 50th anniversary celebration party.

Edison Woods

Stacy’s bird houses.

Santa Helper, Sonny. Carolyn all decked out.

Christmas tree magic.

Christmas party. I wore my vintage ugly Christmas sweater for the ugly sweater contest but lost to Robin Lawson’s sparkly Christmas unicorn sweater. The Secret Santa gift exchange was also a big hit. Happy trails, ~Debbie Strayton

WARREN

Warren County was well represented at the Lebanon Carriage parades, as usual. Besides the fact that a number of our members join for the insurance for the parade, many of us also work the event, doing crowd control and helping in the announcers stand, etc. It’s a fun time, and a good way to get a front row view as well. The last few years I’ve also been bringing my ATV to help us get to the parade route, as that hike seems to get longer every year. I know at one point we had Warren, Greene and Montgomery County members all crammed in there at once! It’s a fun day to chat with people we haven’t seen for a while, as well. At the beginning of November, my distance club held another endurance ride at Caesar Creek. Our riders again were very complimentary of the condition of the trails, even though it seems all we’ve gotten done this year is trying to clear trees off of the trail. I want to thank several members for helping pull ribbons and signs after the event. Kris Green, Barb Pfantz, Belinda Snell and Janet Burnett went out one day, Barb again another day

(I’m not sure with whom), and then Kandy Zehner and Diana Barr went out with me to finish up. It took a little longer than we had hoped; we try to get the trail unmarked within a week or two. Mother Nature didn’t quite cooperate with that plan, but we got it done. I’m including photos this month from that.

If you haven’t turned in your trail miles/saddle hours yet, please remember to do so. Our trail miles chair is Kathy Cameron and she can be reached at kjhcameron@yahoo.com.

That’s it for this month. Next month I should have some photos form our New Year’s Day ride.

~Mickie

WASHINGTON

Happy New Year! Washington County is welcoming the new year with a lot of anticipation and hope. We are looking forward to several things happening this

year. First is the renovation of our home trail, Kinderhook in Newport, Ohio. Wayne National Forest has had the parking lot closed for a few months. We are now anticipating a parking area for non-horse vehicles and a new SST (Sweet Smelling Toilet). We’re also expecting a re-route of a treacherous washout from four years ago which has effectively closed our main loop for all this time. As you might expect, we are very excited! This is a little-known trail, and we think it is worth the time to take a drive and ride. We’re hoping all renovations will be complete by the April 1 trail opening.

Second, we are looking forward to an expanded riding schedule. President Brent has recently switched jobs and will hopefully be able to lead our excursions and looks forward to seeing many of you on the trails!

Third, is the renewed focus on club activities, non-equine activities. We are searching for trips we can take as a group and activities we can do to strengthen our bonds and friendship throughout the year. That also includes some fundraising efforts. Oh joy! We certainly welcome your suggestions!

We finished 2022 with our annual Christmas dinner. It was a good crowd and food was amazing as always! The club shared many gifts for Toys for Tots with the community. We had some fun helping our president, Brent DeWees, get into the holiday spirit (see photo.) There was also a gift exchange, the steal what you want or lose what you want kind. Several thefts were made but most notable was first person to select a gift was Ken Crawford, but Bill Hoover stole Kens gift of gloves and hat, with a gift of another type of gloves and hat. In the end though, Ken took back the first gift and Bill had to keep the gift he chose. Such high drama!

Don’t forget it is time to turn in your 2022 trail miles to Debbie Johnson as well as pay your dues for 2023. Our first meeting will be Jan. 5, at 7 p.m. at the Christ United Methodist Church, 301 Wooster Street, Marietta, Ohio. We wish you and yours a happy new year and hope to see you on the trail in 2023!

~Rita V. Schultheis

WOOD

The month of December we had another sad death of a good friend and longtime OHC member Elaine Perry. One of the last times I rode with her was in October of 2013. From then on, her memory of self, family, friends, and fur babies disappeared little by little. Her husband Tom, with help from family and close friends, took wonderful care of her until she passed. We never know what may happen to us as we age so we must have wonderful times with our family, friends and our precious animals while we can. None of us know what our future holds and no one said life would be easy. So go out and make the best of each day, as tomorrow is not promised.

~Barb O.

Jim and Debbie as caricatures.

The winning ugly Christmas sweater.

Kandy and Saharrah

Mickie and Cooper

Diana and Harley

President Brent DeWees

Our dear friend Elaine Perry.