County Lines

OHC is hosting a Saddle Up for St. Jude Trail Ride and Hog Roast on Sept. 30 at Alum Creek State Park. In addition to the trail ride and hog roast, there will also be a poker run, a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle. Morrow County OHC also plans to sell T-shirts for the event. Day riders are welcome! Check back next month for more information.

It is safe to say that attracting and keeping new and younger members is without a doubt a top priority for all chapters today.

under their belts. Their first trip was to Brown County, Ind., with a great time had by all. Next on the schedule is hopefully Salt Fork on May 18. Maybe the weather will cooperate! Other camp outs will be Deer Creek, Paddle Creek, Shawnee and Caesar Ford.

your calendar is the St. Jude Fundraiser sponsored by the Dill Farm at Rutland, Ohio. The Dill’s have been holding this annual event for a number of years and this year it is scheduled for Sept. 16. Again, watch our Facebook page for details as the date draws closer.

Our chapter meetings are on the third Tuesday of each month at Fox Pizza in Pomeroy, Ohio. Visitors are welcome to attend our meetings. Watch our Facebook page for information about the upcoming meeting agenda.

We are happy to see Kevin Shepherd feeling better and back on the trails at the horse camp!

A big shot out to Mary Jo Devlin and Steve Maxwell for donating gates for the AEP camp riding arena. Thank you for your thoughtful and much needed contribution.

~Marlene Swartz

Morrow

It can happen to even the best of chapters: Members get older. Some remain on the roster, but are inactive. The few remaining active members wear more than one hat as officers, which eventually gets old. Members get together for meetings but hardly ride, if at all. Some chapters have no choice but to dissolve in extreme cases.

The Morrow County chapter was nearly at death’s door until an infusion of new blood brought the club back from the brink. Led by newly elected President Misty McDonald, the Morrow County chapter is now on the path to recovery and has a clear vision for the future. “My main goal as president is to try to recruit new members while working hard to have at least one successful event per year that we as members of Morrow County OHC can donate our time and proceeds to,” Misty said.

To that end, Morrow County

“I think it is difficult to attract younger members because of all the technology today and just the fact that younger people don’t seem to have as much ambition as older people do,” Misty said. “They don’t want to put a lot of effort into taking care of the horse or mule. Not to mention the fact that most young people would rather stay inside rather than be outside enjoying nature.”

Misty and her husband Sam, who both ride mules, joined Morrow County OHC at the end of last year, they were pleased to discover that they were among kindred, mule-riding spirits. Five of our members currently ride mules rather than horses on the trail. Why mules, you might ask? Misty noted that mules are safer to ride when crossing difficult terrain because they are more sure-footed than horses. Mules also have the innate ability to sense danger and are more cautious than a horse. Just watch those ears!

In between rain showers and freezing temps, our members have been hitting the trails and back roads all around our area this spring. We even got Byron Edgecomb and his lovely fiancee Cheryl Price to join us on a ride through Mohican State Park. They did great and we hope they will grace us with their presence again in the future. Like all OHC members, we in Morrow County are hoping that June brings warm and dry weather so that we can get out and enjoy our horses and mules as often as possible. This month we are excited to travel to Honey Creek in Tennessee for a week of riding and fun and then on to Big Elk Lick in Benezette, Pa., at the end of the month.

~Karen Conley

Pike

Happy spring from Pike County. Members are already starting this year with trail miles

Lucky for us, all officers from last year will gladly serve again. President Penny Cooper; Vice President Jim Forman; Secretary Martha Ewing; Treasurer Sharon Forman; Good Cheer, Renee Cruea; Trail and Corral, Debby Sears. Thank you for your efforts.

The trails are open again thanks to the forest cleaning and clearing crew. On May 6 we had a cleanup day. We checked and repaired the tie-up and rest areas. Also checked trail signs. Riding is usually more enjoyable when you know where you are.

We will again be celebrating Christmas in July at our July 1 meeting with a carry-in supper and take-away gift exchange. We will also be camping and riding all weekend.

Looking forward to a great gathering!

~Debby Sears

Preble

On to news here in Preble County. We’ve had a chilly and wet spring so far. Gene, Terry, Tony and Donn have been working on keeping trails open but sometimes there just isn’t enough time in a day. We do have a problem on Trail A, a tree has come down on the little bridge and that is a fix that is going to take some time. With all the wind that we have had we have other trees down that need our attention more for now. If anyone would like to help clear some trees let any of the guys know and we’ll give you the time and days we’ll be working on trails.

We will have our June meeting at the horsecamp on the first Saturday of the month. Carry in will be at 5 p.m. with the meeting at 6 p.m. Come join us and bring a dish or something to share with those also attending the meeting.

We did have our Spring Fling show. Gene brought some great obstacles for the obstacle course and folks had the opportunity to try their horses on several different objects. Later in the afternoon we had our speed fun show with a good turnout for both. Thanks to everyone who attended. We also had a Bunny

Hunt where we hid three different colored bunnies on the trails. Riders who found one received a prize. Hopefully riders enjoyed hunting for the bunnies while riding the trails.

As we had our Spring Fling show the last weekend in April, we will not have one on Memorial Day Weekend. Memorial Day was when Butler County Saddle Club had their big two-day show. We will have our Fourth of July show as usual and then our Labor Day show, weather permitting. Our concession are open during these fun shows, please help support the folks who are putting these delicious hamburgers and hot dogs out for you to enjoy.

The State Ride will be Oct. 6-8. Three glorious days of fun, food, fun show, trail riding and of course our raffles. There will be a raffle for a $750 gift card from Rural King and also a Chinese auction. We’re working on having a band available for entertainment. Our menu items are pulled pork, potato salad, coleslaw and desserts. We’ll try to keep the cost at a minimum because we know it has been rough for everyone with the economy the way it is.

We want to wish all of our dad’s a Happy Father’s Day and also wish everyone a Happy Fourth of July. Our July Fun Show will be Saturday, July 1. Come on out and enjoy a weekend of fun and camping.

Here’s wishing everyone happy trails for this riding season. If you see a tree down on the trails or a problem that needs attended to give Donn, Terry or Gene a shout or post it on Facebook. See you all on the trail as we hope to be able to ride this year.

~Becky Clifton