Ohio Horseman’s Council, Inc.
PRESIDENT Eric Estill 513/899-2267 president@ohconline.com
Member of American Horse Council www.ohconline.com SECRETARY & MEMBERSHIP Catherine Estill 513/899-2267 secretary@ohconline.com
TREASURER Jo Ellen Reikowski 330/806-3146 treasurer@ohconline.com
NEWSLETTER EDITOR Theresa Burke 614/329-7453 newsletter@ohconline.com
VICE PRESIDENT Jim Wallace vicepresident@ohconline.com OHC COUNTY LINE EDITOR Karen Ravndal-Emery, Chair countylineeditor@ohconline.com
Greetings From Your President OHC Influence Makes a Difference A recent proposal was attached to the Ohio State Budget Bill to designate 120 acres of the Malabar Farms State Park as the ‘Doris Duke Woods Nature Preserve’. The intent of the proposal was to prevent the State Park from logging the area. The proposal stated that any existing equine trails and hiking trails would be kept open. This sounds like a good proposal, except for the unintended consequences. The Malabar Farms State Park had no plans to log the area, so this was a solution without a problem. The Ohio Administrative Code Rule 1501:17-9-03 ‘Saddle animals, use limitations’ states: (A) No person shall ride, drive, lead, or keep a saddle horse or other animal used for locomotion in any nature preserve or natural area except on roads, streets, and driveways provided for motor vehicles. (B) No horse or other animal shall be hitched to any tree, shrub, or structure in any manner. Exception will be if approved hitching post is provided in parking area. The public bridle trails
currently located in the Malabar Farm State Park are not roads, streets, and driveways provided for motor vehicles. The trails are natural surface trails. Therefore, the proposal to create the Doris Duke Woods Nature Preserve would keep the existing horse trails open, but the Ohio Administrative Code Rule 1501:17-9-03 would not allow anyone to ride a horse or other saddle animal on those trails. In addition: Ohio Administrative Code Rule 1501:17-3-02 ‘Preservation of property; exceptions’ states: No person shall collect, remove, injure, deface, destroy or otherwise disturb ice, soil, sand, gravel, rocks, fossils, minerals, plants, plant materials, animals or any other substance within any nature preserve or natural area under the supervision and control of the department or its designated custodian except as provided in this rule and in rule 1501:17-3-04 of the Administrative Code. Collecting of materials for research purposes may be permitted upon written application to and approval by
the chief of the division. A permit shall be valid not to exceed one year, but may be renewed at the discretion of the chief. The permit shall be displayed to any person upon request. This means that we would not be allowed to maintain the existing equine or hiking trails. Bottom line, if the proposal was attached to the budget bill and the bill passed, then we would not be allowed to ride on the existing equine trails in the designated 120-acre parcel, we would not be allowed to maintain the existing trails, and no new trails could be created. I contacted my State Senator and my State representative and asked them to help. I talked by phone to my State Senator, who agreed to see what he could do. The Wayne County OHC Chapter also started a letter writing campaign to their Senators and Representatives. During the next meeting of the Ohio Trails Partnership (OTP), I put a motion on the floor for OTP to oppose the creation of the Nature Preserve. The motion passed unanimously. Our OHC
Legal Committee Chair, Tom Green, drafted a letter for the signature of the OTP President, who distributed the letter to all members of the Ohio State Budget Committee (who were reviewing the budget bill) and sent a copy to many other Ohio State Senators and Representatives. Several days later, the Ohio House passed a revised bill to create the ‘Doris Duke Woods Preservation Area’ on the same 120-acre parcel. The House bill only restricts logging in the area and has no other ‘unintended consequences’. The Ohio Administrative code does not restrict a Preservation Area. Considering the House bill, the Senate Budget Committee dropped the language from the budget bill to create a Nature Preserve. I was told later that the campaign from the Ohio Trails Partnership and the Ohio Horseman’s Council was instrumental in creating the House bill that resolved the issue. Our voice was heard. ~Eric Estill, President Ohio Horseman’s Council
County Lines ASHLAND Greetings from Ashland County. Our chapter sponsored a three day ride at Pleasant Hill Lake Park in June with the hopes of making it an annual event. We had a fantastic weekend even with a little rain Friday and Saturday, but it sure didn’t stop the fun! There were close to 30 rigs carrying lots of horses and riders. When they got the horses settled in for the weekend and situated on tie lines, it presented quite a sight 60
to behold. On Saturday, many miles of trail were ridden. Some individuals rode out for a stop at Big Fish for a sandwich, ice cream, drink, etc., while others were happy to see the Malabar Inn open for lunch. Saturday evening was capped off with the announcement of our Poker Run and 50/50 winners. Cassie, who is a college student paying her way through nursing school, took home the Poker Run jackpot while Jamie was happy to take home his 50/50 winnings. Fun was had by all. We can’t wait to
Ashland County OHC make this an annual event! Jean and I were busy moving from our sold home and moving our horses that weekend, so Kathy Bogdan was kind enough to provide the above information. The Ashland chapter did a great job and handled several
HORSEMEN’S CORRAL
Poker, 50/50 stressful situations in the ride; preparations, including several cancellations of food truck providers. But like all OHC August 2021
