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County Lines
have some dry weather to get this accomplished soon.
Membership in our chapter continues to grow with 128 members as of the July 5 submission date of this article. Our chapter meetings are the third Tuesday of each month at Fox Pizza in Pomeroy, Ohio. You are more than welcome to attend as a guest and although meetings officially are called to order at 7 p.m., many come early to enjoy a personal meal of Fox’s delicious pizza and other menu items.
~Marlene Swartz
Morrow
I begin this month by paraphrasing a sign I saw at a gift shop on our recent horse camping trip to Benezette, the Elk Capital of Pennsylvania: What happens on horseback gets laughed about all year. Isn’t that the truth? Just think about how many times conversations among friends about our time on our horses begin with “Remember when…?” and end with laughter at the memory—usually at someone’s expense!
Since the publication of the last edition of Horsemen’s Corral, members of the Morrow County chapter of OHC have spent a week riding at Big South Fork
NRRA in Tennessee, a weekend at AEP Fallon Park and a long holiday weekend at Big Elk Lick horse camp in Benezette, Pa. Each trip has provided us with enough “Remember when?” moments to keep us laughing around the camp fire for years to come!
Remember when ‘Runaway’ Rusty somehow untied himself and ran for miles back to camp while everyone else had gone to check out one of the many beautiful overlooks at Big South Fork? Remember when Sam literally had to haul ass (he rides Francis the mule!) back towards camp to find Rusty and lead him back. And remember when Rusty found himself wrapped around a tree as Sam was leading him back, and Levi’s horse took off when he got off to help unwrap him? That Rusty!
Remember when one of our five rigs was in the Central time zone at Honey Creek horse camp in Tennessee while the other four were in the Eastern time zone? Rob and Karen never knew what time it really was!
Remember when we decided at dinner time on a rainy Friday to make our trip to AEP Fallon Park after canceling earlier in the day? We ended up enjoying a beautiful weekend of riding!
Remember when Rob’s horse decided she wasn’t going over those scary logs in Benezette— no way, no how—but managed to go right over them without a second thought on the way back? Oh, Mo!
Remember when Margaret and Misty got to take a ride on the ‘Party Wagon’ led by a beautiful team of Belgians through the incredible Big Elk Lick horse camp?
If you don’t have ‘Remember when?’ moments like these you might be riding with the wrong people! Morrow County OHC members are out riding nearly every weekend racking up trail miles (and keeping track!), making memories and laughing together. In the coming weeks we are scheduled to ride at Salt Fork and Bark Camp.
Make sure to put our Sept. 30 ride and hog roast at Alum Creek State Park to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on your calendar! What a great opportunity to do what we love and make a difference at the same time—you just might come away with some ‘Remember when?’ moments of your own.
~Rob Conley
Perry
The Independence Day holiday ride at Burr Oak was a real bangup event (Ben Stengle can attest to that) with over 10 campers and several visitors. Though the trail conditions were less than desirable, we all managed to have a great time and the weather was great despite the rain forecasted.
Ben continued his bad luck riding experience at Burr Oak and fell off his horse, Trixie, at one of the dicey spots on the trail. Both are OK. I will say the park personnel put in some time and did a lot of mowing which was very helpful but more work needs done at this park and we’re hopeful the improvements will be forthcoming before the October soup ride.
Don and Vicki Wagner really went out of their way to make sure everyone had an enjoyable time. Don made homemade French fries Friday evening and Vicki added raspberry and chocolate pie for dessert. On
Saturday we enjoyed breakfast in a bag thanks to Don and to everyone who contributed all the delicious fillings. Being the host with the most, Don invited the Friends of Burr Oak to the breakfast bar so we got to meet those nice folks. Our evening entertainment was dog TV with Dozer, the cutest ever doodle, chasing George, a cavalier King Charles. George was having a great time teasing Dozer until Dozer was turned loose to pursue him. Fun times!
Our upcoming rides include Salt Fork and the Labor Day ride at Scioto with our Fairfield County friends. Members also have plans at Elkins Creek and the Cuyahoga County ride at Chagrin Falls at the end of September which I’m really looking forward to participating in. We have quite the group assembled to attend this ride.
Heather Stengle attended a girth making clinic hosted by the Trailmeister, Robert Eversole, and learned to make girths. I’ve asked Heather to share her knowledge at the August meeting. The club is looking into engaging a photographer to take ‘glamour’ shots of riders and horses. Henry is checking into that for us. Other interesting ideas being pursued is finding someone to either give a presentation or a clinic on CDL training as it pertains to backing