OHIO HORSEMAN S COUNCIL STATE MEETING NOVEMBER 13, 2016 EAGLES CLUB, DELAWARE, OH

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1 1 OHIO HORSEMAN S COUNCIL STATE MEETING NOVEMBER 13, 2016 EAGLES CLUB, DELAWARE, OH PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ROLL CALL AND SECRETARY S REPORT: Barb Gerard called Roll Call, with 42 of 66 counties present. There were 135 members who signed in. Barb called for a motion to approve the minutes from the March 20, 2016 meeting. It was moved by Troy Lindimore and seconded by Bill Craft to approve. Motion carried. Arden Sims, President, introduced our guest speaker. It s been a pleasure working with Dawn for six years at Wayne National Forest and Kinderhook in Washington County, Stone Church, and Lake Vesuvius and has been our guiding force to put in a new horse trail at Kinderhook. GUEST SPEAKER: Dawn McCarthy, Wayne National Forest. Dawn is a former marine who is from Buchanan, W VA, and has lived In Ohio since She now lives in Athens County and has been with Wayne National Forest as the Recreation Team Leader since Dawn has a BS in biology and ecology. Arden called Dawn in 2010 and started the ball rolling at Kinderhook. Daniel McKay and Rodney Patterson also were involved. Dawn talked about the partnering opportunities between Wayne National Forest and OHC. We are looking to strengthen our partnership in Hocking County. Wayne National Forest has two Ranger Districts, the Athens/Marietta Unit and the Ironton Unit. There are proclamation boundaries where national forest land is allowed to exist. Within those boundaries, Wayne National does not own all of the land, which makes figuring out where to put a trail difficult. There are 244,000 acres in the forest, but Wayne National s land is scattered and interspersed with private land. There are trails that are connected by township and county roads. We have been working on exciting developments. There are three current trail systems - Kinderhook in Washington County (16.6 miles), Stone Church Trail System in Perry County, and Vesuvius Trail System in Lawrence County. We are working on creating 4.4 miles more of trails in Kinderhook. Washington County Chapter has brushed out the trail and are in the process of constructing it. We have been working with Monroe County for almost 30 years to bring a trail to Monroe County and now have success. A scoping letter went out last week to put in the trail system. There will be 4.4 miles to begin with. Because of land boundaries, we are trying to figure out how to add more. Stone Church in Perry County currently has 21 miles of trails. There are no plans to make any changes to this trail system other than maintenance. Lake Vesuvius in Lawrence County has 47 miles of trail. There are plans to add about three more miles to that system this year. Dawn spoke about the Kinderhook Trail System in Marietta. This system (16.5 miles) has potential but has a lot of roads. It is beautiful county with a scenic overlook of the Ohio River. Our main partnership has been with the Washington County Chapter, with 1700 hours of volunteer service over the past 5 years. On the island, high lines, manure bins, steps, and water lines have been added. They recently worked on 4.5 miles of brushing and clearing the corridor to get the trail in. They also have provided horse trail rides for children who would not ever have a chance to ride a horse. We have two more loops and the point to point trail that will connect into the other loops to connect the trail system.

2 Plain View Horse Trail in Monroe County is one of the most beautiful sections of the Wayne National Forest with steep terrain and mature forest. Rick Magyar and Sandy Stimpert have worked diligently with Dawn to figure out where to put trails. Monroe also has done a lot at Lamping Homestead primitive campground. Monroe County has put in over 900 hours with kid rides and scouting for trail placement areas. Stone Church Horse Trail has 22.5 miles of trails with a campground with 10 sites specifically for equine. We need larger sites for the larger horse trailers, but there is not any space to expand. Both Hocking and Perry County chapters had a work day, and Dawn is planning to spend more time with those counties. Maintenance was done on Stone Church trails this past April. Vesuvius Horse Trail on the Ironton Ranger District has 47 miles of trails. Dawn has not done much there, since it is not her district. The trail that has Balance Rock reroute was opened last spring where 1.5 miles of trail were added. Wayne National s partnership is with the Lawrence County Chapter and Elkins Creek Horse Club. In the Ironton District, Carol Bowles replacement arrives at the end of January. Lawrence County will be able to work with her. The Kimble Loop West reroute project The decision paperwork has been signed and work can start on the ground. New trail construction will be 2.7 miles and.6 miles of an existing horse trail will be reworked. Volunteers have started brushing the trail corridor. Overall, Dawn started working with Arden 6 years ago and has been working with Arden to create a master agreement at the state level between Wayne National Forest and OHC. This allows Wayne National to funnel down to the chapters so it is recognized that OHC is all one group and stronger. Monroe County needs to have their agreement renewed. The supplemental project agreement is on hold for Hocking County. Once the new person is in place, discussion will begin with Lawrence County. Partnering opportunities. There is an abundance of maintenance and trail construction opportunities for groups willing to volunteer. Prior to the last 2 years, no new construction has happened in Wayne National on the horse trails since the 1990 s. Wayne National has OHC to thank for this. No money has been received to start new trails, but since there is a partnership with OHC, maintenance on trails can be done. There is a trail permit for Wayne National and has affected members. Wayne National is trying to get all user groups together to come up with a plan for fairness. If someone works 8 to 16 hours, a 3- day pass is available; if someone works over 16 hours, a free season permit is available. Hours need to be reported. The first land for Wayne National Forest was purchased in Caring for the land and taking care of the users. We are hoping to bring about positive change. Arden has contact information for Dawn. Feedback: How many miles of the Kinderhook trail system is on roads? Approximately, prior to taking a reroute where there was a landslide, there were 10 miles. There are now 7 miles. Are the trail permit user fees going to be renewed? This is out of Dawn s ballpark. The Forest Trail Management Program is holding discussions with user groups to decide what they think is fair and reasonable. Fees are controlled through the Recreation Enhancement Act. The Washington Office has to appoint people to be on the Recreation Advisory Committee to change fees. To provide input about the fees, send a letter or an to Wayne National Forest. Arden reported that a group is being formed, including the motorized group, and the hikers and bikers to come to a consensus among the group. It s felt that if the users can agree, we have a chance to do something. The fees and seasonal pass are for the entire forest and all types of trails. The trail fee is Wayne National Forest specific and does not apply in other forests. If you work in the current year, passes are for the next year - might be able to argue that can have the pass for the current year if work is done in the early Spring. 2

3 3 There are no insurance requirements to ride the trails or for camping. The only requirement is If you are going to do an organized group ride over 25 people and potentially causing resource damage, get a special user s permit. Contact Dawn to find out if there are any special requirements. There is a five-year agreement in place with OHC; it is the Forest Service template that must be used by law. There are no consequences with the first 5-year agreement. If the agreement is not in place, Wayne cannot promote or advertise for OHC on any website or literature. Don Wagner mentioned that we need to build a relationship with Wayne National, but need to have certification for chain saws, etc. Stone Church needs to be cleaned up. Don is stepping in and taking over the project at Stone Church. Because it includes the Buckeye Trails, we have about miles, with some being both hiking and biking. There are 97 trail miles for horses. There is potential for Wild Cat Hollow. Arden thanked Dawn and mentioned that OHC is very happy with our relationship with Wayne National Forest. TREASURER REPORT (Jo Ellen Reikowski): The Treasurer s Report covers the dates from January 1 to November 3. Recorded to date, everything is in line with what was budgeted. The Youth Group has had a good response to youth camps, etc., and we took in more money than what was budgeted, which was $4, Most of the expenses for 2016 have been paid, but are still in the negative. This will be made up when the 2017 memberships start to come in for the balance of this year. The 2016 Income and Expense report is now on the website. This report is due by the end of January from the chapters. FINANCE COMMITTEE (Ann Beathard): Due to Ann s absence, Jo Ellen reported on the budget. Committees turned in reports. The fourth column on the budget spreadsheet is the budget for There are some explanations listed, i.e., under insurance, Equisure s premium for individual liability insurance is $19.00; we collect $20.00 and use the extra $1.00 ($2.00 for family) to offset the cost of mailing the liability insurance certificates and the cost of printing the insurance cards. Donn looking at getting the membership form on line; Pay Pal will be used for paying for membership. There is a new line item the International Trail Symposium of $ This was suggested by Tom Green. To pay for new membership promotion recruitment, money was used from committee budgets that was not spent to fund the Saddle Up Membership Recruitment Program. Some of the proceeds will be paid in $5000 has been allowed for this. Most of the awards will be carried over to 2017 and be paid out of that budget. Total budget: $79,325 for for 2017 memberships: $14,500. As of this date, we have collected $4400 for 2017 memberships. It was moved by Bill Craft and seconded by Larry Matthews to accept the budget. Motion carried. GROOM AND CLEAN (Sheila Bushong): In Sheila s absence, Jo Ellen reported that the Ohio State University sent thank you notes from all who took part in the Groom and Clean Program. OHC supplies the trophies for the contest. PRESIDENT S REPORT (Arden Sims): It has been a pleasure to serve the past 2 years and I enjoyed getting out and meeting the members. Arden presented a map of locations visited, including chapter

4 4 meetings, rides, and events. Visiting the chapters, the smallest was 3 people in attendance, and largest was over 100. Arden visited all but 4 of the 68 chapters. At every meeting, there was conversation on how to further the horse community and interact within the county in which the chapter exists. Counting all meetings and events there are probably over 1000 per year. No other organization is doing that. We are a unique organization, and Arden is proud to be a part of it. It would not be possible without involvement of volunteers for OHC to accomplish what it does. Arden mentioned the fantastic job Jo Ellen Reikowski is doing as Treasurer, and also Barb Gerard as Secretary and Membership Chair. Arden mentioned all the contributions of the officers, directors, regional reps, regional mentors, and committee chairs and thanked them for the fantastic jobs they are doing. Under Theresa Burke s direction, The Newsletter went to 2500 members; and we hope to put in Corral again this year. It was sent to 35,000 households in 2016 through the Corral. Promotions under Mary Alice Kuhn has sent news articles throughout the state on members accomplishments and straightening out the merchandize, as well as getting the Saddle Up Recruitment Program started. Ann Beathard volunteered to take over the Finance Committee. We have a new Historical Committee Chair that just stepped up Laura Wallace, and Willie May has volunteered to take over the Grievance Committee. Don Wagner has been elected as the new SE Regional Rep. Kudos to Claudia, Arden s wife, who takes care of the horses. Would not have been able to do this without everyone s support. NOMINATION COMMITTEE (Bill Craft): Election for Officers: Running for the office of President is Arden Sims; for Vice President is Eric Estill; for Treasurer, Jo Ellen Reikowski. Commencing with the election of officers (President, Vice President, and Treasurer), Bill called for nominations from the floor. There being no nominations from the floor, Larry Matthews moved nominations be closed. Seconded by Willie May. Motion carried. Because Arden is running for President, Bill turned the election over to Tom Green, Vice President. Arden Sims was re-elected as President, Eric Estill was elected as Vice President, and Jo Ellen Reikowski was re-elected as Treasurer. VICE PRESIDENT REPORT (Tom Green): Concerning the OTP, Tom has been able to actively participate on behalf of OHC. Dawn McCarthy is an active member of OTP as advisory person in the Wayne National Forest and has been active in meetings. Pertinent to balancing equine trails with the number of hiking and biking trails, we are having conversations on state and regional levels. OTP meets every 60 days. The Watercraft Division is now included in OTP. Trail runners are actively participating in OTP for the first time this year. OTP published a paper this year about the organization. A brochure is available now that describes what OTP is about. We started having meetings with ODNR twice per year. The next meeting will be in March. Michael Bailey is the new Chief of Parks and Watercraft. Tom is trying to arrange meetings with other divisions of ODNR. He understands what the user groups do in volunteer hours. One of things being talked about is ODNR has two things going on with state-wide planning. The State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreational Trails Plan (SCORP) needs to be done every 5 years. We are trying to participate in that as to what the State of Ohio s trail plan should look like. ODNR also has the Ohio Trails Plan. We are trying to develop plans, such as the White Forest. OTP is planning a state trail caucus at the State House in March. We want to invite all the legislators that we can. There will be speakers from OHC, ODNR, and Buckeye Trail to talk about the impact of trail systems on the environment. There was a conflict Issue that arose between Buckeye Trail and the equine community at East Fork this year. OTP was instrumental in toning down the anxiety the hikers were having about some changes that were made to their portion of the Buckeye Trail. OTP also does trail projects. Tom reported that OHC has resurrected the relationship with the American Horse Council. There is a new director of the AHC, Julie Broadway. She had been the Director of the Morgan Horse Assoc. for a number of years. Tom and Kris attended the Coalition of State Horse Councils in Kansas City; it operates under the umbrella of the AHC. We are the single largest volunteer organization in the

5 5 country. An incredible amount of information came out of the meeting. Tom has volunteered to help the Coalition to re-write the bylaws. Talked about various topics. AHC is doing a National Economic Impact Study on horses and will circulate surveys on those topics. There will be an opportunity for us to purchase a consolidated report that is Ohio-specific. Tom will bring this to the Executive Cabinet for discussion on funding. This would give us a concrete document on the economic impact of equine on the State of Ohio. We talked about Equitrac, Time to Ride, fund raising efforts in communities, and the possibility of having community events to highlight horse-related issues. International Trail Symposium: Tom is on the Planning Committee for this event. Every two years there is an American Trail Symposium. In 2015 it was held in Portland Oregon, and in 2017 it will be held in Dayton, OH the first week in May. The ITS involves all trail use disciplines, motorized and nonmotorized. Organizers of ITS want more organized participation of equine community. During May 7-10, there will be a number of sessions on various topics. There will be workshops and poster presentations. Tom will be participating in a group of approximately 15 people that are selecting applicants for the presentations. Mary Alice and Tom want to do something for OHC to get presentations on the horse community, as well as OTP. They will be doing a workshop. Five River Metroparks hopefully will be a sponsor for this event. We would provide horses and take a short ride through Caesar s Creek and talk about how horse trails got there and how they got built. We need volunteers to bring gentle horses and tack for about 10 people who may not have been on horses, and volunteers to serve as outriders. ITS will pay the expenses for transporting the horses. There is opportunity to volunteer at ITS to participate in monitoring rooms and organizing people. The symposium is targeted at the professional trail organizations. The theme of the symposium is Trails Take Flight Connecting People, Places, and Possibilities. Website google American Trails. Willie May said grace prior to Lunch. LUNCH Reconvened: 1:05 p.m. BY-LAWS (Eric Estill): Eric reported that there are no pending amendments to the Bylaws or the Standing Rules. Larry Matthews retired from the By-laws Committee last Spring, and Jim Wallace filled his position. Due to Oliver Cooper leaving the state, Catherine Estill will replace Oliver. Catherine does all of the editing and will continue to advise as well. There has been a recommendation to amend the bylaws to include the immediate past president as a member on the Executive Cabinet. This idea will be discussed at the January Winter Meeting Executive Cabinet meeting. HISTORICAL (Laura Wallace): Several boxes of information were passed to the Committee. Jim set up the computer program to get the committee started. Laura showed slides as to how to fill out forms they created to record what was done in past year in the chapters. Each chapter will submit what they have accomplished. To find the form, go to OHConline.com, filing cabinet, county chapters or forms, and download the file called 2016 history report chapter name. Laura explained how to fill out the form. There also is an instruction sheet called OHC History Document Instructions to be found in Filing Cabinet. When complete, send as attachment to Historianonline.com. The 2017 form will be available in March to fill in as the year progresses. In the future, Laura would like to ask for a synopsis of the past history of each chapter. Turn in 2016 forms by March 1, Two chapters will be selected at the March 2017 state meeting to receive Equine Affaire tickets. Add pictures in the reports if desired. Chapters can add as much as desired. Jim explained how to navigate the spreadsheet. Folders will be set up for each chapter. Chapters might have more than one person to do documentation. Can have as many people working on it as you want. This information can be accessed to present to ODNR on trails.

6 6 EQUINE AFFAIRE (Tina Maruffi-Reed & Brian Roudabush): In Tina and Brian s absence, Arden reported that everything is on schedule. AAHYS (Jeff Fultz). Proceeds amounted to $3,500 from last year s event. Believes it is a good project for PR getting OHC s name out. We did not have very many volunteers. Turned money back into the Treasurer because we did not need as much food. In 2017, Arden, etc. would like to support the show. Jeff is willing to remain as Chair. It will be held the 2 nd week of May 11-14, It is on web page and FB. Jeff suggested that in order to attract more volunteers, we earmark money for parking for the volunteers. He also recommended to split money up to chapters who had people volunteer to work. The committee needs a co-chair. Terry Baker volunteered to co-chair on the AAHYS Committee. Motion: Terry Baker moved to work out a formula for part of the money to put in the general fund and that part of the money be distributed to the chapters who participate. Seconded by Shannon Bard. Discussion ensued: Bill Craft suggested that parking expenses be reimbursed. Jim Wallace moved to refer this issue to a committee with the power to act for the 2017 AAHYS. Seconded by Jack Weese. Discussion ensued. The Co-Chairs will run the committee. The committee will make the decisions on how to handle this and has the power to implement the decisions. Add to the motion that the committee be appointed by the President. Discussion ensued. Jo Ellen: The AAHYS brings in $3500. Expenses allowed for the food, etc., are $750. This goes into the General Fund. The money brought in by the AAHYS helps fund the various committees and used for the grant money. The motion carried to defer the motion to a committee. The original motion is moved off the floor by the movement to a committee. Terry Baker will chair the committee. There will be an OHC booth at the AAHYS. COMMUNICATIONS AND NEWSLETTER (Theresa Burke): Newsletter: Theresa has made initial contacts with Joe Coulter to put the Newsletter in Corral for She is hopeful and grateful that members of 2016 committee will continue on in Theresa asked for feedback among the membership for the Newsletter to be available electronically. Question: Possibility of having something smaller than the Newsletter as a promotional tool. She would like to revive a brochure as a synopsis and getting separate copies to distribute to different chapters. We would like to have more stand-alone copies of the Newsletter this year for distribution to the various parks, etc. Website, Donn Buckingham: Most of the forms, etc. are under Filing Cabinet on the website. Any new Corral reporters should click on the Corral. There are five articles to read to help you. New officers of the County Chapters as most of the forms you will need. Members: There will be some new forms put on the website this week -Trail mileage, etc. Membership forms instead of using the main form, go to chapter page under Chapters and print your chapter form. The state ride form to be updated this week. It will be a fillable form. The present form has the wrong address. The Historical form will be under Filing Cabinet and county chapters. If you need something posted on FB, most of the time it is sent to Calendar; also, please copy the webmaster. YOUTH (Jackie Romaker): Jackie thanked chapters for sponsoring kids to go to youth camp. The cost is $75 to sponsor one child. In 2015, there were 17 kids; in 2016, we had 47 kids. The first group rode 26 miles on Saturday. The younger group is a lot of fun. We added a date this year. We still have June and August, and also added July. This date will be used for kids or have a family weekend. We had horse shows this year, but they were not very successful. It was too hard to get kids from all over the state to get to one location. In January, we are inviting family members to come to the January planning meeting on Saturday to make plans on what else we can do. Jackie would like to bring back the

7 7 scholarship. Chapters should talk to the kids in their chapters about what OHC is. Cashman s donated their arena for free. MEMBERSHIP (Barb Gerard): Barb reported the numbers on membership. Maps generated by Arden Sims are enclosed with the spreadsheet on membership in the packets. In 2016, we had a total of 2551 memberships, which generated 4079 members. The number is down from last year by 92 members, which is a 1-2% decrease. Most of this decrease can be attributed to one chapter having been dissolved and another chapter being inactive. Thirty-four (34) chapters increased their membership, with 14 chapters having a double-digit increase. Thirty-five chapters lost members, with 14 chapters having double-digit losses. Hamilton County added 48 new members this year and are the winners of the $100 ward from the Membership Committee. This is a 49% increase in membership. Other chapters with fantastic numbers include Miami (16), Medina (16), Hocking (11), Harrison (13), Ashtabula (13), Carroll (17), Clark (10), Delaware (14), Erie (18), Fairfield (15), Guernsey (21), At-Large (13). The other chapters adding members and in the single digit numbers also are to be congratulated. In 2016, there were 1076 (658 memberships) non-renewed members. Please contact members from the previous year and ask them to renew their memberships. If these members would have renewed, our member number for 2016 would have 5154 members. In 2016 a new feature was added to the membership form number of equine owned by OHC members. There were 6255 equine recorded. This number shows what economic impact OHC has on the State of Ohio. Some 2017 memberships are coming through on 2016 forms. Please do not send any forms to the state that are not on the 2017 form. Barb mentioned they would be sent back to the chapters to be redone. Also, 2016 insurance cards should be discarded. The secondary membership table was removed from the primary membership form. A secondary membership form was created for each chapter. Please use the secondary form for all secondary memberships and keep the forms and the money in your chapter. Barb thanked all chapter treasurers and membership chairs for their hard work and for making our jobs at the state much easier. Barb reminded all officers that their membership renewals are due by the end of the year. Chapters were reminded that the 2016 insurance certificates are not any good. Equisure will issue the 2017 certificates after the first of the year. They will be mailed to each member who purchased liability insurance for those members renewing by mid-april. After that date, chapters will need to send them out. Bill Craft asked Barb to mention that Sheila Craft is still receiving some membership forms from the chapters. Please make sure you send them to Jo Ellen Reikowski. Arden commented that we should try to break the chain of the past years to get members to renew. Retention of membership is very important. Larry Matthews thanked Barb for the report on numbers in the chapters. PROMOTIONS, MERCHANDISING (Mary Alice Kuhn): Trail maps are on the website. The OHC logo is our brand and we need to be more recognizable. We need to establish relationships with newspapers. Mary Alice worked on several stories this year which blossomed. She mentioned Mike and Barb Gerard s Life Time Award appearing in the Farm and Dairy, and Jerry and Mary Ann Basham were the Gibby Award winners; a couple of articles were written about them, one in the Barnesville Enterprise. The article included facts about the Gibby Award, Barkcamp, and Jerry and Mary Ann. Mary Alice also is establishing relationships with corporate sponsors and equine businesses, which is establishing opportunities for getting OHC s name out in the communities. Businesses such as

8 8 Stagecoach West (membership recruitment program) and Cashman s (free arena use for the Youth Program) are two examples. Taking part in conferences, symposiums, spot advertising (banners at rodeos), etc. also helps to get our OHC brand into the community. Business Directory: This directory is for members who have businesses. The Promotions/Merchandise Committee will put your business card in the directory. The directory can be accessed at Merchandise@ohconline after it is compiled. If you don t have a business card, send information, and Mary Alice will create an ad. Members are invited to attend the January Mid-Winter meeting at Deer Creek State Lodge on January 22, Membership Drive: Started talking about this in August - how can we generate new memberships and also reward those members who recruited them? Mary Alice explained the process on how we got the recruitment program started. She had conversation with Stage Coach West. Arden had ideas on where he would like to see this go. We had conference calls. The incentive is that we randomly draw names at the January meeting. The first new member and recruiter drawn win a custom made saddle from Stage Coach West. OHC s cost is $800, with the second saddle being donated by Stage Coach West. Gift cards go to the others of $500, $300, and $200. Gift cards winners can select gifts from a list at 30% to 40% off retail price. If member or recruiter does not want any of the gifts from the shopping list, the gift card may be applied to a new saddle at retail cost. Recruitment tool kits were sent to each chapter as part of the roll out of this program. If a new member was sent in prior to chapters receiving the tool kit, Barb Gerard, Membership Chair, to let her know the member s information and who the recruiter is. A member is considered new if they have not been members since LEGISLATIVE (Reuss Griffiths). Reuss reported on two items that are old business An update on the wild horse situation and the soring issue. Some rescues in Wyoming have filed suit against Bureau of Land Management to stop another roundup. The BLM has 50,000 penned up and there is probably another 30,000 to 50,000 on ranges in Western states. The PAST Act is the other issue, which centers around the soring issue for showing gaited horses. Last year Congress tried to add to the Horse Protection Act of 1972 to put more in place to prevent soring. They were trying to take the responsibility for horse inspectors at the shows away from the industry, with the government training them and requiring the shows to hire the trained inspectors. It is OHC s position is that we support in principle everything they are trying to accomplish but do not support the means by which they are trying to do it. The problem is that it is only being looked at for gaited horse shows, and it should apply to all horses. Have they changed it for therapeutic horses? They failed in terms of changing the law. The USDA is now going the regulatory route. Proposals have been made for exemptions to this. Tom Green commented that the Coalition of State Horse Councils had a presentation by a person who operates a prison in BLM land. They teach the prisoners how to care for horses. On the soring issue, Scarlett Rowland spoke to the mistreatment of these horses and stressed the importance of getting this problem solved. The solution to the problem lies with the Tennessee Walking Horse Association. The American Horse Council is actively involved in this issue and is looking at another approach. MERIT AWARDS (Kris Green): The awards are OHC s way of saying thank you to our hard working volunteers. Three awards: The Merit Award goes to individuals who demonstrate the above and beyond. Bob Jackson, Lorain County, was awarded the Merit Award this year. Jim Wallace also recognized Becky Sheryak having won Merit Award this year. Gibby Award: There were five nominations this year that were all superior. The winners were Jerry and Mary Ann Basham who spent a lot of time at Sycamore State Park. Life-time Award: There is a nomination for a Life-time Award. Jack

9 9 and Linda Weese were nominated for Lifetime Award. Jim Wallace talked about the activities of Jack and Linda. The award was approved by a vote by the membership. STATE TRAIL RIDES (Jack Weese): Jack thanked Cindy Barnett, the first Chair of State Rides, who helps Jack. We have seven state rides grandfathered in for this year. The Northwest Region is hosting a ride this year in October at Oak Openings. June and July are open if any chapters want to host a state ride. Jack promoted the AAHYS. The state rides are listed on the website. TRAIL MILES AND SADDLE HOURS (Ann Lindimore): The 25,000 mile award was given to Linda Donnette by Washington County within the chapter. Ransae Lindamood Hall also received a 25,000 mile award at this meeting. Both received belt buckles. Ransae said it took her years. She split the miles between 2 horses this year. The list of state parks has been reconfigured. Seven parks in Cleveland Metro Parks have been listed under Cleveland Metro Parks. This was taken from the state trail map guide. Anne encouraged everyone to keep track of their trail miles and turn them in. We still have the saddle hour program. At this time, we do not have patches but Anne is working on this. STATE TRAIL (Chairs, Don and Vicki Wagner): Vicki-Trail Work Hours. Vicki thanked everyone for turning in the work hours. We had between 11 and 14 thousand work hours turn in. There is a form on the website for keeping track of the hours. Don, Trails: Thanked everyone for the work done on trails. Salt Fork did maintenance recently. At Barkcamp, we worked on building manure pits. We built bulletin board at Vermillion. Going to start cutting out the Ash trees this year and getting ready to do a tree replacement. At Caesar Creek, starting Monday, 14 th, and continuing through Friday, clearing out dirt and bringing in stone. Starting at 9 a.m., meet at horseman s camp at 8:00. Great Seal: Meeting Tuesday with the bikers/hikers. They want to separate the trails and give the equine the worst trails. Anyone who wants to come to the meeting can come in Athens at Bob Evans at 6 p.m. Question: Can we get all work events on the website calendar? Work dates need to be sent to the website to be put on. Grants: Information is on the website. Anyone interested in a grant, due and postmarked by January 15, NE REGION REP (Jim Wallace): Jim reported that the NE Region received 3 grants from OHC. Lorain built a pavilion, Summit County did a lot of work on the trails at Silver Creek, and Portage County did work at West Branch. Summit County had a Derby Day patterned after Horse Daze, with 600 people showing up. The Cleveland Metro Parks had an input meeting on 3 different parks that have equestrian areas The majority of people attending were OHC members. In 2017, there are 2 park systems in NE Region that are having celebrations - Lorain County is having their 60 th anniversary. There is a sponsored ride by Lorain Co. OHC called the 60 for 60 ride where people ride in 4 different parks. Cleveland Metro Parks is having their centennial celebration. Penny announced information for the Emerald Necklace 100-mile trail ride challenge. Cuyahoga is organizing this with 5 other chapters. This is not an organized trail ride, but is a do-it-yourself ride, which you do at your own pace. There is a whole year set aside to do this. Camping is not available, but Cleveland Metro Parks is going to allow stay-overs with permits at the Meadows in Brecksville. Tom Green will help with insurance questions on this. The registration fee of $35/person to registration. Will get a saddle tag which will identify you as a competitor. Turn in log

10 10 sheet by December 15, Dinner is planned on January 18, One may order shirts online and receive them at March State Meeting. There are prizes for completing the ride. Jim Wallace announced the NE Regional meeting is January 28, 2017, at Fairlawn. Jackie Romaker NW Region hosted the state meeting. 50/50 winner was Jo Neeley from Fulton Co. She won $ Tickets were drawn for the three handmade items for the raffle. Old Business: - None New Business: Oleta mentioned that Franklin County has been supporting Capital City Equestrian. They did not receive their permit from the Columbus City Health Department. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Barbara Gerard State Recording Secretary