I want to give a big shout out to the Lake Talquin State Forest staff, for opening up the blockage in the west loop caused by the tornado back in May. I organized a short-notice work day and was joined by Julie, Regine, and two guests of Regine’s who were visiting from Germany.We surveyed the tornado section first (and Regine saw a bear disappear into the woods!). The rangers, headed up by Jai Subramanya, recreation director, had tackled the herculean task of opening up the trail and making it “horse safe”. What used to be complete hardwood canopy is now open sky with only a few scattered trees left. A sad sight but nature will eventually heal itself.We walked the trail, and checked on a short detour Regine and I had flagged back in the summer, and called it good.Our other project was also storm-related, but goes back to Hurricane Michael. There was a reroute put in downhill from the horse camping location, which has suffered numerous changes every time another tree fell down. I had the OK from forestry to re-establish the original trail to match the map. And that’s what we did! We even uncovered the original “Group […]

The hastily called workday was a huge success and I thank the following people for responding and helping us do outstanding work on behalf of all equestrians who use these trails. Our goal was to clear the Red Trail and the Orange Trail of fallen trees and debris from the two hurricanes.We had two crews: 1) Ron, Sharon and Herb and 2) Sue, Frank, Tim, Jan , Regine and David. Ron took the Orange Trail but actually started on the Blue Trail that runs along Lake Munson. There was no damage on the Orange Trail until the road where the Blue Trail crosses the power line which then intersects the Orange Trail. They worked for 3.25 hours and accomplished clearing the trail to the single track portion that goes to a pond and then exits into a beautiful stand of longleaf pines.Sue’s crew was able to clear the entire Red Trail and accomplished side and top clearing in areas that needed it. This trail was the worst one but everyone on the crew did an excellent job and worked well together for 3.50 hours.Since Ron’s crew wasn’t able to complete their task, he went out on Saturday, November 2 and […]

Trailers started rolling through the gate in preparation for a gorgeous day of riding with the weather being sunny and a perfectly cool 50 something degree morning. List of riders included ride leader Sharon with Beau; Wendy with Eli; Megan with Gus; Esther with Dana; Joyce with Blue, and Sue with Quia.This was one of the first rides for the season for two of our riders, so they were especially happy to be there. We tacked up our horses, grouped up together and started out on the newest trail heading toward Gate B, which is now developing in to a very nice addition to our other trails.We meandered through woods, rode up and down the hills of the trail parallel to Lake Jackson, rode down by Lake Victoria, took the single track trail by the soccer field and then headed back to the trailers which totaled 1 hour and 45 minutes. All the horses were great and I do believe all of them (including their passengers) totally enjoyed the ride.After the ride, we pulled out some chicken rollups, along with Megan’s Halloween cookies and enjoyed munching and chatting. So enjoyed the perfect fall day with friends and our horses.Submitted by […]