Improvements<\/p>\n
The first recognized need was for building several stalls near the saddling area to
\naccommodate injured or sick horses. It was decided that funds were available to build 3 to
\n4 partially covered stalls and that labor would be provided by members. The cost of lumber
\nand roofing came to approximately $340.00. The board decided that the stalls would be
\nrented at $1.00 per day `and that each stall must be cleaned out when a horse was
\nremoved.’ The rental policy was soon abandoned because of the difficulty in collecting
\nrental due. Members worked several days under direction of foreman Lens Cogdell to
\ncomplete the work in August 1971. A few years later the stalls were almost destroyed by
\nfire, probably started by transients seeking shelter from the cold wintry weather.
\nVolunteer work parties supervised by Mike Hurley completed the restoration quickly at a
\ncost of $300.00 for materials.<\/p>\n
Shortly after moving to the new pasture members requested an arena to train their
\nhorses. A small ring was graded in the saddling area behind the stalls which were built
\nlater. This ring proved to be quite inadequate. There was an almost unanimous desire for a
\nlarger riding and training arena. After investigation of possibilities, it was decided to
\nbuild a large 100 x 200 foot ring across El Toyonal in the newly acquired `ring pasture’
\nas it became known. Members agreed to assess themselves $50.00 each to provide the
\nnecessary funds. The Board of Directors solicited bids and subsequently approved a
\ncontract for $850.00 for grading the area. Permission was obtained from the park district
\nto cut Eucalyptus poles for fencing the new ring. OHA work parties completed all work
\nsatisfactorily in the summer of 1973. About twenty years later the eucalyptus poles had
\nmostly rotted and splintered and as a capital improvements project the association
\nreplaced them with sturdy douglas fir lumber .<\/p>\n
Not long after moving to the El Toyonal- Wildcat pasture, the need was recognized for a
\ntrail through the forest to Inspiration Point. This would provide easy access to Tilden
\nPark. Fallen trees, thick brush, poison oak and blackberry vines had to be cut through to
\nbuild the winding lower trail , the only trail through the forest. This was quite a task
\nand all the work was done by members. Its completion was an occasion to celebrate!<\/p>\n
In August 1975 members were advised that EBMUD had offered a lease on the “Pear
\nOrchard” Property running down to Camino Pablo. At the annual membership meeting that
\nyear, OHA accepted the offer, and what is now the lower pasture and the pear orchard was
\nadded to the lease. This allowed the association to admit about a half dozen new horses,
\nwhich were pastured in this new area<\/p>\n
A long felt need was realized when in November 1977, EBMUD approved plans for
\nconstructing two small hay barns, at a combined cost of $1800.00. The work was completed
\nexpeditiously by volunteer labor of the membership.<\/p>\n
With acquisition of the lower pasture in 1975, about 8 new members were admitted to the
\nassociation and their horses assigned to the lower pasture, thus creating two groups of
\nmembers, the older, Upper Pasture group, and the new group in the Lower Pasture. Before
\nlong, the division of members became a source of continuing friction. Lower pasture
\nmembers perceived that they were not treated equitably with regard to hay allocation and
\nuse of facilities. Misunderstandings existed regarding feeding. After the washout of the
\nEl Toyonal Road these perceptions exacerbated and hampered the Association’s ability to
\nfunction as a unified group. The EBMUD requested that all pastures be grazed so as to
\nreduce fire hazard. After much discussion among members, the OHA Board agreed to rotate
\nthe horses among the pastures. The decision was made to combine the herds and move all the
\nhorses to the Upper Pasture in early winter. Management of the use of the pastures was
\nfacilitated by installation of an electric fence dividing the Pear Orchard from the Lower
\nPasture. Linda Furtado, President of the OHA and EBMUD representative Rod Tripp jointly
\nworked out a grazing plan for rotation of the combined herd among the pastures. This
\ngeneral plan, after lengthy discussion and considerable opposition by some members, was
\napproved by the membership. It has been effective in improving management of the range and
\nits total ecology. Grazing plans, including dates for moving the horses, are now prepared
\nannually by EBMUD and jointly signed by EBMUD and the Association president<\/p>\n
A significant change in district policy in 1988 permitted OHA to construct high
\npriority projects without the necessity of raising fees. Importantly, the new EBMUD lease
\nfor 1988 contained a provision for a construction credit for permanent improvements. Up to
\n50% of the annual lease cost can be rebated by EBMUD to cover construction costs incurred
\non projects pre-approved by the district. This permitted plans to proceed on the
\nconstruction of several new stalls above the ring, called the Pavilion. It was agreed that
\nfour new paddocks and covered stalls with a breezeway, and later, a space for storage of
\nhay would qualify for this construction credit.. After much discussion with the
\nmembership, the Board accepted a proposal to build the stalls of metal pipe, including a
\ncovered breezeway between the stalls for $3655. Additional improvements including water,
\nelectricity, paddock extensions, and the addition of a large paddock at the rear of the
\npavilion were added as improvements in subsequent years. This facility, made possible by
\nthe District’s new policy, has been a popular improvement much appreciated by members.<\/p>\n
The winter of 1988 demonstrated the need for rain gutters, and for improved drainage in
\nthe covered portions of the stalls by building a rock base covered with dirt. This was
\naccomplished in early 1989. A number of improvements of the old original stalls was
\ndecided on for the following year. These included improving drainage, the installation of
\nnew plywood on the inner walls, and replacing wood rails with metal pipe, a needed
\nimprovement.<\/p>\n
In the Upper Pasture, the base of the steep hill behind the main saddling area was the
\nlocus of winter feeding. The horses, sensing feeding time, charged down the hill-full
\nspeed ahead-causing erosion of the hillside and deep mud around the feeding troughs along
\nthe fence line. By 1989 EBMUD had become concerned with the ecology of this hillside and
\ndecided that feeding in this area must be discontinued and moved to the area west of the
\nlake. The OHA Board of Directors, on 10\/22\/89, voted to construct a new hay barn in a
\nfenced-off area near the pond, to be funded by a capital lease rebate from EBMUD at an
\nestimated cost of $3100.00. However, new trampled areas developed in the meadow area west
\nof the lake, and hillside adjacent to the enclosure. To ameliorate the destruction to
\nthese problem areas, feeding was stopped directly next to the lake and early fall feedings
\nhave been turned over to those with trucks who scatter the hay over different regions of
\nthe pasture..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Improvements The first recognized need was for building several stalls near the saddling area to accommodate injured or sick horses. It was decided that funds were available to build 3 to 4 partially covered stalls and that labor would be provided by members. The cost of lumber and roofing came to approximately $340.00. The board… Read More »Notable Improvements<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":147,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/213"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=213"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":815,"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/213\/revisions\/815"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}