OHA Minutes 1990s – ~ OHA ~ cpy 01.21.21 ..

Orinda Horseman’s
Association

1997 Annual Meeting Minutes

Following a morning vet clinic, OHA held its annual
membership meeting on September 14, 1997.
A total of about 35 members and guests were in attendance. The meeting started off with the announcement
by our President, Fred Goff, that OHA is entering its thirtieth year. In celebration of our long run we have
produced a written History of the Orinda
Horseman’s Association, authored by one of our founding and long-time
members, Loren Furtado. Loren spoke for
a few minutes, thanking those he had interviewed for the project and those who
helped produce it, and copies were distributed to all in attendance. If you have not yet received your copy it
should be enclosed with these minutes, along with a newly revised member list
and horse list.

A couple of corrections
should be noted for these lists.. Alice
and Richard Brown’s correct zip code is 94610.
Gayle Packard’s correct phone number is 471-3624 and her correct address
is 4345 Sedge, Fremont Ca. 94555. On the last page of the horse list, shoer
Danny Morais correct phone number is 426-7419.

Our first aid box coordinator Alice
Brown talked briefly about the emergency first aid box and the information
available there. When you use something
up in the first aid box it is your responsibility to see that that item is
replaced so that it will be available for future emergencies. If you are using up the last little bit of
something, OHA will reimburse you for whatever portion was used by people
before you. If you are unable due to
unusual time constraints to replace something, please notify Alice or a board
member so that the item will be available the next time there is an
emergency.

We moved on to the business part of
our meeting. A proposal from the board
to expand the work hours credit for
board related work was considered first. This proposal, first printed in the
August board minutes says that “board members will be allowed credit against
their work hours requirement of 1 1/2 hours per board member attended, and
credit for any extra hours worked up to the limit of their work requirement.” It was pointed out that due to additional
fencing hours dividing up the lower pasture and pear orchard, the new board
will be considering an increase in the number of required work hours, and that
this proposal will require a greater increase for 1997-98. Even so approval was overwhelming with only
one or two negative votes.

We briefly discussed Heather Felt’s
proposal to lower the age requirement
for membership from 21 to 18 as Heather pointed out that in fact we have
admitted two members in recent years who were under 21 and that age is not
necessarily an accurate indicator of
maturity or responsibility. Because a by-laws amendment is necessary to
change this requirement, we only took a straw poll on this matter, which
indicated that the membership would probably approve such a change. There were several members who were opposed
to this and the opinion was expressed that while in some cases exceptions could
be made for exceptional young people, in some cases the current rule could be a convenient way to avoid having to tell someone they are not quite
exceptional.

Next we considered written proposals
addressing issues related to the use of stalls and corrals. The first proposal was to have clear rules
governing exemptions from the pear
orchard, limiting excuses to medical
reasons for the horse or the owner, and to post a list of those excused from
the pear orchard with a reason for each exemption. We discussed this issue for a while but were
unable to reach consensus and referred the issue to the new board.

It was proposed that we develop
clear rules limiting the use of stalls
and paddocks, including a limit on the number of nights in a row that stalls
may be used in non-medical situations, and to appoint a person as stall monitor
to oversee compliance with rules. We
were unable to reach agreement on this issue as well and referred it to the new
board for future action.

Next we heard a short presentation from Virginia Northrop, the
EBMUD ranger who deals with our pasture most of the time. She said that EBMUD has accepted our proposal
to add the small section of land below the Marion Long’s house adjacent to the
lower pasture, that EBMUD hopes to be writing up a new lease for watershed
lessees that should go into effect this year,
and that they would like us to make a proposal as part of our capital improvements program to better
contain the manure pile by the north corral so that it does not run off into
the nearby creek. She answered numerous questions about goats for the pear
orchard (way too expensive to consider), putting more corrals in the ring
pasture (conceivable) and other
issues.

Just after she finished speaking it
began to rain and so we moved the meeting over to the pavilion. A proposal to raise fees to feed two flakes of hay per horse per
day while the horses are in the lower
pasture was briefly discussed with
no agreement reached that there was a necessity for this, and proposals to get goats or construct
more corrals were briefly discussed with no decision reached as these would
require EBMUD approval. We then briefly discussed feeding the herd and the new
items on the work list, a copy of which is included in the board minutes mailed
with these minutes.

Last but not least we held elections for the 1997-98 board. The terms of Heather Hafleigh, Christie
Larner, Beverly James and Heidi Kader had expired and they were duly thanked
for the time and energy they had spent over the last two years in helping the
pasture function smoothly. There were
six candidates for the board– Heather Hafleigh, Heidi Kader, Beverly James,
Heather Felt, Lisa Jordan, and Gailyn Johnson.
The election was close but did not require a runoff. Morris Older, Fred
Goff and James Binder, who were elected for two year terms last year, will
continue on the board with newly elected members Heather Felt, Lisa Jordan, and
Gailyn Johnson, and Beverly James, who was reelected.

Our business concluded, the meeting
was adjourned.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Morris
Older, (at that time ) OHA Secretary

Orinda Horseman’s Association Board Minutes September
24, 1997

Important
Dates:

Wednesday, October
29–board meeting

Saturday, November
1–feeding from upper hay barn begins

mid-December–horses
move to lower pasture

mid-January–horses
return to upper pasture

The
OHA Board of Directors met on September 24th at the home of Gailyn Johnson. In addition to Gailyn, board members Morris
Older, Fred Goff, Jane Binder, Lisa
Jordan, Heather Felt, and Beverly James were present. OHA member Edie Black was
also present.. We approved the current
agenda. and the minutes of previous meeting,
with one correction, changing the word stall to space in the first line of
the third paragraph of the second page of the minutes.

First on the agenda, although we actually
acted late in the meeting, was to review officers’ duties and elect new
officers. We agreed to try to share the
officers work as much as possible and then elected Fred Goff President, Jane
Binder Vice President, Lisa Jordan Secretary and Beverly James Treasurer. Morris Older will serve as assistant secretary and Heather Felt as assistant
treasurer.

Beverly
James submitted the attached treasurer’s
report, which will be discussed in more detail at a future meeting when we
set a budget for the coming year. We
spent about $800 more this year than our income, but we are still in good
shape.

Fred
reported that we now have a lock on the pear orchard gate nearest Orinda on
Camino Pablo. Fred reported that after
the yellow star thistle had been picked, the same workers had cleared out the
area around the hay barn, and blazed
a shorter more direct path from the hay barn to the back feeding gate. We agreed to ask John Fouhy to prepare an
estimate for us on grading to promote drainage from the area around the hay
barn. We also agreed to ask him for
ideas on how to improve drainage at the pavilion
paddocks and stalls and to hire him to move
the manure piles to the arena. We
briefly discussed feeding, which seems to be going as planned–please remember to sign in the shed when
you feed the horses. We discussed
the recent vet clinic, and agreed to discuss vet clinic protocol and courtesy
before the next clinic is scheduled.

We briefly
discussed but did not reach final conclusions on prioritizing, assigning and
hiring out work on the work list. Three new additions to the work list are the
electrification of the North Corral fence
and hay barn fence, working on stall drainage, a gate for the new connecting trail from the lower pasture to the
pavilion area, and straightening the hose bib by the old stalls. We briefly discussed getting more pallets and hay for the lower
pasture side. We approved a request from
Linda Davidson to allow her to
complete her 96-97 work hours during
97-98 due to extreme medical problem and financial difficulties. We agreed to
price copies of the OHA History for
additional copies for members or outsiders.
We agreed to hire Mirek to help Lisa & Bronwyn and any other
volunteers to help fence the lower pasture hay barn.

We
moved on to discuss the member issues referred to the board from the annual
meeting.. We did agreed to modify the
erase-board stall & paddock use sign-in grid so that for every stall
members will enter not only the horse’s name, but the date they were put in the
stall, the reason, and the expected date of departure from the stall. This will make it easier for members to
anticipate when stalls will be available, make it easier to assess when a member
may be monopolizing use of a stall, and make it easier in emergency situations
to determine which horse should be bumped if there is no room for an injured
horse. We had long discussion of reasons for keeping horses out of the pear
orchard, limiting the number of nights one
may use a stall in non-medical situations, appointing a stall monitor to
oversee compliance with rules and keep tack of stall usage and on the efficacy
of imposing additional rules and how to enforce the rules we already have. We reached no firm conclusions on these
issues, but some of these will be discussed again at future meetings.

We
discussed our capital improvements
options for 1997-1998, including composting
and/or trailering our manure piles, and
improving drainage at the pavilion. We agreed to consult with John Fouhy on
methods to improve pavilion drainage, and to look into building walls with
doors to enclose the open side of the south stalls, above the railroad ties
separating the stalls from the paddocks.
These walls would enable us to keep at least the stalls dry during the
winter. A preliminary estimate has been
obtained of about $630 + installation & delivery for tongue and groove
walls set in channels with dutch or sliding doors. By the time of our next board meeting it will
be possible to view what these would look like at Grizzly Peak Stables–call
Morris if you’d like to see them.

Our next meeting will be held at Heather
and James’ new place at 1478A Camino
Peral in Moraga at 7:00 p.m. To get
there take 24 to Orinda, Moraga Way 5
miles towards Moraga to where Moraga Way ends.
Turn left on Moraga Road, take the first right turn and then the first
left (Camino Peral). This street is a
circle–turn right and park.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Morris
Older, Assistant-Secretary

OHA Work Projects List
as of 10-7-97

electrify north corral fence

electrify hay barn fence

install gate for pavilion-lower pasture
connector trail

fix hose bib at old stalls

spread
or remove old hay outside pond hay barn

fix step into hay barn

fix pavilion gutters–Cate Hutton &
family

pull yellow star thistle

Wildcat curve mirror–Kim Abbott investigating

grade old stalls to encourage run-off

drain small paddocks at pavilion

remove brush around N. Corral fences to
enable fence to be electrified

remove brush around the ring fence

remove brush around the lower pasture corral
to enable fence to be electrified

replace water plug on pavilion water trough
nearest the ring pasture

repair plywood siding separating from the
back of the small stalls by the white shed

relocate hose bib on Wildcat Rd to other side
of ring pasture gate

coat pavilion and pond hay barn with wood
preservative

reroof lower pasture barn–Lisa and Bronwyn
could use a hand

clear lower forest trail–weed whacker and
clippers

dig grade dips on trail up the hill from the
saddling area–must be done once there is runoff

Orinda Horseman’s Association Board Minutes August
13, 1997

Important Dates:

Saturday
August 30 or Sept 6–horses return to upper pasture

Saturday
September 6–pasture feeding begins

Sunday
September 14–10 a.m.–fall vet clinic with Mike Parker

Sunday
September 14–noon–Annual Membership Meeting at upper pasture saddling
area–elections, EBMUD, handouts, tack swap

The
OHA Board of Directors met on August 13th
at the home of Heidi Kader. In
addition to Heidi, board members Morris Older, Fred Goff, Jane Binder, Christie Larner, and Beverly
James were present. Heather Hafleigh was
unable to attend. In addition OHA
members Liz Strauss and Lisa Jordan were present.. We approved the minutes of the previous
meeting and the current agenda.

Beverly gave a
brief treasurer’s report, in which
she nothing that varied much from our approved budget, with all dues paid and
money in the bank for hay and SW fence payments. Jane reported on our final
dealings with SW Fence Co., regarding our
new saddling area and North Corral fences. After bringing our concerns about how the
fence had been installed, SW fence came down, cut off the metal pipes
protruding from the cores of some of the
fence posts moved the large metal fencepost brace inside the paddock to the
other side of the fence, and gave us a $500 credit on the final bill. Morris reported on recent conversations with EBMUD.
The cost of beef has risen back
up to its usual level, and so we will pay more for our lease next year, and
have a surcharge for this year of about $2,000.
The SW fence bill will be credited against this surcharge and our next
two lease payments as well. Doubt at the
time of the meeting about whether EBMUD will allow us credit for capital
improvements due to how long SW fence took to complete have since been eased;
we will be allowed capital improvements credits for next year, and it’s not too
early to begin planning what they might be.

Due
to a mix-up in communications with the dumpster
people, the dumpster was postponed a week to August 15-18, and has since been
filled with all the junk laying around our pasture. Thanks to all of you who helped fill it. We talked about the removal of t-posts from the
pear orchard. Subsequent discussion with EBMUD has convinced us to leave them
in place as many of them may end up in the same place next year. We discussed the removal of yellow-star thistle and decided that if Heather Hafleigh’s workers could not
remove it we would hire Los Manos to remove it along our Seaview border with
Tilden Park.

As
of the meeting we had already received our winter
hay, and it had already been stacked and tarped in the barn., with the
exception of the hay for our winter lower pasture time, which always comes
later. Thanks to Lisa, Shirley and Dan
Holmes for their work in facilitating this delivery. The hay in the upper barn is on two layers of
pallets, and will be tarped on both edges.
We discussed this year’s feeding and decided that we would feed 2 3/4 bale each
day. less one flake for each horse that is in a paddock. We will feed out of the red barn (use the hay
on the side first) until about Halloween, and then start using the hay in the
barn at the pond. Thanks to Liz for her
work arranging the feeding schedule again this year. The schedule will be passed out at our annual
meeting, and feeding will begin on September 6th. Christie will purchase a new hay cart, so
that we will have 2 hay carts that can hold 3 bales between them at the pond
barn. Wee agreed to make trimming and or re-cutting a more direct route for the
trail behind the pond hay barn a work priority.

In horse news Chica Puede is back at the
pasture. The Abbotts have given up Pepper’s
horse space, and the space has been taken by Lisa Jordan, the first member on
the second horse list who wanted it at this time. Both Lisa and Bubbs have found new horses
and they will be arriving soon if they
haven’t by the time you read this.

We
discussed the work projects list. Fred had walked the lower forest trail and gotten an estimate of 6 hours to clear the
8 or 9 trees blocking it. We agreed to
pay to have his friend cut these.
Recently I rode this trail, and while it is passable, it is overgrown
and could use hours of work trimming back the bushes and tree branches that
protrude over it, as well as hours trimming the ground cover on both
sides. Much of this work for people who
have immunity to poison oak or can be careful around it. We added re-roofing the lower pasture barn to the list, and Lisa and Bronwyn have agreed
to take this on in September–would anyone like to help them? Our neighbor Richard Johnson has offered to help us build a trail from the
lower pasture to the pavilion area. We
agreed to scout it out with him and work on it if the El Toyonal bridge
replacement, which could happen this fall, is postponed again to next year. We also agreed that someone needs to fix the
pavilion gutters. A sentiment was
expressed that if an important priority on the work project list stays there
without being worked on for a long period that the board could consider hiring
someone to do the job.

We
received a letter from Dan Holmes, approving Cate Hutton as a sponsor for Frosty,
in addition to Linda Furtado’s horses.
We talked about the policy of leaving props in the ring and agreed to
change our rule–as a courtesy to other riders, props must be removed from the ring when you are done using them. As a clarification, we wish to remind members
that stalls may not be reserved, except
when a horse occupying a stall is out on
a day ride. We decided to have a period this
year from August 15 until September 1 when your work hours may count for this or for next year. We agreed that OHA
would sponsor a trail obstacle ($25) at the September 14 trail trials being
organized by the Moraga Horseman’s Association as a benefit for two local
disabled riding programs.

We
finally have a response to our invitation to let members know of inquiries from potential sponsors. In the past few weeks, we have received
inquires from Dorothea Smith (680-8072) and from Angela Kuerhoff (558-8130),
both of whom are interested in finding horses they can sponsor.

Heather Felt and James Pineda have moved
from Albany to Moraga. Their new address
is 1478A Camino Peral, Moraga 94556, and you may reach them at 631-1569.

We
reviewed the rule relating to how long a member may keep a stall unoccupied and
approved the following revision of the rule:
a ember may keep his horse elsewhere, or keep the space empty for a
maximum of 12 consecutive months, but members
must have a horse in their space for twelve months out of every twenty four
month period.

We discussed
extending the work hours allowed future board members for their time spent on
board work, and agreed to propose the following at the annual meeting for
membership ratification. In the future,
we propose that board members be allowed
credit against their work hours requirement
of 1 1/2 hours per board meeting attended, and credit for any extra hours
worked up to the limit of their work requirement.

Our fall vet clinic with Mike Parker will be held on Sunday, September
14th at 10 a.m. All horses must be given
their fall shots either at this vet clinic or at a separate vet clinic to be
held with Rick Hansen. Unless your horse
is on a more frequent worming
schedule that conflicts with this date, all horses must be wormed when they are
given their shots. The fall shots are for rabies,
which must be given by a licensed veterinarian, and a flu-rhino vaccine to protect against
influenza and rhinopneumonitis. If you
give the flu-rhino shots and worm your own horse, you must show proof of this
to Heather Hafleigh who is monitoring compliance with our vaccination program.

We
further discussed the annual meeting
coming up on September 14th. EBMUD will have a representative to discuss
our concerns at the meeting. We will be
have for our members a new horse list and a new member list, both prepared by
Lisa Jordan, as well as the new feeding schedule, prepared by Liz, and the new OHA History, written by Loren
Furtado, and typed by Marcia Furtado. The
new member list and the second horse list will be available at the meeting for
your review. And of course we will have our annual elections for our new board.
Morris, Fred and Jane will be entering the second year of their board
terms, but Beverly, Heather, Heidi and Christie’s terms will expire. Although all four are eligible to serve a
second term, Chrisite announced at our meeting that because she will be
finishing up law school, she will be unable to serve. A few members have expressed interest in
serving, so it is likely you will have a choice in who serves on your next
board. If you have any tack you would like to sell or trade, bring it to the
meeting and we will have a small tack
swap on that day also.

The
last brief meeting of this board will be
held shortly before the general meeting starts.

Minutes respectfully submitted
by Morris Older, Secretary

OHA Work Projects List as
of 8-26-97

trim, reroute
hay cart trail behind pond hay barn

spread or remove old hay outside pond hay barn

fix step into hay barn

fix pavilion gutters

pull out fence t-stakes
from pear orchard–inform Morris when done

pull yellow star thistle

Wildcat curve
mirror–Kim Abbott investigating

grade old stalls to
encourage run-off

install new fence
charger-Morris

drain small paddocks at
pavilion

remove brush around N.
Corral fences to enable fence to be electrified

remove brush around the
ring fence

remove brush around the
lower pasture corral to enable fence to be electrified

replace water plug on
pavilion water trough nearest the ring pasture

repair plywood siding
separating from the back of the small stalls by the white shed

relocate hose bib on
Wildcat Rd to other side of ring pasture gate

coat pavilion and pond
hay barn with wood preservative

reroof lower pasture
barn–Lisa and Bronwyn could use a hand

clear lower forest trail–weed
whacker and clippers

dig grade dips on trail
up the hill from the saddling area–must be done once there is runoff

Orinda Horseman’s Association Board Minutes July 16,
1997

Important Dates: Sat-Sun
Aug 9-10 -Fill the Dumpster Days–more info below

Wednesday,
August 13–OHA Board Meeting at Heidi’s–7:00 p.m.

Friday
August 15–Final day for completion of OHA work hours

Saturday
August 23 or 30–horses return to upper pasture

Saturday
September 6–pasture feeding begins

Sunday
September 14–10 a.m.–fall vet clinic with Mike Parker

Sunday
September 14–noon–Annual Membership Meeting at upper pasture saddling
area

The
OHA Board of Directors met on July 16th at the home of Christie Larner.. In addition to Christie, board members Morris
Older, Fred Goff, Jane Binder, Heidi
Kader, Beverly James and Heather
Hafleigh were present. In addition OHA
member Linda Furtado was present and proposed sponsor Cate Hutton . We approved the minutes of the previous
meeting and the current agenda.

            We moved on to an
interview with proposed sponsor Cate
Hutton,  (1036 Curtis St., Albany
94706, and, most likely,
528-1388)  who will be riding
Linda Furtado’s horses. After she left,
we approved her sponsorship. A short treasurer’s
report revealed that everything is going pretty much according to
projections with no unusual expenses so far this year. We’ve got lots of money, but our annual hay
bill, our new fence, and pasture rent
coming due   We discussed the new fence that was finally built
in the North corral and the upper pasture saddling area. We agreed that, despite taking forever, they
had done a generally good job, with a few minor items that need attention. Richard Brown had spent 4 1/2 hours cleaning up after the fence
contractor, removing wire, fence posts and filling holes that the contractor
should have taken care of. In addition
there is metal pipe extending from the top of about 20 of the fence posts that
needs to be cut off. Although there is a
potentially hazardous metal brace holding up one of the fence posts inside the
corral near the Wildcat/El Toyonal section of the fence it was agreed that this was unavoidable because the fence
curves at that point and the post needed to be braced from inside the
curve.   Since the brace is painted red
and is round, members thought that it might not be that hazardous anyway.   It was agreed that before paying their bill
in full, we will discuss our concerns with them and make a deduction from our
payment to cover the time we have to spend on what should have been their work.

Morris
reported on conversations with EBMUD. Months ago Virginia had cut brush in the
North corral to clear a path for the new fenceline fencing off the creek, and
at that time she had promised to run the cut brush through a chipper. Recently, before the meeting, she had
remembered that promise and agreed to come up with the chipper. Shortly after our meeting she came up and
chipped out not only the brush in the North corral, but also the branches that
the EBMUD paving crew had tossed in the bushes along El Toyonal, the brush cut
in front of the stile, the brush from the Pavilion area, brush form outside the
gate on El Toyonal near Wildcat and some of the new brush
cut when the North corral was refenced
Morris Fred and Sharon helped make a huge pile for her, and somehow she
managfed to cut about 95% of all of the accumulated brush.

We
also went over the chronology, trial and tribulations of the electric fence in the pear
orchard. Later on , when we checked the
fence that we put up in the lower pasture, we found that several sections of
the electric fence tape had gone bad–in places all of the wires woven through
the nylon had all broken in the same place.
This may have been the problem in the pear orchard. In any event we still need to pull the
t-stakes out of the ground in the pear orchard and return them to EBMUD who
supplied them The electric fence in the
lower pasture will be taken down four or five days before the horses return to
the upper pasture to allow the long grass along the road to be grazed.

EBMUD
thanked us for and will consider the
letter Morris sent them proposing to incorporate the pasture land below the
Long’s into our lease, as discussed in the last minutes.    This could happen as early as next
year. In addition it is possible that our new lease may allow
us to use 100% rather than the current 50% of our lease payments for capital improvements. In
addition the cost of cattle has gone up, so our lease payments will also. This may make it possible to reconsider using
some part of the land above El Toyonal
as OHA pasture land, since a major
drawback was the cost of refencing that land.
Another EBMUD concern, expressed by Virginia after chipping in the North
corral is our adjacent manure pile. They
may ask us to turn it into a large
compost bin, which could be on a trailer as we have previously discussed.    This could be a capital improvements
project. In any event it’s time to start
thinking about capital improvements projects for the next grazing year, which
begins in October. If you have any
ideas, pleas contact Jane Binder (524-3300).
EBMUD has also asked to be notified if
trees are down on any of the fire roads in our pasture during fire season.   Please call Morris if you find a
tree down, so that they can be so informed.

We
briefly discussed the then upcoming, now past Contra Costa County Board of
Supervisors Finance Committee meeting on July 21, which considered the
application of the Department of Public Works for additional funding to replace
the El Toyonal bridge. The request was turned down, but El Toyonal
neighbor Robin Barens, who attended the meeting along with Mrs. Long, seems to have found a suitable bridge that
could be put in place within the original budget by November. If not we wait until next summer or fall.

We
next discussed getting a dumpster
to help us clean up the place and decided that even after Virginia’s heroic
chipping effort, there was plenty to go inside it. The dumpster will be near the ring pasture
gate August 8, 9, and 10th and we will need help throwing in the broken
pallets, including those at the lower pasture, and upper hay barn, the fence
boards leftover from building our new fence, the leftover brush that Virginia
didn’t quite get, including some between
the manure pile and the North corral and the junk from between the tack
shed and the red barn–boards, wire, fly traps, tubs, bins, old wheelbarrow,
etc. There’s also some old junk at the
lower pasture saddling area, and an old broken water tub near the hose in the
lower pasture corral that should go. The deadline for this completing this year’s
work hours is August 15th–so this could be your last chance to add to your
total.

Please record all of the hours you have
worked even if you have exceeded your requirement so that we can
accurately chart the number of hours it takes to run our pasture. In the last few years we have taken on
additional work with fencing in the
lower pasture and pear orchard, and may at our annual meeting, add additional
credit for the work done by board members, some of whom give extreme amounts of
time. Next year’s board will have as one
of its first tasks tallying these hours and adjusting the required number of
work hours if necessary to reflect these changes.

We
briefly discussed our exit from the pear orchard and setting up the fence in the lower pasture. The horses will say there until August 23rd
or 30th, depending on how long the grass lasts.
We then discussed winter
feeding, and decided that it will begin a week early this year on
September 6th due to the lack of grass
in the upper pasture. We agreed to raise
the required number of feedings to 8 for single-space holders and 12 for double
space holders. Liz will be calling you
to help work out the schedule in the next few weeks and will have copies at our
annual meeting.

Sharon
Wright has a new horse, Wayne,
who having completed his two weeks in the north corral is now in the lower
pasture. There have been complaints
about horses left loose in the ring
pasture. Horses may be left in
the ring pasture for brief grazing only while the owner is present to supervise
them. This is so that they do not have
the opportunity to distract horses and riders using the arena. The
tree by the picnic table is doing well, please remember to water it
when you get the chance. We all signed a
sympathy card for Mrs. Long, whose husband passed away in June.

We
briefly discussed the work projects
list below. If you need work
hours, please consult this list. If you
know of something that needs to be done, please talk to a board member so that
it can be added to the list. In general
if a project is going to take more than
a couple of hours, it should be discussed
by the board (or by board members in an emergency) so that we can first
reach some agreement on the best way to do it.

OHA Work Projects List
as of 8-4-97

get pallets for
stacking hay–Dan Homes will do

pull out fence t-stakes
from pear orchard–inform Morris when done

pull yellowstar
thistle–see attached list of locations

Wildcat curve
mirror–Kim Abbott investigating

grade old stalls to
encourage run-off

buy new chargers–Morris

drain small paddocks at
pavilion

remove brush around N.
Corral fences to enable fence to be electrified

remove brush around the
ring fence

remove brush around the
lower pasture corral to enable fence to be electrified

replace water plug on
pavilion water trough nearest the ring pasture

repair plywood siding
separating from the back of the small stalls by the white shed

relocate hose bib on
Wildcat Rd to other side of ring pasture gate

coat pavilion and pond
hay barn with wood preservative

reroof lower pasture
barn

clear lower forest trail

dig grade dips on trail
up the hill from the saddling area–must be done once there is runoff

We decided
to have our next meeting on
Wednesday, August 13th at Heidi Kader’s house at 59 Acacia, Orinda
(254-8284 if you need directions) at 7 p.m.
As always, all members are welcome.

Our annual meeting will be Sunday September
14th starting around noon.
Please inundate Gailyn with pictures for the OHA scrapbook, so that she
can update it before bringing it to the meeting. We will also have our fall vet clinic on the same
day, starting at 10 a.m. with Mike Parker.

Minutes
respectfully submitted by Morris Older, Secretary

Orinda Horseman’s Association Board Minutes June 4,
1997

Important
Dates: Saturday June 14 –Work Party
to Rebuild Electric Fence in Pear
Orchard

–begins
9:00 a.m. at Wildcat Gate to Pear
Orchard

Sunday June
15–OHA fees due–$200 per horse to Box 904, Orinda CA 945632

                                    Saturday
June 21 –Move horses to Pear Orchard–group move begins 10 a.m. at
red                                                                      barn–see underlined info on page 2–wormers
will be at lower                                                                                     pasture
saddling area

Monday June
30–Last Day to postmark dues without $10/month late fee

Wednesday, July 16–OHA Board Meeting at Christie’s

The
OHA Board of Directors met on June 4th at the home of Beverly James. In addition to Beverly, board members Morris
Older, Fred Goff, Jane Binder, Christie
Larner and Heather Hafleigh were present
and Heidi Kader was unable to attend.
In addition OHA member Ginny Conte and Edie Black and associate member Gayle
Packard were present. We approved the
minutes of the previous meeting and the current agenda. A short treasurer’s
report revealed that everything is going pretty much according to
projections with no unusual expenses so far this year

We moved on to an interview with sponsor Gayle Packard as the
final part of our annual review of all associate members. Gayle is now the owner of Rascal, who until
recently was at OHA, and she is keeping him at a stable near her home in
Fremont, but wishes to continue her sponsorship of Heidi Kader’s Patches so
that she can ride the trails near our pasture.
After the interview, Gayle and Edie left, and later in the meeting the
Board approved Gayle’s associate membership status for the coming year.

. Jane & Fred reported that SW Fence seems
to be closer to working on our upper
saddling area fence, but work has still not yet begun. We had heard from Mirek that the fiddleneck   this year would probably take half the hours
to pick as last year, and from Bronwyn to the effect that it just doesn’t seem
to be flowering at all this year. We
decided to hire Mirek to pick it if he has the time, and if not to encourage members to pick it
for work hours. We received individual hay on April 29,
though due to a mix-up we were fortunate to have someone at the pasture when it
arrived so that it could be put in the barn.     Jane will be keeping track of personal hay
purchases and has put a new sign up sheet in the red barn.   This sheet requires you to note the date
that you have purchase bales from OHA for personal use. We decided to have Lisa arrange for the
purchase of group hay for the winter feeding period later this year.

Morris
reported on conversations with EBMUD regarding trespassers, the Pear Orchard
and the addition of adjacent property to our lease. Jane recently had conversations with two trespassers. One had run up from Camino Pablo through the
pear orchard and lower pasture, was informed by Jane that he was trespassing,
and continued up thorough the upper pasture towards Seaview. Jane alerted an
EBMUD crew that at just that moment was creating a fire break below the Long’s
house, and EBMUD ranger Scott Hill drove up the hill, confronted the trespasser
and gave him a stern warning. About a
week earlier, pasture neighbor Richard
Johnson had approached Jane with his observation of a campsite and
fire-ring, observed when he was riding through the lower pasture. Richard Johnson has always maintained that he
has been riding through our pasture since he was a boy, since before OHA even existed, and
that he always will. In light of this
latest transgression, EBMUD has decided to grant him a sort of most-favored- neighbors status,
and allow him (and his family) to ride on our pasture (without their dogs), in
return for their reporting such observations as this most recent one. The Board decided to write him a note saying
that we approve of this arrangement.

Jane,
Fred and Morris hiked the three parcels of EBMUD land along
El Toyonal adjacent to our pasture to see if they were appropriate
lands to be added to our lease. Of the
three, one seemed pretty useless–this
was the property formerly occupied by Dave Cleveland between the Long’s and the
Johnson’s lands below El Toyonal. There is a long driveway covered with
daisies, and the historic old Orinda creamery barn sits on the property. Jane use to keep her horses there before she
joined OHA, but the trail from the barn
to the pasture lands seems to have brushed over, and the only pasture land
seems to be the stretch below the pylon at the very top of the pear orchard
pasture. The only practical way to reach
this land would be to cut the fence between there and the pear orchard, but the
grassy portion is small, is not adjacent
to any homes, and adding it would make
finding the horses in the pear orchard even more difficult than it now is. We didn’t talk, however, about using Dave’s
old house as an OHA clubhouse.

The
second parcel is above El Toyonal adjacent to the upper pasture. The best stretch of this piece is the grassy
area near our fence–beyond that it is
mostly heavily brushed, with only a couple of small grassy areas. The only good fence on this land is the fence
separating it form OHA, however–the rest
of the fence is rusted and barely standing. The cost of re-fencing this parcel would be prohibitive,
and we weren’t sure where the springis located which fills the tank (located
just above El Toyonal) that supplies the Long’s with water. We decided that although there is potential
grazing here, the work involved in
making it safe for our horses makes it an undesirable acquisition at this time.

The
final parcel we looked at is the one we decided to ask for. It is adjacent to the lower pasture, just
below the Long’s house and includes the area EBMUD had to clear recently of
create a fire-break around the Long’s.
It includes a relatively flat grassy area that could sustain our herd
for perhaps two weeks in the summer.
Some of it is covered with reeds, but these could revert to more grazing
without much work on our part. The upper
parts are mostly fenced, and the bottom
of the useable area drops steeply through forest and brush to the stream which
flows down to the lower pasture and annually washes out the fire-road on the
way to the pear orchard. We found a
1940s Chevy on its side in this stream-bed!
Although this fortested area is not fenced off, it did not seem likely
that horses would wander too far into it–perhaps just to the edges to seek
shade. Since this land is so close to
the Long’s we speculated that they would not object to supplying water from
their tank to a trough which could be located just below their fence line.

The Board decided to propose that we add
this parcel to our lease. We decided
to do this on a one year experimental basis with no increase in AUMs or cost to
us, although in the future we could be
charged for more AUMs (and thus be able to have more horses) as a result. We would ask EBMUD to supply a water trough,
to fix the fencing they cut while cutting the fire-break, and a little bit more
fencing at the far end of this parcel, toward the first parcel described
above. Morris will write a letter to
EBMUD outlining this proposal and it could be included in our lease as early as
next year.

We
discussed the work parties to
prepare the pear orchard for our June 21 move. A number of people turned up on June 8th to
rebuild the fence along the fireroad
that had been removed when EBMUD regraded the road. Thanks to Heather
and James, Ginny, Fred, Lisa, Alice and Richard, Marcia, Jane, and Shirley,
this fence is virtually complete as of this writing and with additional fence
posts added, is stronger and safer than ever before. On that day, Morris and Jane walked the pear orchard
with Virginia from EBMUD and plotted the course of the temporary fence, which
will be the focus of the work party on June 14th. The fence will follow a different path this
year. cutting the fireroad near the water trough and extending all the way through bushes and trees to the fence
line adjacent to the homes at the far
end of the pear orchard. On June 8th, Virginia
did some major bushwhacking to provide access to the farthest section near the
houses, and Morris laid out one wire along the entire fence path and set the first eighteen t-stakes for this
fence. June 14th we will finish the
fence, and cut the grass with the weed-whacker
along the fence line.

On
June 21 the horses will move to the lower part of the pear orchard.. This is the flatter part and the vast
majority of our horse should be able to handle the terrain. EBMUD wants us to turn our horses loose in
the far corner of the pear orchard near the houses. They will locate and fill a temporary water
trough there in the hope that the horses might stay there for a day or
two. Members will meet at the red-barn
at 10 a.m. to move the first large group down. When you move your horse, you must take them to this far
section. To get there follow the
fireroad past the existing water trough,
past the far gate on Camino Pablo, and veer
right and then left to get through the brush and trees. Follow the grass parallel to Camino Pablo and
then go up the grassy hill before you get to the next line of trees & brush
extending uphill. Follow these up the
hill until you reach our new temporary fence, turn left, follow the new trail to more grass and let your horse loose near the temporary water
trough that EBMUD will put there.

On
July 3rd we will cut the fence and the horses will be able to graze the rest of the pear orchard. This would be a good time to let those
dieting horses loose as the main feed
below the temporary fence will mostly be gone.

Loren
Furtado has nearly completed his OHA
history–the Board approved work hours for Marcia to type it up for us. The Contra Costa County Department of Public Works has requested additional
funding for rebuilding the EL
Toyonal Bridge from the Board
of Supervisors, which has referred this requested to a Finance Committee
meeting to be held on July 21. Let me
know if you are interested in attending–I should be getting more info about
this in the mail.

Please
do not remove messages from the message
boards in the saddling area or pavilion unless there absolutely is no
space for a new important message or unless it is a message from or to you that
is no longer relevant–in these cases please do remove them in a timely
fashion. Please remember to keep the gates closed and locked–recently
a stranger opened the unlocked but closed white gate and drove around to the
bridge and did not get locked in only because Jane saw him go by and caught him
before he left his car for a stroll.

Here
is our list of projects approved for work-hours–if you think something else
needs to be done, please suggest that it be added to this list. or if the need
is immediate, talk to board members about why it is urgent.

OHA Work Projects
List as
of 6-11/97

Wildcat curve mirror–Kim Abbott investigating

grade old stalls to encourage run-off

buy new chargers–Morris

drain small paddocks at pavilion

remove brush around N. Corral fences to
enable fence to be electrified

remove brush around the ring fence

remove brush around the lower pasture corral
to enable fence to be electrified

replace water plug on pavilion water trough
nearest the ring pasture

repair plywood siding separating from the
back of the small stalls by the white shed

relocate hose bib on Wildcat Rd to other side
of ring pasture gate

coat pavilion and pond hay barn with wood
preservative

fix water line to lower pasture corral and
lower pasture

clear oak tree on pear orchard fire road

fix washout at stream crossing of lower
pasture fire road-EBMUD will do

fix washout on pear orchard fire road near
small gate to lower pasture–EBMUD will do

clear lower forest trail

.
We decided to have our next
meeting on Wednesday, July 16th at Christie Larner’s house at 61 Heather Lane, Orinda (254-1257 if you need
directions) at 7 p.m. As always, all
members are welcome.

Minutes
respectfully submitted by Morris Older, Secretary

Orinda Horseman’s Association Board Minutes April
23, 1997

Important
Dates: Wednesday, June 4–OHA Board
Meeting–7 p.m. at Jay & Bev James house

Saturday,
June 7-National Trail Days–join REI & EBRPD 8:30 a.m. at

Bort Meadow, Chabot Park–OHA work hours available

Saturday
June 14 –Work Party to Rebuild Electric
Fence in Pear Orchard

–begins 9:00 a.m. at Wildcat Gate to Pear Orchard

Saturday
June 21 –Move horses to Pear Orchard

The
OHA Board of Directors met on April 23 at the home of Heidi Kader. In addition to Heidi, Morris Older, Fred
Goff, Jane Binder and
Heather Hafleigh were present.
Christie Larner and Beverly James were unable to attend. We approved the
minutes of the previous meeting and moved on to current business. Morris reported on discussions with
EBMUD. They have agreed to fix and
regrade the fireroad through the pear
orchard and at this writing have done so, although it is unclear as yet
whether we or they will have to replace the fence alongside. We scheduled a work party for Saturday June
14 to re-install the electric fence in the pear orchard prior to the move down
on June 21. This time the fence will go
all the way across the pear orchard past
the 2nd gate on Camino Pablo to the far
side of the pasture on a route to be determined by EBMUD. EBMUD has also requested that we look at the Long’s pasture land that has been
acquired by EBMUD and write up a proposal on how we think it might be
incorporated into our pasture lease.
Morris, Jane and Fred will take a look at it and report back to the
board. Also Morris noted that our AUM usage continues to be way above the
level of recent years, which could result in a surcharge at the end of the
year.

Jane
Binder reported that the hang-up on getting our new fence built in the north corral and upper pasture saddling area
is now that the fence company is waiting for the PVC fence posts specified in
their bid to arrive. (As of May 20 they were expecting them to arrive any
day.) Once they arrive, they will build
our fence. Heather Hafleigh reported on
the vet clinic–all horses have had
their shots with the exception of Linda Davidson’s (more below), and we made
arrangements at the meeting for hers..
It was entirely unclear, however,
whether all the horses were wormed
at the last vet clinic–they should have been.
If yours wasn’t, now is a good
time–our next scheduled worming will be
during one of the pasture moves in July or August. We agreed to hire Mirek to survey the fiddleneck situation and report back to the board.

We
agreed that with just a few bales left it was time to order hay for personal use, to arrive the
week after the meeting. Heidi reported
that she had looked into the cost of a dumpster, for brush, garbage, junk and possibly last year’s leftover pond barn
hay. A 20 yard dumpster will cost $300
if we can fill it and have it picked up in 3 days. We decided to look into the cost of a
smaller size and discuss this at the next meeting.

We
discussed the April 5 work party
that repaired the stream crossing on the narrow trail down to the pear orchard
from the lower pasture. Fred, Jay,
Heather and James, Morris, and Renee were among the valiant crew that moved boulders and recreated the
trail through the stream–in fact there are now two ways to cross!

Hillary
and Ned Trippe have vacated their horse
space and we agreed to give the top
person on the 2nd horse list 2 weeks to accept the space. As of last week Bubbs & John Schaaf have
accepted the space and are looking for a 2nd horse. If you know of a calm, well trained horse
that would be suitable and is for sale please let them know.

A
couple of our members have been having trying times lately. Linda Davidson has been seriously ill
since before this meeting, is (at this writing) still recovering from surgery
and may well require surgery again. She
would welcome your condolences and any offers of support at this rough time for
her. She could use your assistance in
watching out for her horses. Lens
Cogdell recently got caught underneath the horse he was riding when it
tripped. Lens was riding through
eucalyptus forest on the bootleg trail that runs above Lone Oak road between
Lone Oak picnic area and the entrance to Wildcat Creek trail. His horse got his legs caught in the numerous
branches littering the ground, fell on top of him and was unable to get
up. Fortunately, Gailyn was with him,
was able to rouse some passing bicyclists
to free the horse and Lens. While Gailyn returned both horses to the
pasture Lens was taken to the hospital, , and
both he and the horse miraculously seems to have survived without
serious injury. He is recovering as I
write. Two obvious lessons here–it’s
always safer to ride with a companion,
and staying on marked, maintained trails is always a safer bet. The EBRPD is deliberately not maintaining
what it considers to be bootleg trails so as to discourage their use and there
are case where trails that we have been using for years are no longer safe.

Next
on our agenda was our annual review of sponsors. We discussed each sponsor and approved them
all with one exception to continue for another year if they have a horse to
continue riding, or to renew later, should another horse become available for
them to ride. We agreed to ask Gayl
Packard to come to the next meeting of the board so that we can discuss her
sponsorship, since unlike the other sponsors, she missed her previous
appointments with the board.

Loren
Furtado is busily working on a detailed OHA
history. A check with the Contra
Costa Dept. of Public Works has revealed that they haven’t forgotten about the bridge on El Toyonal, but their plans
are still vague. They are “reviewing
their options,” hoping that EBMUD,
having graded the washout under budget will be able to kick in some money
towards the rest of the project, and discussing
possibilities with the city of
Orinda.

Heather
reminds us to water the tree by the
picnic table in the main saddling area when we get a chance. Please let Fred or Morris know if you have
any additions for the work projects list.

OHA Work Projects List
as of 5-27/97

Wildcat curve mirror–Kim Abbott investigating

grade old stalls to encourage run-off

buy new chargers–Morris

drain small paddocks at pavilion

remove brush around N. Corral fences to
enable fence to be electrified

remove brush around the ring fence

remove brush around the lower pasture corral
to enable fence to be electrified

replace water plug on pavilion water trough
nearest the ring pasture

repair plywood siding separating from the
back of the small stalls by the white shed

relocate hose bib on Wildcat Rd to other side
of ring pasture gate

coat pavilion and pond hay barn with wood
preservative

fix water line to lower pasture corral and
lower pasture

clear oak tree on pear orchard fire road

fix washout at stream crossing of lower
pasture fire road-EBMUD will do

fix washout on pear orchard fire road near
small gate to lower pasture–EBMUD will do

clear lower forest trail

.
We decided to have our next
meeting on Wednesday, June 7th at Beverly James‘ (614 Canon Drive,
Kensington–254-7597 if you’d like directions) at 7 p.m.

Minutes
respectfully submitted by Morris Older, Secretary

Orinda Horseman’s Association Board Minutes April 23,
1997

Important
Dates: Wednesday, June 4–OHA Board
Meeting–7 p.m. at Jay & Bev James house

Saturday, June
7-National Trail Days–join REI & EBRPD 8:30 a.m. at

Bort Meadow, Chabot Park–OHA work hours available

Saturday June
14 –Work Party to Rebuild Electric
Fence in Pear Orchard

–begins 9:00 a.m. at Wildcat Gate to Pear Orchard

Saturday June
21 –Move horses to Pear Orchard

The
OHA Board of Directors met on April 23 at the home of Heidi Kader. In addition to Heidi, Morris Older, Fred
Goff, Jane Binder and
Heather Hafleigh were present. Christie
Larner and Beverly James were unable to attend. We approved the minutes of the
previous meeting and moved on to current business. Morris reported on discussions with
EBMUD. They have agreed to fix and
regrade the fireroad through the pear
orchard and at this writing have done so, although it is unclear as yet
whether we or they will have to replace the fence alongside. We scheduled a work party for Saturday June
14 to re-install the electric fence in the pear orchard prior to the move down
on June 21. This time the fence will go
all the way across the pear orchard past
the 2nd gate on Camino Pablo to the far
side of the pasture on a route to be determined by EBMUD. EBMUD has also requested that we look at the Long’s pasture land that has been
acquired by EBMUD and write up a proposal on how we think it might be
incorporated into our pasture lease.
Morris, Jane and Fred will take a look at it and report back to the
board. Also Morris noted that our AUM usage continues to be way above the
level of recent years, which could result in a surcharge at the end of the
year.

Jane
Binder reported that the hang-up on getting our new fence built in the north corral and upper pasture saddling area
is now that the fence company is waiting for the PVC fence posts specified in
their bid to arrive. (As of May 20 they were expecting them to arrive any
day.) Once they arrive, they will build
our fence. Heather Hafleigh reported on
the vet clinic–all horses have had
their shots with the exception of Linda Davidson’s (more below), and we made
arrangements at the meeting for hers..
It was entirely unclear, however,
whether all the horses were wormed at
the last vet clinic–they should have been.
If yours wasn’t, now is a good
time–our next scheduled worming will be
during one of the pasture moves in July or August. We agreed to hire Mirek to survey the fiddleneck situation and report back to the board.

We
agreed that with just a few bales left it was time to order hay for personal use, to arrive the
week after the meeting. Heidi reported
that she had looked into the cost of a dumpster,
for brush, garbage, junk and possibly last year’s leftover pond barn hay. A 20 yard dumpster will cost $300 if we can
fill it and have it picked up in 3 days.
We decided to look into the cost of a smaller size and discuss this at
the next meeting.

A
couple of our members have been having trying times lately. Linda Davidson has been seriously ill
since before this meeting, is (at this writing) still recovering from surgery
and may well require surgery again. She
would welcome your condolences and any offers of support at this rough time for
her. She could use your assistance in
watching out for her horses. Lens Cogdell
recently got caught underneath the horse he was riding when it tripped. Lens
was riding through eucalyptus forest on the bootleg trail that runs above Lone
Oak road between Lone Oak picnic area and the entrance to Wildcat Creek
trail. His horse got his legs caught in
the numerous branches littering the ground, fell on top of him and was unable
to get up. Fortunately, Gailyn was with
him, was able to rouse some passing bicyclists to free the horse and Lens. While Gailyn
returned both horses to the pasture Lens was taken to the hospital, , and both he and the horse miraculously seems to
have survived without serious injury. He
is recovering as I write. Two obvious
lessons here–it’s always safer to ride
with a companion, and staying on marked, maintained trails is always
a safer bet. The EBRPD is deliberately
not maintaining what it considers to be bootleg trails so as to discourage
their use and there are case where trails that we have been using for years are
no longer safe.

Heather
reminds us to water the tree by the
picnic table in the main saddling area when we get a chance. Please let Fred or Morris know if you have any
additions for the work projects list.

OHA Work Projects List
as of 5-27/97

Wildcat curve mirror–Kim Abbott investigating

grade old stalls to encourage run-off

buy new chargers–Morris

drain small paddocks at pavilion

remove brush around N. Corral fences to
enable fence to be electrified

remove brush around the ring fence

remove brush around the lower pasture corral
to enable fence to be electrified

replace water plug on pavilion water trough
nearest the ring pasture

repair plywood siding separating from the
back of the small stalls by the white shed

relocate hose bib on Wildcat Rd to other side
of ring pasture gate

coat pavilion and pond hay barn with wood
preservative

fix water line to lower pasture corral and
lower pasture

clear oak tree on pear orchard fire road

fix washout at stream crossing of lower
pasture fire road-EBMUD will do

fix washout on pear orchard fire road near
small gate to lower pasture–EBMUD will do

clear lower forest trail

.
We decided to have our next
meeting on Wednesday, June 7th at Beverly James‘ (614 Canon Drive, Kensington–254-7597
if you’d like directions) at 7 p.m.

Minutes
respectfully submitted by Morris Older, Secretary

Orinda Horseman’s Association Board Minutes February
12, 1997

News
Flash: Jane Binder reports that on March
5 Chica Puede delivered a large strapping Chestnut colt, full of energy, with a
white star and one white hind sock.
Cynthia has not as of March 6 settled on a name for the fellow. Chica Puede will return later this year.

Important
Dates: Sunday March 9–Work
Party to Clean Pond Barn–begins 9 a.m.

Monday March
17–OHA Board Meeting–7 p.m. at Christie’s

Saturday
March 22–Vet Clinic with Dr. Parker–10:00 a.m.

Saturday
March 29–Vet Clinic with Dr Hansen–9:00 a.m.

The
OHA Board of Directors met on February 18 at the home of Beverly James.
In addition to Beverly, Christie
Larner, Heidi Kader, Morris Older, Fred Goff, and Jane Binder were
present. Heather Hafleigh did not
attend. The minutes of the previous minutes were approved
with the stipulations that minutes from now on
will list both absent and present board members, that the amount of
gravel approved for purchase and spreading was
2 yards, and that members be reminded that letters from both the member
and a potential sponsor are required for the board to consider approval of a
sponsorship arrangement. Fred began the
meeting by reporting that rufus
hummingbirds, rare in our area, have been spotted at the red gum eucalyptus
trees in the upper pasture near the north corral.

The move from the lower to the upper
pasture January 11 went well,
although a lock was lost in the mud near the upper pasture gate, and someone
left hay just inside the gate to the upper pasture. This is a serious safety problem as one flake
thrown where the entire herd can get to it can cause fights, which when near a
gate can cause even more serious injury. Feeding ended a week early when the horses
stopped eating the hay that was put out and it became harder to find hay that
hadn’t been ruined by the storms blowing through the cracks of the hay
barn. Accordingly we decided to look
into ways of covering the triangular
gaps above the side walls of the hay barn, to stack the hay on two layers of pallets next year, and to have a work party March 9 to remove moldy
hay and otherwise clear out/clean up the barn. As of the meeting a salt block had not found
its way to the upper pasture. We agreed
to buy 4 salt blocks and since the meeting one has been put up in the upper
pasture. Since the meeting also the star thistle bags have been removed
from the Seaview trail fence line–22 bags, including one that had blown down
the hill from the gate area.

We
next discussed the upcoming vet
clinic. Dr. Parker will be up on
Saturday March 22 at 10 a.m., and there will also be a dental clinic with
equine dentist Ben Koertje at the same time.
Dr. Hansen will be doing a vet
clinic at 9 a.m. the following Saturday, March 29. Please contact Marcia Furtado at 527-9778 if
you would like to be part of that clinic.
The required shots for the spring
vet clinic are rhino vaccine, strangles
vaccine, Four-way vaccine (eastern
and western equine encephalomyelitis, influenza and tetanus), and worming. Also note that in restocking our medical
box, Alice Brown has provided us with a veterinary reference guide, as well as
laminated cards from Equus Magazine focusing on different aspects of horse care
that are hanging in the tack shed. She
is willing to make you your own personal copies of these cards at $.75 to cover
her duplication/lamination costs. In the
further interests of sharing knowledge, she also has suggested that if anyone
has articles on nutrition, training, medical or other horse issues that they
particularly like, they could make copies and lea e them in the shed for others
to peruse. Also note that our medical
box noiw cointains human first aid meaterials.

We
talked about buying more OHA hay for
the personal use of members. There was
some confusion as to how much hay was still in the red barn, so we decided to
hold off on buying more until what turned out to be over 20 remaining bales are
nearly used up. Because Beverly is no longer in charge of monitoring personal hay payments we were unsure to
what extent people are writing down and paying for their hay usage. We agreed to ask Lisa to investigate the
matter and where necessary, send out bills.

On
the EBMUD front Morris reported that EBMUD
had fixed fence breaks along Wildcat Canyon Road, where trees had fallen,
and along Seaview Trail, where hikers had cut the fence and trees had fallen,
and at the Pavilion near the gate to the road where EBMUD’s gravel truck had backed into the
corner post while delivering gravel for stall drainage. EBMUD has contacted two trespassers who were
kind enough to give us their phone numbers and informed them that they are not
allowed to wander on our lease. If we
see them again please let Morris know.

As
of our meeting, and unfortunately, as of this writing, Jane had still not heard
back from SW Fence Company regarding our
new fencing. Beverly reported on our
financial status, which is basically
unchanged–no unusual expenses and as of Feb. 9, all but one of the winter dues
collected. The Trippes conveyed their thanks, via Fred, to everyone who has helped
take care of Rascal, and they gladly report that he is being ridden again. The
pig has not been spotted for along time now. The Board wishes to convey the thanks of many members to Bronwyn for catching,
vetting, feeding and finding a home for
the feral cat that was wasting away at the pasture, and we decided to pay
the $30 vet bill she had incurred in the process. Although an exception was made due to the
nature of this case, the Board wanted to remind all members that expenses
should be cleared with the Board before they are incurred whenever possible. On as marginally related topic we decided
that it should be noted here that although the OHA Board had decided a while
back to reimburse Peter Rich for digging the hole to bury Abby, that Jane in fact
had later insisted on paying this.

We reviewed the work projects list and added the
items which are starred in the list below:

OHA Work Projects List
as of 3/9/97

*Wildcat curve mirror–Kim Abbott investigating

*grade old stalls to encourage run-off

*clean out pond barn–remove hay, pallets,
rake out barn, spread hay

*buy new chargers–Morris

drain small paddocks at pavilion

remove brush around N. Corral fences to
enable fence to be electrified

dig grade dips to divert water from the trail up the
hill into the upper pasture

remove brush around the ring fence

remove brush around the lower pasture corral
to enable fence to be electrified

clear fallen tree on bypass trail behind the
small forest pond to the upper forest trail

replace water plug on pavilion water trough
nearest the ring pasture

repair plywood siding separating from the
back of the small stalls by the white shed

relocate hose bib on Wildcat Rd to other side
of ring pasture gate

coat pavilion and pond hay barn with wood
preservative

reroof shed and small stalls–Linda Furtado
& Dan Holmes

fix water line to lower pasture corral and
lower pasture

clear oak tree on pear orchard fire road

fix washout at stream crossing of lower
pasture fire road

fix washout on pear orchard fire road near
small gate to lower pasture

clear lower forest trail

*new
items

Morris
volunteered to move the hose bib near
the ring pasture gate to the other side of the gate to keep mud away from
the gate if someone else will dig the trench.
Also please be aware that there is
no water at the lower pasture water trough or lower pasture corral at this
time. Morris has volunteered to show
someone else how to find the break in the pipe and to help fix it so that he
will no longer be the only person who knows how to trace the water line. In the meantime do not plan on using that
corral. Ned now has the chain saw and will work with James
to remove trees. We discussed the
possiblity of installing french drains
at the pavillion stalls, and agreed to ask EBMUD if such work would be
eligible for capital improvements credits–we asked and they have said yes.

The
board decided to discuss the process for reviewing
board authorization for sponsorship agreements at its next meeting–such
review is mandated before June 15. We
agreed that an approved sponsor amy arrange to sponsor a horse belonging to another member without
seeking additional approval by the board.
We approved a request from Bronwyn for her daughters class to visit the
pond. Jane is working on a list of
membership skills and responsibilities.
We put off a discussion of officers job descriptions, delegation of work
and credit for board work.

We decided to have our nest meeting
on Monday March 17 at Christie ‘s (61 Heather Lane, Orinda–254-1257 if you’d
like directions) at 7 p.m.

Minutes
respectfuly submitted by Morris Older, Secretary

Orinda
Horseman’s Association Board Minutes of January 8, 1997

The OHA Board met at the home
of Beverly James on January 8, 1997.
Present were board members Beverly James, Heather Hafleigh, Jane Binder,
Fred Goff, Morris Older and OHA member
Heather Felt. After approving the
minutes of the previous meeting. we moved on to an ambitious agenda, most of
which we were able to discuss. We
briefly discussed the move to the upper pasture on January 11 and
arranged for wheelbarrows to be moved, and for leftover hay and pallets
to be stored properly–thanks Bubbs, John
and Bronwyn for your unexpected help with this latter task. We then discussed the
damage from the storms around New Year’s focusing on what to do about
damaged fences and downed trees. There
is a washout on the fireroad in the pear orchard at the small gate leading to
the small trail up to the lower pasture, and the stream across the fireroad at
the low point in the lower pasture is also washed out again this year. There were downed trees on the upper forest
trail approaching Inspiration Point–it was pointed out EBMUD is not interested
in clearing trees blocking our trails–except to clear the road for fire
season, so we discussed how to
accomplish this task now that Lens is no longer able to be our fallen tree
remover. We agreed to ask Ned Trippe if
he would take on this task and I have recently heard that the trees blocking
the trail have been clearedby some unknown party. Morris agreed to contact EBMUD
regarding downed trees and broken fences along Wildcat Canyon Road, and by the
time he called them, they had already repaired two of the most obvious breaks
and were looking to see if there are any others.

Other items referred to EBMUD include the collapsed fence adjacent to the gate on El
Toyonal at the Pavilion area, the broken and cut (in one place) fence along Seaview Trail, and two trespassers who
were kind enough to supply us with their names and phone numbers. Beverly gave us a quick financial report for November and December–there were no unusual
expenses, and as of January 8, all but two members had already paid their
dues. Jane reported no progress on the fence construction at the upper pasture
saddling area and it is still unclear when the fence will be built.

We briefly discussed the injury to Rascal who fell into the
gorge cut by the creek under the shade
trees near the top of the lower pasture.
Found by a dog, the path cleared out by Maya McCoy’s father wielding a
chain saw. Rascal was walked over to the upper pasture and seen by a vet in the
absence of the Tripps who were on vacation. He lost a couple of chunks of
muscle on his chest and on his side, but as large and serious as the wounds
looked is expected to recover fully.
Numerous people chipped in to take care of Rascal both before and after the Trips
returned, in a good show of pasture solidarity and community. This incident
underscores the importance, however,
of counting the horses whenever the herd
is fed to be sure that they are all accounted for and that none is lying in a
canyon somewhere desperately awaiting to be rescued.

Jane reported on the December 7
work party to prepare the lower pasture for the herd. All went smoothly as Jane, Morris, Ned and
Lisa removed the fence and made some
fence repairs along El Toyonal.
The next day Renee checked on the
fence and water trough below. Thanks also to Heather Hafleigh for
spreading gravel at the green gate and elsewhere, and to Eddie for fixing the hinge pin on the broken pavilion stall
door, and to Morris for fixing the
gate from the Pear Orchard to Camino Pablo.

We moved on to discuss the rule requiring members to be 21 years
of age that the current board added back into the rules when they were
recently reprinted. Apparently this rule
is part of our by-laws and thus has always been part of our rules, although it
was not explicitly listed as part of the rules and regulations for the last few
years, and in fact two members were admitted who were below that age when they
joined. Heather Felt, one of those
members, spoke forcefully for revising this rule, noting that there are
certainly individuals who at 18 are far more mature and responsible than some
people who are much older, including perhaps some older pasture members, and
several board members agreed that her point was well taken. We agreed to check into whether there are
limitations or rules in our insurance
and in our CSHA membership on this matter, and to consider later in the
year whether it would be appropriate to submit this to the membership at our
annual meeting as a revision to our by laws.
Such a revision would require a majority of all members (not just those
present), voting for it.

Moving from the young to the old the
Board considered a request to waive the
work hours requirement for older members
who may be physically unable to perform the chores that they once were able to.
The Board decided not to grant this request, noting that there are some
physically non-demanding jobs to be done, that
there are the options of paying for work hours or having a sponsor take
them on, that there is no precedent for waiving this requirement, and finally
that there are numerous examples of members who when the time came relinquished
their membership.

There was a brief report from the board subcommittee appointed at the last
meeting, which approved the request for
sponsorship of Heidi Kader’s horse by Joan Dalzell. This led to a discussion of sponsorship
issues in general. It was agreed that
members looking for a sponsor, or potential sponsors looking for a horse should
contact the secretary, who will act as a matchmaker whenever possible. (I have since received a call from Cindy
Fluker, 526-6657, who was sponsoring Georgia’s Dusty but after some problems is looking for another horse to sponsor). We also agreed that the Board should review all sponsors at the meeting
prior to June 15, the date when sponsors
fees are
due to the association. Accordingly
we agreed to change rule #5 under
the heading Associate Members in our rules and regulation, by striking the
words “at the end of each fiscal year,”
so that the Board can review associate members at the time at which
their dues are payable. Also we have a
new address for associate member Gayle
Packard who is now at 4345 Sedge,
Fremont Ca. 94555–she can be reached at 471-9434

It was agreed that any non-member present on the pasture,
and not just those riding horses, should
sign the release from liability to protect the pasture against liability
for accidents. It was also agreed that
we need to keep better track of shots
and wormers around the vet clinics and at herd worming dates. Heather Hafleigh agreed to take on this
responsibility. We then agreed to have
our spring vet clinic with Mike
Parker on Saturday, March 22. We will also attempt to have equine dentist
Ben Koertje present on that date to deal with any dental problems–please
contact Heather Felt or Liz Strauss if you are interested in having your horse
examined by the dentist. Required at the
spring vet clinic are worming, rhino
vaccine, strangles vaccine, and the four way shot that immunizes against
eastern and western equine encephalomyelitis, influenza and tetanus.

It was requested that members send
any phone or address changes to Morris
for the next printing of our membership list.
Alice Brown has restocked the medical
kit with essential items–remember to replace whatever you use. The
fix-it list was briefly discussed-several items, as mentioned above, have been dealt with and are now stricken
from the list and several more have been
added. These include fixing the water line to the lower pasture
and lower pasture corral, clearing the
oak tree on the pear orchard fire road, and repairing the washouts on the road to and through the pear
orchard. The situation with the leaky roof on our tack room was
discussed and it was agreed to assign this task to someone else if Linda
Furtado and Dan Holmes cannot complete the job in a timely fashion. So here is the list:

OHA Work Projects List
as of 1/24/97

drain small paddocks at pavilion

remove brush around N. Corral fences to
enable fence to be electrified

dig grade dips to divert water from the trail up the
hill into the upper pasture

remove brush around the ring fence

remove brush around the lower pasture corral
to enable fence to be electrified

clear fallen tree on bypass trail behind the
small forest pond to the upper forest trail

replace water plug on pavilion water trough
nearest the ring pasture

repair plywood siding separating from the
back of the small stalls by the white shed

relocate hose bib on Wildcat Rd to other side
of ring pasture gate

coat pavilion and pond hay barn with wood
preservative

reroof shed and small stalls

fix water line to lower pasture corral and
lower pasture

clear oak tree on pear orchard fire road

fix washout at stream crossing of lower
pasture fire road

fix washout on pear orchard fire road near
small gate to lower pasture

clear lower forest trail

We
agreed to hold our next meeting at 7
p.m. on Wednesday, Feb 12 at Beverly James’s dome home at 614 Canon
Drive. As always, all members are
welcome.

Minutes Respectfully Submitted by Morris Older, Secretary

Heather
Hafleigh has asked me to let you know
that she is selling her 1990 Toyota King Cab pick up–with shell, stereo, new
tires & brakes, in great condition after 107,000 miles–she’s asking $6500–call her at 528-1031 if you’re
interested.

Orinda
Horseman’s Association

Minutes
c/o Morris Older

271
Lomas Cantadas

Orinda
CA 94563

Orinda
Horseman’s Association Board Minutes–November 20, 1996

Important Dates Sat Dec. 14–move horses to lower pasture–
wormers in lower pasture saddling area

Sun
Dec. 15–pasture membership dues are due

Tues.
Dec. 31–last day to postmark dues without late penalty applying

Sat.
Jan 11–move horses to upper pasture

The OHA
Board met on November 20 at the home of Christie Larner. Attending were Heidi Kader, Christie Larner, Heather Hafleigh, Beverly James, Jane Binder,
Morris Older and Fred Goff. We started
by approving the minutes of the previous meeting and proceeded to updates and
reports on previously discussed items. The
N. Corral and Saddling Area Fence work has been scheduled for the first week in December, and the rest
of the hay for feeding in the lower pasture should be (and was) delivered by Thanksgiving. EBMUD invited us to the opening dedication of
their new watershed building on Nov. 22–Jane & Morris were fortunate to be
able to attend. Rod Tripp did confirm
that we must take down the lower pasture
portable fence before we move the herd into the lower pasture on Dec. 14,
and so we scheduled a work party for
10 a.m. Saturday December 7th, to
accomplish that task and to otherwise prepare the lower pasture for the arrival
of the horses.

Beverly
gave a brief report of our financial activity so far this grazing year ( since
October 1)–everything seems to be normally proceeding according to plan so
far. Fred told us that Loren Furtado is excited about
producing an OHA History, and he has been loaned our minutes dating
back to our founding to assist him with that job. Heidi offered thanks to those who helped us
move the manure pile from the
saddling area to the ring, and Beverly
wrote up a letter with suggestions for more orderly management of the manure
pile that will be discussed at a future date.
Beverly also reminded us not to put large chunks of rotting hay in the
manure pile–somebody had dumped a few
entire bales in there this last year, and they don’t transfer well to
the arena.

We agreed
to send a sympathy card to Lens, who on
November 8th lost Katie to a severe
colic–she will be missed by all of us, members and horses alike., and we
wanted to express our undivided concern for the loss he has endured.

With Katie
gone, this brings our herd count to 33,
with Freckles, Pepper and Leo elsewhere for the time being, and   Lens
and Sharon Wright holding empty spaces.
When you feed it should be possible to count to this number by including
any confined horses and horses that may be out riding while you are feeding. We were reminded to feed from the top of hay pile at the pond, and to use the bales on the
left as you enter first, as that is where rain is most likely to blow in.   Also remember that we require that two adult
members be present at all feedings–no exceptions. We did want to reconstitute the emergency substitute-feeder volunteer list,
which includes Jane, Heather, &
Liz   at this point.  Let
me know if we can add your name to the list so that I can print a longer list
in the next minutes.  When feeding at the lower pasture. be
sure to tighten the rope around the pile when we are done, use the hay from the saddling area end of the
pile first, and look for the daily feeder sign up sheet under the tarp.

We
discussed the application of Joan Dalzell, to be a sponsor for Heidi’s Patches. Since Joan was unable to attend the meeting,
we delegated a committee of three board members to interview her. Since the meeting she has been approved. Joan
lives at 57 Davis Road in Orinda, and can be reached at 525-3784 and
253-3538.

We approved a list submitted by Alice Brown to resupply our emergency medical kit. This is available for member use in
emergencies, but you must replace whatever is used–within reason anyway–you
might not need to squeeze some of your desitin back into the pasture tube, but
members did manage to lose our flashlights this year. We also authorized Heather |Hafleigh to bring
up 2 yards of gravel to de-mud the
area around the green gate and the path between the pavilion and the ring
pasture. Thanks to Loren Furtado for
bringing the gravel that you may have noticed dumped at the pavilion. at the tie stalls near the stile and at the gate
into the upper pasture.

Christie
has yet to get any responses to build
her pasture e-mail address list–we know you’re out there, so
send your e-mail address to Christie Larner @KP.org to be included.

We
discussed updating the OHA Work Projects list.
Hopefully by next meeting we can start striking items from the list as
well as adding new ones. A copy of this
list will be posted in the shed to remind you of what needs to be done, in case
you’re looking for hours, as well as to let you know who to talk to about
specific projects that are already underway. Anyway, the latest version is
overleaf:

OHA
Work Projects List as of 12/2/96

fix hinge on
stall/paddock door at pavilion–Bronwyn

drain small paddocks at
pavilion

raise off ground or fix pear orchard gate ( at
Wildcat)

spread gravel at green
gate and upper pasture gate–Heather Haffleigh

remove brush around N.
Corral fences to enable fence to be electrified

dig grade dips
to divert water from the trail up the hill into the upper pasture

remove brush around the
ring fence

remove brush around the
lower pasture corral to enable fence to be electrified

clear fallen tree from
the bypass trail that cuts behind the small forest pond to the upper forest
trail

replace water plug on
pavilion water trough nearest the ring pasture

repair plywood siding
separating from the back of the small stalls by the white shed

relocate hose bib on
Wildcat Rd to other side of ring pasture gate

coat pavilion and pond
hay barn with wood preservative

reroof shed and small
stalls–Linda Furtado & Dan Holmes

restock OHA emergency
medical supply kit–Alice Brown

Our next
meeting will be at Beverly James’ dome
home at 614 Canon Drive in Kensington (just off Wildcat near Grizzly Peak) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday January 8th. All members of course are welcome to
attend.

Orinda Horseman’s
Association

P.O.
Box 904

Orinda
CA 94563

address correction requested

Orinda
Horseman’s Association Board Minutes —September 11, 1996

The new OHA Board held its first full meeting on
Sept 11 at the home of Christie Larner.
Present were board members Fred Goff (President), Beverly James (Treasurer), Morris Older
(Secretary), Jane Binder (Vice President), Heather Hafleigh, and Christie
Larner, who graciously provided us with pizza, cookies and tea.

We discussed the upcoming vet clinic, for which, Beverly reported, we have already
purchased wormers, which will be labeled for each member and available on
clinic day. Mike Parker will be the vet
on Sunday , September 29, starting
at 10 a.m. As an alternative Rick
Hansen will also be giving shots on Saturday, September 21. If you wish to use Dr. Hansen, you must
notify Marcia Furtado so that she can let Dr. Hansen know how many shots to
bring with him. Two shots are required
for all horses at this time–rabies,
which by law can only be administered by a licensed veterinarian, and a flu-rhino combo shot.

Feeding will begin on September
15th. The board discussed feeding at
length and wanted to remind everyone to check how many horses are not in the
herd and feed accordingly. Start with 3 bales for the entire herd,
and subtract 1 flake ( 3.5-4” thick, or
1/12 of a bale) for each horse in a stall or paddock. So if 6 horses are confined off the pasture,
for example, feed 2 1/2 bales. Use
common sense, however in approaching this and all other guidelines–if it
is extremely cold and/or rainy, consider feeding an extra 1/2 to 1 bale. During the time we are able to feed from trucks, do not feed near the
pond–instead feed along the upper road,
either near the forest or near the fireroad up to the Seaview gate into Tilden
Park. This will help to preserve the
hillside above the hay barn near the pond and, if we alternate where we feed,
make it easier to get the hay out before
the horses descend on you. When you
feed, please sign on the clipboard
which will be in the white
shed.Indicate when and how much you have
fed–this information is valuable to members who may be riding or removing
their horses from the pasture. When we
start feeding from the pond haybarn, the clipboard will moved up there. If you have traded days, or are somehow not
the person listed to be feeding that day, make sure to list your name on that
form.

A recent phone call to the county has disclosed
their bridge replacement plans. Because the bid for replacing the bridge on
El Toyonal came in at double their budget, the bridge will not be replaced
until next year. However within a few
weeks, EBMUD will be grading the wash-out area and the county will remove the
bridge decking and replace it with a new surface so as to provide an emergency
pedestrian evacuation possibility this winter.
The bridge will still be officially closed to all traffic (as it is
now), and closed to equestrian use.

Our EBMUD
grazing plan and capital improvements
for 1995-96 have been approved, and our 1996-7 grazing plan is being
drawn up by EBMUD. Our capital
improvements for both years , the fencing in the North Corral and upper pasture
saddling area, will be able to be
implemented once next year’s plan has been formally approved.

Concerns about the hawk banding project were expressed by several board members. In little more than a week since Stan Moore
has had his fence up, the fence has been broken on several occasions, and
within his fenced off area are conditions deemed an unacceptable risk to
horses, including lengths of rebar protruding vertically from concrete blocks
and cable strung along the ground at fetlock height. Since his project was
approved by EBMUD under the assumption that it would not pose any danger to
horses, we decided to enumerate our
concerns both to Stan directly and to EBMUD.
Hopefully he will be able to correct these deficiencies so as to ensure
our horses’ safety or move his project elsewhere. If you notice that his fence is down or
notice any other problems, please call Stan at 415-485-5729 or page him at
415-804-6387.

Beverly James presented the Board with her latest financial compilations, which were
briefly discussed. Since our fiscal year
ends on October 1, we will get an annual
report, which will be included with your next minutes, at our next
meeting, and with any luck Beverly will
also have a proposed budget for us to approve.

We briefly discussed minor wording and other changes
in the OHA rules and regulations, which
will be reprinted for board
consideration and approval at our October meeting. At this time we will also discuss the
somewhat controversial rule passed last year mandating that 5 hours of the
work requirement should be done by the
member.

We agreed to print up new parking placards as we seem to have run out of old ones, and
set Wed., October 16 as the date for our
next meeting, which will be at the home of Heather Hafleigh
at 7 p.m. Of course all members are
encouraged to attend–so call Heather at 528-1031 if you need directions. We will be discussing the OHA rules and
regulations, the distribution of board responsibilities, our financial report
and budget, our jobs-to-be done list,
our annual calendar and possible changes in the pear orchard grazing
schedule among other topics at this meeting.

One more thing–we still have numerous OHA tee-shirts in medium, large and
extra large, which are currently residing at my house. They are only $7.50 each and make a great
present for anyone in your family or in our pasture. Let me know if you would like one and I will
arrange to get it to you.

Minutes
respectfully submitted by Morris Older

Orinda Horseman’s
Association

c/o Morris Older

271 Lomas Cantadas

Orinda CA 94563

Orinda Horseman’s Association Board Minutes October 16, 1996

Important Dates: Sun Oct. 26 10 a.m. manure moving work party

Sat Dec. 14–move horses to lower pasture (until Jan 11) & worm horses

Sun Dec. 15–pasture membership dues are due

Tues. Dec. 31–last day to postmark dues without late penalty applying

The OHA Board of Directors met on October 16 at the home of Heidi Kader. Present were Heidi Kader, Christie Larner, Jane Binder, Fred Goff, Beverly James, and Morris Older. All OHA board meetings are open to all members and this time you all missed some great food prepared by Jan Kader.

We began the meeting with an interview of prospective sponsor Cindy Fluker. After a period of extensive questioning, she left and we decided to accept her as a sponsor for Georgia William’s Dusty. Cindy lives at 1711 Bridge Ave, Oakland 94601 and can be reached at home at 536-6543 or at work at 526-6657. She would love to find someone who likes to ride on Tuesdays. We then decided to end the extended probationary period of Anna Johnson, who is now a full, proprietary member, and to allow Sharon Wright 1 year from the date (7/17/96) that Gunner left the pasture, to put another horse in her space. We made due note that Leo, Ginny Conte’s horse will be leaving the pasture probably by the time you read this and will return in mid-February.

Our grazing plan and capital improvements budget for this and last year has been approved, signed and delivered to EBMUD, so our fence work in the N. Corral and upper pasture saddling area will begin in mid-November. We decided to go with the horse mesh rather than more tensile wire fencing. We will try to have the fence built a couple of feet from the old fence before the old fence is removed so that the horses will be kept out of the saddling area. If you’d like any of the lumber that will be removed from the old fence, let Jane know so that you b3e informed as to which days it might be available before it is removed.

Morris gave an update on discussions with EBMUD. We continue to be, as we have for about four years, on a month to month lease with them–this has been pending completion of the watershed master plan, which is now being printed. When they have filled the rest of their vacant cattle leases, they will be preparing a new lease for all their properties and we will get another longer term lease. One thing the board won’t have to spend time on this year will be the capital improvements plans, since the previous board has already taken care of that for this year. Concerns were expressed about the work done to El Toyonal and the bridge. Although the bridge is still officially closed to all but emergency traffic, EBMUD removed all the signs on the Wildcat side of the bridge when the work was done. In addition the removal of the barrier from Wildcat makes it possible for cars to drive all the way to the bridge. This creates a situation where if someone leaves the bridge open for a minute or two, some uninformed person could drive down the road, disappear from view and get locked in when somebody leaves. To avoid this situation, we have asked EBMUD to replace the signs and the barrier where they used to be. We await their reply.

Everybody who’s feeding should know that as of October 14, hay for the herd should come from the barn at the pond. Otherwise we will run out of hay in the red barn and end up with moldy bales at the pond. We are expecting more hay for the lower pasture soon. Hay in the red barn will be for individual feeding only–remember to buy it by the bale, and take individual flakes only when your horse is confined in a stall or paddock. We will have an OHA bale tag on what should be the only open bale of hay for you to take your flakes from. We briefly discussed the importance of the pasture census form and the importance of signing your horse in and out. EBMUD carefully monitors how many horses are grazing on the pasture based on our monthly reports based on the pasture census forms and we are charged accordingly. If you write down when your horse is not grazing on the pasture, we pay less rent, so get with the program. Stan Moore, the hawk man, has packed up and left early. He only caught 12 hawks and was disappointed with the effort/returns ratio. The feral pig has moved on to greener pastures-as his note at the pavilion says, he tried of our meager offerings and found people who know what a pig likes to eat. EBMUD does not know where he went.

We then discussed our budget for the upcoming year, prepared in painstaking detail by Beverly James. The budget is included in this mailing with a final financial report for 1995-96. Only a couple of minor notes here are necessary to help explain the numbers. The amount listed for rent is actually the total for our capital improvements and our rent. We will get credit against our rent this year for both our 1995-6 and 1996-7 capital improvements, a.k.a. the fence. The income for individual hay should be compared with the expense for individual hay, and we kept the budget for weeding high in case there’s an unexpected bumper crop of fiddleneck next spring. Otherwise it looks like the association rolls along in fine form, paying its bills, and watching its bank account slowly grow.

We discussed the rules and regulations, enclosed with this mailing. The previous board had put a lot of time and effort into these, so we were able to get by with minor changes only. The five work hours to be worked by each member were changed to should, rather than must, in accordance with the boards’ minutes reporting this motion last year. The section on moneys was incorporated into the work hours and member sections. The requirement that new members be at least 21 was added back into the rules, and a provision detailing the return of work deposit moneys to departing members was added. The list of vaccines was altered to eliminate brand names of vaccines since vets often disagree on which are most appropriate and there were a few other minor wording changes made to clarify our rules. I have printed the rules and regulation in a new format to encourage you to review them and keep them handy when you have a question.

We began discussing a few other issues that will be discussed at future board meetings. We began filling in a planning grid calendar to help us keep track of when things need to be done throughtout the year. We passed out preliminary job descriptions of the responsibilities of our various officers. and will continue this discussion to more equitably distribute the work load and perhaps provide appropriate credit for hours worked by our board members. We began assembling a list of membership skills and special responsibilities. And Fred proposed that we have a volunteer begin assembling an OHA history. More on these items in future minutes.

We then began assembling a master fix-it and repairs list. This will list jobs that need to be done and which members can take on to fill their work hours requirement. We will keep the list posted in the shed and include an updated version in the minutes of each board minutes. And so without further ado, please welcome the OHA work projects list:

OHA Work Projects List as of 10/17/96

spread gravel at green gate and upper pasture gate–Heather Haffleigh

remove brush around N. Corral fences to enable fence to be electrified

dig grade dips to divert water from the trail up the hill into the upper pasture

remove brush around the ring fence

remove brush around the lower pasture corral to enable fence to be electrified

clear fallen tree from the bypass trail that cuts behind the small forest pond to the upper forest trail

replace water plug on pavilion water trough nearest the ring pasture

repair plywood siding separating from the back of the small stalls by the white shed

relocate hose bib on Wildcat Rd to other side of ring pasture gate

coat pavilion and pond hay barn with wood preservative

reroof shed and small stalls–Linda Furtado & Dan Holmes

restock OHA emergency medical supply kit–Alice Brown

Once an item is on this list, it will generally mean that the board has discussed it and approved whatever expenditures are necessary to accomplish the work. If you wish to work on one of these projects, please post your name and when you expect to work on it on the copy in the shed so that we can be clear on who is doing what and when. At our next meeting we may develop a more formal method of coordinating these projects.

The Board approved a request by the Tilden Wildcat Horseman’s Association to ride through the OHA pasture on its group ride Nov. 9. We will notify our insurance company and designate it as a public event day, although if it rains the ride will be postponed until the spring. We also agreed to buy some new hay hooks and manure forks.

Pursuant to suggestions by Marcia and Heidi we will be having a work party to move manure from the upper pasture saddling area to the ring on Saturday October 26 starting at 10 a.m. This is always one of the better work parties as we’re all working together and socializing at the same time, so be there.

Please note the following corrections to our member list–Heather Haffleigh’s mailing address is PO Box 7279, Berkeley 94707, Karen Necker (not Neker)’s phone number is 524-8868, and Lisa Jordan has moved to 5727 Sacramento, Richmond 94804.

Christie is compiling a list of OHA member e-mail addresses. Please contact her at Christie.Larner@KP.org to have your e-mail address included on this list.

We approved the minutes of the last meeting and set the date for the next board meeting –it will be on Wed., Nov. 20th at 7 p.m. at Christie Larner’s–all members are invited. Please call Christie at 254-1257 if you need directions.

Reminders: the ring is off limits when it is wet

dogs are not allowed near the pond with or without a leash

do not by pass locks on the chains on our gates. This means that when you close our lock it must be linked to the ends of the chain on each side–especially if another lock is at the end of the chain. If you should link our lock to a link or lock further down the chain the fire department, PGE, or EBMUD will be unable to open the chain to drive in. If this is not clear, we will run a diagram next time to clarify the concept.