Nature Coast Back Country Horsemen
NCBCH Current events
NCBCH Meeting
Thursday, March 18
Please join us for our meeting at Papa Joe's Restaurant, Brooksville. Bring $$ for 50/50, and your membership dues.
5:30 PM dinner
6:30 PM meeting. Our guest speaker will be Alyssa Weihl of Tack Left Riding & Driving
Papa Joe’s Restaurant
6244 Spring Lake Hwy., Brooksville, FL 34601
Our Annual Membership Drive
NCBCH welcomes and depends on your involvement and support. Join us now to preserve our right to ride on public lands in Florida and across the nation.
Dues for 2021 are $25 for individual membership, $30 for family (2 votes during elections for family membership).
Click on the Membership button below to print an application.
NCBCH’s
Tack, Craft and Yard Sale
Saturday
March 13, 2021
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Hillside Baptist Church
27440 Cortez Blvd., Brooksville, FL 34601.
NCBCH Newsletter
NCBCH News February/March
Spring has sprung and is giving us some great riding weather. We hope you all have been able to get out and enjoy our wonderful trails.
Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, March 18, 2021 at Papa Joe’s Restaurant located at 6244 Spring Lake Hwy., Brooksville, FL 34601. Dinner will be at 5:30 with meeting to follow at 6:30. You can find more information on Papa Joe’s at: https://www.papajoes.org/
Our guest speaker will be Alyssa Weihl of Tack Left Riding & Driving. She gives lessons customized to each individual rider emphasizing dressage based and positive reinforcement methods. She also teaches carting. Alyssa will address specific problems you might be having by traveling to your home or boarding facility. You can find more information on Alyssa at: https://www.facebook.com/trackleftridinganddriving or https://www.trackleftridinganddriving.com/...
NCBCH’s Tack, Craft and Yard Sale will be held this Saturday, March 13, 2021 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Hillside Baptist Church, 27440 Cortez Blvd., Brooksville, FL 34601. 10’x10’ spots can be obtained for $15.00 if you would like to part with your slightly used, never used or no longer used tack. Artistic individuals can sell those items created during our last year of ‘lockdown’ that are treasured by others. A flyer is attached with more information. For questions or for those needing additional information please contact Becky Card-Swerdloff at tysonah@bellsouth.net or Donna Black at gabrieltherapydog@yahoo.com. Spots are still available and can be obtained the morning of March 13 but you must be set up prior to 9:00 a.m.
Charlie Kemp and Ann Hopta are looking for 4 or 5 volunteers to help remove the stakes and silt fence along a portion of the Cracker trail later this month. This silt fence was put up 3-4 years ago and is now falling down and littering our forest floor. The cleanup should only take a couple of hours of your time. If you have an interest in help in this endeavor please let either Charlie barefootcustoms@aol.com or Ann AnnHopta@gmail.com know. As we don’t have a time or date yet we understand some may not be able to help when scheduled but we will do our best to work around volunteer’s schedules.
Please don’t forget to renew your memberships and encourage others to join. We are the liaison between public land managers and equestrians. Our mission is to keep existing trails open and safe and to campaign for new trails for all equestrians. The more numbers we have in membership the stronger our voice is.
Happy trails to all!
Officers and board members for 2021
President – Becky Card-Swerdloff
Vice President – Donna Black;
Secretary – Ann Hopta
Treasurer – Lorri Kindberg
Board of Directors (4 positions) – Lee Adams, Donna Allen, Martha Casisa, Charlie Kemp
NCBCH's Most Recent Improvement Project for Equestrians
Volunteer of the Year 2021 - Charlie Kemp
Charlie Kemp and Molly Rider
Nature Coast Back Country Horsemen’s 2021 Volunteer of the Year awardee is Charlie Kemp. Charlie has enthusiastically given his time and expertise to better our organization. He has acted as a liaison with SWAMP (mountain bike group in Croom) and FFS. Although Charlie is not a ‘horse’ person but rather a ‘bike’ person he strongly supports his wife Vicki as an equestrian. He and his sidekick Molly Rider regularly travel Croom trails by either biking, hiking or on his quad (with a valid permit) to address and correct trail issues.
He identifies problem trail issues, creates safe and sustainable alternatives and submits these plans to FFS for their input and approval. He created plans for Smith Prairie Trail Head (where NCBCH won the prestigious Back Country Horsemen of America’s Double Diamond Award), worked with the FFS biologist to reroute the extremely eroded portion of the access trail out of Tucker Hill Trail Head to create a sustainable and safe trail.
He is currently on NCBCH’s board.
Becky Card-Swerdloff presented Charlie with a personalized biking shirt. Emblazoned with NCBCH’s logo and his Volunteer of Year status it also has a nod to his passions – his bike and Molly Rider! Thank you Charlie for all you do!
Please Support Our Sponsors
NCBCH thanks the following sponsors who made our 2019 Shindig a huge success
Ranch Hand Feed Depot, Giddy-Up Saddle Shop, Wagon Wheel, Fletcher's Tack Shop, Irish Trails Farm and Pet Supply
Remington Outpost, Capricci Healing Waters, Massage by Claire Larrson, White Daisy, Damsel in Defense - Phyllis Nolte, Photography by Ann Hopta
Tractor Supply Co. Brooksville, Pickett's Brooksville Ace Hardware, Toole's Groveland Ace Hardware, Rural King
Papa Joe’s Italian Restaurant, River Ratz, Luigi's Pizza of Brooksville, Mykonos II, Beef O'Brady's, Mallie Kyla’s, Country Kitchen, Glory Days Grill, Publix
Florida Forest Service
Please patronize these generous donors that support our local community
Back Country Horsemen of America
How to obtain parking passes for local Trailheads
Friends of Florida State Forests Annual Day Pass
Good for all Florida state forests that have fees at the trailheads. The day use fee at Croom's Tucker Hill trailhead is $2 per person. The annual pass is $45 which is good for any day of the year for up to 6 people. To order the annual pass on-line go to:
Friends of Florida State Forests Annual Day Pass
Purchase it locally at: Florida Forest Service
Withlacoochee State Forest Recreation/Visitors Center
15003 Broad St., Brooksville, FL 34601-4201
(352) 797-4140
Lake Townsen Preserve, Nobleton Parking Fee
The daily parking fee is $3.00 per vehicle. An annual parking pass is $45.00 per vehicle.
To get Annual Parking Pass Application go to:
Lake Townsen Annual Parking Pass
Read both pages, particularly the highlighted area, print, fill it out, make a check payable to Hernando Cnty Recreation Department, & mail to 205 E. Fort Dade St., Brooksville, FL 34601, or go to their office at same address to purchase one. Call 352-754-4027 for further info.