Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Help with mileage for a newbie :)....

If you are looking into an equestrian community be sure to do a lot of investigation
- other than listen to the real estate agent. I lived in one for about 10
years.  We were moving from Denver to Sarasota, FL and we didn't have a lot
of time to shop for a place to live. It was a equestrian community with all
sorts of trails, like the one Jackie mentions were easements on peoples property.
Trouble was they were enforced from the start. People fenced off the trails.
The only thing that was really enforced by the association was all fences
had to be 50 feet back from the front property line. 

So along the roads and vacant lots were the only "trails" when we moved in.
That was okay since the development was only about 1/8th full. There was
a lot of country to ride in and lots of bootleg trails. I did all a lot of
my training on my first endurance horse there. I had a 7 mile loop where
I could gallop all the way if I wanted. 

The people started to move in. We horse people organized and went to the
home owners association about the lack of enforcement of the horse trail
easements. We were in the minority and the HOA did not want to take a stand.
Their lawyer told them that since the didn't enforce it from the beginning
they would probably lose if it went to court. The county stepped in - just
a fluke of timing. Seems the most of the trials were along drainage ditch
easements. Drainage ditches are a big deal in FL since we can get 10 inches
of rain in two hours. Well the county required all fences taken down and
they can in a rebuilt the banks of the drainage ditches. 

That bought us a few more years. Then fences started to go back up and we
were looking a suing our own HOA to enforce their own rules. Then the big
El Nino winter hit in '98 and with the rain there was major flooding damage
on the ditches. That was it with equestrian communities - we moved to the
sticks with a large state forest within 5 miles. 

So be very careful of the marketing hype of "equestrian communities."  Make
sure you know what you are getting into. Also make sure that a majority of
the owners in the community are actually active equestrians. 

Truman

EquesB@xxxxxxx wrote:
> We have several equestrian communities here in the "land of subdivision".
> If it is a private community and the trails are within the private community,
> they remain private, i.e., they belong to the HOA. We have one community
> here that has 12 miles of trails within their boundaries and the people who
> live there have special bridle tags. They do not allow through traffic, horse
> or foot.  I probably have a copy of their HOA docs if you would like, but
> they will have to come by snail mail.  This particular community is down
> to 20% horse owners and they have to struggle to keep the trails open as
> the trails are easements and maintained by the property owner.   YMMV.  
>   
> Jackie Baker