Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Trails at my nearby state park are "multi use." there are a few sections off limits to horses, but most of it is accessible, almost 30 miles worth. We went through this a few years ago when a local Boy Scout troop wanted to close trails to horses because they were getting poop on their bicycles, supposedly.

 

The funny thing is that in my 8 years of riding on all sections of these trails, I've encountered a grand total of 1 bicyclist and three pedestrians. They just don't use the trails like the equestrians do. This particular state park has the highest use by equestrians of all the state parks in Kansas. Our local park management used to be anti horse, but now he sees where his park revenue is coming from... equestrians paying the state park fees. And there is a very active local group dedicated to maintaining the equestrian campground and trails, so the state gets a lot of free stuff out of us... the local group has put in corrals, water, electricity, wash racks, etc., all with donated labor and materials. The state has not had to fork over a penny for that stuff, and yet reaps the benefits of hundreds of horse campers paying fees.

 

The other thing they do is try to get a lot of positive publicity for equestrians. they make sure the area newspapers know about charity trail rides and the improvements at the park, work days, etc. they've gotten the news photographers out for a ride for St. Jude's children's Hospital, for example, where that ride raised more than $30,000. It sure made equestrians look good!

 

Now a group is forming to upgrade equestrian access at another state park. I think you have to become very involved if you want to save your trails.

 

chris

Sky Ranch <skyranch@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

I think this is very true, that the main threat to our trail use is from
urban trail users who don't want to see, smell, walk in, etc., any horse
poop. If it was just 'everywhere' and fresh, I "guess" I could see their
point, but I've never seen that much. Since I grew up in a barn, manure
just doesn't bother me, I walk through it all the time...

Or maybe they're intimidated by horses on the trail, afraid of horses. When
I see hikers and/or bikers on the trail, I always move aside and smile, try
to engage them in conversation. Usually they want to pet my horse and talk
a bit about the trail. In our part of the world (definitely not urban),
I've never run into anyone who's complained about my horse on the trail,
they actually like it. Especially foreign visitors, they like to see horses
out there, I have found.

I wonder if we'll be required to have our horses wear diapers at some point.
Actually, I think in some areas riders are being asked to clean up after
their horses on the trails. If that is what is required to keep trails open
to horses, around urban areas anyway, maybe that's not too much to ask.
Then all the hikers can keep their shoes clean. gee.

Carla Richardson
Cortez, Colorado

----- Original Message -----
From: "Val Nicoson"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2005 4:09 PM
Subject: [RC] Trails Access for Horses


> Seems trails are being cut on grounds other than weed
> control. I keep hearing more and more of people
> complaining about horse poop along the
> trail...basically other trail users. They're taking
> the position of not wanting to ride through, see or
> smell horse poop.
> I don't recall having seen *that* much manure on the
> trails to hardly be noticeable. Seems it biodegrades
> pretty fast too and then is washed (rain) or blown
> (wind) away.
> Just curious what other metropolitan horse users are
> experiencing from other user groups regarding use of
> shared trails.
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________
> Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>
> Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
> Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
> Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp
>
> Ride Long and Ride Safe!!
>
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"Slowee, slowee catchee monkey," Rudyard Kipling, from The Jungle Book

 

Chris Paus

BayRab Acres http://pages.prodigy.net/paus

Lake Region SWA  http://lakeregionswa.fws1.com