IMPORTANT! "NO HORSES" say hikers in PA

[Linda_Merims@ne.3com.com]

Howard4567@aol.com said:

>...
>We (equestrians) are just too nice.  I say lets take advantage of our
speed,
>height and weight and may the best man/woman & horse win. I see no
challenge
>whatsoever from the hikers and the 4-wheelers will eventually run out of
gas.
>And don't be afraid of the hunters.  This deer shoots back.

Ah, Howard.  The Jesse Ventura of trail politics...

;-)

In Massachusetts, the relations among the various user groups,
including equestrians, is actually pretty good.  Everybody sort
of figured out ten or fifteen years ago that "we must all hang
together or we shall all hang separately" and that there was more
to be gained by sticking together than by devouring each other
in fights.  There's always somebody around who's "more ecological"
than you are and who has excellent reasons why you shouldn't be there.
I, myself, have actually gotten up in front of a Department of
Environmental Management hearing and spoken *in favor* of allowing
motorcycles back in to state forests.  (And my horse is terrified
of motorcycles.)

I should amend the previous statement somewhat.  The relations
among the *officials* of the various user groups, including
equestrian groups, is pretty good.  That is, multiuse and
cooperation is the official policy of the Bay State Trail Riders
(horse), the New England Mountain Bike Association, the Pilgrim
Sands Trail Riders (ORVs), and by-and-large, the Massachusetts
chapter of the Sierra Club.  Relations among the rank and file
are not necessarily so enlightened.  Many still react in the
predictable knee-jerk ways.  The leadership has to be constantly
preaching to the membership to remember that we are all friends.
It works fairly well.  For example, I can always tell when I've
met up with a member of New England Mtn Bikers on the trail: they
always tell you how pretty your horse is.  It's just "politics,"
but it's still nice to hear.

And it is little courtesies that can make a big difference.
I went riding with a group at Borderland State Park in East
Bridgewater.  This is a small park, around 1000 acres, that
is a former estate that was donated to the state.  Lovely
dirt roads.  This park is very heavily used by local families.
I noticed that our small group of three was eliciting a lot
of scowls from the families we met instead of the grins of
delight I would expect.  And I figured out part of the reason
why.  We were riding three abreast down the dirt roads so that
we could talk more easily.  By doing so, we were unconsciously
forcing everybody else we met off the dirt road on to the verge
to go around us.  It was like we were shoving everybody else off
the trail. Three horses coming at you is intimidating enough to
city folk, and city folk with children and strollers, without
this little bit of extra rudeness.

We need a "horse poop is beautiful" campaign.

Linda B. Merims
lbm@ici.net
Linda_Merims@ne.3com.com
Massachusetts, USA










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