Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Trail conditions (was Re: [RC] Need Bail, quick)

"Duncan Fletcher" <dfletche@xxxxxxx> said:

>There are a  number of trails that are open to
> horses that may present hazards to horses - but
> that is a relative thing...Do not ever suggest
> that a trail should be closed to horses simply
>because of its current condition...

This is *so* true.  Recently, the New Hampshire
Horse Council published an article in one of
the New England horse publications that repeated
"safe trail" recommendations from something
called Trails for the 21st Century and the Minnesota
Extension.  It talks about things like tread widths
of 5-6 and even 8 feet and total brush clearings of 8-12
feet for two-way traffic, and that forward line-of-sight
needs to be at least 100 feet.

The problem with this is that, if the horse people
go around blabbing that this is what constitutes
a "safe" horse trail, what happens is that the organization
that controls the land that the trails traverse--and
which doesn't have the resources to implement the
guidelines--will just look at you and say, "Well, I guess
the trail isn't safe, and we'll have to close it to
horses for everybody's sake."

If you go around crying "The trail's not safe for horses!"
the land manager's easiest solution is to just forbid
horses.  After all, it was the horse people themselves
who told him it wasn't safe.  And if a tree hugger
group is looking for a way to get rid of horses--this
gives them an ironclad argument.  How can you
argue against "safety"?


Linda B. Merims
lbm@xxxxxxxxx
Massachusetts, USA




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