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Re: [RC] Trail Use - Jeannie GillenYou go girl! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Claire Nystrom" <claire.nystrom@xxxxxxxxx> To: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2005 5:52 PM Subject: Re: [RC] Trail Use I ride in the Rockefeller State Park Preserve, just 22 miles north of NYC. The park and adjacent Rockefeller land have 150 miles of trails and are designated for use by pedestrians and equestrians only-- neither bicyclists nor motorized vehicles are permitted. I ride on the trails 7 days a week and almost never see other horseback riders. I do see tons of crazy dogs that have never seen horses before, joggers, and baby strollers. Being that the park is so close to Manhattan, there are a lot of people that have never seen horses before and have no idea how to behave. The people that climb into the bushes are particularly amusing-- especially since the trails are all carriage trails and are very wide. As I ride along, I try to be friendly to people and ride as far away as possible so as not to disturb or scare them. I do not always slow to a walk when I pass people, but if I see a lot of children or a bunch of people in the middle of the trail I do. It took a long time for my horses to adjust to being ridden in such a busy area, and they still do get spooked occasionally. I always make sure that I tell people that I don't mind if my horse is spooking, that they will get over it and it's good training for them to get used to whatever is scaring them. I figure that if I try to be as friendly and polite as possible, people will not mind that horses are ridden on the trails. Fortunately, the Rockefellers all have horses, so I can't imagine horses being banned from the trails, but I try to do my part to create a positive image in people's minds. My horses are friendly and not likely to injure anyone, but I do not let people pet them as the liability would be too great were something to happen. The only real problem I have is with the neighbors of the farm where I board. We had to have a hearing with the local zoning board so as to be able to continue to keep horses there, even though they've been on that property for over 60 years. Before this whole incident, and numerous run-ins with the psychotic neighbors coming to the gate and screaming at us about our horses, we were very polite and picked up the horse poop in the road. After the huge ordeal we went through, I just don't feel too inclined to pick up that manure in the road anymore. Since there is no law against horse manure in the road and it is a public road, I just leave it there. One of the neighbors complained the other day about it getting on his tires and all I could say that I much rather have horse manure on my tires than other things to be found on the streets of NY. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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