In my new book, Nature's Housekeeper, I take issue with horses being allowed in the forest. The reasons are many, least of which are the people who ride them and how a large number freely and routinely abuse trailways. Needless to say, this did not go over well during a public reading of my work at the Back Country Horsemen Rendezvous in California.
To be fair, equestrians in the West are perhaps kinder and more considerate of trails and those who maintain them than they are in the Midwest but . . . well, a picture (or five) is worth a thousand (give or take) disgruntled words.
To be fair, equestrians in the West are perhaps kinder and more considerate of trails and those who maintain them than they are in the Midwest but . . . well, a picture (or five) is worth a thousand (give or take) disgruntled words.
As you can see in the picture above (click to enlarge), more than one horseback rider chose to save time by cutting through a switchback which ends--not 100, 50, or even 25 yards down the trail--but a scant three at best! On the right is the same social trail taken from the downhill side. Needless to say, this is an erosion nightmare in the making. If I had to guess, the perpetrators shaved a whole 5 - 10 seconds off their journey, which cost taxpayers because it took me two hours to rectify the problem. |
Before some whip-smart horseback rider quips that the navigational deviation was necessary because the trail is poorly engineered, I have worked this trail for many, many years and this is the first time riders have chosen to take this shortcut. In other words, if improper trail design--and not equestrian laziness--was the culprit, we would have rerouted this section of the pathway long, long ago.