SHARING MULTI-USE TRAILS

BY TANIA MILLEN

Horseback riders who ride multi-use trails often encounter mountain bikers, hikers, skiers, snowshoers, dogs, children, plus other recreationalists, many of whom are unfamiliar with horses. Fortunately, every encounter with a non-equine recreationalist is an opportunity to educate someone about how to safely share the trails with horses, learn about trail conditions or problems, and build rapport between equine users and non-equine users. Making sure that these encounters are safe, friendly, and educational helps ensure that trails remain open to horses, even as other types of recreation – such as mountain biking – become more prominent on the trails.

When encountering non-riding trail users, it’s useful to ask how their day is going. This encourages people to stop, chat, and interact, which also allows your horse time to figure out that the other trail user is a human and not a scary monster! Explaining that horses are 500 kilogram flight animals who can move quickly and don’t always recognize hikers or bikers as human, helps the other recreationalist understand that horses are thinking, sentient beings with minds of their own. Imparting this knowledge in a friendly way also helps others know what to do when encountering horses in the future – something many non-equine users simply don’t know.

Making sure that horse and recreationalist encounters are safe, friendly, and educational helps ensure that trails remain open to horses.

Fortunately, many multi-use trails have signs indicating that bikers and hikers should yield to horses, however, some non-equine users struggle to interpret these signs or don’t understand why horses have the right-of-way. So explaining what the signs mean in a friendly manner and explaining why ‘stop and chat’ is the best practice when encountering horses on the trail, helps keep everyone safe.

Another way to create a common bond and ease potential tensions with other users is to ask about trail conditions or issues that non-equine users have encountered during their adventure that day. This can help you figure out what trails to ride or avoid and where problems may be encountered. If any trail damage or other problems limit horse use, it’s best to report your concerns to the organization that manages the trail network.

For those with quiet, reliable horses, allowing interested children and adults to pat horses or feed them a treat is another way to bond. Many people have never interacted with a horse before, so providing that experience safely can be thrilling for everyone involved.

For those with less reliable horses, kindly asking others to maintain their distance, remain visible (not hide in the bushes), and put their dog on a leash, helps keep everyone safe, too. Explaining the rationale behind your requests and how these actions help keep you and the non-rider safe, helps diffuse possible tensions between users while educating others about actions they can take when horses appear agitated. Usually, the reason non-riders do things that riders think are inconsiderate or unsafe is that they lack knowledge – it’s not because they’re unpleasant people. Often, nonriders simply don’t know what to do when around horses or what may scare our four-legged friends, or are scared of horses themselves.

Finally, it’s important to remember that every horseback rider is an advocate for other riders, and for horses to be allowed on multi-use trails. So please do your best to ensure that encounters with non-equine users are respectful, educational, and friendly. That will go a long way towards keeping riders and other recreationalists safe, plus ensuring that trails remain open to horse users. AB