Equestrian Community Relationship with Land Trust

[3chestnuts]

Hi all,

I am a lifelong horsewoman working for a land trust, which manages over 20,000 acres and focuses on farmland, quality drinking water, and large landscapes for recreation, wildlife, and healthy forests. Currently, only a fraction of our lands are equine-accessible. As a result, the local horse community has not been close to the organization. We realize establishing a relationship with this community is critical for our success, and we are in the process of creating more opportunities for equestrians.

I have been tasked with broadening our outreach to the horse community. Given you all are an accurate representation of this target demographic, I’m hoping you might be willing to brainstorm some ideas on how to do this effectively.

A couple key points:

• Right now, we do not have one location that boasts a vast network of riding trails. There is an existing ~7 mile loop on one property, but I realize that alone wouldn’t entice someone to load up and travel there. (As an aside, we have two properties of >1,000 acres for which the trail network is being planned. These properties will be more horse-friendly).
• Preserving farmland (think hay) in our region is critical, and it is core to our mission.

We do some amazing work, and I think the equine community would appreciate and share our values. I’m just challenged to think of ways I can present the benefits we’d offer them in a way that would resonate.

Thank you in advance!

[Color_of_Light]

I’d imagine that I’m not the only one who finds this post curious. I have to ask some pointed and blunt questions before I can answer your post. Is this real? I ask this because if you are a lifelong horsewoman who is strapped with this task for a land trust, this is an odd first post. If this is real, I’d love to have access to 1,000’s of acres of trails. Sign me up! Which state or part of the US is this land trust located in?

More information is needed. Here are a couple of pointed and blunt questions:

1. Why is a relationship with the horse community suddenly critical to the success of the land trust when it has previously only focused on farmland, quality drinking water, and large landscapes for recreation, wildlife, and healthy forests?

2. How will horse people make your land trust successful? There must be money involved. What is the charge for horse people to use the land?

3. What are “the benefits”?

4. What are the amenities?

5. If establishing a relationship with the horse community really is critical to the land trust’s success, if you are challenged to think of ways to present the benefits of your land trust to horse people in a way that would resonate and if you need help brainstorming on how to make your trust successful, are you sure that you are the appropriately qualified person to take on this huge task? Hopefully you understand what lead me to make this pointed and blunt question: the success of the 20,000 acre land trust establishing a relationship with the horse community is critical to it’s success.

[trubandloki]

@Color of Light

I’d imagine that I’m not the only one who finds this post curious. I have to ask some pointed and blunt questions before I can answer your post. Is this real? I ask this because if you are a lifelong horsewoman who is strapped with this task for a land trust, this is an odd first post.

I totally agree with your questions… but I just want to point out that this is not a first post for the OP.

[3chestnuts]

@Color of Light

I’d imagine that I’m not the only one who finds this post curious. I have to ask some pointed and blunt questions before I can answer your post. Is this real? I ask this because if you are a lifelong horsewoman who is strapped with this task for a land trust, this is an odd first post. If this is real, I’d love to have access to 1,000’s of acres of trails. Sign me up! Which state or part of the US is this land trust located in?

More information is needed. Here are a couple of pointed and blunt questions:

1. Why is a relationship with the horse community suddenly critical to the success of the land trust when it has previously only focused on farmland, quality drinking water, and large landscapes for recreation, wildlife, and healthy forests?

2. How will horse people make your land trust successful? There must be money involved. What is the charge for horse people to use the land?

3. What are “the benefits”?

4. What are the amenities?

5. If establishing a relationship with the horse community really is critical to the land trust’s success, if you are challenged to think of ways to present the benefits of your land trust to horse people in a way that would resonate and if you need help brainstorming on how to make your trust successful, are you sure that you are the appropriately qualified person to take on this huge task? Hopefully you understand what lead me to make this pointed and blunt question: the success of the 20,000 acre land trust establishing a relationship with the horse community is critical to it’s success.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Yes, this is real, and while it’s my first post about this topic, I’ve been a COTH member for a few years now. What I’m trying to say in my original post is that if we had 1,000 acres of trails that were horse accessible right now, my job would be much easier! Unfortunately, that is not the case, and I’m trying to figure out how I can attract members of the horse community while offering a limited amount of trails suitable for equestrian purposes. Again, we’re in the infancy stages of planning the trail network for a couple of properties, and once those are finalized and approved, we’ll have more to offer.

I’ll take a stab at answering your questions:

1. My apologies if my wording in my OP was misleading. While the future of the organization does not rest on the support of the horse community, we receive much of our operating support from our membership base. People who enjoy horses also tend to enjoy recreating outside, which is our target membership demographic. We’re looking to grow our membership base, which would allow us to pursue more land projects, making us a successful organization. The desire to appeal to a broader demographic does not change the mission of the organization.
2. We provide public access to our properties, and there’s no charge to use them. We hope people who enjoy our properties and believe in our mission will become members (at no minimum dollar amount), which loops back to my point in the answer above.
3. People tend to support something if they get something out of it - the “benefit” to them, unless they feel it’s just their duty to support something they feel passionate about. Enjoy hunting? We allow hunting on some properties. Like birding? I can tell you which spots to go to. The point of my original question is to gauge what would inspire members of the horse community to give to our cause, and have them relate to it, without being able to say, “Here’s 1,000 acres to ride on”. I can explain what we do and hope it resonates, but it’s much more effective to have a conversation when you have something to offer that’s specific to their main interest.
4. Amenities are limited.
5. I’ve found that brainstorming with like-minded individuals produces better results than working on a creative project alone.

I hope this helps clarify things for you!

[clanter]

OP, you might start with contacting the US Forest Service’s e Caddo and Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) National Grasslands is also about 20,000 acres , the headquarters is located in Decatur Texas.

Through joint efforts with local horse groups a few hundred miles of trails have been created.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/texas/about-forest/districts/?cid=fswdev3_008440

[B_and_B]

Interesting question! As a horse person, though more of a farmer, and a board member of a land trust…I am heartened by your questions.
But for a rather discouraging reason: by and large I have found that the majority of land trusts (at least in Connecticut) are neutral or out right antagonistic about horses. I’ve fought, unsuccessfully, to point out that bicyclists and wheeled vehicles are far more likely to damage trails and/or to be the vectors for invasive species. (Wheels can carry an unbelievable seed load, far more than horses.) Those two reasons are routinely used around here to flat out ban horses.
So, where would I start? With a good dialogue within the board and with various horse people who you have already identified as conservation minded about what the benefits and challenges of horses are. Be prepared to have to argue for horses unexpectedly so knowing what the common complaints are is a good way to get a jump on rebutting them.

[wildlifer]

As a conservation biologist who also owns horses, I guess I sit on both sides of the fence. I’m a bit unclear on what the original question is tho.

I don’t work for a land trust, but they are partners. One thing I would like to see more of is land trusts offering educational resources on good land management, site visits, & more tools for smaller parcels. I own 10 acres, but it has some good habitat (I work with freshwater species so you better bet my horses are fenced out of the creek). I know what I need to do but many people don’t. Horses do an enormous amount of damage - yes I trail ride but just like everything else, taking a few extra steps to be responsible can make a big difference. Things like not riding wet trails and leaving forested buffers on streams, not riding through waterways, water conservation & reuse on farms, using native plants. Many horse people would like to learn more about keeping their communities & drinking water healthy, and may own land but in pieces too small for easements - it would be great if a land trust could help work in that gap.

If you are planning some larger trail system ,that is what would bring additional interest in. Have a stakeholder group to provide input on design & logistics, as well as ‘friends’ groups for maintenance. And in exchange, that’s your connection point for furthering responsible land use education.

[B_and_B]

Wildlifer, I could your like your post a thousand times, thank you for pointing out some things that I could use!

[trubandloki]

I realize I am jumping ahead here but I want to say it anyway.

When/if you do make a trail system make sure the rules are clearly posted.

For example, do not assume that everyone who shows up with a horse trailer is responsible enough to know that they should not clean the manure out of the trailer and leave it in the parking lot for the next person to deal with.
If you are going to not expect people to dismount and remove manure from the trail itself make sure people know that so someone walking their dog does not start a huge fight with the horse people over it.

[MsM]

I suspect that you first need a master plan for the acreage in your land trust. What amount is “wilderness” and where is it? What areas are “recreational”? What activities will be allowed and what will not?

IME, it works best for horse people if there are trails designated as “equestrian”. If they are designated for horses there tend to be fewer conflicts and chance of horses being ultimately banned. It helps to have plenty of other use (hiking, biking) trails as well. Trying to keep motorized vehicles off trails is a challenge.

I know in at least one situation there is some kind of written understanding between a land trust and a horsemans group. The group agrees to upgrade the trails (subject to approval) and maintain them while the contract promises them access for a set period of time. (I think this group had improved trails elsewhere only to have horses banned when walkers objected).

[3chestnuts]

Good morning all,

Thanks for your thoughtful responses!

B and B - it is sad, and seems like an uphill battle, to keep equine access to the trails that have been horse-friendly for so long. There are so many misconceptions about horses - since I started in this role, I’ve been researching the impact of equestrian use on trails and vouching for more access for them. It’s perfect timing, really, as expanded equine use will be included in the development of our next trail plans.

Wildlifer - great point about providing education for landowners with property not large enough for an easement. I can see this being a point of interest for our local horse community and I’ve earmarked this idea to look into further. We’ve had a visioning session for one of the properties being “developed”, and I was happy to see a handful of individuals there to represent the horse community. As more an more legislation is being proposed at the detriment of local trail access, I think it would go a long way to reach out to the community to allow their voices to be heard, showing that we wish to work with them, not against them. We would just need to be careful to balance our commitments to conservation with our desire to expand our public access.

trubandloki - Thank you for mentioning this. Rules are necessary for keeping the peace!

MsM - Agreed! For example, a lot of trail users aren’t fans of snowmobiles, but we are close with a local snowmobile group who do their part to maintain the trails and use them responsibly. I’m thinking a similar arrangement with a horse group would be necessary.

[TCA_Arabians]

We have a local land trust in our little community. It’s nowhere as large as OPs. There is a trail for equine use. It has various impediments to block off-road vehicle use. We’re also adjacent to a national forest where there are a good number of trails. Both locals and haul-ins use both.

OP - It reads to me that you’re both developing horse trails because you think it is an appropriate use for the land and you want to expand your fundraising base into the local horse community. If you’re only doing the former for the sake of the latter - I’d rethink it.

I like wildlifers suggestions. You can do outreach by hosting “brainstorming socials” that solicit ideas for the trail building. Those could be hosted at your center (assuming you have one); a local feed store; a ranch owner’s place, a restaurant. You’re building a network that will evolve into a fundraising base. Ask to be on the agenda of your local horse clubs to do a short presentation.

Our community came together to plan an equestrian center. It was non-related to the land trust/preserve. It would have been on public land. The fur flew at some of those meetings. People stormed out and one guy threw a book at someone else. I share this to prepare you. I’m laughing again at the memory of it all. That eq center has yet to be built.
It’s still bubbling along as a concept.

There are groups of folks here that do trail preservation - both equine and off-road. There are separate trails for each. Not that there isn’t encroachment by one or the other. And, there is still degradation of the land. You might think about trails that rotate access from one season to another so the land can recover. I’m not sure if that would work.

Boy/Girl Scouts (I guess they’re now merging the Boy and Girl Scouts) do projects to earn their upper rank badges. Your local FFA and horse clubs are also natural orgs that you can reach out to as ways to build support and involve your local community. Ditto local chapters of environmental groups. I’m guessing you’re already working with those groups.

I like the concept of expanding while conserving. Those of us in rural areas and adjacent to the treasures of our national forests know well the beauty of our lands. Teaching our fellow citizens to appreciate it and not damage it is a nationwide objective - or should be.

[anon40672407]

As far as trying to get more people introduced to the land that is available and open to horses, you could sponsor a trail ride with some purpose or benefits going to some horse organization in your area.

A Poker ride, a treasure hunt, something along those lines that encourage people to come for an event on a specific date, with an entry fee that goes to something they care about (and that might provide volunteer labor for organization).

That’s one way to focus people’s attention.