On a cross country flight this week, I had a very interesting talk with a couple who were avid bikers. They were headed to a biking vacation in Europe.
The jist of the discussion is how can these two groups co-exist? In their area of California, it seems the bikers are loosing trails to equestrians and hikers.
What are the real issues, and what can we do so all can enjoy the great outdoors?
Around here, my sense is that it’s the other way around- we do get along, but the bikers vastly outnumber the horses, and it takes only one idiot on either side to start a skirmish, if not a major war. We do have trails where bikers coming down at excessive speed ARE going to injure a hiker, or a horse/rider, or themselves coming around a blind corner. My experiences have all been okay- though a couple of times a biker has had to throw himself into a crash off the trail to avoid hitting my horse- but I have friends that won’t ride the shared trails, they just stress about it too much.
What we can all do is what we SHOULD all do in daily life- good manners, common sense, thoughtfulness, courtesy by ALL. And, recognize that one bad apple in any user group doesn’t mean the whole group is bad.
I live near Acadia National Park (Maine) and don’t ride there when all the tourists are here. The mountain bikes are a hassle. Most of them are good buy you only need one. I wish they would warm you when they come up behind you and be careful on blind curves. Some of those trails have very steep cliffs off to the side and I am fearful of a spook down one of them. No matter how I try to school the horse(s) at home to bikes it is always a suprise when one comes out of the blind. They have no issues with ATV’s or motorcycles (not allowed in that parkj) and when the new trails are built nearby downease I would rather contend with them than the silent mountain bikes. We all have to lern to share.
I was impressed with this couple’s attitude. They truly were looking for answers that would satisfy all parties.
I asked they what they did when they saw horses on the trail, and they said they get off their bikes and wait for the horses to pass. They also said they were very aware of blind curves vs line of sight and only picked up speed when they could see what was ahead of them.
weaver, I agree that it is our job to desensitize our horses to bikes. I suggested to these bikers that they find an equestrian group and volunteer to help them with that desensitization.
I find mountain bikers over the age of 25ish are very nice and considerate of others on the trails. It is the fearless under 25 set that is the problem on our trails.
I swear it is the generation they are the most narcissistic bunch I have ever come across. They are generation ME.
Allies in our area
To the best of my knowledge, horse riders and mountain bike riders are pretty much in the same camp in this area. It think it probably helps that usually the cyclists aren’t going that fast on the single-track, and if they’re riding in a group they’re usually talking or whooping or whatever so you can hear them, and if it’s on a trail that’s wide enough to pick up any speed, it’s also a trail that’s wide enough for reasonable sight lines and they yell “coming up behind you” or whatever. I have scared more of them by calling out a greeting than they have scared us (if they’re headed up a hill breathing heavily and looking down at the trail, they don’t hear/see us coming). There seems to be a good amount of consensus among all the non-motorized groups about how to maintain the trails, advocacy, etc.
I get more annoyed with the road cyclists who whoosh by silently at high speeds. My horse isn’t bothered, but I’ve been startled a few times when we’ve been going down a road and they fly up behind and around us.
Of course, we did have one wacko year or two ago who was stringing wires across the trails at the height of a horse’s head… nice. Never caught the bastard, as far as I know.
That is in accordance with standard trail etiquette- bikers yield to hikers and horses, hikers yield to horses. Many trails post signage showing this.
I encounter bikers all the time. Most are very courtious. even the occassional one that flies around a corner too fast, usually are very apologetic about spooking the horses.
If they come up from behind. I try and watch behind and let them pass. My courtousy to them. since they have a harder time picking speed back up on any kind of hill. If I’m in a wide enough spot for them to pass safely, I call out to approaching bikers and tell them to not stop and get off the trail. My horses deal with the bikes very well if they are not suprised by them. So talking to the bikers is usually a good thing.
Most bikers compliment how beautiful my horses are and I usually tell them how nice their bike is. It just provides a conversation between them and I and this helps the horses relax.
The only real complaint I hear from bikers is in regard to road apples on the trail. Those of us who live around horses don’t think twice about stepping on a road apple. And in my views they break down pretty quick and the decaying grass is pretty good mulch to help hold trail from errosion. But some bikers/hikers view road apples like dog crap and wouldn’t dream of letting it touch their tires or shoes. I really don’t know the solution to this. Other to make sure I keep the trail head area clear when I load and un load horses. But once on the trail _ _ it happens.
Hay
I don’t have a problem with the bikers of all ages in our area, we coexist very well together. I even insist the biker just ride by (provided there’s room), just good training for my horse who is so oblivious to bikers at this point.
And, I have to say when I ride, I always watch my horse’s ears. He hears the bikers before I do and I know to start looking behind me and I just get off the trail.
We do need to coexist amicably. The trails are for everyone!
To answer the OP’s question… 
In areas where horseriders and mountain bike riders are not getting along, I suppose the thing to do would be to invite mountain bikers to the horse riders’ meetings, and ask if a few horseriders could attend some mountain bikers’ meetings. That would demonstrate that the horseback riders were interested in finding common ground and working together, and there might be advantages in terms of trail maintenance, advocacy, setting policy, etc.
[QUOTE=SharonA;4247813]
In areas where horseriders and mountain bike riders are not getting along, I suppose the thing to do would be to invite mountain bikers to the horse riders’ meetings, and ask if a few horseriders could attend some mountain bikers’ meetings. That would demonstrate that the horseback riders were interested in finding common ground and working together, and there might be advantages in terms of trail maintenance, advocacy, setting policy, etc.[/QUOTE]
I second this suggestion.
If the groups can find a way to work together to maintain and improve the trails. . .maybe by combining funds to purchase gravel or signs, or scheduling work-weekends to do regular maintenance or clear fallen trees or overgrown brush, then all parties benefit.
Trail access is lost when groups just point fingers and complain about each other to park management until one group is banned, or trail access is cut off altogether because the trails are in such bad shape that they can’t be used by hikers, horsemen, or cyclists.
There are selfish people in every age group. Just a few weeks ago my friend and I had an issue with an older man jogging up behind our walking horses w/o saying a word on a multi use trail. We couldn’t hear the man coming but the horses did and spooked. When I turned around and saw the man he continued to run towards our horses eventhough it was quite clear they were startled. At that point my horse was starting to feel threatened and I feared he might charge at the jogger who continued to run towards him . This man also made no effort to move to the other side of the trail that was plenty wide enough for him to pass safely. I had to ask the man several times to WALK by the horses until he did.
I rarely have an issue with runners, mtn bikers or quad users on trail. But in the cases that I have experienced issues the age groups have varied. I’ve also encountered rude horseback riders on trail too:no:
One way to de sensitize your horse to mtn bikes is go out on on trail with someone on a mtn bike. I’ve ridden with my husband on a mtn. bike many times and as a result my horse is great with mtn. bikes. Then again I don’t trail ride on narrow, windy trails that tend to be populated by mtn. bikes.
Multi-Use Trails
Almost all of the ( non-motorized ) horse trails in my area are multi-use, shared by hikers, backpackers, horses and Mt. bikes. One solution to some steeper trails: bike are allowed UP these trails, not Down. They have to take a different route when possible. From my experience, the Mt. bikers are quite compliant with the rules and polite when they meet up with horses.
A local park wanted to have an ordinance / rule the rider pick up after their horses. Local equine group said, instead of the rule, they fought it saying, they would clean up the trails. No ordinance, but the clean ups went to the wayside like the rule.
Being a good equestrian, horse owner, we need to learn to share the resources that are used for multiple uses. Horses need to be trained to handle the unexpected bike rider. Bike riders as well need to be courteous in sharing trails used by others. Educating all concerned of the needs and issues each has, goes along way in solving problems.
Mixed use trails have a serious operational problem: mixing three types of traffic moving at very different speeds.
The hiker, traveling “shanks mare,” moves pretty slowly. They may be heavily laden with pack, sleeping bag, etc. They can lack visibility and are not very manueverable. They don’t generate periodic, large waste deposits.
The horseman moves faster (even at a walk). While he may be capable of higher speeds he generally is at the low end of the range. Can be carrying a heavy load, but even if he is remains fairly manueverable. Has excellent visability. Does leave periodic, large waste deposits.
The biker moves faster than either the hiker or rider almost all the time (a possible exception being long climbs). He is generally not carrying a big load (although he could be). His visibility is good, manueverability good, but due to speed can have a limited time to react to a sudden obsticle. Does not leave periodic, large waste deposits.
Waste generation is a frequent complaint of hikers and bikers.
These three very different “ways of going” are not going to mix well unless and until each recognizes the limitations of the others and plans accordingly.
G.
Well, the mix usually works but there are always asshats, including the fact that the sheer volume of hikers and bikers on our urban trails means far more waste is generated by them than by the horses. Plus, our horse waste is organic and decomposes to the benefit of the land in a few short months. I walk my riding trails occasionally with a fork and a garbage bag. The manure I see, I fork off the trail. But the garbage bag is always full, generally with plastic water and soda bottles and cans, cigarette packaging, food and snack wrappers and dog doodoo. Nasty.
In our community the bike lobby is apparently not interested in sharing the trails and have gotten one park made completely off limits to hikers and horses, and a half dozen other parks are off limits to horses during the warm season, but are open year round for bikers and hikers.
I’m very lucky, where I live all three users get along great and we all respect each other.
When one group hosts a an event to support the preserve, the others stay away. We do try to keep it clean as much as possible. The bike and horse folk all contribute to trail clipping and cleaning, it’s nice.
I feel lucky after reading this thread.
You can train all day long, but seriously, when Mr Pack Horse is trudging along on his 5th or 15th mile, and can’t friggin’ SEE behind him, as he’s wearing a big PACK, and he hasn’t seen another anything for hours…and a bike whizzes down a trail and runs right up behind him, while the saddle horse and rider are eared up and studying a boggy crossing- guess what?
Spook Happens.
The bikers need to know to speak up, make noise, and get the horse’s attention. Deal with this on a shaly, steep, set of MT switchbacks, and call me if you’re still among the living.
and hence, CatOnLap’s famous mountain bike versus quarter horse butt tail…err…tale.
Descending a steep mountain trail with many switchbacks, a mountain biker came up too fast and slid sideways into my horse’s legs, sweeping them under him and forcing him to sit down on the front wheel and forks of the bike. No one was hurt, the horse had only a few scrapes but the bike was bent beyond repair. The biker wanted me to pay for it. I asked him for his driver’s licence “so I would know where to send the vet bill” and he hightailed it down the mountain carrying his bike through the brush as he couldn’t pass us on the trail. silly bunt.
You think sharing a trail is bad, try driving a light buggy down the road! You wouldn’t believe the crazy abuse my pony endured; kids yelling & waving arms out of the car, fast food waste bag topedos, purposefully backfiring, etc.
There is no way to desensitize a horse to antagonistics looking to spook a horse for fun. They don’t understand the hint red tail ribbon = kicker, which might make some think before taunting or disregarding a trail horse.
Are there any scaled down caution triangles you can attach to your cantle as a warning? It would be quite easy to write or paint “caution” or “kicker” or best “approach with caution” on the triangle just to make them aware of the danger.
Really, most of these younger people have never seen a horse before, and have no idea of the real dangers involved in passing. Ever see them drive a car? I like that “ME generation” comment.
Just my 2¢, but an urban shared trail, you should push road apples to the side, just for everyone else’s comfort. In a rural woods situation, no. It could have just as easily been bear/deer/wolf poo.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
