Our local horse council is working with DOT, local government and greenways folk to develop trails throughout the county. Anyone have photos of trails used by bikes, walkers and horses? How are they working in your community? thanks for any input.
There is a state park in our area (Great Brook State Farm) that is heavily used by horses, joggers, dog walkers, cyclists (mostly kids) – your basic family destination. The main trails are wide, well-maintained gravel or dirt, well-signed. It works very well, but I wouldn’t bring a reactive horse there without a host of steddy eddies surrounding him. 
It’s a lovely place to ride.
There is also a local rail trail, paved, with a dirt/gravel shoulder for horses. Alot of the time the horses use the pavement, as the shoulder is rocky. Many of the “serious” cyclists are terrible about silently whooshing up behind you and whipping past, so your horse has to be able to deal. Very pretty trail, but my horse has some trouble with people fishing in ponds along the path (I think she thinks their fishing poles are longe whips). People are nice about lowering their poles while we move by, if we ask respectfully.
There is a local conservation area that has beautiful dirt trails, widely used by joggers, dog walkers (often off leash), families, etc. Horse use is very light, but the families love to see the horses, everyone behaves appropriately. Off-leash dogs have been happy, low-key, well-behaved types happy to share the woods, and owners are generally very responsible, but there will always be exceptions out there.
In all cases, though, I feel like it is the horse owner’s responsibility to do what we can to make sure our horses can deal with the stimulation and surprises of a mixed-used trail. My horse is fine with bikes, dogs, joggers, etc. but lost her marbles at the sight of a Shetland pony pulling a cart down the trail, and it took a few moments of me talking with the cart driver for my horse to figure out the tiny equine, the cart, the human, and how they all fit together.
We often ride the C and O Canal trail near Point of Rocks. Sharing the trail works very well except when the trail is crowded on weekends and holidays.
I’ve ridden mountain bikes on multi-use trails (single track). As long as everyone follows the rules of bikes yield to walkers & horses, it’s fine. There are, however, a few jerk cyclists that think the horses shouldn’t be there and will whip past them like stated above.
Not sure where you are located, but two examples come to mind.
- The Paulinskill Valley Trail- located in North New Jersey. I have ridden most of it and had positive experiences.
https://www.railstotrails.org/resourcehandler.ashx?id=3478
- Jacobsburg Park- located in Nazareth, PA. I have ridden this park extensively and had very positive experiences with shared use. The mountain bikers were always exceptionally curtious.
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/findapark/jacobsburg/#horsebackriding
I don’t have any pictures, but we have several parks in the area with multi-use trails. Most are either dirt or gravel and open to hikers, bikers, and equestrians. Some parks even have XC jumps set up on the trails. I will say, these parks are very good about preserving the footing of their trails and are only open to horses when the conditions have been dry and they are sure the trails won’t be torn up by hooves!
Almost all the trails locally in our state parks are multi use. I’ve had an occasional issue while running or riding but nothing big. A few have signs that clarify-- horses yield to pedestrians, pedestrians yield to bikes, bikes yield to horses. And do make sure they post signs if there is a running or bike race-- I think I often people would avoid the area if they just knew in advance there would be large groups. Most people are pretty good about sharing and very polite.
Thank you for the replies, especially the link cutter99.
I’m going forward this thread.
You can contact Oregon Equestrian Trails; view their website/facebook pages. You will find a wealth of information out here, as this is what they do!
The Molalla River Corridor - Hardy Creek Trailhead (sorry I don’t personally have pics) is a mixed use trail; I have had many wonderful rides up there including one where my horse and I got stuck in a group of bikers. They were incredibly courteous to me as the trail was very narrow and I could not get off to let them pass me.
OET works tirelessly with the Forest Service and other user groups to maintain & create trails throughout the state, and a lot of them are mixed use.
I am sure if you contact somebody within the organization they can provide you with as much information as you need!
If the trails are wide, it is much easier to share. Narrow trails make passing difficult.
PA has a bunch
Cutter 99 listed one, I ride quite a few in Central PA. Bald Eagle SF, Tiadaghton SF, and Sproul SF are all in this area, and Susquehannock SF borders the Northern edge of Sproul and Tiadaghton. These forest have cooperated on a meadering trail thru several different forest at a time. So many miles of multi-use trails. The PA DCNR website was down yesterday, but here is a link to my favorite multi-purpose trail, the Eagleton Mine Camp Trail.
[URL=“https://www.pahikes.com/trails/eagleton-mine-camp-trail”]https://www.pahikes.com/trails/eagleton-mine-camp-trail
There are also the Potter County Shared use trails, the Mount Broadhead Area Use trails, etc. I cannot link these, as they go right to a PDF, but the information on them is good.
Most of the Multi-use in PA are single track, which makes meeting bikes a challenge sometimes. Your horse does have to be good with them, and it really helps if the bikers/hikers know to TALK to us. I cannot tell you how many times we have yelled HELLO, How are you, etc. and People just nod, and step back into the brush to let us pass. Horse says I don’t think so, that is an Alien!! I tell the DCNR they should have a rule to greet everyone on the trail so they know someone else is out there, they just laugh and say we are lucky if they don’t get lost. The worst are people with loose dogs. All dogs must be leashed in State Forests, but everyone lets them run, and pretty much have no control over them. The worst are large families with loose dogs. Nothing like a pack of screaming kids and loose dogs making a beeline for your horse on a narrow trail. This is why we mostly ride during the week.
I think it depends what your area is like as to what information is going to benefit you. Horse are allowed to ride to the side of the Pine Creek Trails to trails from Ansonia to about 1/2 way down. I don’t know anyone who rides it more then once, not worth the hassle.
Make sure they put up LARGE signs that indicate hikers and bikers yield to horses. Ours are tiny and brown and no one even notices them.
The C&O is my favorite multi use trail.
The big thing is rules and edcuation. There needs to be an established hierarchy and standards of behavior. For example, on the C&O bikers should yield to horses. Some other places have rules about things you should do like speak so the horse knows you’re a person, dismount, pull off the trail, etc. people have to be taught HOW to share the trails so that they can then do so.
I live in Arizona and and have an annual pass for our Maricopa County’s 12 Regional Parks. I am extremely fortunate to be able to haul-in to any of these parks with their multi-use trails. At every ride I say hello to hikers and we have a very large population of mountain bikers who are extremely courteous to horses.
I have photos but I also have videos.
Here’s one from a multi-use trail as part of McDowell Regional Park.
https://youtu.be/KT54-rL68go
Here’s a multi-use trail in San Juan Capistrano, CA where I train in the summer:
https://youtu.be/ie_DKq6Th08
Multi-Use trail at Estrella Regional Park, AZ
https://youtu.be/oXBsKa87OlU
Thanks guys! What get trails AshleyandAnnabel makes me want to head west!
The Fla Greenways in Ocala have separate trails that sometimes cross each other which is a better way if possible. If you message me your email, I can send you maps
