Horses and bikes: a Clemson hug fest
IMBA Trail News
Volume 11, Number 5
November 1998
by Michael Kelley
Equestrian trail activists accepted and literally embraced bicycle activism at the First National Symposium on Horse Trails in Forest Ecosystems, hosted by Clemson University in South Carolina.
I was honored and enthused when the conference organizers asked me to present a discussion on equestrian-mountain biker relations. Approaching the conference, I figured that my speech, titled "Horses and Bikes: a Case for Sharing," might be received warmly. Sure, there were areas, such as Marin County, California, where horse-bike feuds seem etched in stone. But my experience told me that place was an aberration, and that horses and bikes make great trail companions.
Yet I was not prepared for the tremendous, uniformly positive reception IMBA received at Clemson. The event arose out of issues surrounding the rapidly increasing use of forest trails by horseback riders. It provided an opportunity for meaningful interactions and introspection, and significantly improved dialogue between equestrians, land managers, and other users.
It seemed everyone in the horsey world was represented somehow. The event was sponsored by the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and the American Quarter Horse Association. The 175 participants included representatives from horse groups from all over the country and land managers. About 65% were equestrians, and the remainder were land managers, excepting me and two other cyclists and a few motorized folks.
Dr. Jack Ward Thomas, former Chief of the USDA Forest Service, said that management of National Forests has changed dramatically over the past decade, shifting from timber production to the preservation of biodiversity and use of these lands for recreation. But funding does not begin to reflect these changes, he said. Add to this rapidly increasing demands for recreation, and you get competition for space and resources, causing conflicts among users, and between users and managers. Dr. Thomas concluded that different recreational users must form coalitions to iron out differences, and collaborate to ensure that land managers have adequate resources. "Partnership" must become the recreationist's byword.
Pam Gluck, executive director of American Trails, offered a moving case for ending internal warring between trail user groups, and between users and environmental groups opposed to increased trail use. She suggested that strife almost cost us the one of the most important funding source in the history of trails: The National Recreational Trails Fund. Trail users did unite to save and enhance the Fund, but the risk of future loss remains. We've got to spend much less time defending "my use causes less damage to the trail than does yours," and instead focus on what each user group can do to lessen impact, she said.
Pam showed a video that had everyone laughing in the aisles. It portrayed a hiker, an equestrian and a cyclist, and the amusing and informative things that happened when they exchanged modes of travel... like a cyclist perched on a horse, pleasantly inquiring over his shoulder, "so, how do you stop?" Again, Pam's message was clearly one of building and maintaining a united trails constituency.
My presentation came on the second day, by which time it seemed a little (but only a little) like Woodstock in the '60s. Everyone was feeling good, and thinking partnership. So my presentation was fun and easy. I told some jokes and made the case for a strong trail family that works out differences proactively. The response was astonishing. Along with a lot of compliments about what a fine contribution IMBA was making, I got about 10 hugs! It was like I was still in Berkeley!
On airplane returning home, as I marveled at the quest for unity, I conversed with a passenger who heads up a leading national equestrian trails organization. I involuntarily shuddered as he began telling me about complaints he was getting about bikes - until he said that he only gets them from one place: Marin County. The rest of the country seems to be galloping in another direction.
You can obtain a copy of IMBA's presentation at Clemson by contacting our Boulder main office.
