If you have ever experienced the frustration of trying to ride on a poorly maintained trail, you know the importance of keeping them in tip-top shape. One day your best riding buddy comes to you all excited about a new trail she found on a map. She hasn't ridden it yet, but look, it's listed on the map and it's right off a main road. Surely it's been maintained?
The next Saturday, you hook up the trailer, load your horse and head off early in the morning. At the trailhead you unload your horse, who is as eager to get going as you are. As you settle in the saddle with a smile on your face, you round the corner to see a huge tree lying across the trail. It is too short to go under, but too tall to go over. Thick bushes and trees are blocking easy access to the sides of the downed tree. Your horse is stomping, restless to get going.
"Just a minute," you mutter as you scan the sides of the trail for an easy path to bust through to get around the log. You hope there are no hidden sharp sticks that will poke your horse as you are wading through stirrup-high brush. Once again you are back on the path and you're ready to enjoy your day on the trail with your horse. Maybe we can trot now, you think.
As you get into a nice rhythm of posting, long tree limbs sticking out into the trail start slapping you in the face. You manage to gather the reins in one hand, and use your other arm to fend off the offensive branches. Suddenly your horse slams on the brakes and you see a long, soggy section of mud across the trail for the next 100 feet. You urge your horse forward, hoping he doesn't pull a shoe, or worse, a muscle. You both emerge from the mud and breathe a sigh of relief that it wasn't a bottomless bog.
Just as you begin to relax and enjoy the ride, you see a rockslide, with a slope of small loose rocks spilling over the trail. Is it safe to go over? Is there any place to go around? You frown with indecision while your horse dances on the trail. Maybe you should just turn around and just go home!
The fun day you had in mind for you and your horse is starting to crumble, just like the banks of the trail near the rockslide.
So, you are asking yourself, how does a horseman go about trying to help with trail maintenance? What can I do to help keep those trails open and rideable?
In the western United States, where I live and ride, most of the land available for riding is either federal land, managed by the United States Forest Service (USFS) or Bureau of Land Management (BLM), or is private ownership (timber companies or ranches).
For all private land, you need to ask the owner and be granted permission to ride. Better yet, get permission in writing. That way you have a letter to show, should one of their employees stop to question you.
On federal land, you have to follow the developed rules and regulations in order to play. If you are going to hold an organized event on federal land, you need to request a Special Use Permit. Federal land managers have offices scattered across many towns and cities. Stop by and visit; ask for information about trails open to horse use. Ask who maintains their trails. Be sure to ask when it was last maintained, as trees do fall across the trail and must be cleared periodically.
Federal land management agencies' budgets are steadily decreasing, especially in recreation, while their workloads are increasing. Many land managers are relying on volunteers to complete or assist with trail maintenance. They prefer to work with organized groups who have trained volunteers, rather than untrained individuals running around cutting trails here and there.
It is considered an illegal activity to construct or maintain unauthorized trails in a National Forest. So, please ask before you maintain a trail in your neighboring National Forest or BLM district. Call up your local land management agency and ask to speak to someone who works in recreation. They should be able to direct you as to who the managing agency is on the piece of ground in question. Ask if there are any planned volunteer trail projects in the works.
Most horse people are physically capable of performing trail maintenance. It is easy. It is fun! If you are a serious endurance competitior, you ought to be out helping with those trails. You have to be in the frame of mind that "if it is going to be, it is up to me" or, as my friend Belle McGregor once told me, "Get off your tail, and hit the trail!"
Here are ten helpful hints to get you going:
1. Have fun! This is always Rule #1! If you are not having fun, you are not doing it right. Attempt to quell anyone with that "let's just hurry and get this over with" attitude. Take pride in what you are accomplishing. Plan an evening barbecue at the trailhead after the work is over. Have a cooler full of cold watermelon for lunch on a hot summer day. There is no end to the fun ideas you can mix in.
2. Plan ahead. At the beginning of the year when you are looking over your ride calendar, plan to devote a few days to trail maintenance. Make it a yearly goal. Write it down. If you don't plan for it, you won't make a commitment and it won't happen.
3. Recruit a few good friends. "The more, the merrier!" A few committed, successful people can motivate each other. You'll be surprised at just how much you can accomplish, all the while having fun. The results are exponential!
4. Dress appropriately. Don't show up for a trail project dressed in shorts, tank top, and sandals! Appropriate dress for trail maintenance includes a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, leather gloves, 8-inch leather work boots, glasses for eye protection, and a hat for head protection. Dress in easily added or removable layers. Be prepared for any kind of weather. Other items you may want to throw in are: insect repellent, a bandana, a small first aid kit, any prescription medicine you need, sting-kill swabs, antihistamines for allergies, etc.
It is better to have it and not need it, rather than to need it and not have it.
5. Eat and drink. Come on, you know the drill. Carry your own small pack with water and plenty of high-energy snacks. Don't limit yourself to three large meals a day. It is better to eat and drink small amounts, more often. Working on a trail project is not the time to try a new diet.
6. Start small! If you aren't experienced at trail maintenance, don't commit to a weeklong project. Begin with a one-day or a small weekend project first to see how your body reacts. If you find it a rewarding activity, then jump right in! If your first jaunt is not to your liking, reflect about what you didn't like. Try a different project work leader, or volunteer in a new location. Sometimes all you need is a change in scenery.
7. Pace yourself. Don't try to be the first to get up the trail. This isn't a race. Slow and steady. Find a trail project where there will be volunteers with work goals similar to yours.
8. What about poisonous plants and dangerous wildlife? Yes, they are out there: poison oak and ivy, stinging nettle, spiders, snakes, scorpions, ticks, stinging bees and wasps, mountain lions and bears. . . . Educate yourself about them. Avoid touching the plants. Most importantly, beware around wild animals and their young.
9. Think of trail maintenance as a component of your fitness program. Yes, it will keep you in shape! Trail maintenance is a participatory activity. It makes for a really boring spectator sport. Just remember that a fitter person makes a better rider. Work on building your endurance, while improving your endurance trail -- your mount will thank you for it!
10. You don't have to be an expert. So what if it is your first or second time on a trail project? Trail maintenance, like endurance riding, is one of those activities where there is room for people of all abilities. You only need the desire to begin, and the commitment to show up. Make yourself known to local land managers and you will soon become popular. Communicate often. Ask what you can do to help, and spread the word to all your horse-riding friends.
So, there you go. Are you ready to help? Get off your tail and hit the trail!
AERC Member Cynthia Lusk has been working on trails since she was 15, and served as a Youth Conservation Corps member on the Lassen National Forest in Northern California. Thirty years later, she is a U.S. Forest Service employee and she and her husband have three children, eight horses and two mules.
