Places To Avoid...A.K.A. Horse Trails

I don't like HORSE Trails and I don't know a way to be PC about the matter. I've seen too many nice Missouri trails turned into rutted out mudholes over 10 feet wide and full of horse poop, due to the Forest Services preference for equestrians over hikers. I'm not trying to make friends or run for office, just being blunt, I don't want to waste time driving to a trail just to find a bunch of horse crap and muddy hoof prints to slog through!

Please help me out, and those that feel the same way but are afraid to say so...what is a list of Arkansas Trails that I would NOT like?

Coldspring,

The Ouachita trail doesn't allow horses, just in case you didn't know. I don't think that horses are allowed
on the Ozark Highlands trail. They are allowed in the wilderness areas. From my dealings with the FS in
Mena, AR. In my trail work that I volunteer for they told me to clear for hikers and not horses! Horses do come into
the Caney Creek Wilderness but I don't think they are a problem. One reason that I have tried hard to clear all
of the down trees is that if a hiker goes around a downed tree that isn't to much of a problem, but if a
horse goes around a down tree it can be a big problem!

On the Eagle Rock Loop part of the loop is the Viles Branch Horse trail. I have only been on it one
time and we didn't see any horses. They aren't allowed on any other parts of the trail

The times I have been in Caney Creek this year I haven't encountered horses or their poop.

And no I would just as soon as they go some were else!

Tom.. I have seen uh.. horse mud up on the mountains on the ERL.. specifically on Brush Heap. I know they are not suppose to be there but.. also have found horse markings on the BRT. I use the Old River Horse Trail during the winter months and usually don't have to much of a problem. Just watch where you step. I know of a few places that I would not go but they are few and far between.

O.H., I know all about the tree deal from doing maintenance. The sad thing is that even if there is NOT an obstacle in the trail they still veer off! For some reason? And if there's enough space they ride side by side on each side of the trail so they can B.S. while the drink their Busch Light. Also, if there's a little bit of mud those poor horses have to go around it! And when THAT mudhole gets 10 foot wide they keep going around that!

I always tell the sawyers to cut the big trees just wide enough for horse legs to fit through, not wide enough for ATVs, to make an obstacle, but the ATVs always seem to find another route!

T.M., now, I'm not freaking out about a rogue equestrian leaving a few piles of horse biscuits on an unauthorized trail, or a few pounded-in horseshoe prints in the dirt, but it's the continuous 10 foot wide mixture of solid mud and horse$#!t that gets to me!

On another note, I seriously can't smell anything but horse manure when there is SO MUCH of it. It just sticks to the hairs in your nostrils and there's no escaping it. Ruins my day...I want to smell pines, cedars, and flowers.

I know what you mean about the smell and all Cold. I guess its just from being brought up on a farm. NOTHING like a dairy farm on a nice muggy August Afternoon with the second milking of the day. That barn is just heaven.. Take your shoes off and roam through the stall hahahaha. If you haven't been on a dairy you have NO idea what your missing lol.

TM,

My uncle lived just north of a dairy while I was growing up. I always hated going there in the Summer, because the south wind always blew right to his house .

Cold,

Much of the Butterfield trail has been taken over by horses and ATVs. The funny thing is that some of the horse trails are really nice to hike, because very little horses go on them anymore. I have found that some of the horse trails there look as if someone hasn't been there in a long time. Because of this, tend to take the long route of the Butterfield, and take a lot of the old trails around Devil's Den.

TM,
I actually grew up on a "horse farm" with about 35 head of horses! No need to get into it, but I don't really like the horse culture all that much! Shoveled my share of that stuff. Smelled plenty of cow manure in my day. That's not to say that I want to go to a pine forest to smell horse biscuits! The only biscuits and molasses I want to smell is at a nice little mom-and-pop diner along the drive to the trail!

PM,
Are there still clouds of chicken litter smell that envelop a whole town there in NW Ark? The kind that just linger when the wind, temp, and humidity is just right?

Cold.. YEP to both questions for me and P hahaha

The upper section of the Cecil Cove Loop Trail at Buffalo River is a mess - wear tall waterproof boots!

Its always like that cloud.. Just about anything on the North side of the river will be like that. Just gets worse with all the rain we have had.

I would like to add that in my trail work on the Caney Creek Trail yesterday that I did find
hoof prints but no poop. But they are taking having a effect on the trail, if you look at my
posted pics, were the trail was taken out by the root balls. The soil is soft and you can see
were the trail is collapsing down the hill side due to the horse traffic. I filled in the holes with
rock but it won't last long with horse traffic.

FWIW: Here is a post on one of the Missouri forums from one of our guys up here in Missouri about the matter:


Hey, can just anybody jump into this discussion? I hope so. I understand where
Tom is coming from, although I don't become nearly as emotional on the subject.
I wonder if the right question is being discussed here. Let me expand upon
that.

As some readers might know, I spend a lot of time on the Ozark Trail, and I also
hear from many adopters, who maintain the approximately 250 miles of completed
trail. With the wet autumn we have had, there have been many comments about the
damage being done by horse traffic on the Eleven Point River section. There has
also been a great deal of damage on the Courtois section. While sawing deadfall
on a segment just a few miles north of Hazel Creek yesterday, I discovered a
long section that has been nearly destroyed by recent horse traffic. In some
places, tracks are spread nearly six feet wide on what is meant to be a 24-30"
tread.

Some adopters have asked me to bring their/our concerns to the Forest Service,
and I have. I have also discussed the problem with members of the Show-Me
Backcountry Horsemen. Invariable, I am
told that this is not the equestrian's fault; a properly constructed trail will
stand up to horse traffic, and the trail with issues were not properly
constructed in the first place.

Well, OK. I'll buy that. I know that the segment on the Courtois that I
alluded to above was not properly constructed. I was responsible for that one.
I can see that segments on the Eleven Point River section (Duncan Hollow, for
example) were not constructed properly. Some portions of the Ozark Trail
(Berryman Trail) were constructed during the 30s, by members of the Civilian
Conservation Corps, I'm told. I suspect that those builders were not expecting
the influx of equestrians that we are seeing today on our trails, and they did
not construct the trail properly for that use.

So, I come to what I think is the real question here. If a trail is not
constructed to withstand use by a particular group of users (in this case,
equestrians), do they still have the right to use the trail, despite the
known harm that they will do to it? Is it sound logic for equestrians to insist
upon their right to access, while, at the same time, acknowledging that the
trail was not constructed for their continued use? Is it sound logic for the
Forest Service to permit and even encourage equestrian use on a trail that they
know cannot sustain itself with that intense punishment? Wouldn't it be more
productive for all of us to concentrate upon making the changes necessary to the
trails, so that we can all use them without destroying them?