Irresponsible Equestrian

No one noticed there's two old gray mares in the photo?

 

The best part is that this lady's (i use that term loosely) kid is/was a mountain biker. Talk about a douche. :lol:



shitty

 

So (I don't know how to "quote"/repeat the above post by "SHARE", so I'll assume we read the whole thread...)THAT'S the solution!? Instead of taking any action against the known culprit, the rangers plan to spend (someone's) money to further sanitize whatever parts of the park sue's horse "Asshole" doesn't like!?:?:

 

I agree.....if I were the ranger id make sure she gets talked to before she pisses off the wrong person

 

The email I sent out describing her behavior went to a variety of agencies and equestrian advocacy organizations. I even copied the Orange Park Acres home owners association. I would like to see her sited for destruction of habitat but if that doesn't happen I would at least like to see her get some pressure from her peers. I didn't mention this before but she wasn't alone when I saw her and the other person riding with her seemed very embarassed when I told them that they were a disgrace to their sport. I am hoping that everyone who encounters her will continue to take pictures and let her know how they feel.

 

Since this thread, I've been hiking with our dog at Oaks hoping to see her and let her know she's an internet sensation but alas, haven't encountered her.

 

Her name is Suzie Kelley. Report her name to the ranger station. She has a long history at the park. I have been following this thread for a few days and felt like I needed to pipe in a bit since I am going to be attending a meeting Wed. April 18th regarding the problems that the equestrians are claiming to have with the mountain bikers in the Oaks. I actually will be going to represent the mountain bikers and hopefully settle down the equestrians the best I can. Because I am also an equestrian sometimes they listen. But this thread will help to show that the Equestrian's are not all innocent just as not all mountain bikers are innocent. Like someone already said....a few bad apples on any side ruin it for all of us.

I will be asking the equestrians to please teach their horses by desensitizing them to bicycles and to do their best to not ride in the Oaks if they don't have a horse that is fine with the increased number of mountain bikers in the park.

All my horses are trained to allow bikes to ride up and around them so I will offer to help them train their horses as well. For those of you that are afraid of the horses....just know that they are actually not afraid of you as much as you think. And a horse will only kick at you if it feels threatened or cornered. Usually the only reason the horses spook is because they hear you but can't see you...once they see you if they have been around bikes before they will just walk on by you. Just like you would jump if someone came around a blind corner a horse will do the same thing. The problem is with equestrians that are not skilled at riding. Just like on mountain bikes....an unskilled rider is dangerous to themselves and those around them.

The only thing I can add is that it would help matters for mountain bikers if they don't lower themselves to yelling or name calling out on the trail. I will be asking the same of the equestrians at the meeting tomorrow night. We need to learn to all get along out there because we want to keep our trails open to multi-use.

Regarding who paid for the new trails: yes, a private trail runner and mountain biker stepped up and started the process. He paid for half of all the trail work which was nearly $30,000. He went out to the community of Orange Park Acres (yes equestrians) to match what he was paying and the community came up with the rest of the money so the trails could be built.....which are now being maintained by mountain bikers in SHARE. So knowing that you can see that bikers and equestrians alike have helped make the park what it is today....one of the best parks around to mountain bike, hike and ride horses.

And a few more notes: Equestrians are pretty limited as to where they can ride due to the constraints of traveling with a horse. And Santiago Oaks back in the day before Mountain biking became popular was an open space that the equestrians in Orange Park Acres could ride their horses to from the neighborhood that backs up to it. Just like mountain bikers they love to explore and travel in the hills rather then ride in a small arena. Don't worry there will never be as many equestrians in the parks as there are hikers or mountain bikers. But they really don't have many places to ride with all the development.

As far as equestrians being rich. Maybe there are some with money but to be honest with you most of them here in our local area do just about anything they can to afford the sport they love. Just like we do to have our new bikes and latest equipment on them. To be honest with you....a horse isn't much more expensive then a bike.

I hope this helps and I will let you all know how the meeting rolls tomorrow.

Good luck on the trails and let Suzie know you know her name and maybe that will help. She is one of the bad apples in the equestrian community for sure.

 

Should more people go to this meeting? Provide a location and time if more Mt Bikers that also do the horse thing support is needed/wanted.

 

i have about 10 mountain bikers already that are also residents of Orange Park Acres....I don't want to bomb the meeting with too many since I know there only going to be a handful of equestrians. If the meeting seems to go sour for the mountain bikers I will request another meeting and we can bring on all the supporters from the mountain bike community. Just like we did in several years ago to save Santiago Oaks when our trails were closed after the fires. Hang tight and I will let you know if we need supporters in the future.

Maybe what we need to do is have some kind of event where equestrians and mountain bikers can gather and learn more about each others sports. Mountain bikers could learn more about horses so they wouldn't be scared and would understand the horses behavior better....and equestrians could learn that mountain bikers are for the most part trying not to scare the horses and the horses could learn what the bikes are so they are not afraid as well. It's usually the rider of the horse that is actually causing the horse to scare because they are scared of falling off and the horse senses that.....horse senses fear and their instinct is to get the heck out of there to safety. Bad mixture to say the least. You will notice out on the trails that the equestrians that are calm and relaxed have the same kind of horse....it's the crazy riders with the crazy horses....hummmmmmm...I see a pattern.

Maybe that is the whole problem....if I remember right mom and son didn't get along...maybe she has it out for the mountain bikers....if I see him I will let him know how his mom is behaving....but i'm pretty sure he is use to her causing problems.

Hey shitty....call me we need to catch up.

 

Thank you Sheri!!!

 

Ok....so this just came out tonight in an email to the community calling all hikers bikers and equestrians.....looks like it's open to everyone....see you at the meeting.

[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 1, align: left"]

Equestrians! Bikers! Hikers!​

Come Talk ~ Come Listen​

OPA Trails & Town Hall Meeting: There has been a last minute agenda change for Wednesday night's meeting. Trail users have been finding their outdoor time laced with stress and friction these days, more so than ever before. That is why it was decided that we would have representatives join together from the three user groups along with local park officials to go over issues on the trail. The discussion will include information on rules, regulations, proper yielding, points of courtesy and etiquette, as well as, the recounting of recent incidents. The goal is to share information, help users to understand that there is more than one side to the issue, and bring forth constructive suggestions. All trail users are encouraged to attend. This may be the first of several discussions on trail use and user groups. Attendees are cautioned to bring civil attitudes. Your courtesy must prevail, please. Meeting location: Moreno's Mexican Restaurant, 4328 E. Chapman Ave. (near Hewes). Meeting starts promptly at 7:30pm in the banquet hall. For more info, contact [email protected].

​

​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

Cool, two block from my house. See ya tomorrow!

 

All I ask of anyone that attends the meeting....please keep it civil....the calmer everyone is the more productive the meeting will be. Im hoping it doesn't just become a forum for everyone to vent their anger to each other. And as I have seen in the past the women equestrians can get pretty heated in their arguments....just remember to stay calm and stay on topic i ask of all fellow mountain bikers.Thanks!

 

someone please record this meeting!!!

 

Good to hear from you, Sherry. Thanks so much for your continuing efforts to help these two communities better understand one another.

Can't get away this evening for the meeting, which is doubly unfortunate because Moreno's makes a mean margarita. I know you'll update us after the meeting, hope it goes well for all.

 

Overall the meeting tonight went very well. The equestrian community out numbered the number of mountain bikers but the rangers from both Santiago Oaks and Irvine Park were there supporting the mountain bikers. The meeting didn't cover the incident regarding the equestrian cutting her own trails since the rangers are already preparing to put fencing up so those trails will no longer be accessible. The rangers are doing their best to resolve that problem

What was covered the most was the tolerance of both communities on the trails and that both sides need to have a better understanding of each others sports. The equestrians are fearful for their safety due to the mountain bikers riding quick down the trails and when they are wearing headphones they don't hear the equestrians calling out. Nobody wants to have any bad accidents in the park on either side.

So what the ending result was is that there needs to be more education given to the trail users as to trail etiquette. Many need to be aware of the rules of the trails and that basically the mountain bikers have to give way to both hikers and horses. There are signs posted in the park but we need to make sure that we adhere to the rules. The rangers are being very tolerant to all of us not obeying the 10mph rule but they would really like the mountain bikers to be more understanding to the dangers of coming up on a horse at high speeds.

It looks like a few of the blind corners are going to be addressed to make sure that they are safe for both up and down traffic to avoid any collisions.

And there will be some clinics planned to gather both the mountain bikers and the equestrians together to teach both sides the best way to get along when riding on the same trails. We discussed that it would be helpful for the mountain bikers to have a better understanding of horse behavior and that it would be great for the equestrians to bring their horses out to ride them amongst groups of mountain bikers to desensitize them so they are less spooky on the trail when a bike approaches.

We discussed that there will always be a few bad apples in all user groups and that for the most part we all do get along pretty good in the park. Many of the equestrians said that the bikers are usually very considerate to them when they see them. That it's just when they come up fast on the downhills and blind corners that it scares them that a collision will occur.

Overall a great meeting and everyone was very polite and understanding to both sides. (not what I was prepared for to be honest with you)

The equestrians as well as the bike community agreed to be more understanding and tolerant of each other on the trail and to educate those that they ride with regarding the rules of the trails.

Thanks to SHARE representatives and OC Park rangers for being there tonight to come up with some great ideas to keep our trails safe for all user groups!

 

On a personal note that we did not discuss at the meeting:

I would like to say that due to websites such as strava which many of us are using....please make sure you are using proper trail etiquette when around hikers and equestrians rather then worrying about your standings/ ratings on the websites.

 

Can I get an amen?

Thanks for repping the bike community tonight, and for the feedback. Like most things, it's a small percentile that screws it up for everyone...bikes AND equestrians. Nice to hear this was a level-headed meeting, focussing on how to coexist.

 

Thanks Sherry for the for the recap, I agree it went as well as we could of asked.

 

A few bad apples

I was glad that the meeting did not allow time for the vilifying of certain riders (bikes and horses). I noticed that the only complaint the mountain bikers had was of the equestrians 'yelling and being rude' - rather pathetic when so many equestrians had bad near collision or accident experiences to report due mostly to mountain biker's irresponsible speed on the downhills and purposely not slowing down when passing the equestrians. It was brought up however how many mountain bikers are actually ignorant of horse behavior and how it could impact the safety of all involved for mountainbikers not to yield. I get it.....
The rogue element that is responsible for all of the close calls was not represented tonight. It was rather a gathering of mostly responsible individuals from all three groups who frequent the park trying to find a way to make it safe yet enjoyable for all. It can be done. Shame that Sheri from Switchback has to name an individual equestrian. I searched her ride record....she is an elite athlete in her sport of endurance racing (horseback) who rides elite equine athletes and who has been grooming the trails way before 'a committee' became involved. She knows the trails better than anyone out there and can put anyone's total number of hours out there riding the trails to shame. We should all respect her, even when she gets mad as hell due to ANOTHER near miss in the 45 plus years she's been riding out there.....I sure respect the hell out of her.......not to mention that you lurkers out there better step up and vouch for all of the times she's yielded or been considerate to you out there on the trails.
This is not a witch hunt and shame on those of you promoting that when you haven't had the guts to call out the 'bad apple' mountain bikers who have given the group a bad name....
Turn it around, use logic and make it safe for all of us sharing the trails. THAT is what this whole thing should be about.