Several years ago communications with the equestrian community were extremely limited or nonexistent leading to concerns between the local forestry office and horseback riders using Florida Forest Service trails. When a trail issue arose we would reach out to as many equestrian organizations as possible to try and resolve matters. Some of the groups refused to work with each other and it was difficult to get a united effort to make changes in the forest. As the local land manager dealing with issues relative to the recreation use and in this case equestrian matters, we were trying to get enough folks together to make some positive changes in trail use for the horseback riders in the forest.
Many if not most of our trails in the Croom Tract of the Withlacoochee State Forest, were located on sandy roads and utilized by local 4 X 4 truck users. This situation was dangerous and needed improvement. Initially, the response was diverse and no two clubs agreed with the other. As tempers rose we ended up suggesting the idea of forming an equestrian club to unify and represent all horse owners in the central Florida locale.
There was little trust among the equestrian community for the land managers, and a frustration among the land managers with the equestrian users. Without the building of trust that comes with a working partnership - where both sides can sit down, listen to the other; understand their issues and constraints, the situation was not going to improve.
Little did we know that Truman Prevatt and Kathy Thompson would take up the challenge and create the Florida Forever Back Country Horsemen. We had our early disagreements, but it has been a few years now and this club is now one of our stronger partners working to bring a better experience for horseback riders and educating the public on the land management issues we face on a daily basis.
The first order of business was to build trust. This trust not only had to be built between FFBCH and Withlacoochee Forestry Center (WFC), it had to be built between FFBCH and the equestrian groups. The reason the BCHA was selected when FFBCH was organized was its principles were in line with what needed to be done. WFC didn’t have the resources to implement the changes that needed to be done nor did they have the resources to maintain the trails. There was a large population of equestrians that were not at that time active in volunteering to help the Center maintain the equestrian trail system. There was a three year effort the WFC personnel and FFBCH worked together to define reroutes of trails off roads to make them safer and provide a more pleasant experience for equestrians. Working together we have put together a system where the reconnaissance and most of the maintenance on the horse trails are done with volunteer efforts.
