Having to make the decision to close the trails is as frustrating for our FETA president as it is for the members who want to ride under a Carolina blue sky with full sun. These are the kinds of picture perfect riding days that often come after a downpour that has muddied up our trails. Not only are your FETA board members the ones who serve to protect the best interest of our Trail Owners (no Trail Owners = no Trails) but we too are trail riders and Trail Owners. We feel your pain because we like access to the trails as much as you do but we also know the implications of riders/horses getting injured on someone else's property. We take our responsibility of protecting Trail Owners, their property, and our members seriously.
Trails at Long Lane (formerly Cotton Patch) are at the western most boundary of the FETA system thereby making them closest to the mountains. The trails in this section are consistently more hilly, rocky, and for some reason, more slippery than our neighbors' trails which are less than a mile south of us across Hunting Country Road. It has been my experience that I may slip and slide on greasy, red clay trails at Long Lane while making my way to the loamy, well-drained trails at McDermott's Meander on the south side of Hunting Country Road. I am not educated in geological variations in the soils of Western North Carolina. What I do know, however, is that there is a difference. It is this difference that can be the determining factor in whether or not a horse is able to stay up on all four hooves or lose his footing causing him to fall with or on his rider in wet, slippery conditions. I speak from experience on this issue. I have had four different horses lose their footing on our farm trails and land on top of me. Fortunately neither I nor my horses were seriously hurt in those falls but it does make me more cautious when faced with the option of riding or making the decision to allow other riders access to wet trails.
In addition to variations in soil content, there is also the usual variation in rainfall amounts. Long Lane almost always has more rain in the rain gauge than other Trail Owners report. Combine the red clay with higher rainfall and the trails in the western/northern most outreach of the system are undoubtedly more slippery than those that receive less rain and contain more sand with less clay.
So what is the moral of the story? As trail riders, it is our obligation to protect the Trail Owners who so generously share their land with us, their guests. We protect the Trail Owners by respecting their land by staying off the trails when the footing and trail rider safety is in question.
When the trails are closed, River Road, Carriage Row, South River Road, Scriven, and Capps Road are great alternatives if you still want to get out for a local ride. Croft State Park, Clemson's Experimental Forest (Fant's Grove is a popular favorite), Brickhouse, Cowpens, DuPont, Pisgah, Woods Ferry, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Rocky Gap are all doable day trips for a ride as well! |