barrelracr131 - 2014-04-10 8:05 PM I'm going to play the DNR side a bit here. A big potential issue with horses is that in more fragile areas, such as our local IN sand dune areas, the horses can easily destroy the terrain and plants. The plant life is really fragile, and even people's off-trail hiking on foot has unfortunately destroyed some areas in our local parks. Another issue I can think of is the possible weed contamination that could occur from outside hay and/or seeds in the manure. It's difficult to control and invasive plant species can cause a lot of problems with the ecosystem. One more potential issue is budgetary concerns... the trails need to be cleared yearly, signs replaces, etc etc. Budget cuts have really made it hard for parks near me to keep up with even keeping the grass cut down on the horse trails at some parks near me. Honestly though, it seems to me that the main concern here is the liability. Were there any accidents in the park that resulted in a lawsuit? The flip side is that this land is owned by the public. If a large number of people use this land for riding, then closing the land for riding does not seem like the best idea for this land. After all, what good is a park to the taxpayer if the land cannot be ultilized? The goal of the DNR should be both to preserve the natural state of the land but also keeping that land available for public use. It is sometimes a difficult balance to strike, but I believe it should be possible to do so in this situation.

Whiteboy - 2014-04-11 9:07 AM Making the horsemen pay a high fee and schedule with the trail manager doesn't decrease liability or weeds.   It only adds red tape and makes it more difficult to access public lands.  As far as damage, a horse doesn't really hurt the trail that they grade weekly with a mini-catapillar.  Also, in my opionion even if it is only one person using the park, it is public land, access should never be restricted on public land.