Ortonville State Park Hadley Hills — Ortonville State Park | Hadley Hills

Goals and Accomplishments

Comprehensive lists of our goals and accomplishments can be found on our About Us page. Please read below for more detailed information on some of our upcoming initiatives.

Legislation

Legislation to protect vulnerable road users in our state will create enhanced penalties for drivers who injure or kill a vulnerable roadway user (VRU), including people who bike, ride or drive equines, walk, or use wheelchairs.

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Non-Motorized Trail Maintenance and Funding

The biggest threat to our public land non-motorized trails is that we lack sustainable funding for these trails. Motorized trail users buy trail permits and receive portions of gas tax to help maintain their trails. We have created a subcommittee with the DNR and other non-motorized trail users to try to come up with a solution that works for all. The three main focuses are to create a trail maintenance process, to gather data on all of the needed improvements for our non-motorized trails and how best to fund the necessary maintenance and improvements.

Non-Motorized and Trail Etiquette Signage

When we talk with trail riders and associations around the state, the top two concerns we hear from you are trail maintenance (see above initiative) and trail conflict concerns. We have created a subcommittee with the DNR and other non-motorized trail users to help design consistent, statewide, non-motorized signage for our campgrounds, trailheads and trail sides. This will include trail etiquette signage for both non-motorized and motorized users for when they meet a horseback rider on the trail. Many of our conflicts could be avoided with the proper education which has not yet been widely available. The motorized trails have a comprehensive statewide signage guide and that is the ultimate goal for this subcommittee for non-motorized trails. This subcommittee is also tackling a statewide non-motorized safety messaging campaign similar to the motorized Ride Right campaign.

Clinics

MHTA is working to bring educational clinics your way. We plan to continue offering opportunities to learn about Large Animal Emergency Rescue for first responders and livestock owners by forming a subcommittee to continue with this work. We are creating an equestrian camping course to help answer questions that may be keeping riders from taking that leap into the world of equestrian camping. We plan to partner with the DNR and other non-motorized trail users to bring more opportunities for sustainable trail education to both volunteers and staff. We are working on putting together other educational opportunities to help you and your horse become better prepared to face trail challenges as a team. And we’re looking into other areas where we can help you enhance your trail riding and camping experiences here in Michigan!

Michigan Horse Trails Directory

MHTA maintains the Michigan Horse Trails Directory which include detailed descriptions for each riding and camping areas with a comprehensive list of amenities available. Descriptions include photos for each area, map information, exact locations, and all the improvements make it even easier to get out and explore what Michigan has to offer the trail rider.

Volunteer Hours

MHTA will continue to gather, tally and report the combined volunteer hours of every participating equestrian trail association in Michigan. We feel this is incredibly valuable information for the trail associations to maintain throughout the year and submit for a statewide total. For more information on this, please see our economic impact page and email MHTA today for the form. Thank you to all the associations who do submit their hours annually, we appreciate you and all the great work you do!

Trail Association Meeting

MHTA will be facilitating meetings with all the trail associations/volunteers of Michigan who would like to attend. We feel this will be a great way to learn, share and come together as a united voice for ALL of Michigan’s horse trails and camping opportunities. We are here today because of the relationships we’ve built with Michigan’s horse trail volunteers and look forward to taking this next step with all of you!

Education

Lynda Hughey, board member of MHTA, has been working with Michigan Department of Safety on vulnerable roadway user education. A submission was made for the Supervised Driving Guide as it is currently undergoing revision. This is the edited version of her information which will appear in the guide:

Equestrians

When approaching a horse and rider or a horse-drawn buggy, reduce your speed to 15-20 mph and maintain a safe distance of at least 20 feet between your vehicle and the rider or buggy so as not to spook the horse. Pass with caution when safe to do so. Never honk the horn or rev the engine, as loud noises can startle horses.”

Lynda is also working to gather information about what drivers should do when they meet equestrians on the roadways for when What Every Driver Must Know is next revised. Test questions have also been compiled for the driving test given at license renewal.

On Monday, April 22, Mel DeWitt, Ed DeJong, Avery Ryder, and Lynda met at Dalton Equestrian Park in Muskegon Michigan to film some safe passing on roadway videos. They filmed a car and a bicycle passing a horse. MDOS is considering giving these videos airtime on the screens at the Secretary of State offices in Michigan.