I have a love/hate relationship with horses, built up over a lifetime of sharing the trails with the critters, often in the past from the vantage point of the saddle. One of my fondest memories of growing up in a mostly rural region of North Carolina was saving up my money to go horseback riding on the mountain trails near our home. A half-day ride cost about $4.00 a person at the time - I reckon that sort of dates me, eh? I rode a huge chestnut gelding named Duke when possible. The other two options were a couple of smaller mares named Flash and Lightning, who looked a lot like the horse in the photo above. They both had a penchant for galloping beneath the low overhang just outside the barn, with me hanging on for dear life as I tried to avoid being 'clotheslined' by the tin roof of the structure. It was good times, damned good times for a kid in the country.

I still like horses, and like them a lot. I prefer them over just about all of the critters that the human race have decided to make a part of their lives. Nothing is more beautiful than the sight of a wild stallion racing along behind his band of mares in early spring on the high deserts of Wyoming. They're noble creatures, and I'd hate to live in a world without them.

On the downside of the picture though, is the incredible amount of damage that thoughtless and uncaring riders inflict on the trails in the Smokies and elsewhere. A horse is a 1,000 lb. steel-hooved shovel, and when you combine heavy horse traffic with a wet trail, it quickly becomes a nearly unbearable morass of horse crap, flies, and deep mud. On well-drained paths, rocks are dug and kicked up until the trail becomes little more than a a fly-bitten rock garden. And it's not just the damage to the trails - on a trip to Eagle Creek a couple of summers ago, we watched as a large party of horseback riders tied their horses up at site #90 on lower Eagle Creek, using the bear cables to hold their sweaty steeds in place. Other riders tied their horses to the trees, letting them stand, and dump, on the tent sites throughout the area. The hitching rail that had been provided by the Park Service was used to pile gear and tack on by the morons on horseback. By the time that they left out the following morning, the entire campsite had been rendered damned near useless for camping for the next few weeks. The tent sites were chopped up and covered in a deep layer of horse crap, and trash was left piled all across the site. Later that year, up at Sheep Pen Gap near Gregory Bald, we watched as a party of riders tied off their horses to trees in campsite #13. Though they were only there for an hour or so, they totally trashed the site before leaving. They also rode their horses down to the spring below the campsite, letting them stand, and dump, in the spring before clumping back up the trail.

Some of the friendliest people that I've ever run into on the trail were on horseback, and it's a real shame that a few thoughtless slobs trash the enjoyment of so many people. It would be great if the Park Service would designate more trails as hiker-only, but with the money represented by the riding community, it's doubtful that that will ever happen.