January 31, 2009

From a Marin County Equestrienne:

I have lived in Marin since the 50s and have been riding horses here since 1962.  I would like to share two of my experiences of why I believe that horses and bicycles on single track trails are oil and water.  A few months ago I was riding on the wonderful new trail that Open Space completed last summer.  I was on a single track, on the side of a hill and a woman on a bike was bearing down on me quite fast wearing an ipod.  She was intent on looking where she was going, gazing at the trail directly infront of her.  I realized she did not see me and I yelled at the top of my lungs and she could not hear me because of the ipod.  She finally saw me just before crashing into my horse.   Last week the same thing happened to me in the almost same spot.  A biker was coming towards my friend and I  going quite fast, looking at the trail directly in front of her which I am sure you have to do so you do not hit rocks or ruts.  It was obvious that she did not know we were there.  We both yelled at her and she came to a screecing stop about 30 ft. in front of us.  She was very nice and apologetic and said, "I'm sorry, I never saw you because the bushes block my view of the horses."  Two horses weighting 1000 lbs. with riders perched on top, making them about 7 ft. tall and she couldn't see us.  I rest my case.