MHC Government Relations Committee Report
YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION Te Maryland Horse Council
represents all aspects of Mary- land’s diverse horse community and that community includes trail riders! MHC has a stand- ing committee dedicated to issues that affect trail riders–the Trails & Greenways Committee. Te Trails & Greenways Commit- tee liaises with Maryland’s trail and greenways equestrian groups, supports recreational land uses including public trails and trail access, and provides educational opportunities for horsemen work-
ing on local land use issues. Carolann Sharpe of Country Line Farm in Reisterstown, chairs
MHC’s Trails & Greenways Committee. She is a Special Education teacher, military and law enforcement wife, and the mother of four sons, in addition to being a member of MHC’s Executive Committee. As a result, Carolann said in a recent interview with Te Equiery: “Trail rid- ing has given me the mental and physical health that I need. It gives me much needed quiet time or time with friends, away from ‘real life.’ Trail riding is the one part of my life that I have one focus and one focus only... to keep the horse between me and the ground! It’s my Zen.” Carolann gives freely of her time. She is a member of TROT, the
League of Maryland Horseman, Carroll County Equestrian Council, the Professional Association of Terapeutic Horseback Riding, the Friends of Patapsco Valley State Park, and the Tuckahoe Equestrian Equestrian Center. She is also active in the PA Rangers and the Friends of Liberty Reservoir, and she volunteers with several mounted rescues throughout the state. Last but not least, Carolann gives community service opportu- nities to children through her bakery, Black and White Cookie Equine. We asked Carolann to tell us a bit about the Trails & Greenways Com- mittee and what it does for MHC and for Maryland as a whole.
Q. Who does this committee represent? A. All MCH individual members who ride on and use Maryland’s public trails, as well as each of our association members who service the trail riding community.
Q. What are the Committee’s current goals? A. To advise the MHC Executive Committee on the needs and perspec- tives of the trail riding members and to create networking opportunities among our association members that work on behalf of trail riders.
Q. What are the current goals of the Committee as it relates to the Maryland horse community as a whole? A. Although the majority of Maryland horse people are trail riders, trail riders are often isolated from the larger Maryland horse world. As a result, one of our primary goals is to make sure that our trail riding mem- bers are fully integrated into the horse industry as a whole.
Q. Why is this committee important? A. I’ve always thought that the Maryland horse community seems frac- tured and compartmentalized. We have common goals, but we don’t communicate frequently enough with each other. Te Committee’s net-
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working events will allow our members: 1. to learn more about each other’s work on trail riding issues;; 2. to share ideas and strategies for addressing concerns about trails and
trail riding; and 3. to collaborate on projects and initiatives that would benefit our members from all equestrian disciplines.
Q. How can people join the committee? A. If you are already an MHC member, just raise your hand! If you are not yet an MHC member, fill out our simple and easy membership ap- plication on the MHC website, pay your dues, and then raise your hand! Carolann can be reached at
blackandwhitecookieequine@gmail.com.
A Historical Look at MHC’s Trails & Greenways Committee
Te first chair of MHC’s Trails & Greenways Committee was Sol Goldstein. As a WWII veteran and successful entrepreneur and busi- nessman, Goldstein did not discover horses until he was in his 70s. Goldstein went on to become MHC President from 1999 to 2001. He was the driving force in bringing together all trail organizations within MHC to work together under the umbrella of the Trails & Greenways Committee. Goldstein forged a relationship between MHC and the Maryland
Department of Natural Resources, and actively networked MHC into the Maryland State Highway Administration in order to access federal funds known as Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century or TEA-21 (originally Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 or ISTEA) for local bridle trail projects. In addition to these projects, MHC’s Trails & Greenways Commit-
tee put together a Multi-User Trail Etiquette Brochure that was first published in 1996. “What was so interesting about this is that MHC put out the brochure as etiquette, not rules. Te etiquette quickly catapulted in common parlance to ‘law’ and was duplicated as ‘official’ in numerous places as well as copied by other states,” Crystal Brumme Pickett, current MHC Secretary, stated. Over the years, there have been several chairs of MHC’s Trails &
Greenways Committee. Peggy Bree is particularly notable for the work she did in bringing together trail associations from the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland. Te most recent chair of the Trails & Greenways Committee, before
it went on hiatus, was Ron MacNab, who was also president of TROT (Trail Riders of Today). TROT is one of the largest organized trail riding associations in Maryland. As the chair of the Trails & Greenways Com- mittee and president of TROT, he was a natural fit for a new Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) stakeholder committee. “Over the course of that first year, the Committee provided feedback to DNR in preparations of a five-year trail plan for DNR properties,” MacNab stated, adding, “Te plan set aside designated sustainable multi- use trails including both new construction, reconstruction and mainte- nance.” MacNab pointed out that the new trails in the Patuxent State Park and Seneca Creek State Park are results of this Committee’s work. “Another fruit of this work was the development of Maryland DNR’s
online free Interactive Maps and Trails Guide,” MacNab said. Te guide incorporates all known trails withing Maryland and organizes them by designated use. “I am happy to say the MHC Trails & Greenways Com- mittee was a large contributor to this effort.”
THE EQUIERY YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION | JULY 2021 | 19
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