Letter from MHC’s Presidents, continued...
concerns do not jeopardize access to our existing equestrian trails. As a result, the Executive Committee asked the Board of Directors to approve the following policy – which the Board did by unanimous vote:
Te Maryland Horse Council supports legislation to require that farmers who lease public land must leave and maintain a 20-foot border around their crops to permit unobstructed access to trail heads, to encourage envi- ronmental best practices, and to allow first responders to reach people in need of assistance.
Now that the Board has approved this policy, our Government Rela-
tions Committee will begin drafting proposed legislation to introduce in the 2022 General Assembly. We have secured a potential Senate sponsor for the bill, and we will be working over the next few weeks to secure similar sponsorship in the House. We have also reached out to non-equestrian trail users who might share our concerns, and who might support our efforts on the shared use of public land. Our outreach letter appears across from this page, and we encourage everyone to share it as widely as possible. We will post an elec- tronic version on both Te Equiery and Maryland Horse Council websites.
2. Equine-Assisted Therapy for Veterans:
In 2019, the Maryland General Assembly added “therapy horses” to the list of veterans’ services that are reimbursable under the Service Ani- mal Program. Te current law limits eligibility to Professional Associa- tion of Terapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) Premier Accredited Centers (PAC), or programs that have Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) certified professionals on staff. Our members felt that these eligibility requirements were too restrictive, and that they effectively excluded deserving programs. Earlier this summer, MHC created a task force to figure out how to ex- pand the number of therapeutic riding facilities that qualify for veterans’ services reimbursement funds. Te task force concluded that the current law is not well-suited to the specific needs of the Maryland veterans’ community, and it decided that a new eligibility protocol that took the best practices of PATH and EAGALA and modified them specifically for veterans was a better approach. As a result, the Executive Committee asked the Board of Directors to approve the following policy – which the Board did by unanimous vote:
Te Maryland Horse Council believes that equine-assisted therapy pro- grams can provide invaluable services to eligible veterans, and that the Maryland Veterans Affairs Animal Services Program should be given leg- islative latitude to provide funds to as many qualified equine-assisted ther- apy programs as possible. As a result, the Maryland Horse Council supports replacing the current eligibility requirements with a Maryland-specific eligibility protocol designed to meet the specific needs of Maryland veterans.
Now that the Board has approved this policy, our Government Re-
lations Committee will open discussions with the Maryland Veterans Administration to design a Maryland-specific eligibility protocol.
Te Maryland Horse Council Represents You! Join Today at
JOIN.MDHORSECOUNCIL.ORG 8 | OCTOBER 2021 | THE EQUIERY YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION 800-244-9580 |
www.equiery.com
3. Helmet Law for Minors: As we reported in last month’s letter, Del. Mary A. Lehman (D –
Anne Arundel & Prince George’s) asked us if we would support legisla- tion that would require minors to wear helmets when riding on public land. Te Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that horseback riding resulted in 11.7 percent of all traumatic brain inju- ries in recreational sports from 2001 to 2005, the highest of any athletic activity. According to the Equestrian Medical Safety Association, head injuries account for an estimated 60 percent of the deaths resulting from equestrian accidents. In addition, the New England Journal of Medicine reports that helmets can reduce head and brain injuries by 85 percent. See American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Sports-Related Head Injury, available at
https://www.aans.org/Patients/Neurosurgical- Conditions-and-Treatments/Sports-related-Head-Injury. Te Executive Committee surveyed MHC members about their views
on a helmet law for minors. We asked: “Do you think Maryland law should mandate that minors wear ASTM-approved helmets when mounted and riding on public land?” Eighty-seven percent of our re- spondents said “yes,” and 13% percent said “no.” Of those who voted “no,” the reasons were that such a law would be difficult to enforce, and that whether a child should wear a helmet should be a parental choice, not a legal requirement. Because the majority of survey respondents supported such a law, the
Executive Committee asked the Board to approve the following policy – which it did by unanimous vote:
Te Maryland Horse Council supports legislation to require minors to wear ASTM/SEI-approved helmets when riding on public land.
Now that the Board has approved the helmet law policy, our Govern- ment Relations Committee will work with Del. Mary A. Lehman (D – Anne Arundel and Prince George’s) on draft legislation.
* * * * *
Te fact that our summer study projects are winding down does not mean our work on these issues will stop. Our work on public land will shift to our standing Trails & Greenways Committee, and our work on therapy horses for veterans will shift to our standing Equine-Assisted Terapy Committee. Any member is welcome to participate in either committee. Just email Kim (
kegan@mdhorsecouncil.org) or Corinne (parkoverlookfarm@
aol.com) and let us know. If you are not a member but would like to participate in our policy making on trails and equine-assisted therapy, please join now at
https://www.mdhorsecouncil.org/membership/mhc- membership-options.
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