OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 THE RIDER /19 Charities


benefitted from the 2017 World Driving Champi- onship legs hosted at Cen- tury Downs, Mohawk Racetrack,


A number of charities


Downs, and Hippodrome 3R.


Association’s WDC rules state that the drivers are not eligible to receive driving commissions from their drives in WDC races. Each of those four


tional drivers competed for prize money in the 2017 World Driving Champi- onship, and the Interna- tional


Trotting The field of interna- Georgian


tury’s Charity Gala during Calgary Racing Festival Week which was attended by the WDC drivers, and featured Olympic Gold Medalist and Canadian icon, Hayley Wickenheiser, as the guest speaker. Mohawk Racetrack


host racetracks designated a charity for these driving commissions. (Drivers at Red Shores Racetrack & Casino do not receive any commissions from purse money) Century Downs de-


cided that the driver who received the most points for their leg could choose the charity. United States rep, Marcus Miller, who topped the WDC leaderboard at day’s end, selected the Al- berta Adolescent Recovery Centre which will receive a cheque in the amount of $2,691. This was a fitting gesture as the AARC was the benefactor for Cen-


would like to thank the five racetrack partners for host- ing the WDC legs, and the horse people at all of these tracks for their support of the event and entry boxes for the WDC races.


Courtesy of Standardbred Canada


be donating the $860 in WDC driving commissions to Club Rotary de Cap-de- la-Madeleine as their char- ity. The association helps families in need by provid- ing shoes and educational items to children in the Trois-Rivieres area. Standardbred Canada


and Georgian Downs se- lected the Ontario Stan- dardbred Adoption Society to receive the five percent driving commission from the four WDC races at Mo- hawk and five WDC races at Georgian, amounting to $5,780. Hippodrome 3R will


Benefits Local


WDC Western Fair District – Mid West Horse Show


in part the Purina Barrel Stake class which was the held at Sunday evening show. Only the top 20 fastest times from both divisions of barrel classes who paid into the Barrel Stake in advance, were eligi- ble for the Stake Class. A total of 77 horses were eligible to participate in the stake class. The winner of the Barrel Stake class was Caitlin La- pointe and Sheza Fast Okie with a time of 16.239 seconds receiving


with Mid Western Ontario Horse- man’s Society hosted the all breed horse show the closing weekend of Western Fair. Show started Friday, September 15 and concluded Sun- day, September 17. In total 153 horses showed in various speed and performance events. A total of $4270.00 in prize money was awarded to the top six placings of each class. Photos from the week- end are available from Sarah Currah of Star Glow Photography. Photos may be previewed at Star Glow Photography album on Facebook. Purina Agribrands sponsored


Western Fair District along


$601.50. Caitlin also received a blanket presented by Lisa Currah and Bill Storey in memory of their mother, Shirley Storey. A $50.00 gift certificate was also presented to Caitlin from ReRide of Dresden, Ontario. Reserve winner of the class was CE Indian Raindance shown by Marg Tenhove with a time of 16.338 seconds receiving $501.25. Third place winner was Eye Be A Dasher shown by Mikayla Shepley with a time of 16.374 seconds re- ceiving $401.00. Fourth place win- ner was Mr. Cougarlicious shown by Joanne Fisher with a time of 16.422 seconds receiving $240.60. Fifth place winner was Down Home Legacy shown by Sierra White with a time of 16.434 sec- onds receiving $160.40. Sixth place winner was Splash the Crowd shown by Shelby Olyschlager with a time of 16.469 seconds receiving $100.25. A total of $2005.00 in prize money was presented to the top six winners. Another highlight of the Sun- day evening show was Western


Sherry Sutherland


Pleasure Stake class with 10 horses being shown. A total of 14 horses were eligible for the stake class. Champion of the class was Hot Roddin Pine Bar, shown by Sherri Sutherland receiving $258.00. Sherri also received a blanket pro- vided by Mid Western Ontario Horseman’s Society. A $50.00 gift certificate was also presented to Sherri from ReRide of Dresden, Ontario. Reserve of the class was Jukebox Charlie shown by Holly Robinson receiving $215.00. Third place was Born Ready To Rock shown by Jim Thomson receiving $172.00. Fourth place was MMR Shot of Brandy shown by Chloe Moore receiving $103.20. Fifth place was One Hot Ta Molly shown by Sherry Fleischer receiving $68.80. Sixth place was Taylored By Tabu shown by Shelley Thom- son receiving $43.00. A total of $860.00 in prize money was pre- sented to the top six winners. Many thanks go to our spon-


Purina Barrel Stake


sors, Western Fair District for sup- porting the show, Purina Agribrands


for sponsoring in part the Barrel Stake class, Lisa Currah and Storey- brook Stables for sponsoring in part the Western Pleasure Stake class as well as providing the blanket for Barrel Stake class, Ken and Glenda McLellan for award for Ranch Rid- ing class (won by Matty Thomson and Chics Like Crome), Re Ride for two $50.00 gift certificates for Stake class winners, Avon Feeds for providing a variety of prizes which were given out to various ex- hibitors. We would also like to thank Parkway Gardens for donat- ing the beautiful fall planters for our trail class. Big thank you goes to Red Valley Saddle Club for provid- ing the trail equipment for our trail class. Your continued support is ap- preciated. Last but not least, we thank all


of the exhibitors who participated in the show and the many volunteers who made this show such a great success. We couldn’t have done it without you.


Working To Preserving Our Future Riding Trails The new Dufferin


County Forest Recreation Plan, that includes a clause on Trail Separation, in the popular Dufferin Forest Main Tract, near Mansfield, has divided the forest users, heightening conflict, by al- lotting 100% of the prime single tracks to cyclists. The 4 year planning


process resulted in separa- tion being a solution, but what is not evident is why as no accidents or injury had been reported. The input from equine users was very low as most never under- stood or heard of this con- tentious


issue. The


documentation on the Duf- ferin County website actu- ally provides survey and open house comments that clearly support this. The cy- clist group Team Van Go (TVG), lead by Johnny Yea- man, commented on a sur- vey of 339 responses in their support while in fact there were only 3 responses from equine users, 246 from those for or against motor- ized use proposal and 52 from cyclists asking for sep- aration. This “ask” was carefully orchestrated by the TVG website blogger, coun- selling cyclists on how and why to respond. Coinciden- tally, one member of the Dufferin County Forest Ad- visory Committee review- ing these surveys and


assisting in policy decisions was the TVG blogger, Johnny Yeaman. He has openly admitted to instruct- ing his members, saying equine users “could have done the same.” In May 2017, up went


70 + No Horse signs on all the single, windy, hilly, nar- row, picturesque trails throughout the forest. These signs, without by-law num- ber, prompted active trail riders to investigate what was going on. Forest Man- ager Caroline Mach offered that although the Recreation Plan had passed, allotment was still undetermined and therefore possibly nego- tiable and those objecting should email her. Word went out quickly and within 2 weeks she had over 160 letters expressing concern. Although


the County


process of surveys and open houses had been under- taken, the reach did not ex- tend to the true trail riders using the Main Tract. Never, in fact, did it point out this separation would give all the single track trails to one user group. The Recreation Plan did say user groups would be consulted on this division and they were not, as brought forth in deputations from those rep- resenting OTRA and Ches- ley Saddle clubs, who have been camping out with their


clubs in this forest for decades. A group of concerned


horseback riders, OEF, OTC, CRHRA and CHANGE petition, had pre- viously brought these con- cerns to a Dufferin Committee Meeting in June 2017 and staff was then in- structed to get the user groups together in a meeting and bring back results. Soon after, in June 2017, the Forest Manager sent corre- spondence saying the signs would come down, then 2 weeks later, sorry we’ve been too hasty, we will have to wait for a new Advisory Committee to be setup. In- terestingly, this Advisory Committee was only ap- pointed October 12, 2017. For


the past few


months, awaiting their op- portunity to meet, horses have been confined to what some may be led to believe is 60 km of road trails used by OCTRA for their com- petitive events. These 4 red, white, blue and pink ribbon marked trails are not sepa- rate but combined. For ex- ample, white is never alone but always combined with red or blue and as such not a true length. Regardless of the length, it is the user ex- perience that is in question. Now horses are relegated to access wide, flat, hot, buggy forest or logging road trails


and this is their concern with 40 plus crossings by the single track bicycle trails.


While awaiting the


proposed meeting with County staff, the newly formed Dufferin Forest Rid- ing Club, led by Stewart Dunkley, had a short period of time to research this trail separation, trying to deter- mine any need for separate trail systems. What was un- covered is astounding. Why cyclists want horses off these trails is because they desire to have a pristine sur- face they think horse hooves are ruining. They spend countless volunteer hours doing “trail maintenance” using leaf blowers and Stihl power sweepers to disrupt the forest floor on the “trails” and compact the sur- face. This makes for a faster ride and speed is what these cyclists are all about. Since the passing of this Plan, there now have been two in- cidents at intersections were cyclists cross over the horse trails. One resulted in the horseback rider being thrown; the other saw the cyclist dart between 2 horses as he could not stop. There is a phone app that cyclists use to track their speed, mileage and heart rate encouraging clearly dangerous, distracted cy- cling. The Recreation Plan


states... obey all bicycle speed regulations… but stipulates none! It’s been noted these


manicured trails are not ben- efiting the natural forest one bit. In fact the root exposure is extreme on the manicured trails and therefore damage to the County owned trees is disturbing. The single track cyclist trails are littered with over a dozen obstacles and jumps in all forms of disre- pair; clearly a safety and li- ability issue. It has been questioned whether these structures have been built contrary to the by-law, with- out written permission from anyone. Mr. Yeaman and his cyclist group have also been busy maintaining and working on new trails and at this past Council meeting Oct 12, now admitted the mapping recently approved September 14 ratified in the by-law is in fact incorrect as it is incomplete. Horseback riders were well aware that many trails marked as not open to horses had not been included in the mapping and questioned this at the same meeting. Mr. Yeaman also enlightened Mr. Dunkley at the meeting in Sept that trail building is easy…”I just pick up the County GPS, walk the new trail and bring it back to the Forest Man- ager. I’ve been doing this for years. “


The question now is – did the County accept this data from an individual cyclist to create the new map and trail designation? Separation will also re-


quire excessive signage at the 40 plus intersections. This is seen to be not only pollution and disruption of the forest but costly and re- quiring enforcement and ad- ministration with increased costs to County. On October 12, 2017,


six delegates in support of the multi-use system pre- sented their views to Coun- cil. OCTRA and TVG cyclists also presented sup- porting the present Recre- ation Plan for separation. The unaffiliated rider pre- senters came armed with facts and visual proof to support their claims. Just be- fore the meeting, the War- den announced that the visuals were too disturbing and not able to be validated for display at the meeting. Regardless, some Council- lors had viewed them earlier and were aware of content. The affected presenters per- severed and described the photos they would have brought forward. Finally, the promotion


and the illegal consumption of alcohol was uncovered as shown on the Team Van Go website at events in the campground, on the trails


and in the parking lot. This was documented over many years in their blogs. Pictures even depicted minors in at- tendance, clearly breaching their user agreement. The County CAO,


Sonja


Pritchard, at the October 12, 2017 meeting, was quick to address this new informa- tion stating an investigation would begin immediately. Pam Coburn, Director


of Sport for the OEF, spoke in support of this group of unaffiliated riders along with her 11,000 plus trail riding membership. Her focus has always been for the safe use and preserva- tion of multi-use trails. Through six speakers, it has been requested that these is- sues and questions be ad- dressed. With much new information being brought forward, it was odd that very few questions were asked. Not only should the illegal alcohol be investi- gated but the new evidence of the concerns about the health of the forest, the ap- parent damage to the forest floor and roots, the illegal structures, and the necessity for signage be reviewed; promotion of safety and sharing, and prevention of conflict being the goals of the equestrian user groups involved.


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