#toptrail

PREMIUM OPEN TRAIL MEMBER DEIRDRE PEROT LIGHTSEY

Deirdre is one of our members who has truly embraced the mission of Open Trail and Top Trail—Open Trail because it’s a clearinghouse for actual trail use documentation useful to trail advocacy organizations and Top Trail because she is enjoying the mileage program for her horses.

As a lifelong equestrian, Deirdre and her horses have thousands of miles on the trail but since becoming a member of Top Trail, she has logged 894 miles, Honey has 837 miles, and her new trail partner Boomer has already posted 57 miles.

Recently I asked Deirdre about her life with her horses, her impressive trail activities, goals, and how she got started with us:

“I’ve been horse crazy since I was born but we lived in "the big city" so my parents made sure I took riding lessons and did horse camp. It wasn't until I was out on my own that I was able to buy my 1st horse. Now at 59 years, I'm so lucky to have a (2nd) husband who tolerates this "horse disease" and my family has given up the hope of me being "cured!”

“My "soul-sister" horse—Honey, has been with me for 22 years. She's 21 now (I bought her mother & picked out her father!) and other than 30 days training, we've been together the whole wonderful time. I wish Open Trail had been around longer—I’m sure we've racked up thousands of miles.

“Honey and I have been out West, ridden in 30 different states, as well as all over the western North Carolina mountains we call home. Honey is such a level-headed horse. We share the trails with mountain bikers and have had some almost run into us! Honey just looks at them as if to say, "excuse me?" To give her a bit of a break, I reluctantly (and with the support of the Open Trail group) found a new horse—Boomer, who is shaping up nicely.

“Early retirement turned all those “casual” volunteer opportunities into full time (non-paid) vocations. My passion is advocating for equestrian access on our public lands and there's NO shortage of work to do! Our National Forest, the Nantahala and Pisgah are going through the plan revision process and I'm serving as co-representative to the recreation interest group which includes mountain bikes, rafters, hunters, hikers, gem miners, etc. Its really heady stuff and I’m learning how our lands are managed and how we can help as volunteers to keep those lands open for all to enjoy.

“I hold offices in the Back Country Horsemen of NC and the NC Horse Council. Our BCH of Pisgah Chapter was formed in 2011 from a group that I've been involved with since 1994. We maintain 200 miles of multi use trails as well as two horse camps in the Pisgah District of the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, North Carolina.

“Remember when you see the mileage I'm posting, it’s all working on trails, off and on the horses, clearing brush, and digging out run offs. Its a ton of fun, and we really enjoy it.

“Mapping my trails has added a whole new layer of enjoyment to our rides. I use Endomondo on my Windows 8 phone but I also have a Garmin Etrex 20 to make sure I get a good file. I'm also using these Pisgah files to report to the Forest Service issues with the trails (you can pin point exact locations) and to search for loop possibilities. The Forest Service has expressed support for a trail user created council to proactively address trail issues and I believe that these files will be valuable tools for us to help in that process.

“Riding, mapping, and helping with equestrian access is so rewarding, I feel like I am living the richest life, a very lucky "horse crazy" girl!”

PREMIUM OPEN TRAIL MEMBER MAGGIE BRADSHAW

As the Program Manager for Top Trail, I get to know and know of some pretty awesome equestrians. One of those awesome equestrians is Maggie Bradshaw. Maggie trail rides... a lot! In the past year she has been rewarded handsomely for her participation on the Open Trail by participating and winning several Top Trail divisions:

*Top Trail Rider (most recorded miles for the first quarter of 2015) *Top Trail Horse May 2014: Max (1st) *Top Trail Horse June 2014: Max (2nd) *Top Trail Horse August 2014: Blaze (1st) *Top Trail Horse January 2015: Whiskey (1st) *Top Trail Horse February 2015: Blaze (2nd) *Top Trail Horse March 2015: Blaze (1st)

I wanted to know more about this amazing horsewoman and how she came to be such a devoted trail rider with wonderful horses and this is what I learned:

How long have you been riding? I was born with the horsey gene that we all have in common, but it was a little burro named Sangrita that started it all. She was a stepping-stone to Honey, an ornery palomino paint. Honey was the one who taught my sister and me about riding.

I got married and had a family, wasn’t involved with horses for a while. Then twenty some years ago, my husband Wayne and I bought property in OK to build on and bought horses. I rode with our local trail riding club, wagon trains, parades and a women’s reenactment group called the Wild Women of the Frontier.

With age, injuries, and an appreciation of a smooth ride, most of our friends are now riding gaited horses so Wayne and I made the switch to gaited horses in 2014.

How long have you and Blaze been a team? At the end of May I found Blaze, my TWH, in Texas. I knew the minute I saw him we had a connection. I think I probably had the biggest grin ever on my face that first ride. He enjoys burning up some trail!  I love that we can encounter deer, armadillos, rabbits, quail, turkey, and pheasant along the way, with no worries.

Favorite trails? My favorite trail has to be in the Stough Creek Basin of the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming. We spent an incredible week on a pack trip with great friends several years ago. Absolutely stunning scenery.

Lake Carl Blackwell, Stillwater, OK is my favorite “local” place to ride. It has such a great diversity of trail.

Proudest equestrian moment? My proudest equestrian moment has to be any time spent with my 14 year old granddaughter, Haley. I love fostering her horsemanship skills and spending time making great memories.

How did you learn about Open Trail? I found Open Trail on Facebook. I really appreciate J.R.'s vision to document all the trails ridden in the United States. I have always loved keeping track of my mileage and having an incentive to get out on the trail more was just what I needed.

What are your goals for this year? My goals for this year are to ride at least 150 miles a month, take a Quarterly Top Trail Rider title, maintain a top ten position in the monthly Top Trail Horse, build on my partnership with Blaze and to take that extra 10 minutes+ time each day to embrace the outdoors with him.

By using Open Trail, I have doubled my yearly average to right at 1,000 miles last year.

What GPS do you use and what are the pros and cons of GPS devices or apps you use or have used? I have used a Garmin eTrex VistaCX GPS to track my mileage for the last four years. I was always juggling the camera, phone and the GPS around in my saddlebags. I had some technical issues with the Garmin GPS and website that left me disenchanted. It was when I changed my cell phone to an iPhone that I discovered it was more convenient to use it as my camera and GPS.

I have used the phone apps: Endomondo, MotionX, and Easy Trails. I love the speech feature of Endomondo, it will tell you your progression of mileage and time. Endomondo will also show on your map when and where you hit each mile. I don't like to have to depend on using the computer to upload trails from Endomondo's website to Open Trail. MotionX is a great app, it just has way more info than I need to know and eats up the phones battery fairly quickly.

I prefer Easy Trails, as it is so simple to add trails to the Open Trail database. I can upload a GPS trail from my phone to the website and not even use my laptop. I am able to view my current trail with over 10 different types of maps. It keeps track of all my past tracks and has waypoints with photos if you choose. It would be perfect if it would include a speech feature to announce trail progression.

I always keep an external power bank in my saddlebag to charge my phone while we are out on the trail. You can usually find Blaze and I riding around jamming to music on Pandora.

Featured Top Trail Horse: Red Stormm (Pico)

February was beautiful in California where Red Stormm (Pico) and his owner, Doreen Lopez, live and explore trails. While many of us were battling winter weather woes, these two were able to get out and ride just under 170 miles—clinching Pico’s first place ranking for February on Top Trail Horse. By recording and uploading their trail miles, they are receiving an award from our sponsor: Equestrisafe (www.equestrisafe.com)

“Pico” is a purebred Arabian who came into Doreen’s life last May. They have been blazing trails ever since as well as participating in some competitive distance riding events—they even won their division in their first CTR! Doreen says that Pico is not only beautiful, but he’s loving and fun—the perfect partner.

Doreen is like many of us, including myself—got bit by the horse bug early in life, took riding lessons, got her first pony—well her first “pony” was a donkey by the name of Dusty! He was the first of many equines over the next 10 years and then she was out of horses for awhile until Pico came along last year! It’s good to be back in the saddle!

I asked Doreen about her favorite trail and she really loves the Knollwood One Trail. “It winds through old growth Eucalyptus forests and lush green meadows.” That does sound beautiful doesn’t it?

Doreen uses her Top Trail member account to stay on track to reach her goal of 1000 miles. She is well on her way with over 700 miles as of March 17.  Her advice to those who want to rank #1 on Top Trail Horse: “Just get out there and ride, ride, ride! (And always have fun doing it!)

Open Trail - Our Vision

History

Open Trail started as a small project in 2012 where I could record and save the trails I ride in the local area... then a few friends had seen what I had and said "We need that!" - So I decided to build the brand...

Why Open Trail

After doing some research I discovered that there was no method for recording “Trail Activity” that was focused on the equine industry, and that the systems that were in place to monitor our trail system were based on a Park Ranger or a volunteer with a clipboard. After talking with a number of Trail Associations it became apparent that the government system of recording activities was flawed and a new system was needed to record “honestly” the trail activities throughout our Local/State/Federal parks.

Open Trail's Goal

The history of horseback riding is integral to our history. Open Trail's goal is to provide the largest repository of horse trails in the U.S.—and arm organizations that maintain and advocate for horse trails with essential data to fight for our National Treasures... The Open Trail.

Features

Open Trail is an interactive web site that encourages trail riders to contribute maps of their favorite riding trails and most importantly, a way to share them with other riders. Each map that is uploaded is searchable by City, County, and State and can be downloaded to a GPS device. Members can upload photos for individual trails as well as comment on them.

Trail Maps

Open Trail features trails throughout the U.S. that are submitted by people who have a passion for riding trail. Contributors come from various walks of life and from a range of disciplines from pleasure to endurance riders. Maps can be searched and viewed by anyone. Each map features a picture of the trail along with a description and other information relevant to the trail. There is also an interactive map with weather that can be viewed.

Ride Program

Early in the development of Open Trail the question came up on how to get people to participate. While researching this I kept thinking of the AQHA ride program and heard from several people that it was flawed because it was based on an honor system by which you're sending in the number of hours you spent in the saddle. From here it was easy to figure out that a ride program can be developed that has a permanent record based on the data the riders were contributing to the site.

After a few discussions, “Top Trail Horse” was launched in June of 2014. Top Trail Horse hosts monthly challenges, with awards to given to the top rider and horses at the conclusion of each period. We were able to get sponsors for 2014 and have secured all the sponsors for 2015. The program has been a huge success with our members as well as sponsors.

With the success of Top Trail Horse, we decided to launch “Top Trail Rider” in 2015. Top Trail Rider hosts quarterly challenges, with awards given to the top rider at the conclusion of each period. We were fortunate to secure SpecTACKular as the 2015 Top Trail Rider sponsor and have seen an increase of participation since its launch.

Value Add

The Top Trail program offers additional features that members can take advantage of. Open Trail members can keep a log of their trails, set goals, and chart their progress. These features are available for both the horse and rider (with paid subscription).

Current Member Benefits

Use any GPS device or smartphone app capable of exporting .GPX files.

Ride any trail (private or public).

No individual ride or competition entry fees are charged.

Compete with riders all over the US for great sponsored awards.  Challenges are virtual.

Accumulate trail mileage over the lifetime of the account for horse and rider.

Upload and share your trail photos.

Build your own network (Posse) with other Top Trail and Open Trail members.

Document your trail horse's history.

Share your trails on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Search for trails all over the United States.

Contribute your trail usage to the largest repository of equestrian trails online.

The Future

We are in the process of creating additional programs encouraging the use of Open Trail and moving closer to a system that will capture trail data that can be used in the future to paint a better picture of trail activities throughout North America. Here are just some of the projects we have planned for 2015:

Rider's Exchange

The Rider's Exchange will be a forum for members to discuss relevant topics such as 'Best Place to Ride?' or 'How to tie a horse when camping?'. The exchange will also encourage our members to share information about using the Open Trail website, GPS use and technical assistance, campgrounds, share trail photos, etc.

Ride a Trail – Save a Trail

Open Trail along with its sponsors will hold a competition for all trail riders that use GPS to record their trails while riding. Trails will be then submitted to Open Trail (uploaded) under the rider's account for other riders to vote on. The rider with the most popular trail will win the competition and then be awarded a prize from the sponsor(s).

Rules

Competition is Seasonal (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter).

Winners will be regional (8 total).

Winners are based on the most popular trail (Likes and Votes) during the season.

Trails must be ridden out of a Horse Camp (Horse Camps must be within or near a State or National park).

The trail must start within a 1/4 mile of a established trail head.

The trail must be at least 5 miles.

Open Trail TV

Open Trail TV highlights horse trail destinations throughout North America and chronicles the Old West and how the horse trail was used as the highway of progress in building this nation. The purpose is to provide an enhanced understanding of the history of our nation and how it was built on the back of the horse.

Open Trail will conduct informal, often impromptu interviews with the locals highlighting small towns, landmarks, events, or places of historical interest throughout North America and provide historical references to the Old West. Interviews will mostly be conducted from horseback on some of the best trails North America has to offer.

In addition to historical interests Open Trail will feature people dedicated to the preservation of horse trails throughout the U.S.

The American Trail Horse Association (ATHA)

We are currently exploring the idea of an association that will be the authority for all the record keeping of trail miles accumulated through our Top Trail Program. The Association will be open to all breeds and disciplines.

Meet the Open Trail Team

J.R. Hull - Founder

J.R. has been riding horses for most of his life and has a passion for riding trails with his horse Satara. He founded The Open Trail Project to provide a means to record horse trail maps across North America and help preserve our national heritage, the "Open Trail". When talking to people about his passion for riding trails, JR often quotes Buffalo Bill, “I could never resist the call to the open trail.”

Troy Lynn Norris - Managing Partner