Muttontown Horsemen's Association

MHA has contacted all but one landowner along the Old Norwood trail and found them agreeable to cleaning up the trail.  This will take some hard work, but it is very important that we reclaim this trail link.  To that effect, we would like a special committee to work on cleaning and marking the trail.  This can be done anytime as long as MHA notifies the landowners beforehand.

I need input about what needs to be done on the Lillian Berkman trail off 107 to SUNY Old Westbury.  Since that property is always a candidate for development, we need to be vigilant about caring for those trails.  Ideally, I’d like to see some riders go out and mark a complete loop around the parcel, so that a circle exists when we have to defend the trail before the Brookville Village Board.  Again, that project can be worked on during the week.  Call the above phone # to volunteer or email MHA.

MHA has been mediating the problem of the Victorian Lane Trail for quite some time.  This short trail is so essential for riders from Old Mill Farm and the Brookville trails to get to the Preserve, but has been threatened with getting closed off by resident complaints to Brookville Village.  Fortunately, Tim Doherty at Brookville Village Hall has been on the side of keeping the trail open.  The trail is almost always underwater and riders were going into neighbors’ yards to avoid the ice and muck.  MHA did what we could to keep the trail clean and well marked, but the trail bed was always too low.  We offered to bring in clean fill and raise the trail bed and line it with logs, but the village did not want us to take what they called “unprecedented measures” that might upset adjoining landowners.  When the village inspector came to look at the problem (I had insisted it was very dangerous with freezing temperatures turning the trail into a skating pond!), he found that the drywells on the water easement portion of the trail were on the verge of collapse!  That discovery meant that the Village now needed to be involved in fixing the trail.  The Village had to put out a request for bids from construction firms first.  Then a company was chosen.  Time kept passing.  Then conditions were either too cold or too wet to do the job.  So now we are waiting until conditions improve enough for the company to get their machinery in there.  The drywells will get replaced, which will remedy the excess water, and they will use the extra dirt to elevate the trail bed. 

In the meantime, riders should continue using the Tam O’Shanter trail to access the Preserve.  Many thanks to Phyllis Waxenberg and Cathy Carrano for making a go around trail to avoid the mud pit on the country club’s path.

            Last Spring, MHA board members met with both Richard Murphy (Assistant Commissioner of Parks and Recreation) and Tracy Kay (Deputy Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Museums) to discuss concerns we had about some of the facilities in the Preserve, and in particular the terrible condition of the fencing at the Rings and the paddocks at the Ranger Station.  We were told that very little could be done, as the County had no funds in the budget, and no leftover fencing materials from other parks.

Then in September, Wendi Slavsky made a connection with a young man who was both an avid equestrian and a Boy Scout looking to create an Eagle Scout project.  Matthew wanted his project to be related to horses and the Preserve.  The board suggested he work on the fencing, pledged $650.00 toward materials and offered volunteer helpers too.  Matthew had to do some research, write a proposal, get approval of the proposal from his Scout Master, then approval of the plan from the county, and get all monies and labor to accomplish the work.  After measuring all the footage involved and getting prices from numerous suppliers, Matthew found the original plan was too costly and scaled the project down to just the smaller riding ring on the north side.  Mr. Kay stipulated that the fencing needed to be the same as the existing post and rail.  The ring will need 60 new posts and 120 rails at a projected cost of nearly $2300.00.  The whole approval process with the County took so long (they have to make sure none of the work would set off lawsuits by county worker unions first), that Matthew is unsure he can raise the needed donations in the time he has to earn the badge!  He is now thinking he will have to further downgrade the project to replacing just the posts and leave it to someone else to replace the rails at a later date.  MHA may be able to increase our donation a bit more, but Matthew is desperately seeking donations of money or fence materials to allow him to completely redo the ring.  If you or a friend would like to donate something, please call Matthew at 516-708-7919.  Wouldn’t it be great if people were generous enough that both rings could be done!  The County has said they have no objection to putting donor plaques on rails if people would like recognition for significant donations of fence material!  We will put the work dates on our website once Matthew lets us know.

At the end of November, Nassau County published its list of properties and projects that qualified for the 2006 Environmental Bond Money.  Seventy seven million dollars were allotted for open space acquisition and the remaining thirty three million dollars are going towards various park projects, brown field remediation and clean water projects.

Three horse properties made the list: Old Mill Farm, The Red Barn, and the remaining 41 acres of the old Entemann’s Farm off the north service road of the LIE.  There were other horse properties that applied for inclusion but unfortunately didn’t make it to the top tier.  The next step of the process is for the county to begin negotiations with the owners for purchase of their development rights or outright acquisition of their property.  I hope all three properties are able to come to some settlement so that they are preserved for future generations.

            In addition, $200,000.00 was appropriated for the creation of a master plan for the Muttontown Preserve!  Mr. Kay informed us when we met with him last spring at Nassau Hall (where we discussed the poor condition of the fencing), that the county had never made a master plan for the future of its preserves and museums.  The county made a decision to begin the planning process for the largest property, the Muttontown Preserve.  When I asked how the money would be spent, I was told most of it would pay the fees for outside consultants and little or none would be left for implementation.  I wonder if the plan will last beyond the current administration?!  So many Souzzi administrators have left ---many under a cloud of corruption, that there seems to be no continuity in care of our parks.  In that same vein, Mr. Alan Lindberg, the naturalist who has managed the Nassau’s North Shore greenspaces for many years, is retiring in July.  We wish him well and appreciate his efforts to keep the preserve a special place.  So far, the county doesn’t have plans for his replacement.  Please read the letter MHA sent to the county about this issue and write or call County Executive Souzzi and Parks Commissioner Lopez in regard to this matter.

The Littauer Property off the corner of Split Rock Road and 25A has been bought by the Town of Oyster Bay with SEA Fund II money.  The TOB is now in the process of deciding how the property can be used and the North Shore Land Alliance will hold the conservation easement on the property.  It would be nice to see an equestrian use component on the property.  There is a barn (in run down condition) and paddocks, as the Littauer Family were renowned equestrians in their time.  Any interested parties should contact Supervisor Venditto’s office in Oyster Bay Town Hall.

The Town of Oyster Bay SEA Fund Committee is taking nominations of properties for the next round of environmental money.  If you know of a property that should be considered for conservation purchase please get a nomination form from Oyster Bay Town Hall and return it ASAP.  More information may be found on the Oyster Bay Town Website.

For many years, I’ve been saying that horse people have been too lazy/too busy to take time to organize as a political voice in the face of negative changes in the horse world, facing major issues such as boarding facilities closing, trails closed down, hack facilities eliminated from public parks, city carriage rides banned, undue local restrictions or neighbor harassment of backyard barn owners, lack of a limited liability statute in New York, enormous insurance premiums for horse activities, ever increasing feed costs as farmland for hay and grain fall to developers and transportation costs escalate as fuel prices skyrocket.  Horsemen in different disciplines could never come together as a political force; thinking that what affected one group didn’t affect their group.  No one grasped the big picture that the issues I’ve outlined have implications for everyone involved with horse!

And now a new trend is emerging toward creating very expensive full service only barns.  That conversion process is taking place at my current boarding barn and has forced my friends and me to relocate our horses to the ever-shrinking pool of more affordable stalls.  Nassau is quickly becoming horse country for the rich and famous only.  Of course landowners have the right to make a buck and do what they wish with their land, but isn’t there room for stables to offer different levels of amenities at varying prices?  To be more community centered instead of a quick lesson and run spot for wealthy Manhattenites?  In this recession driven economy does the high-rent boarding facility really have a limitless pool of Georgina Bloombergs to draw from?  I don’t know that answer, but I do find the trend disturbing and not healthy for horses, as these full service barns rarely encourage true horsemanship in their boarders. Horses are viewed more as competition equipment.  Show up to train and then get back to your business. If you and your horse aren’t winning as planned, your trainer has no problem finding a fancier, more expensive performance mount for you to move on with.  Under those circumstances, where is the human-horse bond?  Those owners frequently have no idea what their horse eats or what good horse nutrition is, nor a feel for horse health/lameness issues.  This isn’t a condemnation of all such facilities, trainers, and owners, but such poor horsemanship is becoming increasingly prevalent and adds additional used up/burned out horses to the “unwanted horse problem”.  What happens to the parks with equestrian trails when the number of trail riders drops to an all time low as the current crop ages out and new horse enthusiasts have virtually no way to experience the joys of trail riding.  Will those parks get converted to golf courses or some other high user fee sport, as municipalities look to raise park revenues?  New trail riders will not be created as long as there are no affordable stalls to rent, as long as trainers refrain from  taking students out on the trail because they can’t afford the liability, as long as breeders aren’t breeding /training quiet ,level headed mounts for recreation when they can get more dollars for fancy, high spirited show horses.  I don’t pretend to have answers for all these issues, but I did include some ideas for Nassau County to act on in order to keep the average horse owner in the county in a letter I sent to Executive Souzzi on behalf of MHA. (see attached letter)  I am still awaiting a response to the letter as I write this column.

What can you do?

I’m urging readers to use my letter as a template for your own letter to the County (send to County Exec. Souzzi, the Legislature, Parks Commissioner Mr. Lopez, and Open Space Committee Chair Thomas Maher) or call their offices to ask them to address our issues on a special call in date Thursday April 24^th.

When three children are drowned in a bathtub by their mother and when our young people have little access to affordable housing, it’s hard for elected officials to care much about affordable horse stalls, but the reality is we are all taxpayers and consumers/spenders who are being pushed into Suffolk County when there are some measures officials can take to retain us.  Please read my letter for some ideas you can suggest when calling.  Contact information will be listed at the end of this column.

MHA is in the process of putting together a hunter pace in memory of Ed Wrigley.  A committee is forming.  If you would like to help with the planning, please contact Phyllis Waxenberg at 516-766-5816.

We also need committee members for Open House in the fall.  Please call Barbara Palm at 516-223-6673 to volunteer

Please consider becoming a board member.  We have loads of ideas for fun events; we just need a few more “worker bees”!  We even talked with NSHA about holding a mini “Equine Affaire” on L.I.! Wouldn’t that be neat!