Trail Rides
Please come out to enjoy a TROT trail ride and consider leading a ride yourself! TROT trail rides are fun and a great opportunity to learn new trails, meet other TROT members, and find a new trail riding buddy. To lead a ride, contact our trail ride coordinator, Trot Activity.
To participate in a scheduled ride:
- Contact the ride leader to sign-up and learn the ride’s starting time and other details.
- If a ride is postponed or cancelled, the ride leader will notify you.
- Check the TROT website and TROT and Maryland Trail Riders listservs for the most current ride information.
- All ride participants:
- Helmets are encouraged
- Provide appropriate documentation of current negative Coggins test for the horse, in compliance with Maryland state law.
- Be a TROT member – One-day TROT memberships are available at the ride for $5
If you need a ride to the event or can offer one, please email Trot Activity, so that this information can be included in an upcoming newsletter, or contact the ride leader.
Trail Maintenance
Anytime you are on a trail ride and if safe to do so, you can perform trail maintenance by clipping branches that impede passageway along a trail. In addition, you can participate in scheduled trail maintenance days.
Amy Kimble is the TROT Adopt-A-Trail coordinator and she has challenged all TROT members to perform two hours of trail maintenance a year. Please contact Amy for additional information about participating in trail maintenance activities. She can be reached at 301-748-8310 or amyhkimble@aol.com.
Please report your trail work hours to Amy, who tracks this information for the state; these hours also help assess park usage.
Calendar
The ride will be about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. There are bridges and road crossings. The woods trails are generally narrow, rocky and hilly so we generally walk, with a few trots and canters on the broader, open sections. There is no water available for horses at trailer parking, but streams horses can drink from by several bridge crossings during the ride.
We can bring a table if riders want to bring a bag lunch, and we will bring some cookies and carrots! Helmets required on this ride.
Rain date: Thursday, May 20
Contact: Susan Ferrara, sferrara3663@hotmail.com
Enjoy a 2-hour ride through the woods and along the Gunpowder River. Thanks to the efforts of our park staff, the trails are in excellent condition. On this route there are several small stream crossings,
and we will be crossing the river twice in shallow sections. Hills, some step-downs, and some paved areas. Be prepared to encounter hikers and dogs on leashes. There is room in the parking area for four trailers including mine. No green horses, please. As this park is very busy on weekends, the ride is being scheduled for a weekday. This will primarily be a walking ride, with trotting possible in a few places.
Helmets required on this ride.
Contact: Priscilla Huffman 301-646-4422 or
Come ride along WSSC’s beautiful Rocky Gorge Reservoir, celebrating TROT’s efforts to reopen this trail a few years ago. This ride starts in West Laurel, about five minutes from I-95. The trail offers magnificent views of the reservoir, with a good chance of seeing heron and maybe an eagle. Despite the name, the footing is fine for barefoot horses, with some not bad hills and plenty of easy stream crossings to water the horses. We will have a walk-only and a faster group.
After the ~2-hour ride, there will be a potluck lunch, so bring your potluck contribution.
Helmets required on this ride.
Rain date: Wednesday, June 10
Contact: Barbara Sollner-Webb, bsw@jhmi.edu, 301-604-5619
More details will become available closer to event.
Woodstock Inn/Patapsco Valley State Park
Patapsco Valley State Park- McKeldin Area
11676 Marriottsville Rd, Marriottsville, MD 21104
USA
Contact:
Carolann Sharpe
410-908-5599
blackandwhitecookie@yahoo.com
Our ride begins at McKeldin Park, which welcomes horse trailers to park by the basketball courts. This all-walk ride is a 1.5 hour along the Patapsco River to the Woodstock Inn restaurant (where we will
stop for lunch), and 1.5 hours back. There are two water crossings. Depending on water levels, there can be swift moving water, but a very easy crossing. At the Woodstock Inn, we tie up across from a train track.
Helmets NOT required on this ride.
Contact: Carolann Sharpe, 410-908-5599 or blackandwhitecookie@yahoo.com
The ride will be about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. There are bridges and road crossings. The woods trails are generally narrow, rocky and hilly so we generally walk, with a few trots and canters on the broader, open sections. There is no water available for horses at trailer parking, but streams horses can drink from by several bridge crossings during the ride. We can bring a table if riders want to bring a bag lunch, and we will bring some cookies and carrots! Helmets required on this ride.
Rain date: Thursday, June 17
Contact: Susan Ferrara, sferrara3663@hotmail.com
The ride will be about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. There are bridges and road crossings. The woods trails are generally narrow, rocky and hilly so we generally walk, with a few trots and canters on the broader, open sections. There is no water available for horses at trailer parking, but streams horses can drink from by several bridge crossings during the ride. We can bring a table if riders want to bring a bag lunch, and we will bring some cookies and carrots! Helmets required on this ride.
Rain date: Thursday, September 23
Contact: Susan Ferrara, sferrara3663@hotmail.com
More details will become available closer to event.
Contact:
Carolann Sharpe
410-908-5599
blackandwhitecookie@yahoo.com
Details to follow.
Helmets required on this ride.
Contact: Joyce Bell wbell2@washcoll.edu or 410-820-6002
Join the fun at Tuckahoe Equestrian Center’s annual Fall Camping Weekend and Harvest Auction, home-cooked meals, and scenic trails in Tuckahoe State Park near Denton, MD. Helmets required on this ride.
Contact: Joyce Bell, wbell2@washcoll.edu, or 410-820-6002