Please use the link provided here to help select the topics discussed at The TROT Legal Equine Symposium.
https://forms.gle/ztYcEiGAPHsTHG6L9
Thanks to a generous grant from the Maryland
Horse Industry Board (MHIB), Trail Riders of Today
(TROT) will be hosting “Defending Land-Use Rights
for the Horse Community” an Equine Legal Symposium
at the Maryland Horse Library & Education Center
in Reisterstown, Maryland.
Ross Peddicord, MHIB Executive Director notified
TROT President Carolan Sharpe that the MHIB Grant
Program application she filed last October was chosen
to receive $500, which will be earmarked to cover
the cost of attorney speaker, Genevieve H.R.
Macfarlane, for the event.
Horses and land are intrinsically connected, but due
to government legislation, economic demands from
development, or external pressures from landowners,
equestrians are losing access to land at an
alarming rate! Land-use attorneys can help keep
farms or trails open, but attorneys are expensive
and sometimes all equestrians need is for someone
to answer some questions, provide some advice, let
them know where they legally stand or how they
can act to stop this trajectory.
Aligning with TROT’s mission to maintain, preserve
and promote open space and equestrian trails for
public recreational use across the region, the symposium’s
goal is to provide actionable items to fight
these battles and preserve access to existing trails
and open space. TROT’s symposium will educate
participants on how to armor themselves with landuse
actions, preserve open space and help prevent
future encroachment.
“Creating this opportunity for our membership to
ask questions and get concrete answers as well as
the resources to effectively protect their own property
investments as well as trails they ride is another
example of how TROT is committed to our mission,”
said Sharpe. “An informed and educated community
is a powerful defender of our trails.”
Free for TROT members, the symposium will cost
$20 for nonmembers; however, that fee will include
an annual TROT membership. Refreshments will be
available at the event. Still in the planning phase,
while the symposium is slated for March, the exact
day and time are still to be determined. Once that is
decided, TROT will be heavily promoting the event,
so keep an eye out in the Equiery, the TROT website
and social media channels.
TROT, originally founded in 1980 by 22 Maryland
riders seeking to save a single trail, expanded in
1997 to a 501(c)3 Corporation for charitable and educational
purposes and specifically to educate the
public concerning the preservation of existing
equestrian trails and the establishment of new
equestrian trails.
For more information about TROT, visit —
https://trot-md.org/
For more information about the MHIB, visit —
https://mda.maryland.gov/horseboard