The Back Country Horsemen of Utah is sponsoring trail riding and informative lesson sessions. This information exchange and education symposium is on Jan. 16 at the Davis County Legacy Center from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. The topics this year are trailer safety, brand inspections, horse ownership in hard economic times, live pack demo, wilderness first aid, Leave No Trace, trail etiquette and essential knots.
The purpose of this event is to provide information to the horse and mule owners of Utah concerning trail riding opportunities and overnight stabling throughout the state as well as educational training in the proper use of horses and mules on Utah’s trails.
In addition, each of the 12 BCHU chapters will have a booth presenting information regarding 2010 planned activities, favorite trails in the chapter’s area and overnight stabling/camping locations. State and county tourism, trails and recreation organizations have also been offered the opportunity to set up tables to pass out information. Equine oriented clubs and organizations have been invited to set up information booths.
The Back Country Horsemen of Utah is a non-profit organization presently consisting of 12 local chapters spread across the state. They work with public land administrators and have developed relationships to assist them in making decisions for the good of all stock users.
BCHU is a different type of horse-oriented organization. They are not a riding club, but they do a lot of riding. They educate the public, their members and public land use managers about the proper use of horses and mules on public lands and they support the public land managers by doing work in the back country on trails, trail heads, use surveys, wildlife studies and a myriad of other ways. They are strong advocates of the continued access and use of pack and saddle stock on our public lands.
The BCHU currently has 600 members.
In 2009, the BCHU sponsored more than 100 projects which donated thousands of hours of direct volunteer labor to trail maintenance and educational forums in the state of Utah. In addition, the chapters hold clinics and sponsor speakers at their monthly meetings. For more information, see their webpage at www.bchu.com or call Craig Allen at 801-388-1175. The San Rafael Chapter of the Back Country Horsemen of Utah will have a booth at the symposium according to local president Wayne Ludington. He invites Carbon and Emery county residents to learn more about the BCHU by attending the symposium.
Back country horsemen to participate in workshops
"Last June the Emery and Carbon county chapter of the Back-Country horsemen participated in a trail project where they improved the Pole Canyon trail in Huntington Canyon."