This legislation is in due before Congress this year. Please take the time to show your support for trial riding on OUR Public Lands. This is the Right to Ride Bill and needs to receive active support from the equestrian community. This is YOUR chance to make a statement!

A bill has been introduced in the US House of Representatives which
desperately needs your support:
H.R.586  THE RIGHT-TO-RIDE LIVESTOCK ON FEDERAL LANDS ACT OF 2005

On February 2, 2005 Representative George Radanovich (CA-R) introduce HR
586, the Right-to-Ride Livestock on Federal Lands Act of 2005.

The stated purpose of this bill is to preserve the use and access of pack
and saddle stock animals on public lands, including wilderness areas,
national monuments, and other specifically designated areas, administered by
the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the United States
Fish and Wildlife Service, or the Forest Service where there is a historical
tradition of such use, and for other purposes.
It says that, as a general rule, all trails, routes, and areas used by such
animals shall remain open and accessible for such use. A reduction in the
use and access of pack and saddle stock animals on such lands could take
place only after complying with the full review process required under the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

Please support this important legislation.  Too often over the last twenty
years public lands and trails have been closed and access denied to pack and
saddle stock and recreational riders.  I fear that some of these closures
are effected with a bias against horses and riders, without sound science
and without a justifiable rationale.

This bill gives us the opportunity to express our support for equestrian use
of public lands to our representatives in Washington.

A similar bill, HR 2966, was introduced by Mr. Radanovich in 2003. Despite
garnering twenty-one co-sponsors HR 2966 died in the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources. If the Right-to-Ride bill is to become law in the 109th
Congress, a wave of popular support must carry it through the House
Resources and House Agriculture Committees.

Each of you must contact your Congressman/woman to urge them to sign onto
this bill.  We need to get this through the congress this year.  With each
passing year it makes it harder as it becomes a target for the
anti-equestrians.


To find your Representative go to this site and enter your zip code:
http://www.house.gov


To view the entire text of this bill go to this site and search for bill
number HR586:
http://thomas.loc.gov/