Bryce Canyon National Park Reassessing Horseback Travel

NationalParksTraveler.org - Full Article

Compiled from NPS releases
June 24, 2025

The growth in horseback riding at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah has park officials reviewing their equestrian regulations and discussing how best park resources can be protected from that growth.

Between 2015 and 2021 the park saw a 650 percent increase in private riders, from 124 private riders in 33 group to 814 riders in 199 groups, and the growth has continued since then, according to a park release.

The park in 2014 had developed a reservation system for private riders to help spread riders out and avoid trail encounters between groups. In 2022, the park updated this system to avoid any overlap between private and guided rides, allowing private riders to reserve time slots between 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., after the commercial rides were off the trail each day.

The decision to change the horseback regulations in 2022 was spurred by conflicts between concessioner and private horse groups on steep, narrow trails. When private and concessioner groups meet on the trail, unfamiliar horses can behave unpredictably, creating interactions that are especially difficult for inexperienced concessioner riders to control safely, the park said at the time. Riders may also be forced to turn around, often in areas where steep cliffs and sensitive resources give little room to do so.

The park has recognized a growing interest in more riding opportunities — guided riding has increased by a marginal percentage, and private rides have increased by more than 700 percent since 2015.

Horseback riding, including guided and private riding, is integral to the park’s history and visitor experience, the release said. Guided horseback riding tours provide thousands of visitors with a unique experience to ride among the hoodoos. Private riders are also allowed to ride their own stock (horses and mules) on designated park trails.

That said, the increase in horseback travel has park staff assessing ways to provide access for horseback riders while also protecting natural and cultural resources and providing for a safe and enjoyable experience for both private users and guided tour groups...

Read more here:
https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2025/06/bryce-canyon-national-park-reassessing-horseback-travel

More than 250 million public land acres in the West proposed for sale

Yellow are BLM lands, green are Forest Service lands eligible for sale

June 20 2025

The Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Utah Senator Mike Lee, has proposed selling off more than 250 million acres of public lands across the West.

Millions of acres of forest service and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) lands in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, are eligible under the Lee-Daines amendment to the “Big Beautiful Bill”.

The proposed land sales were scrubbed from the House version of the bill, but once it went to the Senate, this much more drastic version was slipped into the budget proposal late on the night of June 11.

Lee has said, “We’re opening underused federal land to expand housing, support local development and get Washington, D.C., out of the way of communities that are just trying to grow,” though the “housing” accessibility and affordability will likely be limited. The administration has also hinted at greatly increasing mineral production.

Once the land is sold to private interests, accessibility to potentially millions of acres by the public will be eliminated, affecting recreation, hiking, hunting, fishing, OHV, riding, camping, ranching, grazing, and more.

As to where or to whom the money from the public land sales will go, that has not been fully addressed.

Follow this link to the map of Public lands eligible for sale in the Senate Reconciliation Bill

https://wilderness.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/basic/index.html?appid=821970f0212d46d7aa854718aac42310 

The Lee-Daines amendment will be voted on by the full Senate sometime between now and the July 4 deadline they’ve arbitrarily set for completing the budget. If you’re concerned with this potential loss of public land, contact your representatives NOW, or use this link: https://www.outdooralliance.org/blog/2025/6/16/33millionacres-publicland-selloffs-map

5 Lessons I Learned from a Major Riding Injury

TheSweatyEquestrian.com - Full Article

by Tamara Baysinger

It wasn’t even my injury.

The wreck happened to Layne, my dear friend who was just back on the endurance trail after her second spinal surgery in two years.

She hadn’t gone a mile from the start when it happened: Her horse, in a moment of impatient head-tossing, fell down. He got up unscathed, but she stayed on the ground with a tib-fib compound fracture.

After the weight of the horse himself, no more weight went on Layne’s leg for over three months. And even that was only the beginning.

The whole ordeal began thirteen months ago. Thirteen months of pain and celebration, of discouragement and adjustment, of discovery, of two steps forward and one step back. Thirteen months during which I’ve had the privilege of campaigning the horse in question – our frustrating and funny and powerful and fragile and astonishing and beloved Atlas. Thirteen months that have amounted to a masterclass in recovering from a major riding injury...

Read the rest here:
https://thesweatyequestrian.com/5-lessons-i-learned-from-a-major-riding-injury/

Equestrian adventurer Chloe Phillips-Harris never met a horse she couldn’t tame

ThePost.co.nz - Full Article

Bess Manson
June 6, 2025

Horse trainer, expedition leader and all-round adventurer. That’s some title to put on your business card, but Chloe Phillips-Harris is all this and more.

When she’s not taming horses and running equine events in the Bay of Islands, she’s traversing the Mongolian Steppe with a bunch of intrepid travellers on her Great Nomad Expeditions.

“I feel very lucky that I get to see parts of the world that not everyone gets to see,” she says.

“I do pinch myself sometimes.”

Ahead of her next expedition, Phillips-Harris talks to Bess Manson about being chased by wild dogs, getting detained in Kazakhstan and the kick she gets from being pushed to her absolute limits...

Read more here:
https://www.thepost.co.nz/culture/360713774/equestrian-adventurer-chloe-phillips-harris-never-met-horse-she-couldnt-tame