Any trail riders in the Lexington area? (Frankfort, Georgetown: hoa, houses)

[whoabuck]

A major consideration for us in moving to the area, is the proximity of trails open to riding. We have endurance horses...

Does anyone have any ideas about some reasonable riding (even roadside, if the roads are quiet...) within about a 20 - 30 minute commute of Lex?

Thanks a ton!

[Toria]

Originally Posted by whoabuck

A major consideration for us in moving to the area, is the proximity of trails open to riding. We have endurance horses...

Does anyone have any ideas about some reasonable riding (even roadside, if the roads are quiet...) within about a 20 - 30 minute commute of Lex?

Thanks a ton!

I don't think you're going to find any significant trail riding that close to Lexington (meaning 20 minutes)....Masterson Station Park on the northwest side is big and is great for hacking out (and has an indoor open to public), but for extensive trail systems you'll have to go a little further:

Shaker Village in Harrodsburg has 35 miles of beautiful trails, it's about 45 minutes from Lexington. In Nicholas County (Carlisle, about 45-50 minutes from Lexington) is a 5000 acre wildlife management area with an extensive trail system. Go an hour or so east of Lex. and you'll get the outdoor wonderland known as Daniel Boone National Forest and Cave Run Lake, which has a very extensive trail system and several horse camps. Mammoth Cave is a couple hours away (south), but has some of the best and toughest trail systems in the state. There's also Green River Lake in Campbellsville - probably 2 hours from Lexington....Taylorsville Lake State Park is about an hour from Lexington, both have lots of trails and also have horse camps. Most of these are listed on the Horse and Mule Trail website, which I can't seem to get to at the moment.

You could also contact OOATS - www.ooats.org - which is the distance and trail riders organization for Ohio and surrounding areas. They have a long list of competitive trail events on their website....most are in OH, IL, and MI but there are a couple in KY (it appears they just had one at Cave Run last weekend).

[nlschr0]

Once again, way out of my area of expertise, but I know several people that ride in the Kleber WMA (wildlife management area) near Stamping Ground in Scott and Owen counties, a little west of Georgetown and east of Frankfort, I believe.

[Toria]

yes, that's another place to ride, thanks....though it, too is about a 40 minute drive from Lexington. It's smaller than some of the other WMA's and (I think) it has only one trail in and out?....not sure how long it is, though.

Whoabuck, if you go to:

Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources - Homepage

and click on Wildlife on the left, then on Wildlife Management Areas, it will take you to the directory of all the WMA's in the state. Most of them have online maps so you can see what the trail systems look like. Unless noted, they allow riding on designated trails or any public road within the property.The Clay WMA in Nicholas County is almost 6000 acres, with miles of various trails. Daniel Boone National Forest info on horseback riding can be found here:

Horseback Riding

[Toria]

forgot to include this one:

HOME Whispering Woods

looks like a rent-a-horse place, but you can haul in your own horse and ride; they say they have 250 acres. Have never been there, though so dont' know what's its like but it's in Georgetown so it wouldn't be too far.

[nlschr0]

Originally Posted by Toria

forgot to include this one:

HOME Whispering Woods

looks like a rent-a-horse place, but you can haul in your own horse and ride; they say they have 250 acres. Have never been there, though so dont' know what's its like but it's in Georgetown so it wouldn't be too far.

Now, I have actually been here. They have a lot of wooded hills to their property, with several different trails. It is located on a dead-end back road off of 25 next to Northern Elementary, in the Mallard Point area. There are some houses and developments scattered around, but their land is mostly wooded and pastures. Of course, my experience is limited to the "rent-a-horse" range! They also have a small tack shop onsite, but I have no idea how good it is. The owners/employees seem pretty friendly. Lots of deer, coyotes, wild turkeys, etc show up in their wooded areas.

[whoabuck]

Thanks so much for the input.

I have been to the Horse and Mule Trails website, but they don't break it down by location, so unless I map out every single link, I can't tell what's in the area. Plus, there are always those little places that only local people know about...

Looks like I'm heading up thataway in about 3 weeks for a site visit...

Any other advice, information, or places to investigate for setting up a little horsey property (5 - 10 acres)?

Thanks.