This really bites the big one. What you really need is a group of horse owners who also fly r/c, and get them to mediate between the horse-only and r/c-only groups. These people DO exist, I am one and I know several others in my area (Western NC) I understand horses, and can see that there will be problems flying around them. The problem exists because the horses using this park for a large part will be stabled and pastured elsewhere, and won't have the constant exposure to the noise and other aspects of the r/c planes. As stated before, horses are prey animals and it is genetically wired in them to mistrust anything that they are not constantly exposed to. Even the act of a person sitting on their back is unnatural, and you can ask anyone that rides how a horse reacts when it hasn't been ridden in a long time.

If these horses were pastured next to the flying field, it wouldn' take more than a week to condition them to the point where they wouldn't pay any attention at all to the planes. My horses went crazy when my next door neighbor started riding his motocross bike in his field next to my pasture, but it only took a couple of days before they didn't even raise their heads when he was out there. While I can understand the horseowner's concern, it's like anything else for them to work through. If the horse trusts its rider, there won't be any problems. If the horseowners can't control thir mounts, the real problem lies with them, without even the consideration of r/c planes. How about the occasional snake in the trail, or water hazard, or even another horse? These can also create problems, yet the horseowner has't demanded all snakes to be exterminated, or the creeks dried up before they can ride.

I'm firmly in the r/c'ers camp on this land use issue. There is plenty of land for the horse rider there, and for a flying area as well. After all, the planes will spend most of their time where the horses can't go anyway. The big responsibility for the r/c crowd will be to steer as clear of the riders as possible when they fly, just as they would for a hiker or anyone else.

But as Horace stated back when, money will talk, and without a powerful lobby to counter it, I'm afraid the equestrian bunch will win. Is AMA doing anything to help make your voice louder?