Atop a high, stony bluff overlooking the Shawnee National Forest, branches full of green leaves move in the wind like ripples of water on a mill pond.
Puffy clouds punctuate an azure sky, forming a backdrop for great buzzards gracefully riding the thermals. Birds chirp, but there are no cars, no horns, no sirens. The cacophony of civilization is a long way away.
In the distance, faintly at first, comes the sound of hooves against stone and the hardened clay of a trail. Then, the first rider comes into view, with dozens more behind him. In the shady clearing, they dismount, remove saddles from their horses and take a break from the Southern Illinois heat.
“It is just beautiful here,” said Barbara Colvin, who lives in Central Illinois. She and others pose for photographs near a gnarled cedar among the maple, elm and oaks at the edge of the ridge line.
This idyllic spot is one of many along the One Horse Gap Trail Ride, a week-long event, held twice a year for the last 12 years, that now draws nearly 200 horseback riders from more than a dozen states. This trip’s participants range from an 11-year-old Texan to a 79-year-old from Alabama.
Three days earlier and about two hours back down the trail, scores of heavy-duty pickups pulling long horse trailers delivered the riders and their mounts to the 34 Ranch, one of a dozen horse camps in Southern Illinois that host thousands of riders each year. Its 500 acres in Hardin and Pope Counties are surrounded by the 280,000-acre Shawnee National Forest.
“People arrive on Sunday, which gives them time to travel. Starting Monday, we have organized rides–two on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and all-day rides on Tuesday and Thursday,” said Bob Buchanan, one of the co-owners of the 34 Ranch.
Colvin is typical of the riders. She arrived with four horses, her 11-year-old granddaughter from Texas and two family friends– college students studying equine sciences.
During the week, she and the rest of the riders will live together, eating meals at the ranch, in a barn converted to a dining hall, and camping along Grand Pierre Creek. Each day they ride out on different trails, in giant clover-leaf routes, as they explore the Shawnee Hills, some of Illinois’ most exquisite scenery.
At 7 a.m., riders make their way to the big red barn, where Sarah Davis and her staff of five cooks have been preparing breakfast. There are biscuits, gravy, sausage, doughnuts, cereal, coffee, juice and milk.
Eating at long tables, the riders’ small talk, as might be expected, centers on horses and the upcoming ride.
At 8:30, three groups leave camp–fast, medium and slow contingents. The groupings help assure the horses are not overworked. Some, not used to long rides, can become overheated, said Buchanan.
Buchanan’s eldest son, Todd, leads the fast riders. His gear includes canteens; two-way radio; cellular telephone; two first-aid kits, one for people and one for horses; and several dozen brightly colored tiny flags on thin wires that he wraps around tree branches to mark turns. Another guide follows the groups and collects the markers.
This morning, Todd heads to the Pine Tunnel Trail, about an hour away, and so named for the huge stand of white pines that was planted more than 60 years ago and has now grown tall, providing the riders with a trail through a cool, shaded maze.
Todd easily navigates the labyrinth of paths, trails and roads that criss-cross the forest to the remote stand of trees, and the riders are back to camp before noon for lunch and a two-hour rest before heading out on the afternoon ride to One Horse Gap.
The gap, for which the ride is named, is a crevasse in a monster-size rock just wide enough to accommodate one horse and rider at a time.
Buchanan sends staff members out to the gap by truck with cold drinks and guitars (for serenades) to meet the riders. A truck and horse trailer is also on hand.
At the top of the gap, Mike Shannahan dismounts and checks his horse. “He’s hot and tired,” Shannahan said, walking the horse slowly in the shade to cool him. “He’s 18, and this hot weather is tough on him. He’s getting a ride back.”
Several other horses, withering in the heat, also are trailered back to camp.
Back at camp, Gary Brashers is on hand to tend to the horses’ needs. Clad in a thick leather apron, Brashers, a farrier from Fredericktown, Mo., picks up the right front leg of Moonstone, a 5-year-old polo pony and, with a tool resembling a small crowbar, removes Moonstone’s metal shoe. Then with a large file, he trims the hoof.
“They grow like fingernails,” said Brashers. “They need to be trimmed every six to eight weeks.” The hoof trimmed, Brashers shapes a horseshoe with his mallet and anvil and nails it to the hoof. Brashers is also a veterinarian assistant and performs equine dentistry.
That evening, after a dinner of steak, baked potatoes, beans, salad and pie, there’s an impromptu horse show in the exhibition ring at the camp and more music. But many folks will just sit around campfires and chat.
“This is just good family fun,” said Bob Hill, 70, of Oblong, Ill. Hill and his wife are at the 34 Ranch for their seventh year, he said. With them are seven of their grandchildren, all riders.
“People come here to unwind. Many come year after year and see old friends and watch their kids grow up,” said Gerald Davis, of Eldorado, Ill., who, with Buchanan, bought the 34 Ranch 14 years ago.
One of the all-day rides is to the Garden of the Gods, where stunning rock formations, created thousands of years ago by melting glaciers, have names such as Camel Rock, Anvil Rock and Devil’s Smokestack.
The ride to the Garden of the Gods triggers talk of a controversy between horsemen and the U.S. Forest Service.
The service is closing some areas in Shawnee to horses because the manure left by the animals contain non-native seeds and can introduce foreign plants there.
“Through our forest planning process, we identified 80 natural areas of either botanical significance of geologic significance. Most of those are rather small rare plant communities,” said Becky Banker, public affairs officer for the Shawnee National Forest. “We felt that we needed to protect and preserve those very small areas. The total acres constitute about 5 percent of the forest. The soils are so sensitive that they just cannot take a lot of abuse.”
“They say that they want to close just 5 percent of the forest area,” said Buchanan, “but the 5 percent they want to close is like closing a river bridge. It will cut off the most scenic places.”
“I’m 70,” said Hill, “and I won’t be riding these trails too much longer, but I want my grandchildren to be able to see these things.”
Banker tried to allay their concerns. “We are going to work with the horse riders. If there is an existing trail that goes through a natural area, we want to reroute it so they still have access to the places that they want to go.”
Recreational horses have become a booming business.
“I think that you are going to see more and more people riding as the recreational part of their life, as they get older,” said Jay Hickey, president of the American Horse Council, based in Washington, D.C.
“What we are seeing is a lot of Baby Boomers who, as their children move out, are going back to horseback riding. They have a little discretionary income, and they are going back to things that they did when they were younger. They can’t go back to football, basketball or hockey, but they can ride,” Hickey said.
Patti and Jim Paulk fit the profile. “This is what we like to do. We trailer all around and meet a lot of people,” said Patti as they lunched at the Garden of the Gods. “We go all over the county to interesting places. We take our horses with us.”
She and Jim, a retired orthodontist, are from Waynesville, N.C. “There are big living quarters in the front (of their trailer), and we can carry three horses in back. This is our thing.”
There are 2.97 million recreational horses in the U.S. They generate the equivalent of 317,000 full-time jobs–ranging from stablehands and feed sellers to saddle makers and truck and trailer manufacturers–and pump $28.3 billion into the nation’s economy, according to a 1996 study by KMG Peat Marwick for the horse council. Additionally, there are 4 million race, show and work horses in the U.S.
The median income for households that own recreational horses is around $60,000, compared to $36,000 for all U.S. households, according to the Peat Marwick study.
And there are dozens of breeds of horses today, a change from 20 years ago when 75 percent of recreational mounts were quarter horses. That breed, raised to be raced a quarter mile, is still the most popular in terms of numbers. But Paints (calico or spotted horses, sometimes called pintos) and Arabians also are popular, as are Appaloosas, a breed with a spotted rump, from the Northwest and originally bred by the Paloose Indians.
Gaited horses, such as Paso Finos, are popular because of the way they walk–a well-gaited move that minimizes the rider’s up-and-down motion in the
saddle.
“I have seen Paso Finos go at a trot (with the rider) holding a tray with glasses of water and never spill any,” Hickey said.
“You can buy a horse for as little as $1,000 or for as much more as you want to spend,” he added. “But people who own horses are not necessarily wealthy.”
Tom Persechino of the 305,000-member American Quarter Horse Association, says that 80 percent of members own horses for recreation purposes.
“People like to get away from their hectic jobs and hectic lifestyles with their animals,” said Persechino. “They create a bond, they get on the back of him and off they go out into nature.”
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The 34 Ranch, is open year-round for camping and hosts week-long trail rides–one in June and one in October.
The fee for the ride is $200 for adults and $150 for children 5 through 11; kids younger than 5 are free. The charge includes 18 meals, trail guides, use of camp grounds and entertainment daily. It is strictly BYOH (bring your own horse.) For information on the One Horse Gap Trail Ride, write to the 34 Ranch, Rt. 1, Herod, IL 62947.
