Appalachian Trail

Plenty of wilderness in VA as rough as you like, go ride up the side of the mountain or anywhere else. You just can't ride on the Appalachian trail, nothing to do with nanny this or nanny that. Its the law. Trail is for hikers only. Plenty of other trails for horses. Pick one.

Lol So I'm guessing you popped out of the womb in a saddle and singing "Happy Trails"? Someone along the way had to baby sit you and teach you the right way to go about things.. That's having to "nanny" you.. People have to learn somewhere, and until then they are kept to the easy trails.. Which I'm positive you started out on yourself..

Nope, sure didn't pop out in a saddle. When I was younger if it didn't have wheels and a motor I wanted nothing to do with it. And no, I didn't start out on easy trails. When I first started riding my hair was turned gray instantly, scared the hell out of me and showed me what a horse really can do. Was doing stuff that I wouldn't of done on my dirt bike.

As for a nanny, never had one. Grew up on a farm where mom kicked me out the door to go "play". I learned through scrapes, cuts, bruises and somehow no broken bones what I could and couldn't do. In other words I learned independence and reliance on myself.

Joe, I would love to ride the AT due to it's history and I bet a whole bunch of it was ridden back in the day.

This is how it should be, it's how I was raised. If you got hurt, you had to suck it up and keep up. People just aren't brought up like that anymore.. I did end up with broken bones though lol.. I was a rough kid.

I'm a believer in natural selection as well. However, the laws and rules arent there to protect you from your own stupid self, the laws and rules are there to protect OTHERS from your stupidity (and arrogance that one may think they can safely fit a horse anywhere a human could possibly go)
And I mean *you* in a completely generic way - I'm not trying to single out anyone

Let me pose a simple question. How did we, as a race, make it for thousands of years without government protecting us from others stupidity?

Hell if I know, because if it was meant to kill off stupid it missed.. a LOT..

Well, define that era for me.
Not trying to be a smart butt. I don't like a nanny state either, however, I don't think I want to be hiking up a hill on the AT with a horse up the hill that may very well trip, fall, and kill me.

Era? 100+ years ago. It's mainly been in the last 100 years we've seen rules creep in to protect us from ourselves and others stupidity. I'm not talking rules governing crimes such as robbery, murder, etc.

As for hiking the AT and having a horse trip and fall hiking. This goes back to self reliance. If you are watching what is going on around you (back to self reliance) you would see that rider above you and try to maintain yourself in a place where if they fell they wouldn't land on you. FYI, a 200 pound hiker above you on a switch back can just as easily ruin your day as a 1000 pound horse. Heck, them just knocking off a 5 pound rock can ruin your day.

Why do you feel motorized vehicles shouldn't go on horse trails? I'd be willing to bet the same reasons could be applied to horses on hiking trails...
I'm not going to argue with you concerning government nanny state etc, because We'd probably agree...