Grieving horse owner warns of trail danger

"Get off the trails before some one gets killed." That's the message Jeri Sust, of Newcastle, wants to share with those illegally using off road vehicles at Folsom Lake.Sust's 4-year-old horse, Toby, had to be destroyed after he was spooked by illegal dirt bike riders at Folsom Lake on Saturday, Jan. 3. The horse bolted, threw Sust and severely injured its leg during flight. Toby, a 4-year-old appaloosa/Quarter Horse, had been owned by Sust for 1 ½ years."God knows I loved that horse. He was a sweetie and tried hard to please. He loved people," Sust said.According to Sust, she and Barbara Heyward, of Loomis, had trailered their horses to Sterling Point equestrian staging area in Loomis. They were riding on a Folsom Lake trail at approximately 12:30 p.m., when three unknown riders on "dirt bikes" frightened the horses.Apparently, the horses bolted and both riders were thrown. Sust hit her head in the fall, which broke her helmet, and both women suffered bruises and badly bruised ribs. Sust's horse suffered severe injuries to one of his rear legs. Dr. Jack Abrahams, a Granite Bay veterinarian who treats the Sust's animals, made an emergency call to Folsom Lake to examine the horse. He said the injured animal was in a remote spot and he had to be taken by a ranger in a four-wheel drive vehicle to the horse's location. "There wasn't a lot I could do for him," Abrahams said, explaining that based on a visual exam, the horse had suffered a "deep laceration," ruptured ligaments and had been hemorrhaging. Dr. Abrahams then euthanized the horse.Sust said she does not know if the motorcycle riders knew the effect they were having on the horses, nor is she sure how close the motorcycles came to them. Heyward estimated that the horses may have been traveling 30 miles per hour when the riders were thrown."Jeri fell first and my horse swerved to avoid her and I was thrown. It's a good thing she swerved," Heyward said of her 20-year-old Morgan mare, Bailey.Sust said her horse, Toby, was found about half a mile away and was behind a bunch of boulders, unable to walk. Bailey, Heyward's horse, was eventually recovered, uninjured, about five miles away. "It's amazing that Bailey wasn't hurt," Heyward said."These motorcycle riders know they're not supposed to be there, but they sneak in," she said.In response to the incident, Richard Preston, supervising ranger at Folsom Lake State Recreation Area, said, "We have a report in progress, we're investigating and we're working on a couple of leads."Preston said it is illegal and a misdemeanor to operate off road vehicles in any part of the park, although street legal vehicles are allowed in certain park areas. Preston attributes lower lake levels to an increase in this type of illegal activity. He also said that officers are meeting with their supervisors to address the issue and come up with a plan for "limiting access" for illegal entries.Preston asks the public to report any illegal activities at Folsom Lake to the State Parks dispatch center at 358-1300. He said that illegal activities on private land bordering the State Park come under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement.For more on this story, see Tragedy on the Trail-Joyia Emard is a reporter for the Loomis News