City Expects Horse Riding Trails to Reopen This Summer

Horse riding enthusiasts—and anyone who drives along Spring Road—may have noticed that for some time, the horse riding trail on the west side of the road has been closed for construction. According to Assistant City Manager Hugh Riley, it's been closed to allow for installation of erosion control and drainage devices.

Jeremy Laurentowski, parks maintenance superintendent, said the developer of the Moorpark Highlands area, Pardee Homes, maintains the trails currently. Pardee closed the trails in January and has been testing the devices.

“The first phase of the Spring Road project was intended to test the devices through several rain events to determine if the devices were adequate to prevent erosion,” Laurentowski wrote in a statement to Patch.

He also noted the equestrian trails on the north side of Ridgecrest and along the east side of Spring Road were purposely kept open to allow public access to the trail connections on Championship Drive and Walnut Canyon Road.

Laurentowski said plans to construct the remainder of the erosion control and drainage devices were approved by the city about two weeks ago and he is anticipating that Pardee will finalize construction and open the trails this summer; however, the city has not received a confirmation date yet.