No need to be so over dramatic. They’re simply trying to avoid catching peoples dogs for crying out loud.

Wouldn’t worry about the horse, but as previously mentioned most horse folk around here have a dog or two with them, and it will likely only cause a bad situation and loss of equipment due to an angry crazy horse lady.

LOL! (don't forget the 3/8" chain)

OP, read & study the n. y.trapping laws. PLEASE be ethical ..... We as trappers do not need any more regs., The row we hoe is bad enough ! To answer 1. yes year around . 2. possible ,most likely a frightened animal with a green rider. IMHO give it berth. Tut

I get where you're coming from. Multi-use land and some activities think they are the only ones with the right to enjoy it. If you do any kind of hunting or trapping you will be ridiculed!!!!!!!! Around here the horseback riders think they control the trails.

The horse will be just fine as long as HE doesn't sit on it, then again once the chain goes taught...

All depends on how ya set. I once caught and held a Percheron Stallion in a 1.5 Long spring. Talk about a catch circle! And only got $37 for the pelt.

To answer your question no- a number 2 or 3 would never hold a horse but setting on an active trail is a good way to make enemies.
\Sharron is right, avoiding a horse is easy. Avoiding the wrath of a horse woman, however, is a another story all together. I myself, am level expert at pissing them off.

Perfect example, a retired doctor recently employed me to help her with her two horses that she tried to ride semi regularly and then pet and spoil and allow them to basically push her around at all other times.
She had two that she didn't ride because they were never sound. One was chronic and nothing could be done.

Anyway, because she had a big degree she told me how to fix the two and why the third could not be fixed. Anyway long story short, I helped the 3 I could and she has been bitchy with me to this day because of it LOL.

Most of those ol girls are retired, have a rich husband, or just flat out hate men w/o even realizing it. You do NOT want to become their next special project just because they have nothing better to do with their time than make your life (and trapping opportunities) miserable. Trust me

Don't do it.

I held a very large mule in a #3 on a drag a 600# steer and a donkey in a #2 the 2 and 3 were bridges and the steer was in a MB 650 so never say never.

Setting established trails on public land is either against the law, a terrible idea, or both. If the horse stepping on the trap doesn't spook it, a dog getting caught is likely to. How would you like to be responsible for a rider being injured because you set on an established trail. Also consider that the whole community will know that it was YOUR trap when they track down the trap tag number. The whole community including the trapping community will be very unhappy with you.

Most horses wont eaven notice they stepped on anything . No worse than a loise rock . Now if they are smelling it and it goes off that would be different . Horse riders almost always have a dog .

I had a Maverick that would get stuck in 2nd gear.

Why would you even think trapping near a horse trail was a good idea? Around here horse people go on trail rides and pay a lot of money to do it. They all get together and ride around in a big pasture or pastures.

If its a multi day event the organizers set up portable corrals and care for animals in the evening and the riders are taken to a hotel. Occasionally a handful will sleep on the ground. Most go to hotels.

This past time is not cheap. A lot of the horses are boarded. A lot of the ones that are not boarded are kept in pastures bought for the express purpose of keeping a few pet horses.

The people who do this are not the friend of trappers. They may call you cause fluffy the cat got ate by a coyote or something but very few think fur is a good thing. Do not antagonize them. World is full of fur. No matter how tempting that trail may be do yourself and your fellow trappers a favor and trap somewhere else. You catch fido or get one of their pet horses to blow up ( you would not believe the ringy stuff some of the most inexperienced of them show up with) it is not going to end well.

P.S. The people that enjoy "trail rides" are almost all women. They may drag along a man but the people who really enjoy that kind of thing are mostly women. Women who like movies like Bambi and Charley the Lonesome Cougar. Like the woman who asked me if I ever felt bad for the families of the fish I was going to eat.

Why would you set yourself up (and the rest of us trappers) for more bad press?

My favorite.

Like a Volkswagen.....

I never had much luck in pastures around here. Ours are on the small side so that might have something to do with it.