Muttontown is still struggling with the issue of preserving horse trails in their unique area that surrounds the 500 acre Muttontown Preserve. Years ago, when the Gold Coast was still shining brightly, horseback riders were able to go on trails that went from Old Westbury to Cold Spring Harbor.

The Muttontown Horsemen's Association has been asking the village for help. Ken Hollins recently reminded the board that a year ago they said they would try to work on the issue of the trails. On Wednesday, Dec. 12, Mayor Richard Murcott spoke at a MHA meeting at the Vernon School to update them on the village position.

He said in a telephone interview, "I thought it went very well. I told it as it was. I didn't go there saying everything would work out all right.

"I am concerned about it and it is somewhat bleak," he said. "The village can't go in and regulate homeowners to allow horses to cross their property unless it is already written into their deed. I've asked three lawyers already. "We are trying to think of a way to do it without being sued by some resident who is annoyed with us. We just have to keep making a lot of noise about the trails and say we really want the trails left open and if there are any problems we will try to solve them or the horsemen will try.

"They are not trying to be bad neighbors," he said.

"This village is a very unique place on Long Island. Only here is there an equestrian park of 600 acres, no one else has it. It is almost criminal to have these trails that lead into it to be just cut off to them.

"They are a super group," he said of the MHA members. When Kathleen Kleinman, president of the MHA was asked if the mayor's message was what she wanted to hear, she said, "Yes and no. I think he is sincere and trying to work on it. He said he was going to write about it in his Mayor's Letter to Residents, to preserve the horse trails and not fence them over."

She was concerned that the village still hadn't latched onto what MHA people think of as a solution to the problem. "We had people from the Land Trust speak to the board. We had Lloyd Zuckerberg speak there for the second time and they don't know how to go about it."

She said the MHA understand that you can't force people to create conservation easements, but that the tools are there. "The Land Trust is there to work with them. It is just a case of getting down to business."

At one of the Muttontown Village board meetings a mention was made of the Byam Stevens property, that it would have been a good candidate for a conservation easement, but that deal has already been done.

"That is part of the problem, if you wait. The developer will not see the same benefits that would have been there for the homeowner."

Ms. Kleinman said, "We need one success story and then the idea would spread."

She hoped there could be a test case either made by the Town of Oyster Bay or the village for an "easement by prescription" since the trails have been there so long without deeds of easement.

The other way to keep the trails open is with a deeded conservation easement which offers a tax benefit to the homeowner.

There is another way to make a stand, and that is for a property owner-horseman to being a lawsuit against someone who blocks their path to the Muttontown Preserve on the bases of loss of value for their home. The problem there is the cost, which estimates set at about $40,000.

"There is precedent for winning it, but who wants to spend it," said Ms. Kleinman.

"The Town of Oyster Bay has a good basis for right of easement by prescription. It is not what is called "adverse possession." That needs to be looked into, she added.

The English are way ahead of us on keeping trails open, she said. "To prevent adverse possession, most homeowners pick New Year's Day to close their trail to show right of ownership, she said. There are national laws that keep the trails open, as well as a network of people who walk the trails."

Mayor Murcott said the village is ordering an aerial photograph of the village with lot lines on the south western area of Muttontown to reconstruct trails, to see where they are and whose property they are located on. "We are trying very hard," he said.