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March 31, 2025

On Wednesday April 2nd, 2025, a vote on a budget amendment is coming before the Virginia General Assembly which could potentially create a new venue of horse trails for the Commonwealth. Oak Hill, the last home of President James Monroe, one of our nation’s founding fathers, is being considered as a state park. Earlier this year there was legislation proposed, in the General Assembly, to acquire the property and create a state park. However, the legislation failed, and Governor Youngkin, who was in favor of the park creation, is seeking an amendment to the state budget to ensure the creation of the park.

The property is currently under private ownership and funds for an endowment to purchase and steward the park have been raised in sufficient amounts to purchase the park and finance the startup costs of the park at no cost to the state. Additionally, continuing maintenance and operations would be paid for privately and by the return on the investment from the endowment. Hence the park would not be a drain on the state budget.

The property encompasses 1,240 acres of land including forest land, fields, and wetlands. The creation of the state park would ensure that the property would not be developed and could be used for educational and recreational purposes such as multi-use and public horse trails.

Help us ensure that this valuable piece of history will not be lost to development. Before April 2nd, please contact your legislator, via phone or email, and urge them to vote Yes on Oak Hill State Park. Links to members of the House and Senate are below. As Virginia grows more and more urbanized, we are continually losing land that is available for recreational horseback riding. Help us ensure that we will have riding opportunities not only available to our current generation but also to future generations to enjoy equestrian pursuits.

· Find your legislator and call or email, before the General Assembly reconvenes April 2, urging them to vote for this single amendment.

· Please share this information with friends and family members who live in Virginia.

January 31, 2025

Virginia Horse Council’s position statement on the Horse Protection Act (HPA):
The Virginia Horse Council (VHC) condemns the use of any procedure, device, or substance intentionally used to cause pain, discomfort, or irritation in order to force a horse to move or perform in an exaggerated manner. To this end, the Virginia Horse Council supports the spirit of the Horse Protection Act (HPA), but has significant concerns about the apparent overreach of regulations into areas and disciplines to which soring does not apply. We feel this overreach will be significantly detrimental to the horse industry.  The VHC will continue to work with other representative organizations to ensure that the regulations are not implemented as currently written.
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