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Check out our 2024 Calendar for the dates of our events and join our facebook group to get the details!
The mission of the Brighton Trail Riders Association is to partner with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in maintaining and improving the equestrian facilities at the Brighton State Recreation Area, including the trails, campground and staging area. We are committed to the goal of providing a safe and enjoyable experience to our members, the trail riding public, and other visitors to Brighton.
Equestrian Trails
Upcoming Event
Mission Statement
Trail Map
Brighton Recreation Area Equestrian Facilities
The Brighton equestrian facilities include 21 miles of well-maintained bridle trails, a designated equestrian campground, and a staging area. They are located off Chilson Road, at the western terminus of Bishop Lake Road, southwest of the city of Brighton. The staging area contains a pavilion, picnic tables, a vault toilet, a mounting block, a water source, and picket posts. It can accommodate trucks and horse trailers and offers generous room for socializing and picnicking.
The equestrian campground is adjacent to the staging area and has 15 campsites in a natural, wooded setting. Each site contains a fire ring, picnic table and picket posts. Sites 6, 9, 11, 13, and 17 have two corrals each for your camping convenience. Within the campground there are two vault toilets, and two manure compost pits. A water supply, powered by an electric pump, is also located in the campground. The bridle trails are directly accessible from both the campground and the staging area. The trails are well marked with signage containing trail maps and a numbering system. Printed trail maps are available at the staging area or electronic copies can be downloaded from either the Brighton Trail Riders Association website or the Michigan DNR website.
For over thirty years, the Brighton Trail Riders Association has been dedicated to maintaining and improving Brighton’s equestrian facilities for trail riders and other members of the public. We want all visitors to have a safe and enjoyable recreational experience. We are confident that those who utilize these facilities will agree.
ALERT!!!! The equestrian staging area and campground are both scheduled to be CLOSED starting June 1st and through October for road repairs in 2024!!!
Read below for more info.
2024 message from the Board of Directors:
Brighton Recreation will be undergoing some major electrical and road upgrades beginning in early 2024 in both the modern and equestrian campgrounds. The road upgrades impacting the equestrian campground and the staging area begin June 1st and last through October. Unfortunately, that means that both the campground and the horse staging area will be closed for most of 2024.
While this is a disappointment for those that haul in for a day ride or enjoy camping at the equestrian park, we are excited to see the road improvements. This will also allow us to undertake a few improvement projects that we have identified as well as have several work bee events that will allow us to address the growth and damage caused by this year's weather.
Our big annual event - the Poker Ride - will be moved to May for us to enjoy the event before the staging area shuts down for the upgrade project. We will be setting the date for this event shortly, so keep an eye out for that announcement.
We are encouraging everyone to take this opportunity to ride at our neighboring State and local Metro Parks including Pinckney, Highland, Kensington, Proud Lake, Maybury, Waterloo, Pontiac Lake, Ionia, Rose Oaks, Ortonville, etc. We are fortunate to have a large number of parks with equestrian trails within a 45-to-60-minute drive. Please visit these parks and enjoy the beauty of their trails while we await the improvements at Brighton Recreation.