Both Chautauqua and Cattaraugus County's Equestrian communities will be featured on RFD-TV's series "The Best of America by Horseback" with host Tom Seay on Feb. 18 and 25.
"Best of America by Horseback" is a television series that features a different riding locations each week. It is designed to give horse owners the confidence and knowledge to travel with their own horses as well as offering riding vacation locations that supply horses to those that do not have their own.
Seay and his filming crew visited the Cattaraugus and Chautauqua Counties areas in September to begin coverage of New York State. They visited the New York State Horse Council meeting, hosted by the Cattaraugus/Chautauqua Chapter. Seay was the keynote speaker at the event, which was held at the Cherry Creek Inn. The Mustard Seed Restaurant of South Dayton supplied the luncheon.
He also visited Pine Hill/South Valley State lands south of Randolph where the local chapter showcased their Adopt-A-Resource trails project. The project was a joint venture with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. More than 25 miles of horse and multi-use trails as well as an equestrian parking/camping area were created using a $33,000 grant received from the state Horse Council. Little Valley Riders Horse Park also hosted Seay at a cowboy cookout and western show, put on by Jim and Dolly Little of The Crosspatch. Equine facilities within the two counties were filmed, and the Amish Trail was visited, as were facilities for fishing, golfing, arts, skiing, agriculture and boating.
Cattaraugus County and its Horsemen's Association, the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency, Cattaraugus/Chautauqua Chapter of the state Horse Council and Jack and Mary Peacock of Stagecoach West in Irving sponsored the events.
Part one of filming done in the region will air at 1L30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Feb. 8, and part two will air at 1:30 and 11:30 p.m. Feb. 25. RFD-TV airs on Direct TV channel 345 and Dish Network's channel 231.
For more information, call Cattaraugus County Tourism at 800-331-0543.