Nicci Shores and Marcie Harris grew up riding their horses in American Canyon in the 1960s and 1970s; clomping along the wetlands, in the eucalyptus grove and on hills American Canyon has always been horse friendly, Shores said. But some of those hills and open spaces have become residential subdivisions, whittling down the riding space in town.

“It’s a real shame,” said Shores.

Increasingly, Shores and Harris load their horses Melia and KSAN in a trailer and head from the Diamond L Ranch in American Canyon to Skyline Park in Napa, or to trails in Pinole, Richmond or Martinez.

Their friend Darlene Davis of Napa, who also boards a horse at the Diamond L, said American Canyon offered plenty of riding places until a few years ago. Davis, who began to ride at age 12, said she rarely goes horseback riding these days.

“We can’t get anywhere unless we (use a) trailer,” Davis said. “Everything is all blocked off. It put a damper on all the fun.”

Last year, said Shores and Harris, a cyclone fence went up along the railroad tracks near Paoli Loop, on the north end of town. The fence blocked their path under the teeming four-lane Highway 29 — used by more than 75,000 commuters daily. The fence is on private property, according to the city.

Chuck Bowling, a longtime rodeo and calf-roping competitor, leases 40 acres near American Canyon and other properties in Lake and Napa counties, where he keeps horses and raises cattle.

Bowling said he used to spend his summers in the 1960s and 1970s with his grandparents in American Canyon, where he could ride wherever he wanted.

He, too, finds himself squeezed by development, with no place to go. “It’s a tough deal,” Bowling said.

Beverly Thomas, a retired Mare Island Naval Base logistics worker, bought land on American Canyon Road in the early 1960s so that she could keep horses, a lifelong passion. She rode in the nearby hills for years until they became residential tracts.

She quit riding two years ago after a driver scared her as she pulled her horse trailer onto Highway 37. The driver passed her suddenly on the right lane, she recalled. Thomas decided that pulling her horse trailer had become too dangerous.

Babe, Thomas’ 23-year-old quarter horse, is retired to eight acres of pasture. Thomas now rides her bike.

Residential streets are not any safer than the highways, Shores said.

Most people are courteous drivers but a handful actually try to spook the horses with their vehicles, Shores said. “It’s crazy!”

American Canyon has plans to build new trails in the hills and near the shore of the Napa River, but they won’t be for its equine residents.

Given the few horses in town, horse riding trails are not a priority, American Canyon City Manager Rich Ramirez said.

Cynthia Ripley, the city’s capital projects coordinator, said the trail planned along the Napa River will not be open to horses because their hooves could nick and damage the decomposed granite trail.

Napa County Parks and Open Space District General Manager John Woodbury added that the state Department of Fish and Game will not allow horses on this trail.

Another trail could link Eucalyptus Road to the Jack and Bernice Newell Open Space Preserve, a 640-acre property east of Highway 29.

Access to the property will be through the Town Center, a commercial and residential development planned at the former basalt plant behind the Wal-Mart Supercenter at Napa Junction. While Newell will be open to horses, the trail will be designed for pedestrians and bikes, Ripley said.

Horseback riders will have to reach Newell by trailer.

As she and Shores watched their horses recently, Harris said she hopes to be able to continue to ride in town.

“It’s part of our history and our culture,” she said.