Accessible Gates for Trails and Roads

Combination Wheelchair/Horse Accessible Gates

The greatest challenge was to find a gate that allowed horses and wheelchairs to pass, but restricted all motorized traffic. The "V" gate design (see figure 5) allows wheelchairs and horses, but only restricts ATVs—not motorcycles. We combined the kissing gate (see figure 1) with the horse stile to design the horse gate with wheelchair accessibility (figure 8). Wheelchairs are able to go into the center of the gate, turn around and go out the other side. Horses can walk over the two stiles. The gate dimensions work well together because the required turning diameter for a wheelchair is 60 inches. This corresponds to the minimum required spacing of the stiles for horses to step over them in stride. The stile should be no higher than 12 inches because horses may choose to jump over stiles that are higher.