# What age for first trail ride alone?( people...not horse )



## happygoose123 (Jan 19, 2009)

my first trail ride alone was when i was 14. But i didnt own a horse until i was 14 so im not sure if it counts! lol! it wasnt long and mum knew exactly where i was going. It was into a reserve.


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## bevie (Feb 15, 2009)

Well im 43 and to be honest i would never go trail riding alone as at my age i see disaster before it happens. I ride with a buddy so if one as a bad fall we can get help for each other.As a mum i would not want a kid going alone but at your age i would have gone anyway.Always think safety first even if that does sound boring


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## Angel_Leaguer (Jun 13, 2008)

I would ride to the neighbors and back (about 2 miles one way) when I was about 8-9. I helped with cleaning and doing chores and I had a nice pony that would get me there and back. Most of the riding was on my parents land so and the road was really quiet... i never had any problems


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

I'm 21 and have been thinking of going out on a trail alone. I always carry my cell phone and I always tell my fiance where I'm going and what time i'll be back, but I just get nervous about being in the woods all alone.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I honestly don't remember when my first trail ride alone was.  I was pretty young. I know that some people will probably think that my Dad was very irresponsible but I just have to share this story.

Every summer since 1990, we have had between 500 and 1200 head of yearling cattle kept on pasture for a feedlot. We are responsible for doctoring, counting, and making sure that they don't get out of the pastures. They arrive in the spring by trucks to a central corral area and then we separate them and drive them with horses and dogs to the pasture that they need to go to. Some of the pastures are more than 5 miles away from the corral. It was one of the first years, I was maybe 7. My dad separated about 75 head and told me to get my dogs. It had been raining all day and my hat was hanging down around my ears. He said to take these cattle to the Kellen place (which was about a mile and a half away from the corral). I took my 2 dogs and led the way down the dirt road to the pasture with the dogs bringing the cattle behind me. Went all the way down and all the way back by myself. He just had to go back later and close the gate. It could have been a disaster except he made sure that I always had the best horses and dogs that could do the job by themselves and all I had to do was point the way. 

I always go trail riding by myself because that is when I have my "me" time with my horses. There have been several close calls and many times when I had to walk several miles back to the house but fortunately, I have never been seriously hurt when I was by myself.


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## randiekay215 (Feb 6, 2009)

Honestly, I don't like to go out alone. I have done it once and won't do it again. There are too many things that could go wrong. Not saying its a dangerous thing, but there is a greater risk for accidents when you're by yourself. I always go with at least one other person. It's a great time to chat and just relax. If I want alone time with me and my horse, I just ride to the bottom of our pasture, or ride in our arena. I wouldn't go alone at all. But its all personal preference.


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## Britt (Apr 15, 2008)

I was about eleven or twelve the first time I rode completely alone... I rode about a two miles to a friends house and back... my uncle and grandmother both know where I was and what time I was expected back.

Now, though, I ride alone all the time and never have a time limit, nor does anyone in my family ever know exactly where I'm going because I have trails all over that I can get on and double back and end up on another road opposite of the way I was going, lol.

I'd really rather ride alone a lot of the time than with friends, because if I'm alone then I can go where I want without worrying about my friends not being able to go, because my mare is in better shape then their horses and can go up steeper mountain trails and stuff.


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## Dartanion (Dec 8, 2008)

I was 13 and it was on my OTTB, I had my cell phone on me and it was about an hour and thirty minutes hehe. It was near a public road and an (more or less) inclosed pasture that people could ride their bikes and go jogging on so I saw a few people. Dad said he didn't follow me but I know I saw his car in the parkeing lot where all the bikers parked hehe. He wont admit it though :lol:


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

I honestly don't remember... probably somewhere between 10 and 12... it's just the way we were raised. We did things alone all the time without ever thinking about it. Except for swimming. -- no come to think of it, we even went swimming alone, but we always had to tell that we were going. Like Smrobs, we were raised on a need-to-do basis. If I would have always had to have a buddy, I wouldn't have been able to do very much of anything, whether work or play. Just wasn't the time available for partnering-up. Of course, with that type of upbringing, the responsibility level is usually much higher and taught much sooner.

I think that the decision to allow children/teens to do things alone depends HUGELY on their ability, maturity and trust level (and their own desire). Just looking at my two sons I can see the difference in the tasks I trust each of them to do alone at what age. My now 17yrold I would have let drive my truck at 11 down the road; my current 11yrold? Well, I worry about him driving from my lap down a long driveway. In this case, it's mostly skill level that is the contributing factor.

As for adults, we all have our own comfort zones. I truly cherish the times I have alone in the bush, with or without a horse. But not everyone gets re-juiced that way.


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## Siggav (Nov 21, 2008)

I was 16 when I went out completely on my own for the first time. Never saw it as a big deal though. I mostly went riding on well established trails that have a lot of trail riders, so much so that you know that if something bad happened it'd be a few minutes at most until another rider came along that could then help.


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## MLK11 (Feb 27, 2009)

I think I was about 14 or 15 when I first went out on my own. It was pretty far, but the trails were always near houses and other farms, so if I had any problems I would have been able to get help easily.


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## Twilight Arabians (Dec 14, 2008)

first trail ride without mom i was 7, i felt like going for a ride, she didnt, she wanted to go to town. i still remeber her yelling at me for it when she found out i had left... lol!


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## Bitless (Jan 11, 2008)

wow forgot about this post......... :lol: 




> I was 13 and it was on my OTTB, I had my cell phone on me and it was about an hour and thirty minutes hehe. It was near a public road and an (more or less) inclosed pasture that people could ride their bikes and go jogging on so I saw a few people. Dad said he didn't follow me but I know I saw his car in the parkeing lot where all the bikers parked hehe. He wont admit it though :lol:


 
hahaha, nawww. How sweet. :lol:


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## morganshow11 (Dec 19, 2008)

My first ride alone was 9. Just down in the woods, for about, 1hour.


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## orangetictac (Nov 4, 2008)

I don't remember...maybe 15 or 16. I got Cope as a 2 year old barely greenbroke when I was 10, so I mainly stayed in the pasture or went with other people for awhile.


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## Cowboys girl (Mar 13, 2009)

I was around 7 when i first went on a trail ride alone... but i suggest that if you dont want to have a concusion or have you horse fall on you and screw up your knee, dont do it. (thats all happend to me, but im still stupid and do it anyway.)


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## Tennessee (Dec 7, 2008)

I am 14 and terrified to go out on my own. It is not that I am afraid of my horse or have trust issues, but I am accident proned and if I were to get huirt my parents would not let me back on. Ugh.


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## Zab (Oct 4, 2008)

I don't know.. 19 I think was my first ride alone, when I got my horse two years ago. 

Oh wait! How could I forget, I rode a horse alone when I was 15 too.. first a sour old mare that liked to bite my feet, and then a 2,5 years old stallion that had only been ridden about four times or so. But he was calm and nice...

And I've been riding with friends (no adults) and so before. But now when I think about it.. I havn't ridden much at all outside enclosed areas untill I was about 15 with that mare and young stallion (and later on with icelandic horses and a friend, and when I worked on ''trail riding tours'' with haflingers and icelandic horses), I had only taken lessons or managed to borow friends horses and so in arenas or pastures. Tho I always longed for long rides in the woods, free to yield to my imagination and thoughts and at the same time able to run like the wind  I still do, even tho almost all riding now are outside, alone on trails. I'm not too old to imagine knights and elves and fairy tales when I ride, am I?  Heck, I even dress up ****** It has nothing to do with skirts over the riding pants and whool cloaks/coats being warm and nice in the winter 
I've almost forgotten how lucky I am, being able to do this anytime I want.


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## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

I started going out alone on shorter trails when i was 12, but it really depends on the horse and the person. I wouldn't send someone that young out on a horse they weren't comfortable with, nor would I send someone out that was immature or always showing and trying some daring. So, for most, 13 or so on easy trails and 15 on harder ones.


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## Ottakee (Sep 26, 2008)

My first solo trail ride was LAST WEEK, at the age of 38. I am a newer rider and at my age, I tend to think of all of the "what ifs". I did ride a few miles by myself though. I had my friend drop me off with my horse and then we rode home. I figured he would behave as he was headed home and he did.


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## FGRanch (Feb 9, 2008)

My big sister and I were going out on trail rides alone when we were about 5 and 6. Now as an adult I wonder where our parents were?! 

As a mother now I would let my son trial ride around the farm at about 10 and down the roan at...hmm I'm really not sure. I want to say 12-13 Depending on how mature he is, and how good his horse is.


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## IheartPheobe (Feb 15, 2009)

I had never ridden by myself on a trail quite yet, but I'm pretty young and don't own a horse..
I think it depends how good you are. I mean, if you're 16 and just started riding, obviously you won't be on a trail alone. But if you're 9 and have been riding since you were a baby, you'd probably be able to handle yourself. 
=]


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## RubaiyateBandit (Jan 25, 2009)

I started trail riding on my own around six or seven, riding my uncle's older mare and my grandfather's draft. 
Nowadays, I rarely trail ride on my own, though. Too many places to get in trouble and too many places with no cell phone reception on the trails I ride.


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## dynamite. (Jun 21, 2008)

I've only gone alone a few times when I was really mad or upset. But there are a lot of girls around my age at the farm, so we usually go out and have fun together.


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## ilovemyPhillip (Apr 4, 2009)

I'm not alloud to go out alone, Phillip won't allow it. He has to have Savnnah go with him. I''l probably go out with the two (somehow) out while I'm by myself, and I'm 13. I go out alone when I ride my ATV, and when I run, so horseback I guess I'd be alloud. I ride the ATV with no helmet, but with the ponies I do, so I guess you know, if and when I have kids, 13/14 riding alone...


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## ponygirlbrooke123 (Apr 6, 2009)

I think if your parents now where you going and a time limit you need to be back then it would be OK.
But you are not really sopose to ever ride alone anyway. This girl name bethany went off and rode alone and the horse fell on top of her and caused her to have internal bleeding and she died is surgery she was only 14.


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## goin' gaiting (Apr 26, 2008)

WOW !! Talk about good timing !!! I am planning on going for my first ALONE trail ride in the morning. Yup...I am a bit hesitant, but I need to get that first alone trail ride under my belt. One reason for me to go out alone, is so I don't have to depend on other's schedules to go riding....got my horse, got my trailer, packing a lunch, cell phone, helmut....off we go!!!! I will try to remember to post tomorrow and let you know how it goes......


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## Bitless (Jan 11, 2008)

goin' gaiting, thats great to hear. Deffinetly let us know how it goes.  

Have fun out there!


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## Qtswede (Apr 16, 2009)

I think I was around 7... but I had a super dead broke pony, and (hate to say it) times were a little different then. I still live on the same farm, with kids of my own, but I would not let them go alone - not for a good long while yet. Of course, when I was a kid, the best thing in the world was to ride out to the apple orchard a section kitty corner from us, and let the pony graze while lying on her bareback. Now days, the area has been developed in the outskirts, and there are TONS of jerks on dirtbikes & 4 wheelers blasting through the private property. No way would I let my boys go out there now.


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## cowgirl4jesus94 (Jun 14, 2008)

I have ridden out by myself but if I am going far prefer to always ride with someone. 1. Its much safer is something should go wrong. (which happens alot) 2. Your horse is calmer with a good buddy.


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