# This is about SAFETY not a how to!



## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

Let me add...if you have an experienced trail horse, TRUST your horse. I ride a lot off trail and I know if our lead mare stops, it is because there is something unsafe ahead. She's kept me out of more half buried old cattle barb wire fences than I can count.
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## Bayern (Jun 3, 2013)

PaintHorseMares,

The more experience your horse has the more you can TRUST his judgment…and you should trust his judgment. 

On one occasion my horse was following the lead horse when all of a sudden he stopped in the middle of the trail and refused to go forward….as I began to apply pressure a bear jumped up and ran across the trail and into the forest. Lead horse jumped around… rocky just watched and started moving forward again like nothing had happened. On another occasion after visiting his favorite watering hole Rocky refused to go forward…even after applying pressure. This was on an easy trail that we frequently ride on. Since this area has both Bears and Mountain Lions…I realized he sensed something and we turned around and rode on some other trails heading in the opposite direction. Next time I rode there he acted like nothing had happened. Obviously something was there that he found very threatening. I trusted his judgment and avoided a possible incident. Oddly, my sons horse who was on his second ride in the mountains and was still green and skittish never flinched...because he didn’t have enough experience to even realize the threat of danger! 

by the way, my horse is a Paint....you can see him at: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-conformation-critique/he-aint-perfect-but-hes-mine-224282/


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

^^^^ very nice looking guy
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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Very good post
I think there is too much of a 'well we only trail ride' attitude amongst people
Cheries post that you quoted laid out really well how important it is to train a trail horse - its no less important than training a horse in any competitive sport because you are at a lot more risk the moment you venture out of that arena or any other enclosed area.
We were watching Mark Rashid at a clinic last year when he openly berated the owner of a horse because she thought it was OK to drag it out of a field once a week and ride it all day long on a trail ride then wonder why it didn't ever want to be caught.


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## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

I dunno... To me it seems as though there's quite a bit of "can't get there from here" in that list. Sure, a perfect trail horse should be all of those things, but how do you get there without taking the horse out on trails to get experience? Some things you can arrange, or simulate, but how do you desensitize a horse to bears, mountain lions, low-flying military aircraft (all of which we've encountered in the last year), or other unpredictable stuff in a controlled environment?

Take trailering for instance. When I first started riding Ellie, a bit over a year ago, she did NOT want to get into the trailer. Had to have her on a lunge line running through the tie bracket inside the first few times. Gradually she got better, 'til now I almost think I could just say "Ellie, get in the trailer", and she would. But if I had waited until she was at that point before trailering out, she never would have learned that riding is fun, and I would have missed a lot of rides, and opportunities for training (both of us) on other trail stuff. 

And how do I train her to load in any trailer, when we only have the one?


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

jaydee said:


> We were watching Mark Rashid at a clinic last year when he openly berated the owner of a horse because she thought it was OK to drag it out of a field once a week and ride it all day long on a trail ride then wonder why it didn't ever want to be caught.


Mark was very disrespectful then IMO.

Some people don't have a silver spoon to feed them and the only time they have to ride is on the weekend....because they work....have kids....church...or other responsibilities that requires their time. 

I only ride on the weekends, except for when I'm on vacation. My horses are always ready to go, load in the trailer without issue and go all day in the mountains, and then do it again on Sunday. They've been out 20 weekends this year.

My horse is "just a trail horse", because that's all I want her to be.

Is my horse perfect? No, but neither am I.

You get out of it what you put into it. I wish I had time to ride everyday but I don't. In the mean time, I make do with what time I've got and often don't do things I need to do in order to do what I love, and that's ride my horse on trails in the mountains with my wife and friends.


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## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

gunslinger said:


> Some people don't have a silver spoon to feed them and the only time they have to ride is on the weekend....because they work....have kids....church...or other responsibilities that requires their time.


That's true. I can only ride on the weekends myself. But I think you may have missed a few word . It was "...ride it all day long on a trail ride". Now I know that if I had to sit around 6 days a week, and do a day-long hike (with a heavy pack) on the weekend, it'd make me pretty sore. Why should a horse be different? 

And since I can't keep the horse in shape for an all-day ride, I don't go on all-day rides, just 3-4 hours, and watch to see how she's handling things. Seems to have worked, as she seems eager to go.


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## goneriding (Jun 6, 2011)

A factor to consider is how much "true" turn out your horses have. It does help their overall condition if they have access to larger acreage to run etc.


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

jamesqf said:


> I don't go on all-day rides, just 3-4 hours, and watch to see how she's handling things. Seems to have worked, as she seems eager to go.


Not sure what the definition of all day is....is it dawn till dusk? working mans 8 hours? Midnight to midnight?

We usually get up at 5:30....feed, clean up and do chores till 8 or so and spend an hour or two trailering to the trail head where we tack up.....sometimes we wait on others who are running behind schedule.

We usually make a full day out of our rides, average about 15 miles with about 4 hours moving time and 6 to seven hours total time, sometimes longer. We stop for an hour or so for lunch, stop to let the horses pulse down, adjust tack, etc.

Same for the return trip so it's a very full day us.

How a professional stays in business berating people is beyond me. I don't think my customers would tolerate it. I certainly can't make a living doing it and don't think I'd pay someone to do it to me.


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## jannette (Aug 24, 2011)

goneriding said:


> A factor to consider is how much "true" turn out your horses have. It does help their overall condition if they have access to larger acreage to run etc.


 
I agree...we have 20 acres that my horses have full run of and they are all in great shape..i can take my mare after really light riding all winter and hit the trail in the spring and not miss a beat..we ride all day too, stop for lunch and go, my mare still meets me at the barn when I whistle regardless of how far out she is, she loves it!! I too am a weekend worrier  riding that is done during week is usually tune up or fine tuning..


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

We feed and groom our horses twice a day, so even though we're not riding them during the week we still spend a fair amount of quality time with them.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

Takes lots of time and effort getting a horse trained for the trail. Lots of miles. Biscuit and I rode 530 miles year before last and only 365 last year. This year is pretty pathetic but we are getting there. I am not having the trouble catching in in the pasture anymore because like my buddy said - you have to be smarter than the horse. I show up with the trailer and Biscuit is like "uh....dang...I'd rather stay here with Sarge and eat grass". Now I walk down to his pasture - he can't see the trailer and he is a happy camper and loads like a dream. 

Working on making my horse a top notch trail horse - he skittered at two 4-wheelers yesterday and went into giraffe mode. Had I not just had surgery I would have stayed on. I got off and walked him. I may have to take him to my cousin's and let her hubby ride around the pasture on their 4 wheeler to get Biscuit over those jitters. I try to always listen to my horse when he goes into giraffe mode...dang...is it a snake, hogs, a dog? I listen and trust him and he is trusting me. 

Love all the "what it takes to make a good trail horse". It is not for all horses or all riders!


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## Bayern (Jun 3, 2013)

gunslinger said:


> Mark was very disrespectful then IMO.
> 
> My horse is "just a trail horse", because that's all I want her to be.
> 
> ...


Gunsinger...couldn't agree more...thats exactly what I like to do. I am able to ride some evenings but I have friends who ride once a week and their horses are awesome....problem I have had is horse who ride 1 every couple of months around the arena and then are expected to go on a 20 miler in the mountains!

PS...my horses aren't perfect....but they are safe!


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## Bayern (Jun 3, 2013)

jamesqf said:


> Take trailering for instance. When I first started riding Ellie, a bit over a year ago, she did NOT want to get into the trailer. Had to have her on a lunge line running through the tie bracket inside the first few times. Gradually she got better, 'til now I almost think I could just say "Ellie, get in the trailer", and she would. But if I had waited until she was at that point before trailering out, she never would have learned that riding is fun, and I would have missed a lot of rides, and opportunities for training (both of us) on other trail stuff.
> 
> And how do I train her to load in any trailer, when we only have the one?


Do what you did for the trailer on all of the trail riding things a horse needs to do. They don't have to be perfect...just safe...you have to know how they handle/react to things and constantly improve. Riding with experienced horses helps. Your right you can't just wait till they can do everything perfectly...they have to learn from experience. Sounds like your doing exactly right with you and your horse.....I was targeting folks who don't ride their horses on trails much and then take them out to the mountains and expect them to be great trail horses.

I live in an area with a lot of trailers ..... so I asked some neighbors if i could load my horses in there trailers and they said yes...so I rode my horses over and practiced...i used approx five trailers and it took about five times before they would just jump in any trailer....then took my horse to a friends to ride and he jumped right in their trailer.....but horses being horses didn't want to load in my trailer when we got back...ugh!


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## jannette (Aug 24, 2011)

my husband has a friend who's wife has "barrel horses" and one "trail horse" that in the 8 years I've known them have not left their small dry lot areas. every year they'd take the one they called the trail horse out to use to pack his bosses hunting party into a very rugged area over hear to hunt and every year that horse would blow up....then they would all be so surprised! :? these are not my friends, the wife years ago made it clear she felt she and her well bred horses were better then me and my lowly trail horses....I informed her what I thought of the neglectful treatment she gave to her well bred horses with the lack of exercise she gave them and their inability to exercise on their own...We don't speak :lol:


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## Bayern (Jun 3, 2013)

QOS,

Like what you did and liked your idea about how to improve. I actually took my horses out to a dirt back/4 wheeler area and rode around took a couple of times but now their pretty used to them.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

I had the opportunity to walk Biscuit up to a 4 wheeler! They were heading right for us and Biscuit was going into giraffe mode. The boy on it stopped the engine and I told him Biscuit was a little afraid. Biscuit scooted over to the other side of my cousins horse. Once the machine was off I walked him up to it and gave the two kids on it a treat to give to Biscuit. I thought it was a great training opportunity for him to see that 4 wheelers don't have to be chasing him! The more a horse can be exposed to different machinery or situations the better. You never know what is going to pop up on a trail! Could be hogs, dogs, alligators, heavy machinery, backfiring vehicles, a walmart bag! Biscuit isn't really skittish on the trail thank God!


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