Horse Health, Tack and Gear, Western Horsemanship

A little of my own experience at horse training…

I have a horse up for sale. He’s a very handsome, good, solid four year-old palomino paint gelding I bought earlier this year for a  pack trip. We were short one horse for a trip from Eagar, Arizona to Flagstaff, Arizona, about 200 miles total. Let me tell you a little about him.

When I came across Reno, I was actually looking for a mustang in the $5-800 range, that maybe needed a little  training. They are pretty much a dime-a-dozen around here, because so many folks get caught up in the romance of adopting a mustang and training it themselves, only to find out they are in way over their heads. Then, a couple years down the road they end up selling an unbroke or greenbroke mustang for almost give-away prices. Well, it’s simply a fact, and that’s what I was looking for.

Reno, as advertised

Anyway, back to Reno, I came across an ad for him and really liked the photos they included of him. He was advertised as being about 14 hands and a 3 year-old. The asking price was above what I was looking for, but was still within my range, so I decided to pass by and take a look. He was located in Heber, UT.

I found that he had been raised from a foal by the family who owned him, and that he was very personable, almost a puppy dog personality, but, also like a puppy, he was somewhat disrespectful. Now, a disrespectful puppy is one thing, but a disrespectful horse can hurt you. He wouldn’t let me lift his hooves, cow-kicked when I messed with his belly, and would turn his rump into me when he was annoyed, rather than moving away as a horse should. These things I can work out of a horse with a little training. What I look for is good conformation, good straight legs, good hooves, and a good attitude. With the exception of a quarter-crack in his right rear, he had all these things. He was also a little taller than advertised, coming in at about 14.2 or so, and stout, which I liked.

After a good inspection and a couple weeks of thinking about it I decided the quarter crack was due to lack of hoof care and not to any kind of coronet injury and that it would heal up just fine with some good care. I dickered with the owners and we agreed on a price that was good for both of us.

I have to be careful when buying a horse, because I rarely sell them. I get pretty attached to my animals and once they are mine I tend to keep them, regardless of any shortcomings they may have. I wouldn’t be a very good horse trader. So, two rules I have set for myself when horse shopping are 1) I don’t take my trailer or any money when I look at a horse for the first time (unless I have to drive a couple hours just to see it), 2) I don’t hand over the money until I have the horse in the trailer. Rule #2 is very important, because I generally  buy horses that “need an experienced rider,” which usually means they have little to no training and might not have ever been in a trailer. Once I get a horse into the trailer, I’m good to pay the money.

I forgot that rule with Reno. I bought him, paid the money, then headed out to the trailer. That was a mistake I won’t make again. What a rodeo! It took us more than two hours to get him loaded. He fought, reared, fell over, and pawed. We finally got him into the trailer and headed home. Getting him out of the trailer was just about as fun. He eventually tried to turn around in my 4-horse slant-load and got stuck in the loading door. He reared over backwards and fell out of the trailer onto his back. No harm done, just shook up.

So, I knew I had my work cut out for me.

The first thing I had to take care of was the disrespect. This horse was about as friendly as any horse I have ever owned. In fact, I think he likes people better than horses. Having him in a pasture with four other horses was good for him, because they began right away to teach him the horse etiquette he had never learned, being raised by people with no other horses around.

The cow-kicking and moving away from me were first on my agenda.

Now, from my experience with horses, I have learned that training a horse is not a whole lot different than raising kids. In fact, I often wish I had garnered more horse training experience before my kids came along, but I just didn’t have time for both back then. I find that horses require a gentle, but firm hand and consistency in order for them to progress well from step to step in the training. The one exception to that rule is when something they do can get someone hurt. There are times when swift and severe punishment will cure a bad habit faster and more surely than any other method. The horse learns very quickly that “when I do that, I get hurt.” So, with that in mind I decided to cure the cow-kicking the very first day.

I have a very stout lead rope, made from the shrouds of a heavy military cargo parachute. It is about 3/4″ thick and has a very heavy brass snap hook on the end. With Reno dressed in a stout flat-braid nylon halter and a strong lead rope tied to a solid post, I moved in beside him on the “on-side” with my heavy shroud lead in my hand, dangling the heavy snap hook on about three feet of lead. With my left hand I began to touch and rub Reno’s belly. As soon as his left rear hoof came off the ground in a cow-kick I swung that heavy lead and whopped him hard on the rump with that heavy snap hook. He was quite surprised by that, so he jumped and moved away from me. We did it again. As soon as the hoof came off the ground, I whopped him. The fourth time I rubbed his belly, his hoof stayed on the ground. He has never again attempted a cow-kick as I touch his belly, rub him, brush, or saddle him.

Next up was teaching him to move away from me, rather than showing me his rump. We started that lesson when we worked on the cow-kick, but there was more to do. I found that he would not let me lift his left rear hoof. As I would try to reach for it, he would move into me and warn me off with his rump, threatening a kick (which he never did). We started working on this by me taking something pointed (not sharp) in my hand, such as the handle of a rasp, the handle ends of a pair of nippers, or a hoof pick, and whenever he moved into me I would let him move into that pointed object, so that he would feel it. The harder he pushed, the harder he felt it. He didn’t like that and learned to move away from me. I would not poke him with it, or push him away with it, but let him move into it. That way, as soon as he stepped away, the pressure was gone. Had I followed him with it, he would not have learned how to avoid the pointed object poking his hip by moving away. Now this, being a more gentle (but firm) method of training, it was several sessions before he learned not to move into me. Now, several months later, he moves away with a simple nudge from me with no stubbornness at all.

The third thing we started working on was lifting his hooves. While he was still somewhat disrespectful, he allowed me to lift his fronts and his right rear, but would not allow me to lift his left rear. I don’t know why. There is no apparent injury or scar I can see, but for some reason he’s touchy about the left rear. When I would try to lift it he would  cow-kick and move away from me. He wasn’t really trying to kick me, he just didn’t want me lifting his hoof. To address this, I took my heavy lead rope and looped it around his left rear pastern, under the fetlock. I would lift his hoof with the rope and simply hold it off the ground while he kicked. I would hold both ends of the rope in my right hand, while leaning against the horse with my left, so I could keep my balance as he kicked away. You have to stand back a bit, just to make sure he doesn’t connect with one of those cow-kicks. After a minute or two, he would get tired and stop kicking. As soon as he stopped kicking and let his leg relax, I lowered it to the ground. If he kicked as I was lowering it, it got raised up again until I could lower it all the way to the ground without a struggle. In this way, after a number of sessions, Reno learned that when he was relaxed I quit bothering his leg. He also learned that the kicking did no good and was just wasted energy. Now I can lift all his feet without trouble. In fact, he lifts them for me as I reach for them. He is learning the respect lessons.

I started riding Reno shortly after I brought him home. The owners told me they had given him to a local rancher for the summer, to have him broke and trained. They said they had often seen the rancher’s kids riding him around. At the time I didn’t think too much about that, except to consider him somewhat saddle broke. I found out pretty quickly that Reno was simply greenbroke, meaning I could saddle and ride him, but he didn’t know much else. I took him for a couple rides in the local area and was pleased with him. He learned pretty quickly that I was easy to get along with and we had no real problems on the trail. In fact, my dad and I took Reno along with the rest of the horses on a three-day ride south of Moab, Utah in April, on which I was quite impressed with Reno’s calm demeanor and good head on the trail. We went up and down, and round and round, trail, no trail, bushes, gullies, over fallen trees, and even through a tunnel under a highway. Reno took little convincing and was willing to give anything I asked of him a try. I was very pleased.

Reno in his first packing training experience

I later took Reno on a  day ride as a pack horse. I Loaded a 50# sack of feed in each side of a set of hard-sided, bear-proof paniers, and took him on a trail ride. As far as I know this was his first experience with a pack saddle. At first he was scared by the noise the paniers make, being hard plastic, and we had a little bit of a rodeo for a few minutes. After that, he settled down and did well. It didn’t take him long to learn to keep the paniers away from things like rocks and trees. Once we rounded a narrow trail with a rock face on his left and Reno allowed the left panier to hit the wall. The force knocked him sideways off the trail and down a steep embankment into the shallow river below. Once he got his feet back under him, he simply climbed back up the embankment, let me grab his lead rope, and we went on. By the time we were done for the day, Reno had learned to keep those paniers away from obstacles near the trail. From that day to this he has never rubbed my leg or knee on anything alongside the trail.

In May, Dad and I embarked on our pack trip. We had four horses and a mule. The horses were rotated as pack and saddle animals, to keep them fresh and rested. Reno was everything I hoped on the trip. Never did I have any problem with him.

Well, I did have one problem. When I was leading him as a pack horse, whenever I stopped to rest the horses he would walk up next to my right leg and drop his head to graze. When he would lift his head the lead rope would come up under my stirrup and get wrapped around my leg. When I complained about it out loud, Dad laughed and said it was my own fault. He pointed out that whenever Reno came up next to me, I would reach over and rub his neck and scratch his ears and he liked it! Ah, well, I guess that’s a bad habit I taught him.

You can see a video of me on Reno, crossing Clear Creek on the Arizona Trail, about 70 miles south of Flagstaff, Arizona here:

After we finished the pack trip I decided to continue Reno’s training. There are a few things I like my trail horses to know, such as moving off leg pressure and heel cues to move their fore and hind quarters; there are times on the trail when you need to position a horse in order to cross an obstacle or ascend or descend a particularly difficult place.

I took Reno into a small training arena to start working on his cues, only to find that he became extremely excited in the arena. As calm as he is on the trail, I was quite surprised. He was, in fact, so excitable in the arena that we did very little training at all. I just tried to work on him simply walking around the arena calmly. I found I was having to handle him more aggressively with the snaffle bit than I like, occasionally causing him to get a sore mouth, so I have moved  him to a 3/4″ braided rawhide bosal for this training. He responds much better in the hackamore.

I generally start all my horses on a snaffle bit, then move them to a bosal hackamore for the bulk of their training. When they are easy on the controls I move them to a solid curb bit. Reno had been doing so well in the snaffle, that I had just left  him in that and hadn’t done much hackamore work on him. He’s progressing well now.

The only thing I can guess with Reno is that the former trainer (the rancher) probably had his kids riding him most of the time. I expect that was often out pushing cattle, which would explain is calm demeanor on the trail, however, my guess is that the kids also attempted to try roping off him in an arena. I expect he got spurred a bit in the doing. That is the only explanation that comes to mind and fits the evidence. Regardless, I have been spending my time lately, trying to continue his training and get him over his excitement – fear – inside enclosed areas.

I normally train with spurs on , as I find horses tend to learn quicker with their judicial use and I can give more precise cues with the touch of a spur than with a heel. However, with Reno, I have removed my spurs. He over-reacts to them, I suppose, as a result of being exposed to some undisciplined spur use from his previous “trainers.” With much patience and a gentle hand, I have been slowly getting Reno to recognize what I am asking with my heel cues. He is very willing, but still reacts more out of fear than desire to learn, which makes learning difficult. Fear simply isn’t a good training tool. My job, therefore, is to teach him that my cues don’t hurt and that learning to respond to them calmly brings peace and rest (my, that sounds almost religious!).

Reno gets better each day. I have been trying to ride him more often this winter, when time allows. When I can consistently ride him an hour or two every day or so he improves rapidly.

The problem with that is that every time I ride him I like him more and more and want to sell him less and less!

He’s a good horse.

Reno, south of Moab, Utah April 2016
Book Reviews, Good Stories

Book Review: The Log of a Cowboy, by Andy Adams

The Log of a Cowboy, by Andy Adams

A week or so ago, I finished my second reading of The Log of a Cowboy, A Narrative of the Old Trail Days, by Andy Adams. I enjoyed it so well, both times, that I thought I’d write a review. Maybe somebody else will be inspired to read and enjoy it like I did.

First off, I will mention that this is a fictional novel. I had to keep reminding myself of that throughout the book, because it feels like an authentic documentary. The author, Andy Adams, indeed lived the life about which he wrote, but the story is, in fact, a novel. Adams undoubtedly brought together a series of events he actually  experienced or had intimate knowledge of and linked them together, creating a fictional story that gives the reader the experience of reading the actual journal of a cowboy on a cattle drive of epic proportions in the year 1882. It is noteworthy that the copyright date on the novel is 1903 (by Andy Adams).

Adam’s story documents the life and times of Tom Quirk (a fictional character), as he leaves home in south Texas and grows to manhood as a cowboy. He tells of his quick transition from the life of a store-keeper’s apprentice to his life on the range as follows: “My mercantile career had ended [after two full days], and forthwith I took to the range as a preacher’s son takes to vice. By the time I was twenty there was no better cowhand in the entire country.”

Quirk is hired by Jim Flood, on the recommendation of one of his older brothers, to help take a herd of over 3,100 cows and steers from Old Mexico to the Blackfoot Indian Reservation in northwest Montana to fulfill a government contract, a full five-month drive.  Quirk takes us along for the ride, from gathering the cattle bought from a rancher in Mexico, with young Quirk acting as interpreter, to delivery of the cattle at their destination in Montana.

They cross dangerous rivers and dry plains, deal with hostile Indians and outlaw herd-cutters. Quirk discusses the fine details about the necessary paperwork each foreman  for a herd needed to prove his authority and pay expenses.  Quirk tells all about his fellow cowboys, their personality characteristics, and in particular, the cowboy humor and pranks they played upon each other. He discusses cattle management and the various styles of different bosses and cowboys. He tells of stampedes and storms, long days and cold nights. While much of this information could seem dull and mundane, it is all told in the language, inflection, and perspective of the cowboy, which kept my attention throughout the story.

For example, the following excerpts relates Quirk’s discovery and disbursement of sixteen turkey eggs, a delicacy for a cowboy on a drive:

“The rest of us had no lack of occupation, as a result of a chance find of mine that morning. Honeyman had stood my guard the night before, and in return, I had got up when he was called to help rustle the horses. We had every horse under hand before the sun peeped over the eastern horizon, and when returning to camp with the remuda, as I rode through a bunch of sumach bush, I found a wild turkey’s nest with sixteen fresh eggs in it. Honeyman rode up, when I dismounted, and putting them in my hat, handed them up to Billy until I could mount, for they were beauties and as precious to us as gold. There was an egg for each man with one left over, and McCann threw a heap of swagger in to the inquiry, “Gentlemen, how will you have your eggs this morning?” just as though it was an everyday affair. They were issued to us fried, and I naturally felt that the odd egg,  by rights, ought to fall to me, but the opposing majority was formidable, – fourteen to one, – so I yielded. A number of ways were suggested to allot the odd egg, but the gambling fever in us being rabid, raffling or playing cards for it seemed to be the proper caper.”

It was decided that a card game would determine who got the extra egg, the chips being dried beans issued equally to each participant. The details of this game and the wild tales told by the participants as they whiled away the night, switching places as each took his turn on night guard or simply ran out of beans, was the setting for an entire humorous chapter.

Later in the drive, a mishap occurred in which the left rear wheel of the chuck wagon hit a rock and was “dished,”  demolishing it beyond repair. Quirk’s description of the temporary repair bespeaks the author’s (Adams) personal knowledge and experience of such occurrences on the trail:

When we reached the scene, McCann had recovered the felloe, but every spoke in the hub was hopelessly ruined. Flood took in the situation at a glance. He ordered the wagon unloaded and the reach lengthened, took the axe, and, with the The Rebel, went back about a mile to a thicket of lodge poles which we had passed higher up the creek. While the rest of us unloaded the wagon, McCann, who was swearing by both note and rhyme, unearthed his saddle from amongst the other plunder and cinched it on his nigh wheeler. We had the wagon unloaded and had reloaded some of the heaviest plunder in the front end of the wagon box, by the time our foreman and Priest returned, dragging from their pommels a thirty-foot pole as perfect as the mast of a yacht. We knocked off all the spokes not already broken at the hub of the ruined wheel, and after jacking up the hind axle, attached the “crutch.” By cutting a half notch in the larger end of the pole, so that it fitted over the front axle, lashing it there securely, and allowing the other end to trail behind on the ground, we devised a support on which the hub of the broken wheel rested, almost at its normal height. There was sufficient spring to the pole to obviate any jolt or jar, while the rearrangement we had effected in distributing the load would relieve it of any serious burden. We took a rope from the coupling pole of the wagon and loosely noosed it over the crutch, which allowed leeway in turning, but prevented the hub from slipping off the support on a short turn to the left. Then we lashed the tire and felloe to the front end of the wagon, and with the loss of but a couple of hours our commissary was again on the move.

All-in-all, the book held my attention and interest throughout the story…during both readings. I found myself smiling and even chuckling out loud as I read certain passages. Adam’s descriptions of dangerous and difficult river crossings, quick sands, and stampedes were so vivid that I could easily imagine myself working alongside Tom Quirk and his companions and hearing their cowboy banter.

While I am a great fan of Louis L’Amour westerns, if you really want to know what life was like on the cattle drive during the heyday of the post-civil war cattle drives from Texas, this is the book you want to read.

Click on the image to link to the book on Amazon.com.

Good Stories, Saddlery, Tack and Gear

A little more progress on the pony saddle…

I got the ground seat finished today and started on the rigging. I’m hoping I’ll get the rigging done and started on decorating the skirts, jockeys, and sweat leathers on Thursday. Not going to have much time tomorrow.

This is an enjoyable learning experience for me. I’m pretty slow at it right now, since I have to study up on each step as I go, just to make sure I’m doing things the right way and in the right sequence. I hope I get a little faster with each saddle. As it is, I still have six more saddles in various stages if disrepair to get done at some point in the future. I’m essentially “cutting my teeth” on this little saddle.

Christmas is sure coming fast. Hope I get it done in time!

Adi's saddle with the ground seat installed
Adi’s saddle with the ground seat installed

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Good Stories, Saddlery, Tack and Gear

Working on Christmas…

I’m pretty excited today.

Adi
Adi

Several months ago I started working on a Christmas gift for my oldest grandchild, Adi. She’s four years old. Last spring she saw a pony and told her mother, “Pop-pop (that’s me) is going to buy that pony for me.” Nobody is sure where that came from, but it sure clicked my switch!

So. Pop-pop figured he’d better get to work! I decided to take the old, worn out pony saddle I learned to ride on and rebuild it for Adi’s Christmas present. Like I said, I started on it several months ago, but didn’t get far. I disassembled it and made a few repairs on the saddle tree. Then a couple months ago I bought the leather for it. Then about a month ago I cut all the parts out of the leather. Well, yesterday I got back to work on it.

The tree had a couple places on the pommel where filler had broken out, so yesterday I repaired the tree with auto body filler. Worked like a charm.

Today, I installed the gullet cover and covered the horn.

For my first saddle, I’m pretty pleased with how the horn came out.

Looking forward to making some more progress next week. I’ll keep you posted.

12/15/2016:  I’ve made a little more progress on Adi’s saddle. I’ve finished the ground seat, installed the pommel cover, and have the stirrup leathers ready to finish.  I’m working on the saddle skirts now and should have them finished by the the week’s end.

Great Western Trail, Website Management, Western Trails

Hmmm. I need to update the website….

I recently created a new website for a sports fan group I have belonged to for more than ten years. We are die-hard fans of everything related to Brigham Young University sports, especially football. We had been using a forum service, YUKU, for a lot of years and finally got tired of the poor service and goofy advertisements they slipped into our forum. We had to pay a fee not to see advertisements. Finally we got so fed up with it that we began to talk about looking for a new home for our forum. As we discussed it, I realized that it would be a pretty simple solution for us to buy a domain name and create our own website and forum. So, that’s what we did, using my web hosting account with Bluehost. So, I created byufans.net. It is a closed group, though, so membership is limited to the current members and those individuals who are personally invited by a member.  Sorry.

Anyway, what does that have to do with Western Trail Rider? Well, the new website looks so good and works so well and is so easy to manage that I was quite impressed with myself (hehehe). But, when I switch over to my WTR site, well, it started looking a bit drab and old. Now, every time I look at WTR I think I need to update it.

So, I’m going to be looking at new themes and other apps and programs that might sort of dress up the site and make it more user-friendly and easier to manage. Once I decide what to do, I’ll let everybody know that it may be down for a few hours…that is, if everything goes well…or a few days, if I mess up. Now, nobody need suppose that I am a website developer or otherwise expert, or even knowledgeable, about websites and blogs. I just trip along until something looks pretty good and works ok. WordPress has made things pretty simple for guys like me. It is mostly a matter of figuring out what I like, then plug-and-play. Still, I seem to be able to mess things up pretty well, as I try mixing and matching different services on the site. The challenge is going to be ensuring that I don’t lose any of the photos, information, posts, and serviceability of the current site.

Also, I understand how each provider of an app or service can spend thousands of hours developing a simple app for dummies like me to “plug-and-play” and that they certainly deserve to be paid for their efforts. However, when a guy like me starts adding up the various fees and subscriptions and donations, the cost starts to reach a significant level per year, particularly when I am not making a penny on the website.

I created the website shortly after I started planning my big horse pack trip a few years ago. A number of folks suggested that I start a blog, so they could keep up with my planning, gear purchases and reviews, and other developments, as well as documentation of the trip itself. It occurred to me that I might just as well purchase a domain name, start a website of my own, and invite other horse and trail riding folks to blog along with me. The thought was that we, together, might create a website where like-minded people might come to find information about horse trails in the western U.S. and to get first-hand information from people who had actually ridden those trails. I’m not talking about state and national park trails – there are numerous websites for those places. I’m talking about the backtrails and places that are almost unknown except to riders from the local areas. Places folks hear about, but few ever see. I figured that eventually there might be enough bloggers on the site that a little advertising income might be generated, to pay for the website maintenance. That hasn’t developed, so I’m content with simply using the site as a place to document my horse adventures for a few faithful followers to enjoy.

Still, I’d like to make it an attractive and interesting website. So, I’ll be working on updating it over the coming couple of months.

Stay tuned to see what I come up with!

P.S. The invitation is still open for anybody who would like to start their own horse-related blog under the WTR banner or to link an existing blog through WTR. The only requirement is that it be related to horse trails in the western U.S. or some aspect of horse or mule packing. There is no charge and I maintain the site at no expense to you…unless you would like to help out.  If you have interest, send me an email at tony.henrie@westerntrailrider.com.

 

Great Western Trail, Western Trails

A few photos from the pack trip from Eagar, AZ to Flagstaff this year…

I recently found an old email from Nancy Hood, one of the many people Dad and I encountered on our pack trip last summer, who so generously helped us out time and again with fresh drinking water and good conversation. Nancy had a photograph of Dad and me that she took. She emailed it to me just a couple days ago. Made me think I should post some of the photos from the trip.

I still need to make a post or two to document the last two weeks of the trip for my followers. Time has been at a premium for me lately and I just haven’t been able to get the time and energy together at the same time.

These photos are roughly in order from our departure at Eagar, AZ to the end of our trail at Flagstaff, AZ. Many of these photos were taken on the Arizona Trail.

Enjoy the photos, and much thanks again to all those who so generously contributed to our successful ride.

Western Trails

Ride to the Secret Corrals

Went for a great ride on Saturday. We had a group of about 14 riders, including Jon Tanner, who always takes me to great places to ride.
 
This time he directed me to the Cottonwood Canyon trailhead, located just off of the Gooseberry Exit, I-70, about five miles or so east of Salina, Utah. We all met at the trailhead and were on the trail by about 10:30am. Take the Gooseberry Exit, turn south, then take an immediate left just south of the exit. Take that road about a mile, until you pass under the highway. You will find the trailhead gate and parking area just past the underpass tunnel. This is ranching area, so please close all gates.
 
Our goal was to ride up to the “Secret Corrals”, which are a couple of ancient corrals, made of cedar logs. These corrals were once used by the infamous (or famous, depending on your viewpoint) Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch to conceal horses so he could refresh his mounts. They would arrive, saddle new horses and turn theirs into the corrals, then set a watch on a hill and wait until the posse passed by. Then they would ride out and make their escape.
 
The Cottonwood Canyon trail takes you up a pretty steep climb to a summit just over 7500′ elevation, then makes a loop back to the access road about 1/2 a mile east of the trailhead. The entire loop is about 10 miles, all through rocky country full of cedars and oak thickets.
 
If you keep a sharp eye out you will pass a small “kiva” built up on the side of a rock as you pass up through the canyon. Must have been a native American village there at some point.
 
We came upon the corrals, just off the trail on the east side of a saddle, probably six or seven miles into the ride. The GPS coordinates are approximately N 38*54.7565′ W111*39.8122′. I’m not too worried about them getting overrun with traffic, because getting there was tough. Nobody but the local ranchers and a few die-hard trail riders ever make it up to the corrals. It’s no wonder they have remained “secret” all these years.
 
The trail is not for beginners. There are parts of this trail that I consider to be quite challenging for both rider and horse (and I’m no novice). Also, there are areas where the trail is not very obvious and if you have not been over the trail before you are pretty sure to get lost, at least for a while. Getting off the trail is not particularly fun, as the oak thickets are unavoidable. However, if you get lost, just head south and you will eventually get to the highway.
 
I have the Earthmate app on my iphone and the topo map of the area downloaded, so I was able to see the trail on my iphone, complete with an arrow indicating my position. Be aware, however, that trails change over time and sometimes the line on the map is not precisely located where the trail is actually located on the ground.
 
We arrived back at our vehicles about 5:30pm or so. It was a nice, challenging, fun ride, and we were all pretty well pooped-out when we got back to the trailers.
 
Unshod horses with good feet will be fine on the trail, but shoes are recommended. Unshod horses will be tender by the end of the day.
 
Here are some pics I took. Enjoy

Western Trails

Jones Ranch Creek and Rock Spring Trails, Mount Nebo, Utah

I have a goal of riding all the trails that head on the Mount Nebo Loop Road, south of Payson, Utah,  within the next year, so I try to hit a new trail every chance I get. As I get through those trails, I will start on the trails on and around Mount Loafer.

My rig in the Jone Ranch parking area
My rig in the Jone Ranch parking area

Yesterday, my wife and I tried a new trail which heads at the Jones Ranch parking area about 9 miles south of Payson on Mount Nebo Loop Road. It was a nice three-hour ride. Linda rode my mustang Jimbo, and I rode my paint Quarter Horse, Reno. I ponied my Fox Trotter, Lizzy, along just for the exercise and because she really wanted to go with us. She got pretty upset when I took the other two to the trailer and didn’t take her.

The Jones Ranch parking area is adequate for even pretty large rigs to enter and turn around. There are no services offered. There are some primitive campsites around the parking area, but no hookups or conveniences. Some folks set up camp and spend several days riding out on the various trails. The best campsites seem to be right at the trailheads, so expect to have folks passing through or next to your campsite. These trails are “multi-use” trails, so they are open to hikers, horses, bicycles, and motorcycles. Most of the trails are well-maintained and fairly well-traveled. Expect to pass other folks on the trail. Dogs are allowed and not required to be on leash, as long as you are outside fee areas, like Payson Lakes.

On this ride, Linda and I chose to ride the Jones Ranch Creek trail, Forest Trail #123, which heads south from the parking area. The trailhead is on the south side of the road and continues southward. Again, the trail is well-marked and well-traveled. Can’t miss it.

Linda on Jimbo
Linda on Jimbo

The trail starts out climbing at a slight grade and heads up through spruce and fir forest, as well as aspen groves and a couple of nice open areas. It crosses two or three spring-fed creeks and is a very pleasant ride, suitable for even the very youngest and most inexperienced of riders. The elevation at the trailhead is around 7,000 to about 7,200 feet. This trail is about three and a half miles long and ends up back at Mount Nebo Loop Road near the Payson Lakes ranger station a little higher up the mountain.

The “scariest” obstacles we encountered on the trail were a couple of places where small culverts have been placed and covered with gravel and lined with landscape timbers. Our horses sort of eyeballed them, but passed over without complaint. There is plenty of room to go around these bridges if necessary. There is one gate to be opened and shut about 3/4 mile from the trailhead.

Junction of FT #101 and #097 looking at Mount Nebo
Junction of FT #101 and #097 looking at Mount Nebo

About two miles up the trail, the Rock Spring trail, Forest Trail #101, intersects it. We elected to take the Rock Spring trail to check it out. This trail heads southwesterly, climbs a bit, then descends, then climbs again, offering some very nice views of the surrounding area. Again, this trail is not challenging and is suitable for anyone who enjoys riding in the mountains. We followed it about a mile and a half, then turned south on an intersecting trail, Forest Trail #097, that shows on my USFS map as a “Jeep Trail”.

We followed this trail south, climbing steadily, about another mile and a half to its head at Mount Nebo Loop Road. I noticed that near this trailhead, on the south side of the road, there were a few nice primitive campsites. It occurred to me that one could set up camp here and enjoy several days of nice riding.

IMG_2111At this point we turned around and headed back. My USFS map from about 1967 or so, showed a separate trail paralleling trail #097 back to Rock Spring Trail, so we decided have a look. It is not marked and started out as a two-track that descended into a canyon (ergo the “Jeep trail designation on the map), ending at a “yurt” type domicile. We avoided that and tried to continue on the trail indicated on the map. Following my GPS we found where the trail was supposed to be, but it was nowhere to be found. It appears that it was a trail at one time, possibly used by the old ranchers, but through disuse it has simply disappeared. We bushwhacked for about a half mile to get back to Rock Spring Trail. The bushwhacking wasn’t bad, as the terrain has a gentle slope and the vegetation is not closed, like an oak thicket would be, so I actually enjoyed just following my nose. My wife, however, did not enjoy it and expressed concern that I might be lost (Word to the wise: Don’t try bushwhacking in the mountains with someone who isn’t comfortable with it). Alas, we found the trail right where we left it. Of course, I knew where we were the whole time.

On the way back, on FT #123 looking northward at Mount Loafer
On the way back, on FT #123 looking northward at Mount Loafer

The ride back to the trailhead was as enjoyable and relaxed as the ride out. It took us two hours to get to the Forest Trail #097 trailhead and, as usual, about half that to get back to the Jones Ranch trailhead.  It was a very pleasant three-hour ride in which we covered just under five miles (we take things pretty easy).

My horses were barefoot on this ride. I pulled their shoes and trimmed them all in the past week. They got a bit tender toward the end of the ride, due to the sharp rocks on the hard trail. None of the horses got stone bruises or received any injury, however, and were simply a little tender toward the end. I feel like this trail is suitable for barefoot horses for a day ride, but if one were camping and riding for a week in that area they might get uncomfortably tender.

Me on Reno, ponying Lizzy
Me on Reno, ponying Lizzy

Trail notes:

From the junction of #097 with Rock Spring Trail (#101), you can also head northward and explore several other trails down in that area. You can get back to Mount Nebo Loop road at two or three other places as well. I’ll be riding and reporting on those trails in the future.

 

Western Trails

Bennie Creek Trail, Payson, UT

Took a nice ride up Bennie Creek Trail this morning. Made a nice little out-and-back with a small loop in the middle.
 
The trailhead is located next to the Grotto trailhead, about 6 miles south of Payson, UT on Mt. Nebo Loop Road. There is sufficient space for a multi-horse trailer to park and make a turn-around. There are no services offered (no outhouses). Horses are allowed on both Bennie Creek and Grotto trails, but be aware these are multi-use trails. Bicycles and motorcycles are allowed, as well as hikers and horses.
 
Incidentally, the trailhead is next to Wimmer Ranch Creek and follows it eastward for a short ways. Bennie Creek is actually on the other side of Loafer mountain, where the other end of the trail heads on Bennie Creek Road about 4 miles hence.
Bennie Creek Trail and Grotto Trail are popular with bikers and hikers, so I recommend against taking horses on them on weekend days. However, I rode Bennie Creek trail this morning (Friday) and saw not another soul on the trail. I don’t think I’d try it on a Saturday, unless I rode it very early. I didn’t ride the Grotto trail (a very short ride) today, because of the numbers of people and children coming and going on that trail.
 
A couple places to watch out for at the start of the trail
A couple places to watch out for at the start of the trail

The Bennie Creek Trail is quite steep for the first 3/4 mile, so you’ll need to give a breather or two to your horses. It’s an excellent conditioning ride, though. The trail has been maintained pretty well, but there are a few spots at the beginning that you’ll need to watch, where the trail is washing out. Other than that it was a very pleasant ride. Not particularly challenging for rider, but that first bit is a tough ascent for the horse. The terrain is dirt with some rocky areas, but barefoot horses will be fine (mine was barefoot).

 
About 1.5 miles up, the trail intersects with the trail from Jones Ranch parking area, which leads off to the southwest. After crossing a dry creek bed and then Wimmer Ranch Creek, and making a steep ascent of about 1/4 mile, that trail ends at the parking/camping area. Many riders begin their ride at the Jones Ranch parking area.
2016-08-19 12.34.59From this same intersection, another trail, nameless, heads across the dry creek bed to the southeast and goes straight up a hillside. It’s a steep climb for about 1/4 mile, but then becomes a bit more level and leads through some pretty nice areas. Bikers love to descend this trail, moving pretty quick, so be aware. Eventually this trail joins the trail that runs from Bennie Creek Trail to Mount Nebo Road near the Payson Lakes entrance. This morning I took this nameless trail and used it to loop back to the Bennie Creek Trail at the intersection described below.
2016-08-19 12.48.30About 2 miles from the trailhead, Bennie Creek Trail intersects with the Mount Loafer Trail, which leads off to the north. This is a nice ride in itself, but, again, it’s a tough climb for a horse. This trail heads up Mount Loafer, around the peak, intersects with several other trails leading off in other directions. I plan to eventually make a two or three day ride to take a look at these trails.
At this junction, which is a saddle with a fence line, one may pass through the gate and head on down Bennie Creek Trail about 2 more miles, descending the eastern face of Loafer Mountain to reach Bennie Creek Road, which leads on into Birdseye, on US 89. I saved that ride for another day.
Today’s ride was very pleasant. It wasn’t an easy trail for my horse and dog, due to the steep ascent, but I wouldn’t call it challenging for an intermediate horse and rider. The trail was fairly well-maintained, and there wasn’t much chance of getting lost, as long as you turned west or south at trail intersections. Turn north and you head up Mount Loafer.
I rode up to the saddle where the trail intersects with the Mount Loafer Trail, made a loop, on the unnamed trail I mentioned, and returned to the trailhead on the Bennie Creek Trail. The mileage was about 5 miles and took me about three hours.
Nice ride.
Horse Health, Western Horsemanship, Western Trails

Spanish Fork Peak Trail, Spanish Fork, Utah

Had a nice ride today with my baby sister, Crystal Barton. We started up a trail to climb Spanish Fork Peak, me on Reno and Crystal on my mustang, Jimbo. Reno, just didn’t have it in him today. He started huffing and puffing about 1/3 of the way up, and just wasn’t recovering fast enough for me, so we headed back down.

By the time we reached the truck he was doing much better, so we drove over to Diamond Fork, a little farther up Spanish Fork Canyon, and did a little riding in a little easier terrain.

Me on Reno, SF Peak in the background
Me on Reno, SF Peak in the background

Reno will need a little more work before he can make SF Peak, which surprises me, coming off our 200-mile pack trip last month. He’s young (just turned 4), so he just needs a little maturation and patient work. The trail heading up to the peak climbs several thousand feet in a matter of a few miles. It is an excellent trail for “legging up” a horse before the fall hunts, but one can easily over-do things and end up on foot. Today, turning around was the right thing to do. No sense in over-working or hurting a horse for a pleasure ride.

For those interested, the trailhead we used is up Spanish Fork Canyon (US Rte 6). Coming from Spanish Fork it is about a mile past the giant windmills. There is plenty of parking for trucks/trailers in the north side of the highway. The iron swing-gate is just west of the parking area, about 100 yards. The trail starts as a two-track, passes a fenced-in utilities installation, then heads straight up a canyon to the north. Just stay on that trail heading north and ignore anything that turns off either way. The trail heads straight up the canyon for a couple miles, then winds around the peaks and saddles and eventually arrives at the very peak. One can return on the same trail, or go over the mountain and come down Mapleton Canyon (which requires juggling vehicles and trailers for the return to the other trailhead).

Ranger and me on top of Spanish Fork Peak, 2016
Ranger and me on top of Spanish Fork Peak, 2016

The ride from Rte 6 to Mapleton Canyon parking area took us about six hours, as I recall. I forgot to take my GPS, so I can’t say exactly how far it is or what the elevation change was, but my guess is 7 or 8 miles total, end to end. Elevation change, according to maps, is about 4800′, so you are climbing at a rate of more than 1,000′ per mile. That’s a tough climb for a horse, especially when you are starting above 4700′ to begin with.

The trail is steep, but otherwise not what I consider challenging. There are a couple steep sidehills that might be a bit scary for the novice trail rider, and the occasional detour for a fallen tree, but other than that the worst of the trail is that it is quite rocky. Last year my horse made it over the trail barefoot and never got tender. I would rate it intermediate and above, for both horse and rider. Take a breast strap, and a crupper or breeching is recommended for narrow-shouldered horses.

There is a small lake or pond (depending on the time of year) just past the peak, on the way down toward Mapleton Canyon, but the water is often stagnant and filthy. Horses will drink it, but they don’t like it much. I saw no other water available when I went over the trail last year. The horses will be thirsty when you get down the mountain.

Crystal on Jimbo, climbing toward SF Peak
Crystal on Jimbo, climbing toward SF Peak

I recommend riding this trail the first time with someone who has been on the trail before, as the trail can be hard to find in a couple places if one doesn’t know where to look. The trail gets some foot traffic, especially during hunting season, but it is closed to all but foot or equine traffic. It sees little enough traffic that the trail is rather lightly visible in places and appears more like a deer/elk trail than a foot/horse trail, at least on the south side of the peak.

Last little note about the Spanish Fork Peak trail: The views are absolutely spectacular, once you get above the trees and break out on the west side of the mountain they are amazing. However, for most of the trail you will be in the trees and in the canyons, where the view is limited.

P.S.

I seem to have lost all the photos I took on my first ride over the Spanish Fork Trail. Sorry. I’ll get more on the next trip.

For horse and mule packing, camping, and trail riding in the western United States

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