Thank you Andrew and Jan at Fifth Mission Marketing, Provo, Utah, for getting westerntrailrider.com back up and running!
As many of you know, my website has been only partially functional for quite some time now. After several updates by Word Press, phpbb3, and Coppermine, the three programs pretty much stopped talking to each other. Additionally, the forum suffered a brute-force spam attack in December, after which I shut down the forum, comments, and other functions. I had to manually delete over 5,000 spam members and comments. After that I attempted to update the site and get if functioning properly again, but simply made matters worse. I ended up losing the ability to administer the forum at all and thought I had lost the content we had accumulated on there over the past two years. I finally gave up and decided to hire a company to get things working again. I’m glad I did.
One day before I head south to begin the big Mexico-to-Canada pack trip, the westerntrailrider.com is finally back up and running. All the prior data has been restored, and everything is functioning.
We have added a new item on the menu. Anyone who would like to may click on the “Trail Map” button and see a real-time map of our progress on the first two legs of the trip. We’re still tweaking a couple of details, but this has me very excited.
So, if you are a long-time member who has been waiting patiently for me to get things fixed, thank you for your patience and please come back and participate in the forums. Post your favorite pictures of your trail rides on your own gallery album. If you are a new member, or someone just looking, come join in the fun.
For those who regularly ride trails in the western US, who enjoy documenting their trail rides, please join us and start a blog under the Western Trail Rider banner. I’ll also provide you with a WTR email address for your blog.
My goal for Western Trail Rider is, and always has been, to make this website the place to come to for information on equine-use trails, particularly for horse and mule packing, in the western United States. While every state and national park has its own website, for the lesser known trails on public lands, there is very little documentation and information about them is hard to come by. Many of those trails are disappearing, due to lack of use. Many trails that have existed for more than a century are no longer passable for horses, many can no longer be found at all. This website is dedicated to preserving such trails for future generations. I invite everyone who feels the same to come, join in, and help.
Now, having gotten the website working again, and issued the above invitation, don’t forget that I will be on a 1,000 mile pack trip (the first two legs of our Mexico-to-Canada pack trip) for about the next couple months. I expect to be back to the real world around the end of June. I probably won’t be posting much on my blog for a while.
Then again, the big ride was the whole impetus behind Western Trail Rider in the first place.
Yesterday I brought my 1991 Logan Competitor Plus four-horse trailer to the house to start the work of getting it ready for the big haul to Eagar, Arizona, then on to the US/Mexico border at Douglas, AZ. I have already had the brakes checked and adjusted and the bearings re-packed, and repaired the electrical system as far as the tail and running lamps go. There is little left to do except the packing and loading.
Trailer-Aid chock/jack
A week ago, I hauled four horses down to Holden, Utah, about an hour’s haul, for a 1/2-day’s ride. On the way back we had a blowout on the right-rear trailer tire. It was good that happened, because I discovered that I hadn’t yet put a lug wrench in the trailer! Nor could I find my hydraulic jack, which I thought I had put in there somewhere. I was, however, able to test out the new Trailer-Aid chock/jack I recently purchased through Outfitter’s Supply.
Hmmm.
The Trailer-Aid is simply placed in front of the tire adjacent to the flat and the trailer is pulled forward until the tire rests on top of it. This is supposed to provide sufficient lift to get the other tire off the ground for changing. The above photo shows my right front trailer tire on top of the Trailer-Aid with four large horses in the trailer! I learned, however, that with the trailer loaded, there isn’t sufficient lift to get the flat completely off the ground. We weren’t very keen on unloading the horses on the side of a freeway with a speed limit of 80mph. We were lucky enough to be able to contact a relative of one of my passengers, who came to our rescue with a lug wrench and a hydraulic jack. Luckily, my spare tire is a good one and we were back on the road in just a few minutes.
After getting the trailer home, I unloaded the horses and tried the Trailer-Aid again. Happily, it will, in fact, lift the adjacent tire completely off the ground, allowing a tire change, with the trailer empty of horses. Just for information, my Logan trailer has independent tortion bar suspension, rather than leaf springs. I don’t know whether that would make a difference. At $48.95, I believe this is a good, heavy-duty piece of gear that will become standard equipment for all my trailers in the future.
The learning experience from this blowout has prompted me to find my heavy-duty 2-ton hydraulic bottle jack (which was in the trailer the whole time, hidden away in a cubby hole) and strap its handle to it with a plastic wire-tie, purchase a good T-bar lug wrench and some spare lug nuts from the local Napa store, and place them all in a storage bin where they are easy to find and won’t get buried by other gear. As for the blowout, of course I bought a new Goodyear Marathon 8-ply trailer tire to replace it. All my tires are now up to full pressure at 65psi (cold). The left-rear tire appears to be losing pressure slowly, so I will go down tomorrow to get it repaired or replaced.
Removed left window in over-bed area
Last Thursday I removed the left-side window in the gooseneck area to have the slider replaced. It was broken before I owned it. I took the window to Carter’s Glass in Spanish Fork, UT. I was disappointed to learn that they can no longer get tempered glass for repairs in campers and trailers, so the replacement slider will be plexiglass. When I get back from my pack trip I plan to start the cosmetic repairs to the trailer, so I’ll check with Hehr, the manufacturer of the window, to see if they have glass replacement sliders available.
Removing the window was a simple matter of drilling out the 12 aluminum rivets with a 1/8″ drill and cutting the caulking around the edge of the window. It came right out with little resistance. No big deal. It will go back in the same way, using aluminum 1/8″ X 5/8″ rivets and my trusty rivet gun.
I had previously repaired all the trailer lighting…at least all that are required to be legal on the road. Some of the wiring needed minor repair and a couple bulbs replaced. I also purchased orange and red reflectors for the sides of the trailer, which is also required by Utah law. The originals had long ago fallen off. I scraped the old remnants of the previous reflectors off with a wood chisel (a window scraper might have been better), then cleaned it well with mineral spirits. The new reflectors came with a peel-and-stick adhesive already applied, so I simply peeled and stuck them to the sides of the trailer. These reflectors can also be attached with rivets or screws, if desired.
My trailer came equipped with interior lighting, as well as exterior lighting, however they are not working and are in need of extensive repair to the wiring. I’ll let that go until after my big pack trip, since I will not be hauling at night on this trip.
Circle J Trailers water tank, made to fit in the rear tack compartment
When I bought my trailer, it came with a triangular shaped water tank that has been used, but was not installed. It bears the Circle J Trailers brand, so it was not made for this trailer. It is of the type normally installed in the rear tack compartment, however, the way my saddle rack is made will not allow this. I removed a metal shelf unit that was installed in the acute-angle corner of the dressing room in my trailer, which is the same angle as that in the rear tack compartment. The tank will fit in this corner, but will require me to build a stand, to get the spigot up off the floor, as well as make some metal bands to secure the tank in place. Apparently the angle of the Circle J trailers is a little more acute than those in the Logan trailer, because I’m going to need to apply shims on one side to keep the tank snugly in place. Still, it will give me around 36 or so gallons of water for the horses while I’m hauling.
So, on with “getting loaded.” Yesterday afternoon I pulled everything out of the trailer that was not stuck down in some way, and swept and cleaned a little. It could use a thorough cleaning, but that will have to wait until I’m done with my trip.
I then separated all my horse tack and gear into two areas: That which will go on the trip and that which will not. I have acquired, over the years, a bunch of old horse tack, much of which I will never use again or is beyond its useful years. These items, including old saddle pads and blankets, old halters, and other odds and ends, I packed into a duffle bag which will stay here at home until I decide how to get rid of it.
As for the stuff in the “go with” piles, I pulled out my gear lists for the pack trip and started my inventory. As I located each item on the list, I stowed it in the trailer then checked it off the list. As I did so, I was amazed at how much tack and gear this trailer will hold without seeming jam-packed. Everything has a place and when packed it all fits very well. This trailer is just what I need for trips like this.
Rear tack compartment
The rear tack has a four-tier saddle rack. It now carries two Phillips Formfitter pack saddles in full rig and two western riding saddles. Inside the horse compartment are saddle pad racks for up to eight saddle pads. They now hold four pack saddle pads and two riding saddle pads, as well as two sets of saddle bags. On the door of the rear tack compartment, the previous owners installed a set of horse shoe hangers which now hold two hackamores, two bridles with snaffle bits, and two halters and lead ropes. On the walls inside the tack compartment are additional hooks that hold an assortment of cinchas, a couple rain slickers, and some miscellaneous items. In the floor is room for several shallow feed buckets and my trusty Trailer-Aid chock.
Side storage compartment
The side compartment is extra storage space created by the feed mangers in the horse compartment. While the manger makes loading horses somewhat tricky in a slant-load (you have to get between the horse and the manger to tie them in or go around and tie them through the windows), the extra storage space is more than worth the inconvenience. The storage space, which measures about 40 inches high X 18 inches deep X 14 feet long, has two access doors on the driver’s side of the trailer. Along the inside wall, near the top, are hooks which are perfect for hanging halters, lead ropes, pack ropes, hobbles, and miscellaneous gear. This is where I store my bagged feed, feed buckets, pack paniers, manties, farrier kit, hydraulic jack and tire tools, and anything else that doesn’t have a specific designated place elsewhere. Both access doors have a large, deep, box shelf for holding things such as brushes, fly spray, and other small items.
The “dressing room” portion of the trailer is not sufficient to call a “living quarters”, however it is large enough that I plan to convert it to a rudimentary camper in the future. Some previous owner started the conversion, having installed insulation and wood paneling in the front portion of the room. I will probably remove all the paneling, so I can reconfigure the electrical system and install some plumbing, before re-covering the walls with paneling. My plan is to install a sink with a manual pump, a two-burner propane stove top, a fold-down table, and a port-o-potty. I’ll likely make an outdoor “cowboy shower,” as well.
Dressing room area
This area currently holds a couple built-in box seats, which are also storage containers, a small closet, and a couple small cabinets in the nose of the gooseneck area. I have a large black plastic box that will hold all my personal items and small gear, such as the solar panels, camera, binoculars, cooking gear, etc., for the trip to the trailhead. My hand tools, for mechanical emergencies, are also stowed here in a toolbox. There are a couple coat hangers on the back wall, one of which now sports the new Mud River rain slicker I purchased from Outfitter’s Supply. All this stuff, except the hand tools, will go on the pack horses and in my saddle bags for the trip.
The photos you see in this post are with all the horse tack and pack gear I purchased for this two-and-a-half month pack trip stowed in the trailer. We still lack my personal things, our food supply, Dad’s personal things, and the tack and gear for his three horses, but this trailer has plenty of room for us and all our gear. We will, however, have much of his gear stowed in a second trailer, since we will need it for two more horses (we will have two saddle horses and four pack horses for the trip).
For my average pack trip (which is a much smaller enterprise than this current undertaking), in which I will normally have one or two saddle horses and one or two pack horses, this trailer is perfect…or will be once I get the camper portion built.
I posted a couple weeks ago about the Goal Zero Nomad 13 portable solar charger I bought for the big pack trip. I haven’t yet had time to test it.
However, one evening last week, as I lay awake in the middle of the night contemplating the upcoming adventure (the closer it gets, the harder it is to sleep at night), I started running through, in my mind, what a day on the trail might be like. As I did so, it occurred to me that we would be using our electrical devices during the daytime, but would be unable to charge anything at night. Funny how I hadn’t thought of that before, as I plug my iphone in to charge before I lay down to sleep.
Furthermore, I realized that if our one solar charger were to be damaged, we would lose the use of all our electronic equipment within about a day, including the ability to call for help via satellite texting in case of emergency. I made the decision then that we needed a second solar charger, not only to increase our ability to recharge items during daylight hours, but as a backup in case one unit were to be put out of commission. I considered, for just a moment, the thought of buying a Sherpa recharger, however, with a price tag of over $250 for a basic model, it seemed impractical for us.
Goal Zero Guide 10
I headed back up to Cabela’s with the intention of buying another Nomad 13, but upon looking over the various models and options offered by Goal Zero, I came across the Guide 10 unit. This model is also a solar charger, with two solar panels measuring about 6 by 9 inches, putting out about 7 volts, 7 watts. It is able to charge at 5V at up to 1A (5W) regulated – via USB port or 6.5V up to 1.1A (7W) unregulated – via mini-solar port.
Also included is a charger pack for four AA batteries that is charged from the solar charger. This battery unit may then be used as a charger for items such as my iphone 6, the DeLorme InReach Explorer GPS/satellite unit, and our recently purchased GoPro Hero 4 camera. From the literature, it appears this 4-cell unit is capable of recharging two cellular telephones on one charge. This will help for charging at night or when the sun isn’t shining brightly during the daytime. The batteries may also be removed from the unit and used as regular AA batteries. Also included is an adapter for charging four AAA batteries.
Just as the Nomad 13, the Guide 10 comes with integral cables for charging at either 5V or 6.5V, as well as an integral USB port and a separate USB/mini-USB cable for charging Android-type cell phones and other accessories. I will have to remember to bring the proprietary Apple cable to charge my iphone from the USB port. Also included is an adapter for 12V connections that use cigarette lighter-type connectors.
The Nomad 13 and the Guide 10 solar panels may also be “daisy-chained” to increase electrical charging capacity and decrease the time involved in recharging devices.
You can see the size relationship between the larger Nomad 13 and the Guide 10 units. the solar panel size of the Nomad 13 is roughly 1/3 again the size of the Guide 10, however the battery pack certainly increases the utility of the Guide 10 package and offers us one more option and backup plan for charging our very important electronic gear.
The Nomad 13’s price tag of $159.99 also made the Guide 10 a bit more appealing. Along with the benefit of the battery pack and charger came a price tag of $119.99. The combination of the two solar chargers, I believe, will serve our needs very well.
I feel much more comfortable now, having two solar charging units with us on this trip. The trick will be determining, while on the trail, the battery life of each of our several electronic devices, and developing a routine for recharging each of them in turn, to keep them all alive and functioning optimally for two-and-a half months on the trail.
My pack saddles arrived last Friday, as promised by Wade and Simone Mauhl, of Outfitters Pack Station. They are every bit what I hoped.
My followers will recall the post I did a couple years ago about pack saddles, when I was trying to decide whether to go with the traditional crossbuck pack saddles or the newer, more versatile Decker pack saddles for my big pack trip…and on into the future. At length, I decided to go with the Deckers style.
So, as I was preparing to place an order for a couple pack saddles, my dad called and said I should talk to a friend of ours in Arizona, who is an experienced packer and has some definite opinions on pack saddles. I gave the fellow a call (name withheld because I don’t have his permission…yet) and talked to him for a while. He referred me to a man named Phillips, who builds a pack saddle he calls the “Phillips Form Fitter.” My friend said he is certain Phillips makes the best pack saddle in existence.
Well, my friend didn’t know the website or how to get in touch with Mr. Phillips, so I did what any good, red-blooded American…or anybody else with a computer, would do. I googled “Phillips Form Fitter” and came up with Outfitter’s Pack Station. On their home page they have a great video presentation in which they describe in detail the pack saddle, how it is made, and how it functions. I was sold.
In speaking with Wade, I learned that Mr. Phillips has retired and Wade and Simone purchased his pack saddle business and continue to market them under the Phillips Form Fitter name through their storefront, Outfitters Pack Station.
After several conversations with Simone and Wade, I placed an order for two fully outfitted pack saddles. I also ordered a number of other items, which I will discuss in another post. Things got a little dicey, however, when I learned from Simone that they don’t keep these pack saddles in inventory. Wade makes each saddle as it is ordered, which is why they can make each one to suit the customer’s needs with a number of options. Here I was only a few weeks away from D-Day, so to speak, and I still didn’t have pack saddles! This was something I hadn’t contemplated. Wade and Simone assured me they would work overtime to make sure my saddles arrived in time for my planned departure to Arizona.
What a relief it was to receive a call from Simone last week, announcing they had shipped my pack saddles.
Phillips Form Fitter pack saddle, fully outfitted
After ripping open the box like it was a Christmas present, I took a very good look at my new pack saddles.
I was immediately impressed with the heavy latigo straps and heavy nickel-plated steel hardware. All the straps are approximately 13 ounce latigo (just my guess), one-inch or 1-1/4 inch in width, depending on the particular strap. All buckles are heavy-duty roller buckles.
The upper buckle on the spider strap, where it attaches to the breeching, has a nickel-plated shroud over the buckle. As explained in the video, this was designed to keep the pack animal’s tail hairs from catching in this buckle.
For an extra $50, one can request brass or stainless steel hardware on the saddle.
The pack saddle outfit includes all straps, double straps for the breeching, as well as double straps for the breast strap, to keep them both riding in their proper places on the pack animal. The “halfbreed” is included, made of heavy 18 ounce canvas, reinforced with leather trim on the edges and filled with a two 1/2″ layers of felt padding inside. Leather pockets on each side hold a pine board that protects the pack animal’s sides from the load.
Underneath, one finds the pack saddle is made with bars contoured somewhat like a riding saddle’s bars, but a bit thicker. They are made of a polymer plastic, and while stiff, are somewhat flexible under load. The bars are attached to the “arches” by bolts, which allow the saddle bars to float and adjust to the back of the pack animal and move a bit as it moves. That makes them perfect for my pack trip, as we will have three horses each and rotating them as pack and saddle animals. No two of them will have the same back, being a mix of Fox Trotters, mustang, Quarter Horses, and a mule, so we will not have the luxury of being able to custom configure a pack saddle for each animal.
Each saddle bar is also enclosed in leather, with high quality sheep fleece underneath, just like a riding saddle. The theory is that the fleece helps the pack saddle stay in place without riding off the pad. Heavy-duty stitching keeps it all together, with screws attaching the leather to the bars.
I was impressed.
So, this morning I made an early start to my day and went out to trim hooves. I took along one of the pack saddles to try it on Ranger.
I am somewhat experienced in horse packing with a crossbuck pack saddle, but I was amazed at all the adjustability of this Decker pack saddle! While they are offered with a double cinch, like those usually used on a crossbuck saddle, Decker’s are usually outfitted with a single cinch. That’s what I requested on mine. The position of the cinch is adjustable fore and aft by adjusting the lengths of the fore and aft rigging straps, which, coupled with the floating saddle bars, makes this saddle adjustable to fit the back of pretty much any horse or mule one is likely to come across as a pack animal.
The Decker cinches are made with two rings on each end, a smaller one inside the larger one. The larger one is for the billet and latigo, while the smaller one is used in securing the load with the sling ropes. I outfitted my pack saddles with sling ropes and other rope accoutrements, per the recommendations of Bob Hoverson, in his book entitled, The Packer’s Field Manual, a book I recommend for Decker-style packing.
The breast strap and breeching are both made of heavy latigo leather, lined with oil-tanned leather, rolled on the edges to protect the pack animal from chafing. Both are fully adjustable for length and ride height via four straps on the breast strap and eight on the breeching. The spider pad holds four straps to keep the breeching in place and has an additional ring, which I suppose is for attaching the lead of a trailing pack animal. All these parts are stitched with heavy thread and all the straps and rings are secured with steel tube rivets. The breast strap and breeching are very nicely made and should be comfortable on the pack animal and easy to clean. Every part of this pack saddle rigging is made to be adjustable, so as to fit just about any pack animal of average size and conformation one might encounter.
Decker style pack saddle
The arches of the Decker pack saddle are the primary distinguishing factor between a crossbuck pack saddle and a Decker pack saddle. The Phillips Form Fitter arches are made of 3/4″ steel rods, bent to an arch, which connects the two saddle bars. These arches, however, have small appendages, of the same diameter steel rod, welded to each side of the arch, creating a Decker arch which will also act as a crossbuck to hold Utah-style paniers intended for crossbuck pack saddles. Now I’m starting to feel right at home! I love these saddles!
One reason I decided to go with Decker pack saddles over the traditional crossbuck saddles, is the survivability of the saddle in the case of a rollover wreck. I am confident that the way this saddle is made, and the materials of which it is made, make this saddle much more likely to survive such a wreck with little or no damage, than a crossbuck or most of the other Decker pack saddles I have seen.
Lest I get too wrapped up in my enthusiasm for these pack saddles, I should mention a couple minor things I noticed on the other side of the coin with regard to these saddles. While the strap leather is, indeed, heavy latigo leather, it is not top-quality latigo, nor does it meet the standard of the harness leather I have seen on some high-dollar pack saddles. Also, rather than the steel tube rivets that secure these straps and assemblies, I would rather see copper hammered rivets. Having said these things, I am confident the use of these materials does not in any way compromise the utility and durability of these pack saddles. With a little care and oiling, I am certain they will outlast me and likely another generation of packers as well. The use of these less-than-top-flight materials is easily forgiven when one looks at the price of the fully outfitted Phillips Form Fitter pack saddle.
At $699, the price of the fully outfitted Phillips Form Fitter pack saddle, including breeching, breast strap, and halfbreed, compares favorably with other name brand pack saddle outfits that I consider to be lesser quality pack saddles. The saddle tree alone, with no breeching or breast strap, but with the leather skirts and fleece, runs $325, which, again compares favorably with other Decker-style pack saddles with adjustable bars. Again, I am very pleased, both with the quality and the price of these pack saddles and their rigging.
I am thinking this was the first pack saddle ever set upon the back of Ranger. He handled it very well. I’m looking forward to how he handles it with a load on the saddle, our first day out on the trail.
Thank you to all my followers and WTR members who have tolerated my DIY mentality and the associated problems on this website.
With the big ride coming up next month, I finally “bit the bullet,” so to speak, and hired a company to get this website in order. I just don’t have the know-how or mental capacity to keep this thing up and running. Andrew Goodwin, of Fifth Mission Marketing, Provo, Utah, has taken on the re-vamp project. Within a few days I expect this website to be looking great and humming right along.
Some of the features we hope to have available and working on the site are the following:
A blog site, not only for my blog, but for anyone who regularly does trail rides and/or pack trips in the western United States, and wishes to blog about it. That includes outfitters, guides, and just plain old people like myself, who just love to do it.
A gallery for members to post favorite photos of their trail riding and packing adventures, viewable by the public, or set to private at the discretion of the member.
Forums for discussing and archiving detailed information about the trails we ride (facebook is great for one-liners and posting photos, but lousy for real discussion and making the information retrievable).
Blog posts, comments on blog posts, gallery photos, and forum posts may be shared on other social media, such as facebook and twitter.
An embedded link to a live map that will show in real-time the where Dad and I are on our Mexico-to-Canada pack trip. We hope to be able to do the same for other members and their trips.
Future ability to add advertisement and sales on the page, for outfitters, suppliers, and other members who have goods/services to offer.
The future ability for members to schedule and pay outfitters and guides who advertise on WTR.
I’m pretty excited about all this, particularly with regard to my blog followers and the members being able to follow our trip in real time on the map. The ride was the reason behind all this effort in the first place. The rest is simply icing on the cake.
My hope is, and always has been, that WTR will eventually become a site where people can come to find up-to-date and detailed information about places to ride and camp with horses in the western United States. My particular focus has been to document the little-known trails on BLM and USFS land, that are only know to the locals in the immediate vicinity. Many of these trails have existed for a century or more, but are quickly becoming impassable and disappearing, due to lack of use. Who knows whether the website will ever take hold and go, but it won’t die for lack of effort. I hope this ride Dad and I are taking will encourage others to join in and help keep our back country trails open and our rights to ride them secure.
Thanks again for all who have followed along. By this time next week, I hope the everything is back in order and working. It may look a little different, but I’ll still be “the man behind the curtain”.
As much as it pains me to do this (I’ve always been one to do things myself whenever possible) I am in the humble position of asking for financial help as Dad and I come down to the final weeks of preparation before we embark on the first 1,000 miles of our Mexico-to Canada horse packing expedition.
I have created a GoFundMe campaign to solicit financial assistance from those fortunate souls out there who would love to come ride with us on our adventure, but who are precluded from doing so due to circumstances of life.
If you can’t join us in the ride, you can become part of it with your financial assistance.
Please be assured your funds will not go to buying pretty saddles and cool toys. I have already purchased all the gear and most of the supplies we will need with my own funds. In fact, Dad and I will both be riding saddles that are in the range of 50 years old. Where we will need help is in the department of financing our logistical help, fuel, veterinary exams, incidental veterinary care during the trip, farriery, horse feed while on the trip, and other incidentals that may occur.
The purchases of gear, horses, and other necessaries have nearly exhausted my personal funding. We could use your help.
Here’s the link: http://www.gofundme.com/westerntrailrider
I recently received a large gear order from Outfitter’s Supply, out of Columbia Falls, Montana. Kevin was nice enough to sponsor Dad and me on our upcoming pack trip with substantial discounts on much of the gear we ordered. When I first started acquiring gear for this trip a couple years ago, I began by perusing the various websites and online catalogs available for packing gear and ordering one or two items to see what I liked and what I didn’t think would hold up, before making a larger order. As I was doing that kind of research, I came across Trailhead Supply, and I placed an order for a couple feed bags from them. I wrote a blog post on the feed bags, which you can find here.
Outfitter’s Supply’s canvas/leather feedbag
I bought another feed bag in this recent order from Outfitter’s Supply, having decided from the previous purchases to go with the tougher, more durable, canvas/leather bag. I am very pleased with what I received. This feed bag, bearing their Trail Max marketing name, is made with a leather bottom that is formed, so that the edges come up about an inch from the bottom. This should protect the canvas and seams from the chafing and scraping that will occur when the horse pushes the feed bag against the ground. The canvas appears to be of 24 ounce canvas. It is made with heavy-duty leather straps, approximately 9/10 ounce weight, that are riveted to the canvas at the top of the bag and extend all the way to the bottom, where it is again riveted to the leather bottom. The straps are stitched to the canvas bag with heavy thread down both edges of the strap. The leather is well-oiled and appears to be of good quality. The length of the hanger is adjusted by a heavy-duty chrome-plated steel roller buckle.
Riveted and stitched
Hanger titched full length
Heavy leather hanger and roller buckle
If you read the post on the previously purchased feed bags, you will remember that I was concerned that the air vent was positioned very low on the bag. I have had instances in which horses would not eat, because they could not breathe well with a couple scoops of feed in the bag.
New bag on the left
I felt the vent was low enough on the bag that it would be covered by the feed and would be of little use to the horse. Since that time I have spoken to another experienced packer who once had a horse nearly drown when it tried to drink from a stream with a feed bag on. The feed bag held the water and the horse could not breathe. He felt the vent was more of a safety feature for water drainage than for breathing. I value his opinion and experience and learned that there is good reason for placing the vent low on the bag.
The vent on this new bag is placed a bit higher on the bag than the Trailhead Supply one. In my opinion the location of the vent on the Outfitter’s Supply bag is a good compromise between the safety issue of draining off water and allowing airflow to allow the horse to breathe easier with the bag full of feed. Outfitter’s Supply has also found an excellent place to stamp their maker’s mark – right on the vent.
The Trailhead Supply bag was priced at $21.95, but I no longer find it listed in their online store. They now offer only the nylon mesh bag with a canvas bottom.
The Outfitter’s Supply bag is a hefty $64.95, but it is a heavier-duty bag and made using heavier and better materials. Is putting this kind of heavy-duty work and materials into a feed bag overkill? Outfitter’s Supply’s experience in making their feed bags comes from doing repair work on feed bags used by the U.S. Forest Service. They seem to know their stuff.
I’ll have one of each on the trip and will report how each performed when we get home.
Way back when Dad and I first started talking about taking a horse pack trip from Tucson, Arizona to Panguitch, Utah, I think it was in about 1975, there was no such thing as a cellular telephone, much less a Global Positioning Satellite system. In fact, the closest thing we had available to a cellular telephone was a “walkie-talkie”, that might have a useful range of about 5 miles, at best. Battery life on those was indefinite….as long as you brought along an inexhaustible supply of spare batteries! I don’t recall that we had re-chargeable batteries available at that time. And do you remember Kodak Instamatic Cameras?
Back then, when we talked about the trip, our main consideration was simply to get “from here to there”, so to speak. We thought about things like food supplies, horses, and gear. The gear consisted of Dad’s old pack saddle outfits, our own well-used saddles, and a bit of camping gear. When we thought of the trip, it was like going back in time to the late 1800s, or maybe the early 1900s. Planning was simple, complications were few. We just couldn’t get our act together to actually do the trip.
Now that we’re finally ready to give our big pack trip a real try, things are a bit different in the modern world. In particular, we’re both much older now. That brings in a whole new set of concerns and complications in itself, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We now have technology to deal with that didn’t even exist way back when.
Now, we have these great gadgets that can not only tell us exactly where we are in the world, both in time and space, but can also take pictures to prove it! Not only that, but these same gadgets can also tell the rest of the world where we are at the same time! And, if that’s not enough, I can actually communicate with anyone I choose, anywhere in the world, via satellites in outer space! Dick Tracy, eat your heart out!
My, how times have changed!
Still, all these gadgets use electricity. All of them have internal rechargeable batteries. All of them require special cables and chargers to keep them useful for anything other than paper weights. Now, horses generate a lot of “gas”, but no electricity, as far as I know.
So, now, the big question is, how long will these gadgets stay alive without a recharge? Most of them will handle one full day, as long as I don’t play with them too much. My iphone 6 will last about half a day if I take a lot of pictures and start texting them to my wife and mother. I took the Delorme InReach Explorer out for a test ride yesterday. We were out for about 4 hours, tracking the whole ride, and it ended up with over 85% battery remaining. I plan to take along a GoPro3 camera, but haven’t purchased it yet, so I have no idea about it’s capabilities, battery-life-wise, but I imagine it is a matter of hours, not days.
GOALZERO Nomad 13
Since our pack trip will take somewhere between five and seven weeks….we think…. and since most of the time we will be far away from the nearest electrical outlet, our only option is to take an electrical source with us. Hauling a generator and the fuel to run it is out of the question.
Enter the GOAL ZERO Nomad 13 Solar Panel.
The Nomad 13 is a pair of solar panels, measuring approximately 10.5 X 7 X 1 inches, about 23 inches wide when open, and comes in its own zippered protective case with the solar panels built-in. You simply unzip, then open it like a notebook. According to the specifications on the box, the unit will produce up to 13 watts of electricity. That is sufficient to put out 5V, 0-1A (5W) regulated for USB charging, or 13-15 VDC, 0-1A (13W) unregulated for 12V charging.
Charging cables built-in
It has several cables built into the unit, on the back side, including a USB cable, a Guide 10 cable, and two cables for chaining units together and for charging other GOAL ZERO rechargers, such as the venerable Sherpa. Also included is an adapter cable with a cigarette lighter-type connector for 12V accessories. The literature inidcates this unit, placed in full sun, will recharge a “smart phone” in one to three hours. Not that it will matter to us, but just for information, the unit will charge a Sherpa 50 in six hours, which will then charge a laptop computer in two hours.
I’m going to have to consider buying a Sherpa 50 for the trip, due to all the gadgets we’ll have along. Having the portable recharger along would certainly help if we should have a couple days of cloudy weather. Our plan is to strap it to the top pack on a pack horse and let it charge all day long. We’ll see how durable it is as we go.
At $159.99, it was an expensive accessory for us, but if it will do what it says it can do on the box and in the manual, it will certainly be worth the expense to us, as well as our loved ones left at home and our friends following us via the Internet. The GOAL ZERO Sherpa 50 Portable Recharger runs $249.99.
I haven’t yet had a chance to test this unit, but I expect to do so in the next week or so. That test will probably determine whether I go the extra expense for the Sherpa 50.
This afternoon I picked up two saddles, a bridle with a good D-ring snaffle, an old, but good saddle pad, and a rifle scabbard, for $380.
Two saddles for the price of one.
I have been looking for a saddle to take on the big ride, because it doesn’t look like I’ll get the repairs to my Hamley finished in time. I have been shopping for good used saddles, because I don’t want a squeeky-new saddle to break in on the trail. Not only that, since I am operating on somewhat of a budget, I can buy a very good used saddle, even if it’s a little beat-up, for less than I can buy a very poor new saddle, not to mention a good one. I had already called on a couple saddles advertised for sale in the northern Utah area, that were priced in the $650-850 range, and was tempted on a couple in the $1100-1500 range. The problem I always ran into was that they were either Full-Quarter Horse bar saddles, or Regular-Quarter Horse saddles, both of which would be too wide for my high-withered, narrow backed fox trotters. I needed a saddle with a gullet width of about 6″ and a fairly tall gullet.
When I came across an ad for two saddles for $400, under 100 miles away, I took a closer look. Although the ad didn’t give many specifics, other than that one was old and one was in good condition, and that they were 15″ seats, one photograph showed the gullets of both saddles, and I could see right away that they were not the usual QH bar saddles. I called on them and the seller agreed to meet me halfway, up on Soldier Summit.
When I arrived at the designated meeting place, I was met by a man in his seventies, who greeted me with a smile. He opened his camper shell window and tailgate and slid the saddles back to where I could take a look at them. He said he had kept them around for a long time, thinking he would buy another horse, but has finally conceded that he never will. So they were for sale.
The “newer” saddle
I could see right off that the newer saddle was in very good condition. The only thing detracting from its value was a large “44” carved into the stirrup sweat leathers. This one was won by somebody at a show or rodeo. The leather was in great shape, as was the skirting and fleece. I checked under the front jockey and was pleased to find a rawhide-covered wood tree bar. Recognizing that this saddle alone was worth pretty much what he was asking for the whole shootin’ match, I stopped inspecting this one and turned my attention to the older saddle.
This one is about 75 years old
This saddle was probably 75 years old and in need of some pretty extensive repair to the leather work. The seller apologetically showed me some rodent damage to the seat jockey and other parts that he hadn’t seen before he put them in his pickup. The mice have chewed a large part out of the lower part of the seat jockey, chewed off the corner of the right front jockey, chewed off the end of the cincha keeper, and chewed off a couple of saddle strings. There are scars on the pommel as well. Additionally, the leather straps all need to be changed out and the cantle binding was coming loose. However, this saddle, too, was built on a rawhide-covered wood tree that is very solid. The rawhide appears to be in very good shape. I Couldn’t find a maker’s mark, but it is a very well-made ranch/working saddle. It’s just in poor condition.
Newer fleece on the old saddle
On the bright side, the seller had the skirting fleece replaced professionally a few years ago, so it’s in great shape. The seller said he was told it might be a Hamley, but I have a Hamley and I don’t believe this is one. I figured I could do the repair work to turn this back into a good riding saddle.
I inspected the bridle and found it has a usable pair of braided para-cord reins as well as a good egg-butt D-ring snaffle. The bridle needs oil, but is in good shape.
Bridle with snaffle bit, saddle pad, and rifle scabbard
The saddle pad has some rodent damage in one place, but in fact it is still a good pad – wool blanket over a foam insert and wool-felt pad. The saddle scabbard is in rough shape and coming unstitched at the seams, but the leather is good and re-stitching it will take me an evening at most.
After looking the old saddle over and over, I offered the seller $350. He thought a few seconds and countered with $375. I smiled and told him I didn’t have a $5, so I’d give him $380 for bundle. He smiled again and we shook hands.
Old-fashioned Ox bow stirrups
This evening, when I had a little time, I inspected both saddles a little closer. I had looked pretty well at the older saddle and learned nothing new this evening, except that the stirrup leathers are still in good condition and might be used on my Hamley saddle in a pinch. I also like the old-style tin-covered wood Ox-Bow stirrups. They are also in good, usable condition. The fleece has been replaced, but was done by a professional who did good work, but wasn’t too concerned about looks. He could have done a nicer job. This saddle needs a lot of work, but will be a good, solid saddle when I’m done. I’ll probably replace some leather and sell it to make back the purchase price of the deal.
Utahn Saddle Company maker’s mark
The newer saddle is in very good condition, made by the Utahn Saddle Company (I found the maker’s mark on the latigo keeper), that once billed itself as “The saddle maker’s saddle maker”. The company is gone now, but once was a good saddle maker out of Vernal, Utah. This saddle is a cutter, and has a broad set of swells, almost like a “form-fitter” tree, 4″ cantle, padded seat, wide Cheyeand wide, cutter-style covered stirrups.
Fleece on the newer saddle is in excellent shape
The tree, as I mentioned, is rawhide-covered wood and is very solid and heavy. It came with a very nice mohair-blend cincha and a nice flank strap. The fleece is in excellent condition and is a thick, premium-style fleece. The leather is in very nice condition, but needs a little cleaning and oiling. This is a very solid and good saddle. I figure this saddle alone is worth about double what I paid for the whole bundle, even in its current condition.
Both saddles measure what would equate to “Semi-QH bars” and gullet width, so they will fit well on my fox trotters, with their tall withers and narrow backs.
Can’t wait to get the Utahn saddle on my horses. I think that’s the one I will be taking on my big pack trip.
Last week I went on buying spree at Cabela’s. One of the items I came home with…two actually, were air mattresses for the trail. When I was a kid I used to sleep on the ground, and quite well, I might add. In high school, these new-fangled foam sleeping pads came out. They were 1/2″ of luxurious medium-density foam rubber that rolled up onto a 20″ X 4″ roll that weighed hardly anything and you could tie it to your pack right above your sleeping bag. Then, as an adult, I found the self-inflating 3″ foam pads that truly improved my sleep rest during camping and pack trips. However, these pads roll up into a bulky roll about 22″X8″…that is if you get it real tight. It weighed a bit more as well, at about 3 pounds or so. I stuck with those a long time. Recently, however, I’m finding I don’t sleep so well on those self-inflating pads anymore.
Now, Dad has always preferred air mattresses. Of course he was 24 years ahead of me in experience. Seems like my air mattresses always ended up flat about the time I was gliding off to sleep, and it was back to my childhood days of sleeping on the hard ground…or not. Anyway, Dad seems always to have done pretty well with his air mattresses, so for this trip I let him talk me into buying a couple of backpacking air mattresses for our trip. Mostly the decision was made to save space on the pack horses, but truthfully, I was willing to try an air mattress again to see whether I could get a good night’s sleep on one while out on the trail.
Cabela’s XPG Ultralight air mattress
After talking on the phone to Dad while I was looking at the mattresses, we settled upon two of Cabela’s XPG Ultralight Extreme Performance Gear air mattresses. They came rolled into a 3″ X 9″ roll, stuffed into a nice little nylon bag. I have to tell you, I was pretty skeptical that this little thing could provide a nice resting place for my tired bones after a long day on the trail. I found Cabela’s display, where they had samples of each of their mattress offerings already aired up, so I pulled each one down in turn and laid on it, right there in the store, for a first-impression test. Surprisingly, I found this little XPG mattress to be the most comfortable of the bunch.
The XPG Ultralight measures 72″ X 23.5″ X 2.5″ inflated
The XPG Ultralight mattress measures a nice 72″ L X 23.5″ W X 2.5″ H, inflated, which was among the widest mattresses offered. I found the goofy-looking way the mattress is designed to be very comfortable. It has round air pockets in the center for comfort and larger air pockets on the sides to keep you on the mattress during the night. This mattress didn’t make me feel high in the middle while lying on my back, which tends to give me a backache, nor did my hips touch the ground when I rolled onto my side. I was quite surprised and impressed. This is a well-designed mattress, and very comfortable to lay on.
I took a good look at the seams and materials, trying to imagine it lasting the whole trip. The mattress is made of a reinforced rubberized nylon material (no trade name for the material is given on the packaging), which appears to be fairly durable, however I wouldn’t try laying it directly on the ground. We’ll have canvas ground cloths under us on the trip, so wear from the ground should be minimal. Just in case, though, the mattress comes with a patch kit slipped inside a pocket inside the stuff sack, consisting of about 30 square inches of material (two 3 X 5 pieces) and a small tube of cement.
The seams are either glued or heat-sealed
The seams appear to be sealed with cement, or possibly heat-sealed. They appear to be solidly joined. With the new “space-age” cements available, I feel confident that if I can keep Dad from jumping on the bed, they’ll last the trip.
A couple nights ago, I blew up one of the mattresses to see how much effort goes into it, wondering whether I would pass out before getting it filled at elevations exceeding 9,000 feet in some places. Again, I was surprised that I was able to fill the mattress to capacity in 17 breaths. While that will make your head swim if you do it too fast, it’s not anything that would make the average person uncomfortable if they take their time.
Pull to open, push to close, twist to lock
The air valve is a little larger and somewhat differently designed than other mattresses I’ve used before. It has a push-pull system, to keep the air in while you take a breath as you blow it up, then a twist-lock to keep it from being inadvertently opened. It took me a minute to figure it out, even with the instructions plainly spelled out on the top of the valve. Sometimes I have a hard time pouring water out of a boot with the instructions on the heel. Twist the valve to unlock, then pull. Blow into it, then push to hold while you take a breath, pull again to blow air in. When done, push in and twist to lock. Simple! Much easier than the old ones you had to hold and squeeze with your teeth while you blew.
I laid the mattress in front of the television and lay down on it to see if I could lay on it comfortably for an extended period. I was quite pleased with the results. I nearly fell asleep.
After the limited testing I have done on this mattress, I am quite pleased and convinced this XPG Ultralight mattress, marketed by Cabela’s, will do the trick for us. With a price tag of $99, I feel it is a good buy for us.
You must be logged in to post a comment.