Website Management

Start Your Blog Here at Western Trail Rider!

I was recently contemplating all the work and effort I have put into creating this website and starting my Great Western Trail Ride blog. There was a while there when I was pulling all-nighters just trying to get one or two problems on the website working properly. Then I crashed the website while trying to migrate it to another web host. I lost everything and had to start completely over. Luckily, I was able to restore all my blog posts from caches on another site. Still, it was a lot of work. Just creating a single well-written blog post is a lot of work!

I started wondering whether it was all worth the effort, and trying to define exactly what my goals were for starting the website and blog. The bottom line, I decided, was that I hoped that eventually the information I posted would be helpful to others, or at least entertaining, and maybe feed their dreams the way others have fed mine. For that to happen, I needed to be able to reach people, or it would all be wasted effort.

Which is why I am writing this post. The title makes it sound like blatant promotion of the website, but read on. If you are interested in sharing information relating to horse packing, camping, and trail riding, or related topics, or if you currently maintain such a blog (short for web log), but are not getting the readership or following you would like (sort of like talking to yourself), then this may interest you. Read on.

For a blog or website to have any value, other than being a simple release of energy and creative juices, somebody has to read it. Then, for you to get any gratification, they have to be able to respond to your posts, comment on them, and share them with their friends. For that to happen at all, people have to be able to find your blog. This is done by means of search engines, such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, Pinterest, and others.

Search engines operate by means of tiny computer programs known as “bots” and “spiders”, that wander through the Internet attaching themselves to anything that moves, and reporting back to the search engine. For instance, the Western Trail Rider forum currently has fifty such bots registered on the forum. These bots feed on the information posted in the forums and report back to their respective search engine any particular key words they find that might be attractive to people using that search engine.

Have you ever wondered how the computer knows just what advertisements to put on your home page, or how facebook knows to send you “suggested pages”? Same thing. The bots take a look at the things you search for and look at, and report back to their search engine. Invasion of privacy? Yup. So what? We have all checked that little box that says they can do it if we want to use their services…and we do.

So, in horses bots and spiders are bad. On your blog, they are good…most of them. They get you noticed by the search engines. Notice by search engines gets you subscribers and followers. A long-running blog that has a large following can turn out to be a money-maker, through Internet advertising, although for most of us that’s not the real goal. Most of us just want to share our experiences with others, and the more followers we have, the happier we are.

In order to maximize a blog or website’s ability to get noticed by the major search engines, there are free and paid sources of software out there geared to maximize your “SEO” (search engine optimization). They help create “slugs” and search-friendly key words, categories, and tags, that help get your blog or website noticed. WordPress, which is the software behind Western Trail Rider, has excellent SEO software built-in.

Now comes the kicker. If you have a desire to create a blog to document your trail rides or pack trips, or share your experience as an outfitter in Wyoming (for instance), wouldn’t it be to your advantage to start your blog under a website that already houses similar blogs, already has a following, and already ranks well with the major search engines? Can you see the application of the old saw, “Strength in numbers”, here? Brings to mind the flash floods we used to see in Arizona. One minute the wash is dry, then next it is flowing full, all because a lot of rain drops fell to the ground, then joined together to run into the same flow, creating volume by their numbers.

I have looked at numerous blogs on websites of suppliers, outfitters, and just simple bloggers, who have posted half-a-dozen short posts and given up, because they had no following, and it became a non-productive expenditure of time and energy.

Our vision, here at Western Trail Rider, is to create a website where people like yourself can share their western trail riding adventures and practical experience, discuss related matters in a healthy and active forum, and actually get their information into the hands of people who are looking for it. As we get more bloggers and forum members under the WTR banner, the better will be our search engine ranking, and greater will be the exposure for all.

So your options are essentially this: Do it yourself…the hard way…or come join us and we’ll all do it together.

If this interests you, hit me with an email at tony.henrie@westerntrailrider.com. It will take me a matter of minutes to get you started. It’s easy. You don’t have to be a computer whiz. We’ll get you started, we’ll take care of you.

In the meantime, check out our current blogs: Trail Rides with Jon (by Jon Tanner) and Tony’s Great Western Trail Ride (by Tony Henrie). Join the forum. Create a photo album of your favorite trail.

Just click on the menu item at the top of this page.

 

Good Stories

My first real pack trip…

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I recently read a blog post by West Taylor, Extreme Outlaw Rides| Wild West Mustang Ranch, about his first pack trip. It recalled to my mind the first real horse pack trip I ever took.

It was 1977, and I was 18 and just about to graduate from high school in Tucson, Arizona. My dad was a Boy Scout leader over a group of boys, age 14-16 years, who were wanting to do a “super-activity” for the year. Early in the year they had decided (with a little input from their illustrious adult leader) to make a 100-mile horse pack trip through the White Mountains of Arizona that summer, after school let out. The idea was to give the boys an appreciation of what pioneers of the mid-19th century might have experienced. They weren’t very excited about it at first, but it grew on them. At the time, I think there were about seven or eight boys in the scout patrol.

The plan was for the boys to participate in a series of horsemanship and riding lessons, so they would be competent to handle their own mounts and gear throughout the pack trip. Dad asked me to help teach them. At first they all showed up and all went well, then the enthusiasm started to “peter out”, as they say. For a while there we had a hard time getting anybody to show up at all at the training sessions. Once Dad started them on food preparation, such as making jerky and dried fruits, the boys started getting into the spirit of things.

Somehow, Dad learned about a man in Mesa, Arizona, by the name of Jess Shumway, who had a whole string of horses he would “lend-out” to church groups for activities. Dad got in touch with Mr. Shumway and explained our situation. We ended up going to his place in Mesa and meeting with him. As advertised, Mr. Shumway had over 200 head of horses, all in various stages of breaking and training.

Dad talked to Mr. Shumway about the possibility of getting horses for the trip, having no idea what his terms would be. As it turned out, Mr. Shumway was willing to lend the horses to my dad for the trip, amounting to 30 horses, under one solitary condition: “I get to go too!” So, the deal was made. Jess would lend the horses, assist with the transportation of the livestock, with his stock trailers, and come with us on the trip. What a deal! Jess, I believe, was 65 years old.

A funny thing happened then. The patrol started to grow. By the time school let out and the date for the trip was fast approaching, we had twenty-two boys, all in various stages of their training, anxious to go on the trip. Now the problem was finding several adult leaders who could also ride horses for 100 miles. In the end, we found a couple who could trade off and ride portions of the trip. Dad asked me to come along as another “adult” leader. In truth, I think he needed to have another body along whom he knew he could depend on to help with the horses. I accepted the invitation, of course.

Dad and I busily put our gear together for the trip. Dad bought a couple crossbuck pack saddles and paniers. He bought himself a pair of Batwing chaps, then used it as a pattern to make chaps out of naugahyde for me and each of the boys. They were water proof, I’ll say that for them. We already had our saddles and horses. We planned on taking our two Quarter Horses and my sister’s appaloosa.

The day finally arrived and everyone was excited. We started early in the morning, headed for Mesa, where we loaded the stock into the several trailers, and started our caravan for the mountains. I recall that driving through the Salt River Canyon was a fairly slow and painstaking process, but we made it through without mishap. We arrived at the starting point of our pack trip, about 15 miles east of Show Low, Arizona, just off of highway 260, late in the afternoon. We set up camp and turned our livestock into a corral there at the campsite. Most of us were pretty bushed.

The following morning was when the fun really started. The plan was to be on the trail by about 9:00 am. The camp was stirring and abuzz with life and excitement. The boys worked over breakfast fires and cooking, and exploring, and about everything one can think of, except getting their horses and gear ready to ride.

We finally got them all herded up and going in the right direction – catching up the horses, picking out a mount for each, haltering, brushing, taking them to water, saddling…all the things we had taught them. I was in charge of riding herd on them and making sure everything was done safely and correctly. Boy, was that a chore. I figured out pretty quickly that very few of them had absorbed any of the information we had tried so long to teach them.

I remember watching Dad tie his bedroll on the back of his saddle, but then he got interrupted by a scout who needed a hand. He let go of it for a second and the bedroll unrolled off the back of the horse, spilling his bedding and clothing into the dirt. The horse didn’t like the unrolled sleeping back hanging off over his hindquarters and headed off bucking through the camp, tearing up Dad’s saddle bags and scattering his personal gear around camp. We got him settled down before anybody got hurt, got the clothing and gear gathered up, and the bedroll tied in place.

By this time, the boys were starting to doubt the sanity of all this. I spent all my time rolling, tying, and retying bedrolls, and unpacking and repacking the scouts’ packs, then tying their gear on the saddles, while Dad worked with getting the pack animals rigged up and loaded.

As I was diligently covering my task, suddenly a real ruccus broke loose right in the middle of camp. I looked up to see a pack horse in a full-tilt rodeo-quality buck, heading right through the middle of the camp, with ol’ Jess holding his lead rope and leading the way! Actually, Jess was trying his best to just get out of the way, but as he ran around in circles, the horse just happened to buck in his direction and followed him around. It was quite a sight. Boys, equipment, supplies, and gear were scattering in all directions! Eventually, the paniers went separate ways and the horse ran off and bucked himself out. So much for our eggs! We had gear and food and horse feed spread from one end of camp to the other.

As it turned out, to the best of my recall, here’s what brought on the rodeo. One boy came to my dad and told him something was wrong with his horse. It was trying to kick him. Dad guffawed and told him to just get him saddled up and quit messing around. Well, the kid came back a minute later and said he tried to take the horse to water, but it kept trying to kick him. Well, Dad got impatient, because there was a lot to be done and he couldn’t saddle all the horses for the boys, but he went to help this one boy (I was fully occupied helping others). Dad grabbed the lead and started to lead the horse off to the water hole, and by golly, it tried to cow-kick him. He quickly realized this horse wasn’t yet broke. He called Jess over and asked him about the horse. Jess looked the horse over and exclaimed, “Now, how did this horse get mixed into the stock? He’s not even broke!”  So, the decision was made to turn him into a pack horse.

They decided to blindfold him and see if they could get a packsaddle on him. That actually went ok. Then the paniers.  Surprisingly, that went ok, as well. Then Dad asked a couple of the adult leaders for a hand putting the cover tarp on the packs. That was his mistake. The two inexperienced men grabbed a canvas tarp and walked up behind this unbroke bronc and simply tossed it up on his back without a second thought. That’s what started the rodeo I described above.

Well, after the rodeo, we caught him back up, recovered and re-packed the gear and supplies in the paniers, and I went over to help Dad try him again. We blindfolded the young horse and had Jess hold his lead. We made sure the pack saddle was cinched up good, then, with me on one side, and Dad on the other, we simultaneously lifted the paniers onto the saddle. He stood for it. He didn’t like having the tarp pulled over the packs, nor did he like it when we cinched up the diamond hitch, but he stood for it. Once we got his pack tied on well, we let loose the blindfold. He went round and round a bit, but didn’t buck and with the weight of the packs he soon settled down.

By this time it was long after lunch. Most of the pack horses had been loaded and waiting for hours. They laid down where they were and waited. We finally got all the boys loaded up and mounted. By the time we rolled out of camp, it was about 4:00 pm. We had 22 Boy Scouts, five adult leaders (including Dad and myself), Jess, 34 horses, and one little donkey to carry Jess’ packs.

What an undertaking!

So that was the first day of my first real pack trip. Sort of baptism by fire. Sad thing is that we have lost all the pictures we took of the trip. Not a one to show for it. Good memories, though, and sometimes pictures can hinder the telling of a good story.

I’ll write up the rest of the trip in another post.

 

Great Western Trail, Western Trails

Roughed out my route through the bottom third of the state of Utah…

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After much consideration, and with advice from friends who have been there and done that, I have roughed out what I think will be my route through southern Utah up to Panguitch. It will go something like this:

After coming up out of the Grand Canyon, we’ll follow the Arizona Trail up to the AZ/UT border, with one small deviation. I think we’ll probably stop at Jacob’s Lake for a hot meal and whatever else we can get there. It looks like we’ll have plenty of water and grass for the stock, but a soda pop might sound pretty good about then.

A few miles north, the trail turns northeasterly and eventually intersects House Rock Valley Road at the AZ/UT border, or thereabouts. We’ll follow that road north to US 89, cross under the highway at the culvert, then continue north about another 8-10 miles, until we pick up Paria River. We’ll follow Paria River northwest to Sheep Creek, and follow that until it intersects with Willis Creek.

Pictures Jon Tanner has posted of Willis Creek, indicate that we’ll likely have to remove the packs from the pack horses to get them through a couple narrow passages in the canyon, but it’s just too intriguing to pass up.

We’ll follow Willis Creek up until it meets The Grandview Trail (GVT) near the eastern border of Bryce Canyon National Park. BCNP doesn’t allow horse packing or camping with horses in the park, and they have very tight restrictions on dogs, so we’ll be staying outside the park boundaries. The GVT will take us through country similar to Bryce and we’ll be able to see much of Bryce Canyon from not too much of a distance, so we won’t completely miss out on it.

The GVT follows the Paunsaugunt Plateau’s edge from BCNP, around the southern point, then back up northerly to Red Canyon, through which Route 12 passes coming down off the plateau. We’ll follow Rt 12 west to Casto Road and follow that on north to Panguitch.

Panguitch will be one of the major rest and resupply stops for us. My dad was born and raised in Panguitch. He and I talked for many years about making a horse trip from Tucson, AZ, then later from Eagar, AZ to Panguitch, but we were never able to put it together. Now that I have the opportunity, I couldn’t miss the chance to incorporate that segment into my Mexico to Canada ride. I am hoping that Dad can make the ride with me from Eagar, through the Grand Canyon, and up to Panguitch. He’ll be turning 81 shortly after our arrival there.

I’m deep into planning the next segment of the trip, from Panguitch to Strawberry Reservoir. I have a few details to figure out, but I should be able to post a rough draft of that segment within a few days.

One thing I have learned as I have planned my routes, is that looking at topographical maps on a computer is a frustrating and uncertain thing. Looks like I’ll be spending a fortune on maps before I make the trip. Not only that, but there are so many trails and optional routes in Utah, that I would not want to travel through it without actual paper maps with me. Besides, I have no doubt we will alter our routes here and there, as we go.

You see, I have this terrible illness. It’s called “What’s over there-itis.” Sometimes I just have to see “what’s over there”!

Roughed-out route in blue, route under consideration in orange
Roughed-out route in blue, route under consideration in orange

Click on the map to get a larger image.

🙂

Great Western Trail, Saddlery, Tack and Gear

Bork Saddlery Hardware

This morning I had one of the most pleasant conversations I’ve had in a long time.

I called Bork Saddlery Hardware to get some specific information before I order some saddle horns and a pair of Decker pack saddle arches. I needed to talk to Mr. Bork, so he would know exactly what I needed in saddle horns for the saddle trees I’m working on.

Mr. Bork casts his own hardware. I was especially taken with the bronze cast pack saddle arches, which he offers in both a “modified” version, which will accept both Decker and crossbuck style paniers, as well as original-style Decker arches. Very pretty. Rod Nikkel, of Nikkel Saddle Trees, uses these on his Decker pack saddle  trees.

Bork Saddlery Hardware
Bork Saddlery Hardware
NikkelDecker_pack_tree_2
Decker pack saddle tree by Rod Nikkel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I expected to be a short conversation turned into a chat that lasted most of 45 minutes, I guess. We talked about saddle horns, of course, then we talked about saddles for a while. Turns out Mr. Bork used to build saddles himself. He said one of his saddles recently turned up in South Carolina. The owners saw the maker’s mark and called him to get information about it. Mr. Bork said the saddle was still in excellent condition after more than 50 years. He was obviously proud of his saddles, but he hasn’t made saddles in quite a while.

We talked about old-time saddles and how they were made to fit slimmer and less muscular horses than we normally see nowadays. We talked about restoring and rebuilding old saddles. He was a wealth of information about restoring life to old leather. In his younger days he would often take in old saddles as partial payment for other services, or as trade-ins on a new saddle. Then he would take the old saddles and rebuild them for resale. He once took in a whole load of old saddles from a ranch in British Columbia, Canada, rebuilt them and sent them back to the ranch for $25 apiece.

Here’s what he would do. Normally the stirrup leathers were shot, so in the trash they went. He would then cut new stirrup leathers from strips of leather from industrial machinery power belts he would purchase at a great price from a mining company in Alaska. They were made of very heavy leather, about 18 inches wide, and made excellent stirrup leathers, once he was able to get them straightened out!

He would also remove the skirts, which were normally in pretty poor shape, remove the fleece, and clean them up. He would put them in a bathtub with warm water and a bit of laundry detergent, and apply elbow grease with a stiff brush. By the time he was done, the water normally looked like chocolate milk. After cleaning, while the skirts were still wet, he would press them between heavy wood planks and set a heavy electric motor on the stack. He would take them out every day and pour sperm oil (it was cheaper than neatsfoot oil) over them. He said the secret, though, was that mold would form on the leather. He would clean off the mold every day and apply more oil. In his opinion, the reason the leather was so stiff and dry was that “it was dead”. The living mold infused the leather with life. As the leather dried, it would become as soft and pliable as new leather. I may have to give that a try.

Sometimes he would encounter a saddle with a broken horn. He would cut off the broken horn, make a new one, then cover it with rawhide and a latigo wrap. For a worn out cantle binding, he would remove the stitching and the old binding, then trim the old leather down a bit, making a regular cantle out of a Cheyenne Roll, and replace the binding with rawhide. He said it would reduce the cantle height by about a half-inch, but worked fine. Because he was selling these saddles to people who were looking for “economical” saddles, he would replace the fleece with thick felt. A lot of work for $25, seems to me.

Then the conversation turned to horses and pack horses, and pack trips. I told him about my plan to ride from Mexico to Canada, and my desire to make my own equipment. I told him about my efforts to plan a route and the hundreds of trails to choose from. He seemed genuinely excited about the trip. He encouraged me to document the trip as well as I can, so others coming behind may be able to follow the same trail. I told him I was doing my best and intend to use GPS and other means to document the trail as I go. We mused at what might have been, had Lewis and Clark had a GPS.

Somehow the conversation got around to how horses are healthy for people and that some people are now using horses for therapy for emotionally and physically handicapped people. We talked about that for a while. We decided that horses and dogs are probably more qualified as therapists than some of the people that claim that profession. I was captivated as he told me about his dog and how she waits for him every morning and is always excited to go with him. Seems we both share a love of horses and dogs.

We got back to saddles and saddle horns then. He asked whether I would consider a horn off an antique saddle, since I was rebuilding and duplicating one. He said he still has quite a few from old saddles he has taken apart over the years. I told him that as long as it was similar in shape and size, I would be happy with that. After all our conversation, I told him to take a look at the pictures of the broken saddle horn that I had previously emailed to him and to make his best judgment as to what I needed. I told him I’m sure I would be happy with that.

He’ll call me back once he has checked his stock of antique saddle horns. I’ll place an order for two pony saddle horns and a horn for the old Visalia saddle tree I’m duplicating. I’ll also order a pair of Decker pack saddle arches. I’m sure I’ll be happy with all of them. I certainly was happy with the conversation.

That was the best experience I’ve ever had with Internet shopping!

Great Western Trail

Made my decision for route through Arizona…

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After quite a bit of study and fingernail biting, I have decided to deviate a bit from the Arizona Trail/Great Western Trail for the first leg of my Mexico to Canada trip.

I have decided to start my trip at the Mexican Border a little east of Douglas, Arizona. There is a road there called “International Avenue” that follows the border. Just east of Douglas is the San Bernardino National Wildlife Preserve, where I believe I can start my trip. I’m sure I won’t be able to travel through the preserve, as it is likely to be fenced in, but I should be able to get fresh water there and start my trip a bit east of the preserve.

From there I will head north. It appears to be open range, so few or no fences. From Google Maps satellite view I can see there are water holes and ranches every so often, that I should be able to make it easily from one to the next. As long as I don’t miss too many, I should be fine. Departing in the early spring, there should be water in some of them and I can hit ranches as well.  That close to the border, I should be able to find well-traveled foot paths between water holes (haha!). I’ll hit I-10 at San Simon, where I’ll be able to cross under it at a bridged wash.

I plan to go north by northeast to the Chiricahua mountains. As I get into the mountains from the southeast, I should be able to cut into the Sky Islands Traverse trail near it’s beginning. I will follow it north until I get near Mt. Graham, where I’ll turn east and pass south of Safford, picking up the Gila River and following it up to Morenci/Clifton.

I will continue past Morenci/Clifton, following the Gila River, until it forks, then follow the Blue River north to the Blue Wilderness Area. I’ll take a break at a friend’s place there on the Blue for a few days, before taking Foote Creek Trail northwest to Hannigan’s Meadow.

From Hannigan, I’ll do a combination of road-following, logging roads, and cross-country north to Eagar, where my folks live. I’ll take another break there to rest up the horses and resupply. I expect it will take me about three weeks to get this far.

I expect I’ll pick up a couple family members there to ride with me a while. I’ve invited them to ride with me to either Show Low or Snowflake, depending on whether I decide to take the General Crook Trail to Camp Verde, or the old Mormon Honeymoon trail northwest, passing north of Flagstaff.

Either way I go from Eagar, I’ll meet up with the Arizona Trail/Great Western Trail at the end of that leg.

Once I meet up with the AZT/GWT, I’ll follow it north, resupply at Flagstaff, then on to the Grand Canyon.

I’m looking forward to crossing the Grand Canyon more than any other single portion of the trip. My dad and I have talked about crossing the Grand Canyon on our own mounts since I was in high school. I’ve invited him to accompany me on this leg of the trip.  In fact, he’s decided he wants to make as much of the trip as he physically can. He’ll be turning 81 about the time we reach the Grand Canyon.

That will get us through Arizona. I estimate it will be a little over 800 miles. The AZT measures 801 miles from the Mexican Border near Nogales, to the Utah state line near Jacob’s Lake.

Now that I’ve made those decisions, it will be a matter of collecting maps, researching the route more closely, making contacts, and finalizing the plans.

Propsed route in red. Alternate in blue
Proposed route in red. Alternate in blue

On the map, my proposed route is in red. The alternate route on the Mormon Honeymoon Trail is in blue. The Honeymoon Trail follows the Little Colorado River and much of it is on the Navajo Reservation, so that would require some special permissions. May not be able to do that route, but it would shorten the mileage a bit.

Only four more states to figure out.

Tack and Gear

Spent a little time in the workshop this afternoon…

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It was a cold, rainy day today, so I couldn’t get some of the things done that I needed to do, however, that presented a great opportunity to hide myself away in the workshop for a few hours.

I got a good fire going in the stove, water in the coffee pot on top to heat for hot chocolate, and started looking at the myriad of unfinished projects I need to finish.

I decided the most worthwhile thing I could do, with the limited time I had available, was to start building some jigs I will need as I get my saddle-making hobby underway. If you have been following my blog, you know I have been in the process of rebuilding several saddle trees for some time now. I am at the point now that I need some jigs in order to be able to make and duplicate some of the parts.

I need a jig to help me cut the proper angles on the cantles, where they join with the bars. I need another jig to help me cut the proper angles on pommel and cantle cuts on the bars. I need another jig to help me cut the proper arch and twist into the bars. On top of that, I need a stitching horse to help me with the hand-stitching I’m going to be doing.

Well, it took me a while to get rolling, as I tend to overthink things before I get started, but I got a couple things done.

Cantle-cut jig
Cantle-cut jig

I made this cantle-cut jig out of scrap 3/4″ birch plywood I had laying around. I think it is going to work ok. I just have to figure out how to set the proper angle before I start cutting on the bandsaw.

Stitching clamp
Stitching clamp

I also cut out the clamp for my stitching horse. I glued-up three pieces of 3/4″ oak, squared it up on the jointer, then cut it out on the bandsaw. I think it turned out pretty well. I made it according to several photos I have seen on the Internet. I’ve never actually seen a stitching horse before, other than in photos. I made it stand 17″ above  the bench, which is just below my eye level. That should allow me to work within my reading glasses’ focal range, without having to bend over. Hopefully that will save my back a little.

The stitching clamp needs to be smoothed out a bit and have some finish put on it. I will build the bench part later this week. I still need to get a buckle for the tensioner strap and a 3″ hinge for the clamp.

I’m looking forward to getting theses jigs done. I would like to be able to get started on the saddles.

A rainy day well used, I think.

 

Tack and Gear

Just received an order from Trailhead Supply: Feedbags

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I just received a couple of nose feed bags from Trailhead Supply. I ordered a nylon mesh one and a canvas/leather one to see which I like better. Both have tags indicating they were made by Richland Yellowstone Mfg., Sidney, MT.

2013-02-20 17.35.49

The mesh one seems to be made well. It has a canvas bottom and the mesh is sewn to the canvas in two places, one line of stitch low down and another near the top of the canvas, which I would suppose would add to the durability. The mesh seems to be made of thin woven vinyl lace, which appears to be pretty durable. My only concerns are the single line of stitching holding the straps to the bag and the plastic buckle. Never liked plastic buckles. A good buy at $14.95, I thought. We’ll see.


The canvas bag was a bit more expensive, at $21.95, still a good buy, comparing at $39.99 from another supplier. I would have to believe this bag will be more durable than the mesh bag, being as it is made of heavy canvas and leather. Feels like maybe a #6 canvas with high-quality leather straps and bottom, which I like. I also like the steel adjustment buckle. It won’t fold up as quite small as the mesh bag, and it’s a little heavier, but there’s not enough difference to be a decision maker. The one concern I have with the canvas bag is that the breathing panel is situated too close to the bottom of the bag for my taste. I have seen horses stop feeding in a bag, because their breathing was restricted. I’m not sure the breathing panel wouldn’t be covered up with three or four pounds of alfalfa pellets in there. If the maker were to raise the air-hole panel up about two inches, I wouldn’t have any complaints.

I’m going to give both of these some use and see which I like best. I’ll report back later.

Horse Health, Western Horsemanship

Chronic Cribbing in horses

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Cribbing, not to be confused with simple wood chewing, is a stereotypical behavior in horses, in which the horse places its upper front teeth on an object and applies down pressure. As it does so, the horse makes a belching sound, then relaxes for a few seconds, before doing it all again. The primary theory behind cribbing, is that the action of applying pressure with the front teeth allows the horse to suck in a gulp of air, which somehow causes the release of endorphins in the horses system, causing a pleasurable sensation. In other words, it’s an addiction. It is considered an unsoundness in horses and causes the buildup of the lower neck muscles in some horses, which can be somewhat unattractive.

Cribbing has also been linked to other equine ailments, such as stomach ulcers, colic, flatulence,  and other nervous obsessive behaviors.

Treatments for cribbing, over the years, none of which has enjoyed any consistent degree of success, involves everything from simply giving the horse more pasture time, to the wearing of restrictive cribbing collars, and even surgery to cut certain nerves and muscles in the neck to make the horse unable to crib.

Interestingly, as I have read various articles about cribbing, I only found one reference to any scientific data regarding the behavior.  Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, Boston, MA, a number of years ago, experimented with injecting horses with a drug that blocks endorphins in the horse’s system. They saw a marked decrease in the horses’ cribbing while the drug was actively being administered, however the horses returned to cribbing once it wore off. That is the single reference of any kind I was able to come up with in support of the endorphin addiction theory, despite the fact that this theory has been considered doctrinal in veterinary medicine for years.

I recently came across the abstract from a paper on cribbing that indicated the belching sound one hears as a horse cribs, may be an actual belch. The study said that evidence had been produced to indicate that feeding highly concentrated feed, such as grain or sweet feed, may cause some horses to experience gastric discomfort, and that the act of cribbing may actually allow the horse to belch and release gas pressure inside the stomach, or it may stimulate the salivary glands, sending saliva into the stomach to bring relief. I could not find the link for the study again to post it.

In light of this study, it makes sense that cribbing would be associated with ailments such as ulcers, colic, and flatulence, not as a result of the cribbing, but as a result of the gastric distress caused by a sensitivity to the feed. I found an article here from the ASPCA, that discusses cribbing in more detail and more authoritatively than I can.

Robbie cribbing on his favorite pipe fence
Robbie cribbing on his favorite pipe fence

A horse I help care for is a chronic cribber. He’s 21 years old and has been cribbing pretty much all his life. He has lived with a cribbing collar much of his life. His front teeth are worn short. He has selected a section of steel pipe fence as his favorite cribbing tool and has actually bent the pipe flat where he cribs. While cribbing he becomes so intent on what he is doing that it is hard to drive him away from the pipe fence section, and as soon as he can get around me, he goes right back to it. In the picture, you can see he is cribbing with full force, despite his tightly fitted cribbing collar.

Not long after I read the above-referenced abstract, we had a cold snap here in Virginia. I told the owners of the horse, whose son is responsible for feeding the horses, to start feeding a couple quarts of “sweet feed” (a grain feed with molasses mixed in) in the evenings, along with their normal ration of hay, to help them deal with the cold. A few days later I went by to check on the horses and found this particular horse at the pipe fence cribbing. It suddenly dawned on me that I hadn’t seen him cribbing for many months, until then. I contacted the owners and suggested we increase the horses’ ration of hay and stop feeding the grain. I went by this past week to ride my horse and check on the other. He was calmly grazing out in the pasture.

He came up to the barn as I brushed and readied my horse for the ride. I removed his cribbing collar and tossed him a couple flakes of hay (orchard grass). I took my horse out for a 2-hour ride. When I returned, the horse was again calmly grazing in the pasture. As I unsaddled and worked on my horse for a few minutes, I watched the cribber. He walked up to his favorite pipe fence section and placed his mouth on the fence, as he normally does when he cribs, but only tried it once or twice and quit, neither did he do it with the strength he normally does (which bent the steel pipe fence), then he went right back to grazing. It appeared he tried the cribbing out of habit, rather than out of an addictive need.

From my own experience, I think I can safely say that for this particular horse, the endorphin addiction, if any exists, is less the cause of his cribbing than an upset stomach from feed that is too rich for him. Just as there are people who have sensitivities to milk, eggs, and other things that most of us enjoy, it makes sense to me that some horses may have similar intolerances to certain feeds. For this particular horse, it appears that grains and sweet feed cause him sufficient discomfort that he cribs to relieve it. When he is fed orchard grass hay he does not crib, or better said, he only does it occasionally, apparently out of old habit.

While my findings are neither scientific nor conclusive, at the very least it appears to me there may be sufficient reason to question current theories regarding chronic cribbing and to warrant further scientific study.

Here is a video of this particular horse cribbing:

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&video_id=BTV6OalpscY

 

Good Stories, Western Trails

A great memory from a trail ride a long time ago…

A post on the facebook page for Horse Trails and Camping Across America, just sparked a memory for me from my youth. It is one of my most cherished memories and has had a strong impact on my life.

When I was sixteen years old, my father took my younger brother and me on a deer hunting trip into the Blue Wilderness Area of eastern Arizona. Since we were living in Tucson, Arizona at the time, it was quite an expedition for us. We packed up our cabover camper and our 6-horse stock trailer and three horses and headed out.

The drive took nearly all day long, and we arrived at Alpine, Arizona late in the afternoon. We took Red Hills Trail down into the Blue, toward the Blue River, stopping about 3/4 mile above the river at a level spot large enough for our rig to park. We set up camp there and spent the next couple days riding out from there.

My dad took my brother with him and I spent most of my time hunting alone. I would ride the horse to a likely looking spot, tie her to a tree, and hunt on foot. My dad had taught me how to “Navajo” to sneak up on unsuspecting deer, so I spent a lot of time sneaking around trying to be quiet. Didn’t see a thing, of course. On the second evening, Dad killed a deer, but it was too late in the day to get it out. He hung it in a tree and left it overnight. The following morning, he and I rode back in to get it.

We rode our Quarter Horses, and led a Half-Arab greenbroke fillie to pack the deer out. We had no idea how she would react to the smell of blood. When we arrived at the deer, we blindfolded the fillie. I held her while Dad worked on getting the deer up on the saddle and button-holed to the horn (we had no pack saddles or paniers at that time). The fillie stood still and caused no problems. Then my dad started tying the front and hind legs of the deer forward, near the front quarters of the fillie. She turned her head around and started sniffing the deer’s bloody hooves. We stood on-guard, not knowing what to expect. She sniffed a few seconds, then took a big old bite out of one of the deer’s feet! The next thing we know, she’s sniffing my dad’s bloody hands (bloody from getting the deer tied onto the saddle), and she takes a bite out of his hand! Well, we stopped worrying about things and removed the blindfold. We figure we had a carnivorous horse on our hands.

We started back toward the camp with dad leading the fillie and me bringing up the rear. Since we had no trail to follow, we just picked our way back. We eventually found ourselves facing a bluff, with no way around without having to go a long way around. You really couldn’t see much farther than a few feet anyway, because it was so thick with trees and brush, so picking a trail was essentially picking the best way through what was right in front of you. So, we started picking our way up this sandstone bluff. At one point the horses had to jump up a step about eighteen inches or so, then immediately jump up another one about the same height. Dad’s 16+ hand Quarter Horse handled it without problems, but when the fillie made her try, that’s when trouble started.

The fillie made the first step, but when she made her try for the second one, the deer on her back settled to the rear and pulled her over backwards. Over back she went, off the first step, and continued rolling head-over-heels down the steep bank for another thirty feet or so, ending up on her back with her feet uphill and her head against a tree. She was scared and shaking and wouldn’t move to try to get herself up.

We parked our horses where they were, tying them off to whatever we could find, and jumped down to help the poor fillie. We cut the deer off her, then got her saddle cinch loosened. We got the saddle off and checked her all over. Luckily, there were no serious injuries. In fact, she wasn’t all that beat-up, but she was so scared she wouldn’t try to get up. We ended up tying a rope around her neck and snubbing it off to a tree to give her something to brace against. We got her legs turned downhill, and she finally got up. After letting her rest and calm down for a few minutes, we saddled her up, tied the deer back on, and made our way on up the bluff and back to camp without further incident.

The last day of our hunt, Dad had a treat for us. He left my brother and me with the horses, while he drove the truck and trailer up to the top of the Blue. Then he hitch-hiked back down to us, so we could ride the horses up out of the Blue on a primitive trail. We were excited. Then Dad got back and we started saddling up. Turned out we had forgotten our bridles. They were still in the trailer.  Oh well, we just made-do with halters.

The trail was, I believe, called Red Hills Trail, like the road. I doubt you can find it anymore. It was not maintained even then. You could see the trail for the most part, but often you had to look for the old blazes on trees every 50-100 feet. We ascended from about 4,500 feet to around 9,000 feet in about seven or eight miles. It was a tough trail, and pretty scary in a few places, for kids like my brother and me, but we trusted Dad and the horses seemed to take it all in stride.

We arrived at a place that leveled out for a bit at around lunchtime. I remember it because there were juniper trees there that must have been several hundred years old. Some were as much as six feet in diameter. There was grass for the horses and a beautiful vista that spread out before us. Dad pulled out a large can of Van Camp’s Pork and Beans for lunch. Then we noticed we had forgotten to bring spoons as well. Not to worry! Dad pulled out his trusty Buck pocket knife and whittled out a wooden spoon for us. We sat there in the sunshine, eating pork and beans with a wooden spoon, listening to the horses quietly munching grass in the background, and the world was right, just for a while.

I don’t remember much about the rest of the ride, except that we were a couple of tired, but proud boys when we arrived at the trailer that evening. None of us have ever forgotten that meal with the wooden spoon. It has become a tradition in my family to eat pork and beans (and other canned foods) with a hand-carved wooden spoon on campouts and pack trips, in honor of that lunch meal on the side of a mountain in the fall of 1975.

That trail ride was the beginning of my love of horse packing.

Thanks, Dad.

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

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