Today, Jeff Palmer and I made a ride I have been wanting to do for several years. You might recall my post from a couple years ago, in which I talked about a trail up a mountain near my home that I had been wanting to ride. I had found a way up to the trail, but until today I had not made the time to actually ride it.
The trail is actually a service road for a cellular transmission site located on top of a mountain just east of Salem, Utah. I am getting my horses prepared for a pack trip into the Wind Rivers next week as well as my second foray to Alaska in September. So, it occurred to me that a ride up that road that has been calling my name for nearly five years would be a good conditioning ride for my good steed, Apollo. I called Jeff and asked if he was interested in going. Of course he was!
So, this morning about 10am, we set off on our ride, straight from the stable where I keep my horses. I rode my Tennessee Walker, Apollo, and ponied Calypso, while Jeff rode his huge Fox Trotter, Tank.
After we traveled about a mile and a half along paved roads to get to the bottom of the trail, we started the steep ascent on an ATV trail to reach the service road. That half mile or so is a steep climb for horses (you can see the trail in the foreground of the above photo), but good for getting them in condition for a tough pack trip.
Once we reached the first level, having climbed around 1,000 feet in about 1/2 mile, I tied up Calypso’s lead rope around her neck and let her follow along behind, without me tugging on her lead rope. On other pack trips, she has followed along just fine, but we hadn’t gone another mile, before she decided she had had enough. We stopped to give the horses a breather and she quietly turned around and headed back down the mountain. Not a sound. She didn’t even whinny as we headed on up the trail. She just snuck away.
Experience told me that if we went after her to try to catch her, she would simply stay ahead of us and lead us back down to the bottom. We let her go, trusting that she would find her way home or that someone would tie her to a fence post or something. She’s about five months pregnant, but in pretty good condition, so I figure she just decided she didn’t want to go up that hill.
So, on up the hill we went. The horses handled the nearly 4,500 foot climb in elevation fairly well. We gave them breathers every mile or so. The 8.5 mile climb to the cell towers took us just over three hours. It was a nice ride with a cool breeze, despite the heat in the valley. The upper elevations included passage through aspen groves. The sweet, moist smell was very pleasant.
The view from the upper reaches of the trail, including the area at the cellular transmission towers, was spectacular. We had clear view of the north and west faces of Loafer Mountain and Santaquin Peak as well as an uninterrupted view of the entire Utah Valley and Utah Lake.
It was well worth the wait.
I sent a photo of the view of the town of Salem from the cell towers to my wife at home via text. She returned the quip, “I can see my house from there!”
As usual, the ride down the mountain took about half the time that the climb took. Our horses, sensing they were heading home, stepped up the pace. About halfway down, we picked up Calypso’s trail, which we kept track of to make sure she actually made it down the mountain.
She did. We found her in a pasture along the route home, where a good neighbor had let her into his pasture. We picked her up, thanked the homeowner, and made the last mile to home. We arrived back at my stables about 4pm.
It was a very nice and worthwhile ride. One I’ll likely make again some day, as there are several other trails I saw up there that I’d like to find try on for size.
So, I finally made it up the mountain.
On to the Wind Rivers next week.
P.S.
I almost forgot to mention the large rattlesnake we passed, sunning himself at the edge of the trail, just before we got to the top. We disturbed him again on our way back down.
It has been awhile since I posted anything. I’m sorry about that, but I just sort of got burned out on social media earlier this year and had a few other things come up as well, as I documented in my last post.
I still need to finish the documentation of my Alaska trip from last year, as well as my Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon pack trip Jeff Palmer and I did in May. I promise I’ll get those done…eventually.
However, I just had a farrier out to shoe Apollo and Calypso, in preparation for a pack/fishing trip into the Wind Rivers in Wyoming in just under a month. My broken rib is mending and I’ll start getting the horses legged-up for that trip. I will be working Apollo extra hard, as he will be going with me to Alaska in September. You will recall I took J Golden last year, but since then, both J and Lizzy of gone to new homes. I truly miss those two horses, but Apollo is coming along well.
l intended to sell Calypso this year. At 15 she’s getting old enough that it’s time to let her retire from the long and difficult pack trips I sometimes take. She’s still plenty strong and healthy and will make somebody a great trail horse for many years to come. However, right now she is pregnant, to none other than Chief!
That was unintended, but after the fact, not unwelcome. I am looking forward to a new foal out of Calypso about mid-March 2020. So, I’ll keep her at least until after the foal is weaned. I expect a black and white tobiano paint. It won’t be registerable, but should be a fine, gaited horse, coming out of a Rocky Mountain Gaited dam and a Missouri Fox Trotter sire.
So, Â the Wind Rivers trip may be Calypso’s last pack trip with me. And Chief is now a gelding.
Those of you who have followed me for awhile will recall that on September 14, 2017, my favorite Missouri Fox Trotter mare, Lizzy, bore her first colt. We called him Chief (registered name is Touch The Clouds, after a Sioux war chief of the late 1800s). He is a gold registered Missouri Fox Trotter. I didn’t geld him right away, because I had thoughts of keeping him a stallion. However, the logistics of keeping a stallion are a major consideration and I simply don’t have the facilities to keep one.
When he was just a couple months old, I hauled all my horses to my place in Eagar, Arizona for the winter. After weaning him, I left Chief in Arizona to grow up a little. When I brought him back to Utah from my place in Arizona last spring, I fully intended to start his ground work and get him ready for saddle training this October. With all that has happened this past couple months, I just haven’t been able to get started on it. I have ponied him on several trail rides, alongside Apollo and Calypso, to get him started. He leads well and has no concerns about wearing a saddle. I will start loading him lightly with a pack in the coming month.
I have handled his hooves regularly and he’s settled down to that. He has no shyness about me handling his head and ears and mouth. It is a simple matter to administer worm medicine orally with him, as I have regularly handled his tongue and had my hand up inside his mouth since he was only days old. He actually enjoys me rubbing the inside of his ears. There is no part of his body he resists me touching and handling.
Chief is a very curious young horse. He follows me around and wants to be in the middle of whatever I do. He is absolutely calm and not prone to spooking at anything. “Sacking-out” training has been quite anti-climactic, even boring. He is calm, curious, confident, and above all, trusting. Whatever I ask him to do, he seems to think must be ok, since it’s me asking him to do it.
I have been working with him loading and unloading into my trailer. He will follow another horse into the trailer, but is hesitant to enter alone. A few more hauling trips should cure that. My trailer is a 4-horse slant-load, but it also has feed bins or mangers on the head side, making the inside width such that a large horse cannot turn around and come out forward. So, I teach all my horses both to back out of trailers and to come out forward. Chief is still practicing backing out of my trailer. Currently, I’m having to use a short training crop to keep him backing by tapping his chest, but he’s getting better each time. He still wants to turn around and come out forward, but in another year or so he will be too big to comfortably do that.
Chief now stands 14-3 hands at two years old. I’m confident he’ll reach 15-2 or maybe 16 hands by the time he stops growing, around age 5-6. As both his dam and sire had good, strong builds and decent height, I’m sure he’ll follow suit.
He has well-formed hooves and a fairly short back, which are traits I desire. He doesn’t show a natural fox trot very often, as he runs around the corral, but he does occasionally show it. His dam has a better run-walk than a fox trot, so I expect that may be the case with Chief. No matter to me. I do not intend to show him and I like a good run-walk just as well as a good fox trot.
This morning, I had a farrier out to shoe Apollo and Calypso. I let Chief out of the corral to hang around while the other two were being shod. While Apollo was being shod, Chief decided to lay down in the sunshine for awhile. I took the opportunity to have Colt Thomas, my farrier, take a short video of me messing with Chief on the ground. This was not the first time Chief has let me do this. He has absolutely no fear or concerns about me. He trusts me implicitly. It’s going to be fun training him.
So, the game plan for Chief, from here, is that for the coming month I will continue to pony Chief along with the other horses and I will start saddling him with a lightly loaded pack saddle, just to get him used to all the rigging. I will also do some more ground training on him.
I have decided that, among other things, I will train Chief to lay down on command. I expect Chief to be my primary horse until it’s time for me to hang up my spurs. There may come a time when I have difficulty throwing my leg over the saddle. I want to be able to ask him to lay down while I mount and dismount. In that way, I may be able to extend my riding years into my eighties!
When I get back from Alaska, around the end of September, I will start Chief under saddle. I will ride him lightly and continue his training throughout 2020 and will begin using him on my shorter rides and pack trips after he turns three. By the time he turns four he will be ready for the more difficult pack trips and trail rides.
I am really looking forward to this! I’ll keep you posted.
Enjoy the gallery of some of my favorite photos of Chief as he has grown. You can also see some videos of him as a foal on facebook: Western Trail Rider, as well as on my Western Trail Rider Youtube channel.
I have to apologize to my followers. I’ve been pretty busy lately and haven’t taken the time to compose posts about my latest pack trips. In fact, I still haven’t finished the last post about my Alaska trip last year!
I have been remiss. No doubt about it.
So, I thought I’d take just a few minutes and just update you all on what’s been happening and make a promise to get caught up on my trip posts within the next couple of weeks.
I have put in a bunch of trail miles over the past several months. A lot of good rides with a lot of good friends. I calculate I have put over 350 miles on Apollo alone, since I got him February 25, 2019.
During most of the bad weather up here in Utah Valley, spanning the entire winter (which lasted until about last week!) I spent several weekends and one full week, riding in the St George area. I really enjoyed that. I got a lot of training done on Apollo during that span, as well as some miles on Lizzy and a couple other horses.
I also made two trips to Capitol Reef National Park to ride Pleasant Creek.
I spent three days riding with friends in the Moab area at the end of April. Wonderful riding!
The Moab area is spectacular! I put more miles on Apollo there and put some miles on Chance, breaking him in as a pack horse.
I spent five days in early May riding from Brigham City, Utah to Snowville, Utah (near the Idaho border), about 75 miles, as part of the sesquicentennial Golden Spike 150 Wagon Train. I switched off, rotating Apollo and Calypso as saddle and pack horses.
What a great time that was and what good people I met. My good friend, Rob Prody, participated with me, riding Trigger, my daughter’s big Tennessee Walker. That was my first wagon train experience and I enjoyed every minute of it.
Then, to cap it all off, from May 14-18, my good friend, Jeff Palmer, and I rode our horses from Flagstaff, Arizona to the Grand Canyon National Park. What a great pack trip that was! Our horses performed flawlessly…well almost. We had a couple minor incidents, but nothing serious, only enough to add spice to an otherwise uneventful trip.
Uneventful, but enjoyable. We started out above 9,000 feet, in the pines and alpine meadows north of Flagstaff, dropped below 6,000 feet in the junipers and pinons, got rained on a time or two, and ran short of water on one stretch, and ended up at Tusayan, just south of the entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park. Jeff enjoyed it so much, he is planning on returning with me next spring to cross the Big Ditch and make our way up to the AZ/UT border.
During all that, I have sold several horses, which has helped finance some of these activities. In January, I sold Turbo, the one-speed wonder, to a fellow who wanted an excellent trail horse that would not buck him off and would keep up with his riding buddies’ horses.
I haven’t heard from him, but he never called during his 30-day trial period, so I expect his riding buddies are now working hard to keep up with Turbo’s run-walk.
In February, I contracted to train a beautiful grade Tennessee Walker Gelding named Apollo. I ended up liking the horse so much that I traded a registered Tennessee Walker mare, Oreo, for him.
Apollo and I are still growing together and enjoying every mile, and Oreo has a great home with a woman in North Ogden who loves her like a family member.
During March, I sold one of the best trail horses I have ever owned, J Golden, to a fellow in Richfield, Utah. It was a surprise move for me, as I had no intention of selling that wonderful gelding.
However, once the thought entered my head, after having allowed the fellow to ride him a time or two, I could not get rid of the thought and eventually, I just caved in. I’m glad I did, as J has a great home and he gets ridden almost daily by a man who appreciates a great trail horse.
I sold Chance in April to a couple from the Kamas area, who were looking for a smooth-riding gaited horse. They are enjoying Chance and are very pleased.
In April, I spent a week down at my parents’ home in Eagar, Arizona, doing some work on my place there. The plan was to return from Eagar with my mare Calypso, which I have been keeping there with my young colt, Chief, and my mustang, Jimbo. While I was there, I noticed Calypso had come into season and that Chief had discovered what being a stallion was all about. I was lucky enough to get them separated before anything “untoward” happened. However, when I got up to feed the following morning, I discovered Chief had destroyed Dad’s corral gate and he and Calypso were standing together in the same corral looking very satisfied. Well, I successfully separated them for the rest of the week, and I decided to leave Chief there in Eagar and took Calypso home to Utah. My hope was that Chief was still young enough (18 months) that he was still “shooting blanks.” Wrong.
I brought Chief back to Salem, Utah after the Flagstaff pack trip. I took him to the vet last week to have him gelded. At the same time I had Calypso pregnancy checked. Turns out I will have a foal out of Calypso and Chief sometime around the middle of March, 2020. I was disappointed at first, but now I’m grateful that I’ll be having a foal out of Chief. He’s turning out to be a very nice looking horse with a wonderful temperament and very intelligent. I had considered keeping him a stallion, but I just don’t have the facilities required to safely keep a stallion. It just didn’t make sense for me. So, Chief is now a gelding and I’ll have a foal out of him sometime next spring. The foal will not be registerable, as Calypso is a grade Rocky Mountain Gaited Horse. However, it should be a nice horse, sired by Chief, which is a registered Missouri Fox Trotter that is turning out to be quite handsome and Calypso is a beautifully built and nicely gaited RMGH.
Which leads me to the next conclusion:Â I’ll be keeping Calypso until at least after the foal is weaned.
Last Saturday, June 1, I finalized the sale of the best trail horse I have ever ridden, Lizzy. She went to the wife of the fellow who bought J Golden. This was another sale I had not anticipated.
But, I’m pleased to say that Lizzy will join J Golden in a great home for them both. Both Miranda and Larry became close friends to me as I worked to find the perfect horse for Miranda. I think I nailed it. She and Lizzy are fast becoming a solid trail companionship. That’s good, because Larry laid down the law and let her know she could not have J!
On Monday, June 3, I picked up a huge registered Tennessee Walker for Derek Habel, a friend of mine, and brought him to Spanish Fork. I worked this horse for two weeks to see whether he’s going to be suitable for horse packing hunt trips to Alaska. I think he’s going to work. Last Friday, Derek made the agreement to purchase the horse, so it will be up to me to work the kinks out of him and get him ready for the big Alaska moose hunt this fall.
It’s going to be a fun project. Red is great on the trail, but has a couple of issues that need to be smoothed out, before he’ll be ready for the hunt trip.
Right now I’m on a road trip to New Mexico to help babysit grandkids and celebrate Father’s Day with my oldest son, after which I’ll be heading back down to Eagar, AZ for a couple days with my parents and to get some things done on my place down there. I’ll be back at home and working my horses again by the end of the week.
In between all these activities, in my spare time, whatever that means, I have been doing a little leather work. I made two saddle scabbards, a pair of spur straps, and a Leatherman sheath and started work on a set of pommel bags for myself. I recently started work on a pair of batwing chaps for a friend.
So, as you can see, there is no moss growing on me. I’ve been pretty busy. Hopefully things will begin to settle down a little over the next month or so and I’ll get caught up on organizing my photos and make some good posts.
I hope my readers will cut me a little slack and stick with me. And thanks for reading.
I have sold the best trail horse I ever owned, one I thought I would never sell. Lizzy will be going to a new home tomorrow. It will be a good home with an owner who will care for her well and will ride her often, doing what she loves and does best: trail riding.
I guess I’m not really cut out to be a horse trader. This past winter the opportunity came to me through a good friend, to sell a couple horses and try to make a little money to support my horse habit. The deal was that I would take these horses, tune them up and sell them, and the profit would be mine as payment for training and exercising his other horses. As I put miles on each of these horses and began to refresh their former training, each one became special to me in some way. I found myself not wanting to sell them at all!
Turbo, as her name implies, was a real go-er. A grade Missouri Fox Trotter, she loved being out on the trail and was absolutely fearless. She wouldn’t even slow down for obstacles that most horses wouldn’t attempt…much less the riders.
She inspired confidence and I never doubted, even once, whether she could handle an obstacle or rough terrain. She went to a fellow who said he was getting on in years and wanted a horse that was steady, sure-footed, and could keep up with his riding buddies. I expect his buddies are now working at keeping up with him.
Oreo was a beautiful registered Tennessee Walking Horse mare. She was a true sweetheart, but she didn’t like being caught. Lacked a little confidence, but once caught, she was perfectly mannered. She needed a little refresher course, but she began to recover her training quickly.
She was a pleasure to ride. She ended up with a young lady who took her in trade for Apollo, a TWH gelding that was just a little more horse than she was comfortable handling. Apollo is now my primary mount. We’re both happy with the trade.
J Golden, my grade TWH gelding, became a casualty of the trade for Apollo. At least in part. J hauled me around many a mile and was an exceptional trail horse. He’s the horse I took with me to Alaska last fall. But after meeting a couple in Richfield, Utah, who needed a good, solid trail horse, I felt like I had found a wonderful home for him.
They wanted a good solid trail horse and thought they might like to try a gaited horse. After riding J Golden once, they knew they wanted a gaited horse. After allowing them to try him out for a week or so, I just couldn’t take him away from them. He has a great home, where he is as happy to be there as they are to have him.
I just sold Chance, another registered TWH gelding, to some folks from Oakley, Utah, up near Kamas, who have some experience with Walkers and were in need of a new trail horse. They came and both of them did a short test-ride on Chance.
They liked him, despite his little bit of anxiety at being separated from other horses. I think Chance is going to work out well for them. He’s a puppy of a horse, who loves attention, even leaving the rest of the herd to come nuzzle his human friend and get his head scratched. Out on the trail, I found he would come to me when I whistled. I love that!
Now, I’ll be delivering Lizzy tomorrow to the same family who bought J Golden. She will go to a fine lady who had an accident last year, in which she was thrown from a horse and was badly injured. She is working hard to overcome her fear and trying to get back her confidence as a rider. I have taken her and her husband on a couple trail rides, during which I let her ride Lizzy. I knew Lizzy would take good care of her and help her get her riding spirit back. All the while, I told her I would never sell Lizzy and that she shouldn’t let that thought settle too deeply into her head; I was looking for the right horse for her.
Well, a couple weeks ago the thought came to me that maybe Lizzy was the right horse for her and that she and Lizzy would make perfect riding companions. Having gotten to know her a little and knowing the care and love she and her husband give their horses, and knowing how much they love J Golden, it just seemed like the natural (and right) thing to do. I just could not shake the thought, no matter how hard I tried. It kept returning to me again and again, until one evening I floated the idea to the couple. They not only accepted the offer, but were over-joyed about it.
Damn! I hate it when that happens!
I bought Lizzy as a coming four year-old in 2015. I have over a thousand miles on her back. She carried me most of the way from the US/Mexican border to Flagstaff, Arizona and I thought she would be the horse that would finish my Mexico-to-Canada horse pack trip with me.
She is the best trail horse I have ever had. Her Fox Trot isn’t the best, but she has an excellent rack that really covers ground. Her walk will outpace just about any horse I’ve ever ridden with. Whenever I take her out for a trail ride, her ears are forward and she is anxious to be heading out. I love that! She has learned to watch her step in the rough stuff and seldom takes a misstep. She is an excellent pack horse as well. She is willing to try just about anything. She is never “mare-ish” and I seldom even know when she is in season.
Eighteen months ago she gave me Chief, a very handsome colt that eventually will end up being my primary horse. Over the years I have trusted Lizzy with the care of my wife, family, and friends, while I have ridden and trained my other horses. She is simply a wonderful horse and I have loved every minute I have spent in the saddle on her back. I doubt I will ever find her equal as a trail companion for me.
While I’m sad at letting her go, I’m sure her new owner will enjoy her as much as I have. I’m happy to have found her a good home. The truth is, I have been spending so much time riding other people’s horses that I have had very little time to ride Lizzy in the past year. It doesn’t make much sense for me to have her sitting in the pasture when there is someone else who would love to be out riding her and for whom she could do so much good.
So, this evening I decided to take Lizzy out for a final ride. We hadn’t gone more than about a mile, when it started to rain.
I guess that was fitting. Still, I enjoyed the ride.
Here are a few of my favorite photos and memories of Lizzy.
This is the fourth in a series of posts about gear for horse packing. Again, a reminder that my kind of horse packing is not normally packing in to a base camp, but is packing from point to point, from a specific point of origin to a point of destination, sometimes hundreds of miles away. Understanding that makes a difference in gear one takes along on the trip. Things one is not sure they will need are left behind, as a general rule.
This post will deal with personal gear, things each individual will need for their personal needs, as well as a few things that are just handy to have, while on the horse pack trip.
Personal gear (other than what is worn to begin with):
Doc kit (personal hygiene items)
toothbrush and paste
medications
fingernail clippers
deodorant
chap stick
sun block
hand soap/shampoo
bandaids/anti-biotic ointment
hair brush
etc
Clothing
multiple changes of socks
change of shirt
change of pants
multiple changes of underclothing
thermal underwear (depending on weather)
camp shoes (if desired)
handkerchief or bandana
Jacket or coat
bathing suit
Sleeping gear
sleeping bag (suitable for weather)
water resistant sleeping bag cover, bivy bag, or small tent
camp pillow
stocking cap
sleeping pad
ground sheet (obviated if you have a bivy bag or tent)
Other
camp knife (such as a “hunting knife” with a 6″ or longer blade)
utility tool (such as a “Leatherman multi-tool)
handgun, ammunition and supporting gear
spurs
silverware, plate, cup (some folks consider these to be personal gear)
small whet stone or diamond rod
sunglasses
rain slicker
canteen(s)
chaps or chinks
smart phone/camera
extra memory cards
charging cables
preferred snack foods (particularly if you have special needs)
cigarette lighter
strike-anywhere matches in a waterproof container or flint/steel if you now how to use them
fire starters
compass
map (both paper and digital on the phone)
notepad and pen
flashlight and extra batteries
chemical hand warmers (depending on weather)
toilet paper and wet wipes
We’ll start at the top, with the “doc kit.”
I keep all my personal hygiene items in a small, durable bag I call my doc kit. It contains things such as are on the list above. In addition to those things listed, a tube of hemorrhoid cream or hydrocortisone come in handy on occasion.
I always take a pill container with Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen, and Benadryl in it. Ibuprofen relieves muscle and joint pain, Acetaminophen relieves cold symptoms, and Benadryl relieves allergy symptoms as well as helps one fall asleep at night.
A change of clothing is not absolutely necessary on a horse pack trip, but it is very nice to have, particularly on long trips. One never knows when something may happen that could result in wet, soiled, or ruined clothing. It is nice to have a spare pair of pants or shirt along.
Extra socks are important for keeping feet healthy. I like to change socks daily, although that is not always feasible. On long pack trips I carry several pairs of liner socks, such as men’s nylon dress socks. I change these often, while wearing a heavier pair of athletic or wool boot socks over them which can be worn for several days at a time. The liner socks are easily washed and refreshed and take very little drying time, as opposed to heavier athletic or wool boot socks. An additional benefit to this system is that the liner socks prevent blisters in the event one has to walk awhile in riding boots. Each night I air out the heavier socks by hanging them over my boots.
Camp shoes are an optional thing. A pair of “crocs” or running shoes can be quite comfortable of an evening, after the riding boots have been removed. They are also quite easy to slip on in the middle of the night when the call of nature comes or when something starts bothering the horses and you need to take a look-see. In all the times I have taken camp shoes on my pack trips I have rarely used them. Unless I am going on a very long pack trip, in which I will have rest days during the trip, I don’t take them.
A bathing suit is very light and takes up very little space, but is very handy for bathing and for wearing while clothes are being washed on a long pack trip. I often toss one in my clothes bag when packing for those longer trips.
Not listed above is a good cowboy hat (because I’m normally wearing mine). Many people nowadays prefer a helmet and I will say nothing against that, but my preference is a good felt cowboy hat with a decent brim. A cowboy hat keeps sun off of your ears and nose during the part of the day when the sun is most intense and I consider it a protective measure against skin cancer. I prefer a hat to sun block cream on my face, because the sun block tends eventually to get into and irritate my eyes. Also, when passing through brush and tree branches, I can just duck my head and they just slide over my hat without getting sticks and leaves and pine needles down the back of my shirt. A felt hat works much better than a straw hat or helmet in those situations.
Something else not listed above in personal clothing, which I have never tried, but which I have been told is very effective in eliminating or reducing saddle sores on riders of both sexes, is a pair of women’s panty hose worn under the riding pants. It’s worth a try, if you have concerns about rub sores on your hind quarters or knees!
For personal sleep items, of course the sleeping bag is indispensable. Make sure you select a sleeping bag that is appropriate for the place and season in which you will travel. I once took a summer sleeping bag on a pack trip through southern Arizona in April, thinking I would be fine, however, when we passed through the Chiricahua mountain range, we spent one night above 7,000 feet and our water froze before we went to bed. I passed a cold and miserable night with little sleep. You can always unzip your sleeping bag if you get too warm.
The bulkiness of the sleeping bag and weight are also things to be considered. I keep a canvas covered sleeping bag with a very nice flannel lining in my trailer bunk, simply because it is very comfortable, however, it is far too bulky and heavy to consider taking on a pack trip. My regular sleeping bag is a 4-pound fiberfill bag, which packs into a reasonably sized stuff sack. However, as I mentioned in the first post in this series, I recently learned that leaving the sleeping bag un-stuffed in a top pack works very well also.
After having tried one on a pack trip with a friend, I recently purchased a military surplus bivy bag. This bag is made of a water-resistant material (Gore Tex) and is quite tough, obviating the need for a ground sheet. The bag has both zipper and snap closures, effectively sealing out rain.
I keep my camp air mattress inside the bag with my sleeping bag. The whole shebang can either be rolled up and tied or left loose in the top pack. Preparation for sleeping is a simple matter, then, of preparing the ground, then laying out the bivy bag/sleeping bag combo on the ground and airing up the mattress. One drawback I found with the bivy bag setup is that, despite the breathability of the Gore Tex material, I found my bag a bit moist in the morning up around my head area, I presume from my breath. This was only the case during very cold nights when I had the bag closed over my face. A good airing-out of the sleeping bag after spending a night in the bivy bag is necessary before packing up again.
Up until I bought the bivy bag, my sleeping arrangement consisted of a canvas ground sheet (one of the manty tarps or pannier covers) on the ground, horse saddle pads on top of that (two per person), my air mattress on top of the saddle pads, my sleeping bag on top of that, and lastly, another canvas tarp over the top.
I have used that combination for many years and stayed dry even through heavy rains. My canvas tarps are in the heavier range, about 18-ounce or so, and treated with waterproofer. This makes the ground sheet resistant to ground moisture. When moisture falls on the top canvas, the weave tightens up, creating a very stiff and water-resistant cover. One can then simply kick up under it, causing the stiffened tarp to form a domed cover over the sleeping bag, effectively running the water off. The key to remaining dry with this arrangement is to make sure the edges of the top cover extend out over the edges of the ground sheet. Also, canvas tends to wick water wherever it touches something that absorbs water, such as a sleeping bag. The waterproofing treatment helps, but doesn’t completely eliminate the problem. This is why it is important to kick up under the tarp to form the dome over the bag during rain.
I find the canvas manty tarps commonly sold by suppliers to be too small and too light for this application. They generally run about 7X8 feet and are in the 12 ounce range. Mine are 8X10 and in the 18-20 ounce range. Mine are considerably heavier in weight, though.
A camp pillow is an important item. It will greatly improve sleeping comfort. Also, a decent sized pillow will enhance the warmth of the sleeping bag immensely, as it helps prevent air movement around the head/neck area. My camp pillow is stored and packed inside my sleeping bag for travel.
A stocking cap is standard equipment for me, with regard to sleeping gear. Above 70% of body heat is lost through the head. A good stocking cap, or beanie, as they are sometimes called, will greatly improve your body’s heat retention, making the sleeping bag more effective in that regard.
For “other” personal camp gear, I have made a list of things I generally have on hand, either on my person or in my saddle bags (remember, I consider saddle bags and pommel bags to be part of my primary saddle horse gear).
I find a good camp knife to be indispensable on a pack trip. Now, this may be a hunting-type knife worn in a belt sheath or a folding belt knife, such as made famous by Buck Knives. In my experience, this knife should have at least a 6 inch blade. A pocket knife is handy, but I find them too small to handle some jobs a marginally larger knife can handle easily. I have a very large Bowie-style camp knife I used to carry, but over the years I have gone to a folding Buck Knife, due to the convenience of carrying it in a small leather or nylon pouch on my belt. The Buck is significantly lighter than my old Bowie, which I made from a truck leaf spring and and a deer horn. However, the Bowie style knife has sufficient heft to be used in place of a camp hatchet, possibly eliminating the need for that piece of gear from the pack.
I have found a multi-tool, such as those made by Leatherman or Gerber, to be very useful on pack trips for handling makeshift gear repairs. Select one that has useful tools in it, such as a knife blade with a long, sharp tip, a strap cutter, scissors, file, screw driver heads, etc. Long-nosed pliers are a must – nothing is better for removing cactus spines.
Multi-tools made for specific trades or purposes sometimes contain tools that are rather useless or ineffective for horse packing purposes. For instance, a knife blade with a short, blunt tip is useless for making holes in a strap for a buckle tongue or making a bleed knot. I normally carry my multi-tool in the saddle bag.
Another small item I routinely carry in my saddle bag is a rope saw. This is a piece of wire or chain with small embedded teeth with a metal ring or nylon strap at each end. It is useful for cutting branches that may be difficult to access with a regular branch saw. I often do not carry my branch saw, but I always have my rope saw, just in case. They are quite inexpensive, very light, and come in a handy little nylon pouch. My dad once had an experience in which a rope saw was the only possibility for getting a horse out of a tree unharmed…but that’s another story.
A small-caliber handgun is something I carry when a larger caliber handgun is not called for. As stated in another post, I often carry my .45 Colt revolver when I ride, partly because it is “cowboy” and partly for personal protection from varmints (both animal and human varieties). However, when I do not carry my revolver, I carry a small handgun, either a .22LR or 380 Auto pistol. The primary purpose is to have it in case the need should arise to have to put an animal down.
A small caliber handgun is sufficient to humanely euthanize an injured horse or mule, if properly done. I have had the unfortunate experience of having a horse break a leg during a pack trip and having to put it down. I was glad I did not have to put my .45 Colt against my faithful friend’s head. However, that would have been far preferable to having to put him down by cutting his throat due to the lack of a firearm on the trip. I know people who have found themselves in that very unfortunate position.
Chaps or chinks are always handy on a pack trip. They not only protect your legs and clothing from branches and rocks, but they help keep your clothing clean as you handle horses and gear. My chaps have pockets situated on the front of the legs that are perfect for holding such items as cigarette lighters, chapstick, and my cell phone/camera. I use batwing chaps of my own manufacture. I find them to be protective, but not too hot for even summer wear. They are, in fact, quite cool to wear. They also shed water well to supplement my rain slicker. Chinks are just short chaps that come to just below the knees. They are cooler for summer wear, but still protect the legs and pants from offending branches and rocks. Chinks tend to be made of lighter leather and are generally much lighter in weight than chaps, but do little to protect the lower legs and boots in wet weather.
Personal emergency gear is always a must for horse packing. I include matches in a waterproof container and a liquid compass in my saddle or pommel bags. I also carry a flint/steel tool that will work when matches don’t, but you have to know how to use them. Cigarette lighters are handy, but they don’t function well at high altitudes and run out of fuel at the most inconvenient times. That is why I also carry matches. I carry small homemade fire starters made from paraffin with a wick in a small cup, such as an aluminum bottle cap. There are a number of ways to make fire starters, or you can purchase them in bags and carry a few with you. These also stay in my saddle bags. The liquid compass is my “don’t get lost” insurance. Smart phones are nice, but when they break or run out of battery, they aren’t much help. On longer pack trips, I also carry a paper map to supplement the USGS topo maps I download onto my cell phone.
Speaking of cell phones, not only are they useful for viewing maps and GPS apps, they have absolutely awesome cameras in them nowadays. However, it is easy to run out of memory space on them during a pack trip. If your phone has an SD card slot, make sure you bring extra memory cards. Now, since I have an iphone and its memory is not expandable, I bring along a GoPro 4 Silver to take most of my video footage. I carry several 64G memory cards and extra batteries as well. Always bring your own cords and cables for your electronic equipment, as your buddy with the charging gear may not have what you need. I covered my electronics in this post, but some of the information (such as pricing) is outdated.
A word or two about rain slickers. For many years I used a plastic rain slicker, partly because they were cheap and partly because I didn’t know any better (being an Arizona boy we rarely found need for them). These are suitable for a pack trip only if you have nothing better. They tend to make you wet on the inside, while protecting you from rain on the outside, because they trap body moisture, and they are not durable.
I later graduated to the more durable and higher quality rubberized yellow slickers with the flannel liner. The flannel on the inside helps keep you a little drier, but the body moisture problem is still there. Better ones are made with a variety of vents to reduce the problem. I currently have three of these that I lend to friends when needed. These yellow slickers are fairly inexpensive, usually running under $50.
Several years ago I shot the wad and bought a very nice lightweight slicker made of a lightweight waterproof synthetic material, under the Muddy Creek label.
It is a very nice slicker in a much more subtle brown color, with a vented back, vented underarms, and a zipper closure that works both directions (from the bottom and from the top). It is full-length, reaching past the tops of my boots when in the saddle or on the ground. It is full enough to cover the back of my saddle, whatever is tied behind my cantle, and most of my saddle bags. It can be unzipped from the bottom to accommodate my saddle horn while keeping my legs covered. It has velcro tabs to close the flap over the zipper for extra protection against moisture intrusion. If I have one complaint against this slicker, it is that its skirts blow in the wind, because it is so lightweight. However, it breathes very well and I find it quite comfortable in the rain or just wearing it as a wind breaker. When wearing it on the ground, care must be taken not to step on its skirts, because it is full-length. This handy little slicker ran me $199, not including shipping. Worth it? I don’t know. It rarely gets used, but when I need it, I’m glad I have it.
One thing the yellow slickers will do that my Muddy Creek will not do, is that they can be configured, using snap buttons, to split the backside and close the legs, almost like a body suit, thus protecting the legs both while on the ground or in the saddle.
I have never tried one of the “fish oil” slickers or “Aussie oilskin duster” style slickers. My dad has an Aussie style oilskin duster and he reports that under long rainy conditions, water will penetrate it.
I always carry a notepad and pen. Generally, I carry my journal with me as well, but on shorter rides, it’s just the notepad. You never know when you will need to leave a note somewhere, so that somebody knows what happened to you and where you went. A cell phone is handy, but they don’t always work out in the back country. I carry several ziplock sandwich bags in my saddle bags that may be used to protect a note left on a tree or in camp in an emergency.
My dad once ran away from home as a young boy. His grandfather told his worried grandmother, “Don’t worry! The first time he has to wipe his butt with a stick, he’ll head home!” There is wisdom in that for horse packing as well. One should never depend on anyone else for his/her own supply of toilet paper. Always keep a personal supply in a waterproof container, such as a ziplock sandwich bag, in your saddle bag. A larger supply should be included as group camp gear, but never fail to keep your own personal supply in your gear.  In the same vein, wet wipes are handy to have on a pack trip as a means of personal hygiene when water is unavailable for bathing and hand washing.
The rest of the stuff is self-explanatory. I’m sure I have forgotten a few things and I’ll think of them later. I’ll edit this and the other posts in the series on horse packing gear as I think of things I forgot and insert them where appropriate. Check back now and again to see if anything new has appeared on any of the lists.
So, that’s my horse packing gear from start to finish. Hope it helps some of you get started on your own adventures.
Stay tuned for some posts that will go into more detail on particular subjects, such as pack-breaking horses, loading up, tying the Diamond Hitch, navigation, knot-tying, rope braiding, etc. Let me know your questions and I will try to address them as soon as possible.
This is the third in a series of posts about my learning and experience in horse packing.
In this post we will cover general camp gear that I take on my horse pack trips. I have talked, in the previous posts, about saddle horse gear and pack animal gear. Now we’ll talk about the people gear.
Let’s start with lists.
Camp Gear:
Cooking and eating items
Aluminum or stainless steel cook kit (including at least two pots, a coffee pot, and a frying pan)
Single-burner propane cook stove
Propane cans and base
Metal silverware (fork, spoon, knife)
Spatula
Plastic cups (stackable are best)
Tin plates (one per person)
Dishwashing soap (biodegradable)
Rag (for dishwashing, etc)
Roll of paper towels
Salt and pepper and other spices
Camp utility items
foldable shovel (such as a military surplus pack shovel)
Camp axe or hatchet
Limb saw
Camp shower bag
Water filter and extra filter(s)
Solar chargers and associated cables
Accessory high-capacity batteries
GPS unit
Binoculars
Small caliber rifle and ammunition if small-game hunting is a possibility, large caliber rifle or shotgun and ammunition if in Grizzly Bear country
Plastic tarp (for rain protection in camp)
Canvas tarps (for pack protection and bed protection)
collapsible water bucket
Nose bags for horse feed
Fence tool and a few T-post clip
Farrier kit
First Aid kit
When I first started horse packing, the temptation to say, “The horse will be carrying it,” was strong, so I packed not only what I thought I would need, but also what I might need, and then some of what I probably wouldn’t need, but thought I might just take anyway, because if I did need it, it would be nice to have. However, at the end of the first leg of my Mexico-to-Canada horse pack trip, when Dad and I went over our gear and took inventory of what we really needed, as evidenced by what we actually used, I started seeing the folly of taking along unnecessary camp and personal gear.
For example, I packed a small camp lantern that used a special canister of fuel and had a tiny little globe and an itsy-bitsy mantle in side. We never even unboxed the thing during the entire trip. When we got home and unpacked, I found the thing smashed to bits, still in its box.
So, over the intervening years, I have put together a list of gear that I actually use on my horse pack trips.
Starting with the cooking gear seems to flow well. Not a lot is required for the kind of horse packing I do. Again, this is for long-distance packing and not for packing in to a base camp. Think of my style of horse packing like you would a long-distance backpacking trip. You go light, utilitarian, and discard what you don’t really need.
For my pack trips, I have relied heavily upon dehydrated and freeze-dried foods. These require re-hydration with boiling water. In order to prepare a decent meal, I have found that two cooking pots are nice to have, so that two different courses can be prepared simultaneously. Actually, it’s not quite simultaneous – one can be cooling while the other is cooking. Remember, we are using a single-burner cook stove.
I have also found a small frying pan, the one that comes with the cook kit I like, to be useful for breakfast foods, such as dehydrated eggs and hash browns. A small spatula comes in handy for turning those foods, as well. A coffee pot is also handy to have around. It can be placed on a fire to heat water while cooking is done on the burner.
I use a single-burner Coleman stove that is attached directly to the propane can. I use the normal propane cans that can be purchased just about anywhere. Walmart is a good source. The particular stove I use hasn’t been manufactured in many years, though. It is small in diameter and virtually indestructible, which is why I still have it after all these years. I bought it as a Boy Scout when I was about 12 years old. The modern single-burners are quite a bit larger and don’t seem to work any better. I have one of those as well. I took both burners on the first leg of the M2C trip, thinking it would be nice to be able to have two burners going at once – cooking on one and hot chocolate water on the other – but in practice, we didn’t use it. Now I take just the smaller one.
Metal silverware is very handy. It doesn’t melt if it gets too close to the flame, cools quickly, cleans easily, and bends instead of breaking. I like the sets that fit together into one (left) the best. Each person keeps his/her own. I keep mine in my saddle bags
I have a large porcelain covered steel cup that I have had since I was a kid, which I used to take on all my camp trips. I had a nylon thong with a metal clip tied to it, with which I would clip it to the outside of my backpack, so as to have it handy at all times. I have since decided that plastic stackable cups are much handier. Besides, the ones I use also have volume measurement marks on them, so they are handy for measuring when making meals from dehydrated ingredients.
To round out my cook gear, I take along a rag and a small squirt bottle of biodegradable dishwashing soap. The rag also helps keep the pots and pans from rattling, once they are packed back into their kit. A rag makes less trash than paper towels. However, I have found that a roll of paper towels tossed into the packs sure comes in handy now and again for the cook.
Finally, no camp cook gear would be complete without salt and pepper containers. I prefer plastic ones with snap-on caps. That keeps the salt and pepper in its place and seals them from moisture.
Now for the general camp gear.
The first leg of our big pack trip took us through the deserts of southern Arizona and up through the elevations of the Chiricahua Mountain range. Not knowing what to expect, but having learned by experience that most trails in the USFS and BLM lands are not well maintained, I thought a camp axe and limb saw would be important to us. That turned out to be the case. There was at least one day in the Chiricahuas during which we spent more time clearing dead trees from the trail than actually traveling on the trail. We would never have made it through without our axe and saw.
However, when packing in lower areas, or in areas that are well-traveled and maintained, such as on a trip I took through the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, a camp axe was more of a luxury than a necessity. However, a camp hatchet was quite useful in making camp firewood. A good camp knife, of the Bowie style, was also quite useful, but that is considered to be personal gear, rather than general camp gear.
Having said all that, I will note here that during the first leg of our Mexico-to-Canada horse pack trip, which took exactly 28 days and spanned 355 miles, we built exactly five camp fires. Prior to the trip, both Dad and I had visions in our heads of father and son, sitting by the camp fire, talking about the mysteries of life. Fact is, we were so tired at the end of each day, except on rest days, that we just made dinner and hit the sack! The conclusion being, a camp axe or hatchet as camp gear is useful depending on the terrain, vegetation, and travel you will be doing. If your potential firewood is nothing more than juniper branches or greasewood twigs, you can break those with your hands and feet. If you don’t think you’ll need an axe or hatchet, don’t take it.
The same can be said for the limb saw. I have one that slings comfortably beneath my stirrup leather in its sheath, but it seldom gets removed. It’s useful for clearing smaller trees from the trail and for making firewood, but its primary use is pruning trees along the trail for trail maintenance. So, the purpose of your travel comes into play here. If you are horse packing with the intent to accumulate trail maintenance hours for your Back Country Horsemen Association, it’s a handy tool.
A foldable shovel is useful for a number of things, not the least of which is digging a hole and burying your morning business affairs, before heading out for the day. It is also useful for preparing a bed area at camp, as well as a safety measure alongside your camp fire. I never take a horse pack trip without one.
Mine is a foldable military surplus style shovel. I used to have a canvas military surplus cover for it, but that article is now laying somewhere along the Mogollon Rim on the General Crook Trail in Arizona. Since I lost it, I have found the cover to be superfluous – just extra weight. I don’t miss it.
Modern horse packing differs markedly from the old days, particularly with regard to the electronics we like to take along. I have found a cellular telephone is not only a handy safety device, with regard to communication, but a wonderful camera. I have found my iphone 7 to be indispensable on my pack trips. In fact, most of the photos you see on my website were taken with an iphone. I have a protective cover on mine, but it is not waterproof. I keep it in a pocket in my jeans or in my chaps, where it remains safe from moisture and from harsh treatment that might damage it. It is also always handy to pull out for that once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity.
I also have a DeLorme/Garmin GPS unit that communicates with my iphone. My unit not only tracks my location and travel data, but also allows me to send and receive texts via satellite, so I can let my wife and my mom know where I am and that I’m ok (I’m 60 years old, but she still worries about me).
It also enables my other followers, here on Western Trail Rider, to follow my progress in real-time, by clicking on the “Trail Map” button on the main menu of this website. The subscription rate for those services is quite high and the minimum time frame is one month, so I don’t enable them on every trip.
The various electronic devices one might take on a pack trip require power. I have started carrying large-capacity accessory batteries on my pack trips, which allow my iphone and GPS unit to be recharged two or three times before the accessory battery needs recharging. I have three solar panels, ranging from 10 to 13 amps each, made by Goal Zero, which I use to recharge things when possible at camp.
However, I have found their usefulness to be limited, due to the fact that I try to be making tracks each morning by 9:00am and don’t normally stop to make camp until around 4:00pm or so. At those times, the sun is at such an angle that there is insufficient charging time to make any progress in charging my accessory batteries or devices. These panels are most useful on rest days, when I can set them out all day long and change their angle periodically to keep them directed as much as possible toward full sun. Of course, their usefulness depends on sunshine. Clouds spoil everything.
I have also, occasionally tied a solar panel onto the back of my saddle, over the saddle bags and successfully put enough charge into my cell phone to keep it alive, but it is not very efficient, as there is little ability to keep it faced directly in to the sun.
I have found the bag-style water filtration systems to be excellent for my style of horse packing. You simply fill the bag with water and hang it on a tree in camp. One bag will fill two military style canteens and do for cooking needs for the evening. A straw-type or pump filtration system takes a long time to fill anything, but they are handy to have when no running water can be found. I have found that unless the water is very clean to begin with, the filters in any of these systems will not last very long. In the higher elevations of Arizona, where we found no running streams, Dad and I resorted to getting our drinking water from stock ponds, filtering it through paper towels held on a bandana, before boiling it. Surprisingly, it didn’t taste too bad. I’d hate to have to do that in an area with a lot of cattle, though. The bag filter I prefer is made by Katadyne, but there are a number of good brand names available.
I own a camp shower bag, although I have never used it. I guess this is an optional thing, depending on your personal needs/desires. I have bathed in streams and puddles, but have never used the shower bag. Guess I should try it sometime. The extra space and weight to carry it along is negligible.
I have traditionally used canvas tarps to cover my panniers on pack trips, then tied everything together with a diamond hitch. However, with hard panniers, particularly when there was no threat of rain, I have simply hung the panniers and put a top-pack over them, strapping the top-pack on with it’s own straps. I still carry the canvas tarps, however, because I use them for my bed. My tarps measure about 7X8 feet or 8X10 feet (I have two sizes) and they are made of heavy canvas, 18 ounce or so, and treated.
When I make up my bed area, I clear out offending rocks and clumps, create a shallow dip for my hips, then lay down a canvas tarp. Over the canvas, I then lay down a couple saddle pads, then my sleeping pad and bag on top of that. I use a good camping air mattress and a good, lightweight sleeping bag. I then cover them with a second canvas tarp. This arrangement keeps my bed warm and dry, even in a steady rain. When the canvas gets wet, it tightens and stiffens up. I can then kick up under it and it forms a dome over my sleeping bag and effectively runs the water off.
On a recent trip, however, a friend introduced me to the military surplus Gore Tex sleeping bag systems. These systems include a good sleeping bag with an outer Gore Tex cover that has water resistant zip and snap closures. I bought one and have found it to be pretty darn unbeatable as a sleeping system. I now place my air pad and sleeping bag inside the outer Gore Tex cover and just leave them there, rolling the whole shebang up together. The unit packs easily on top of a pack animal or left loose inside a top pack and adequately protects the sleeping bag and air pad. I may eventually stop taking my canvas tarps altogether, because they weigh a ton!
A plastic tarp is light weight and very handy for a rain fly when needed. It is also useful for covering pack gear while in camp to keep the dew and little critters out of the panniers. I usually carry a plastic tarp in the 10X12 size range.
Coming down the home stretch, I have always carried a set of binoculars with me on my pack trips. I have used them for everything from spotting game, to trying to locate landmarks, trails, and roads. Having said that, I do not consider them to be a necessity, but a desired luxury item. I like to have them along, but I seldom get them out and use them.
Now for the firearms. I generally take a handgun, worn on a gun belt. I prefer my replica 1873 Colt revolver in .45 Colt. I like it because it is a cowboy weapon and keeps with my penchant for old-time stuff. I even made the holster for it. Why do I carry it? Mostly because I like to. I have never needed it on the trail, and if I needed it for bear protection, I hope it’s not a Grizzly, because that’s just not the right caliber for that kind of threat. It is a reasonable caliber for self-protection and for plinking, and could be used to put down an injured animal, but not at all practical for much else on a horse pack trip. It’s just my preference. It’s cowboy!
I have often carried a .22 LR lever-action rifle on my pack trips, particularly when there was the possibility of small game hunting for camp meat. I have never actually bagged any small game on my pack trips, however, on one trip I was very glad I had it along. During 2016, while on a pack trip, my primary saddle horse got tangled in his lead rope in the middle of the night and panicked. Before I could free him, he had broken his front left leg. It broke my heart to have to put him down that night. I was glad I had the .22 LR rifle with which to put him down, rather than to have to put a .45 Colt bullet into his head.
The collapsible water bucket is handy around the camp for fire safety and occasionally for watering the horses. The nose feed bags come in handy for feeding pelletized feed, when it becomes necessary to haul feed for the stock. In some parks, feed bags are required, so as not to spread non-native plant seeds and waste in the environment. They also keep horses from wasting feed. They are light and don’t take up much space, so if I have to carry feed with me, I always carry them.
A tool Dad and I have found indispensable on our back-country camp trips is a good fence tool. In the back country, particularly when bushwhacking (no trail), coming upon a fence line can be a game-changer. Now most ranchers will make a gap/gate in a fence line at reasonable places where they can pass cattle through the fence line, but in the past few years, the Bureau of Land Management has built some fences that go for miles upon miles without a gate in sight. In such cases you have the choice of wasting as much as an entire day trying to find a gap in the fence or you can use your handy fence tool to remove a few fence clips or pull a few nails and lay down the fence to allow your horses to cross over. It’s not as difficult as it may sound. You simply look for a rise in the terrain, where the fence’s tension will tend to pull the fence wires down, remove the fence clips from three or four T-posts, or nails from wooden posts, then have one of your group stand on the wires while your stock passes over. Afterward, you simply reattach the fence wires to the posts and go on your way, leaving the fence probably better than before.
On my longer horse pack trips I will carry a minimal farrier kit. The kit includes basic stuff: a shortened rasp (handle cut off), a hoof knife, a hammer, and a small box of #5 city head shoe nails. Other items may be added to taste, but these basic tools will get you through in a pinch. On very long trips, I also take spare shoes, one for the front and one for the rear for each horse. These spares have been pre-formed and labeled for each horse. On one pack trip that lasted more than 15 days, I replaced three shoes on two horses. On another pack trip my own horse lost three shoes and I had no spares to replace them. Luckily, by taking it easy on him, we were able to make it back out to our destination. For the benefit of those who swear by barefoot horses, a barefoot horse carrying a load will not make a long pack trip. Take it from me. One or two days max in our western mountains without shoes or you risk bruising the soles of their hooves and causing abscesses or road founder. That is for horses. Mules can go longer unshod under most circumstances. I had one pack mule that lasted about 170 miles before her hooves wore so short and she became so tender, she had to be shod.
A first aid kit for both the stock and the humans is a necessity. Without going into everything in my kit, I will mention just a few things. I carry bandaids, of course, and larger bandages for humans, as well as gauze and wraps for horses. I have pre-packaged suture kits to close cuts. I carry antibiotic salves for both horses and humans, as well as a home made sulphur and alum “yellow medicine” concoction we came across many years ago from an old horseman, that is useful and effective for healing scrapes, rub sores, and minor cuts on horses and humans (I will give that recipe in another post at some point) and a container of bute for the horses. I like the powdered bute that is mixed with water in a large syringe and administered by squirting it down the horse’s throat. They will often not eat pills or powder mixed into their feed, so it’s hard to know whether they got a full dose. I also carry a bottle of penicillin and a #20 hypodermic in case of serious infection (I once had a mare get stuck in one of her teets by a mesquite thorn, which became infected and swelled up nearly the size of a football overnight), however penicillin should be refrigerated, so you may have to toss it after the pack trip. Learn how to use these medications. Don’t just experiment and see what happens.
My first aid kit is contained in a plastic ammo box container that has proven to be very durable, riding in the bottom of a pannier.
So, that’s a pretty complete list of my general camp gear for my style of horse packing. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things, but then I figure they’re probably items I can live without for a week or so. 🙂
On a recent trail ride, my horse stumbled and fell over going up a steep incline and I came out of the saddle right at the crest and ended up sitting on a pile of low growing cactus.
While there was enough humor in the situation to go around the group, I broke one of my cardinal rules for trail safety:
Stay on top of the horse!
In thinking about what happened, I decided that topic might just make a good blog post and that others might benefit from some of my experience and learning. I have heard it said, “When you make a mistake, all is not lost. You can always be used as a bad example.” Well, here is my bad example.
I often hear people tell horrible stories about how they “came off the horse” and were injured. People tell me how they were “bucked off” their horse or how their horse “threw” them. However, when I have watched things happen in real-time, as well as when I have seen unscripted videos from accidents on the trail, I consistently find that what normally happens is the rider dives off the horse during or just after the third buck. Now, I recognize that there are, indeed, times when a horse really goes to rodeo-ing, such that even a young seasoned rider would have a tough time “sticking” it, but most of the time the rider bails.
There are other times when there is no bucking or misbehavior involved at all, but a horse missteps or stumbles or falls crossing a trail obstacle, such as what happened with me above, and the rider comes off. Many times the fall or stumble is not violent or even dangerous, but the rider, due to age, inexperience, or other factors, may not be able to stay in the saddle…or, again, they may simply bail.
Now, it is an undisputed fact that one is seldom injured by the actual bucking, stumbling, or even falling of the horse, but rather injuries occur when the rider hits the ground after they leave the horse’s back.
It is an instinctual thing with us humans, to try to avoid injury by avoiding the thing that appears to be the danger. The problem with leaving the horse’s back, is that we mistakenly see the horse as the danger, rather than the contact with the ground. Our instinctive thought is something like, “Wow! This horse is bucking! I better get off or I’m going to get hurt!” Or, alternatively, “Oh my! This horse is going to fall, I better jump off, before I get hurt!”
We don’t actually have these thoughts in words, because when something we perceive as dangerous happens, we enter a syndrome called the “Fight or Flight” syndrome. This causes various involuntary things to happen within our body and causes us to act on instinct, rather than rational thought. We simply act. We can, however, train ourselves to overcome this syndrome through practice, forethought, and a conscious effort to stay in the saddle.
The horse is not nearly as dangerous as hitting the ground. The ground is the danger! In most circumstances, injury could be avoided by the rider staying in the saddle, no matter how bad it gets. Even if the horse falls down and the rider cannot stay in the saddle, the rider is then falling off from ground level, rather than from 6 feet in the air.
The exception to this rule is when the ground is closer than what the horse is about to jump or fall off of! There are definitely times when one should “ride loose in the saddle” in order to unload quickly, should the horse slip or fall off a steep trail, such as the one below:
When I am coaching riders with regard to trail riding safety, however, I teach that one should do everything possible to stay in the saddle and ride the incident through, when steep terrain is not an issue. That is particularly true when the horse may be stumbling with footing through a difficult obstacle. Just stay in the saddle and try not to make matters worse. Stay balanced, so the horse can regain its footing and stand back up. Panic is your enemy, as well as the horse’s. Panic will always make matters worse.
If a horse is misbehaving, the worst thing one can do, training-wise, is to dismount. Horses learn from the release of pressure, rather than from training cues themselves. In other words, when a rider gives a cue to ask the horse to do something, in the horse’s mind, it is simply trying to figure out how to make that particular cue, or pressure, go away. When a horse misbehaves and the rider dismounts, the horse learns how to get the rider off its back. The issue will arise more and more often, will increase in intensity, and it will start to happen under the worst possible circumstances. Undoing that training mistake is sometimes very difficult.
Take a minute to watch this sequence from the movie, Monty Walsh:
Having said all that, there are times when bailing – jumping off – is the right course of action. However, those times are rare. A rider is less likely to end up injured by just staying in the saddle and riding the matter out. I teach my students that their chances of getting hurt are greatly reduced if they will make every effort to stay on top of the horse! I teach them to settle their minds well in advance, that they will make every effort to stay in that saddle, so that when that difficult situation occurs, they can overcome that instinctual temptation to jump off.
Have fun watching this video of some Native American boys having a good time staying in the saddle:
Now, as a reminder, this is the gospel according to the “First Book of Tony.” This is from my own experience and it pertains to long-distance horse/mule packing, rather than outfitter-style packing into a base camp.
My list of primary gear for a pack animal contains the following:
Pack Saddle and associated rigging
 Pack saddle pad
Pack halter and lead rope
Panniers (either hard or soft)
Cover tarp (canvas)
Lash cinch and lash rope
Breakaways
Pack scale
Those of you who have followed my blog for awhile will recall a couple of posts I did shortly after the previous legs of my Mexico-to-Canada pack trip. You can find them here and here, for your reading pleasure. There are a couple other related posts, as well as a couple of videos that can be found on my Youtube Channel, Western Trail Rider.
To review a little, I have used both Decker style and crossbuck style pack saddles with equal success. It is a fact that Decker style pack saddles are more versatile than crossbucks, however, for the style of packing I do, a crossbuck works just fine. I have discovered through experience on the trail that packing with panniers is easier and more convenient for the kind of packing I do than packing mantied loads on a Decker pack saddle.
My Decker style pack saddles have metal bows that are designed to be used like crossbuck pack saddles as well as with mantied loads.
I’ll explain the difference. Panniers are large bags or boxes that are hung on the pack saddle frame. On a crossbuck, they are simply hung over the crossbuck via straps, allowing one bag or box to hang on either side of the pack animal. Mantied loads are bundles of gear wrapped up and tied in a canvas tarp, called a manty, after which they are hung on the side of a Decker style pack saddle by ropes attached to the pack saddle frames. Mantied loads are great for hauling hay bales, feed sacks, or odd-sized items, which can be wrapped up in a bundle inside a “manty.”
For the style of packing I do, packing up manties every morning, prior to departure, is simply a waste of time. It takes a lot more effort to pack and balance the manties than to pack and balance panniers. Additionally, panniers serve as a place to store items while in camp, which can be pulled out and replaced as needed. Therefore I will restrict my comments on this post to pannier packing.
I purchased a pair of Phillips Formfitter pack saddles from Outfitters Pack Station, which I have found to be excellent and durable pack saddles. The leather is excellent and the frames and bars well made. While a crossbuck pack saddle has wooden bars that are fixed in position, the Formfitter pack saddle’s bars are mounted so that they can swivel, allowing them to adjust to a variety of pack animal backs. Additionally, accessory bars, made to fit a mule back, are offered as well, and can be changed out with minimal effort.
In general, the rigging of a crossbuck pack saddle is less cumbersome than the rigging of a Decker style pack saddle, which saves a little on weight. However, either style can be adjusted to suit a variety of pack animal body sizes.
A Decker style pack saddle normally has a cover, called an Arapajo, apparently called after a half-breed Arapajo Indian who first commonly used them. It is also sometimes called a “half-breed.” This canvas cover holds a 1 X 4 board on each side of the pack animal, which spreads the load and prevents items in the pack from poking into the side of the pack animal. It also protects the pack saddle and straps from excessive wear from use. While I have seen half-breeds made for crossbuck saddles, their use is uncommon.
Panniers, as mentioned, are either large bags, sometimes called “Utah bags,” which are made of a durable canvas or synthetic material, or hard boxes, into which gear and other items are placed. The bags are then hung on the pack saddle frame. Some bags are deep with narrow mouths, while others are shallow with wide mouths. Your own preference will dictate which you elect to use. I tend to like the Utah bag style, which is what is pictured above, because the depth provides plenty of room for anything one would desire to place in it, while the narrow mouth makes it unnecessary to cover the pack with a tarp when the weather is fair.
A canvas or plastic tarp may be used to cover the pack, which is then tied in place with a “diamond hitch” or a variety of other hitches that have been used for that purpose.
This cover retains any gear that is packed on top of the pack and panniers and keeps the load waterproof and dust proof. The tying of packing hitches is outside the scope of this post.
One caution, with regard to bag panniers, is that in a river crossing, if the pack animal should get into deep water or should stumble and fall, bag panniers that are open at the top can fill with water and can drag the pack animal under and drown it. Panniers made of “bear cloth”, such as the ones pictured above, drain water quickly, but not quickly enough to save a pack animal that has stumbled in a river. If river crossings are imminent, I recommend the pack always be covered with a tarp and well tied in place with an appropriate hitch.
Box panniers are handy for a variety of reasons. In some areas where I have packed, there is a danger from bears in camp. In areas where Grizzly Bears are present, government agencies regularly require “bear-proof” boxes to contain food items. Now, there is no such thing as anything bear-proof, however several manufacturers make bear-resistant boxes that qualify under the regulations. These are generally metal or heavy plastic boxes, into which gear and food items are placed. These boxes serve nicely in camp as tables and chairs as well.
An additional benefit of these “hard panniers,” is that they teach a pack animal to be careful of how close it passes by trees, rocks, and other obstacles. I once had a pack horse walk too closely to a point of rock on a narrow trail. He was bucked into the river when the box contacted the rock. When we passed by that rock on the way out, he was very careful not to let the box hit the rock. After a few days carrying hard panniers, a horse will be careful of a rider’s legs when under saddle. This is how I train my saddle horses not to brush my legs on obstacles.
Regardless of what kind of packs or panniers you decide to use, it is important to have a good pack scale, with which to weigh each pack. Once both packs a pack animal will carry are balanced to within 2 pounds or so, they are ready to be loaded onto the animal. In that way, the pack tends to stay centered on the pack animal’s back. If left unbalanced, the packs will tend to slip to the heavy side, which can cause saddle sores as well as some pretty spectacular wrecks!
A good pack saddle pad is important in order to keep a pack animal from getting sore from carrying a pack load. In the past, when I was using only wooden crossbuck pack saddles, I often used a pack saddle pad with a regular riding saddle pad on top of it, thinking I was better protecting the animal’s back. However, I learned that over-padding my Formfitter pack saddles actually causes saddle sores on the withers of the pack animal. It also caused the pack saddle to be unstable and turn under the load. The first day I packed with my Formfitter saddles, I had to stop nearly every other mile to re-settle the pack saddle on a particular Quarter Horse mare we were packing. Once we removed the extra padding, things went well.
I use 3/4″ thick mohair pack saddle pads of the Diamond brand, which I purchased from Outfitters Supply. They are offered by a number of vendors. I have found these pack saddle pads to adequately protect the back and sides of my pack animals. There are other, more expensive pads that are quite thick, which I have also found to be good, but I have not found them to be sufficiently better than my mohair pads to justify the extra expense.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I prefer heavy flat-braided halters and 5/8″ poly lead ropes. My halters are made so that I can attach the lead to a ring on the side of the halter, which allows the chin strap to put pressure under the lower jaw of the pack animal, to coax it to follow.
It also keeps the lead rope out from directly in front of the pack animal, so as not to obstruct its view of the trail or allow it to step on the lead rope, should it become slack. My lead ropes are attached directly to the halter via a loop I braid into the lead rope. I have no snap buckles on my lead ropes. A link to the seller of the rope and halters I prefer was provided in the previous post.
A lash cinch is a flat canvas cinch with a ring on one end and a hook on the other. It is attached on the ring end to a lash rope. My lash ropes are 3/8″ poly rope (the same type as my lead ropes) and are about 35′ long. Some packers use lash ropes as long as 50′. It just depends on what kind of packing hitch you prefer and how large your normal loads are.
Once a pack animal is loaded with its panniers, a top pack may be loaded on top. A top pack generally contains miscellaneous light items, such as sleeping bags, pack tents, clothing, etc. While it is a temptation to pack all these items in small bags and containers and then pack them into the top pack, I recently learned a new method that works much better.
On a recent pack trip to Alaska with a friend, he taught me to just toss everything into the top pack loose – the sleeping back unrolled, the clothing loose, nothing packed into any kind of bag or container. The top pack essentially converts into a suitcase for that individual’s personal belongings. This way of packing a top pack keeps things from settling to one side as the pack animal moves, requiring the top pack to be resettled on occasion. I found my friend’s way of packing a top pack to be effective in keeping a top pack centered and riding perfectly balanced on top of the panniers and pack saddle.
The panniers and top pack may then be covered with a canvas or plastic tarp. This tarp generally measures about 7′ X 8′ and is sufficient to cover the entire top of the pack and panniers. It is then tied in place with the lash cinch and lash rope, using an appropriate hitch, such as a diamond hitch.
A breakaway is a short length of breakable twine that is tied between each pack animal, which allows a pack animal to break away from the animal in front of it, in case of a wreck or other incident. I generally make mine of 1/4″ or 5/16″ hemp or manilla rope. Mine are about 12-16″ long with a loop braided or tied into either end.
Each pack saddle has a loop of rope tied to its frame that hangs out the rear of the saddle, over the rump of the pack animal. The breakaway is looped through that loop and the lead rope is attached to the other end of the breakaway, thus keeping a breakable connector between each pack animal. This is particularly important when pack animals are used in precarious terrain, so that if one pack animal should fall, it will not pull down others with it.
Having said that, however, I seldom use breakaways anymore. I found that my pack animals quickly learned that they could break away by simply pulling back on their lead rope and they would be free. Unless I am crossing rivers or otherwise dangerous terrain with my pack string, I either tie them solid to the pack frame of the animal in front of them or simply leave them loose to follow the lead animal. Once the pack animals have been “broke to the trail”, they generally follow well. But, unless you are absolutely confident in your pack animals, you should tie them. It is a melancholy feeling to see your pack string running loose, returning to the trailhead without you after the second or third day on the trail!
As I have learned many of the tricks of the trade, so to speak, of horse packing, I found a book by Bob Hoverson to be very helpful. Although he speaks mostly to outfitter style packing, I have incorporated much of the information he presents in the book into my horse packing routine and gear. I recommend it.
In my next post, we’ll talk about camp gear, with particular attention to horse-related gear. Stay tuned.
Another leg of my Mexico-to-Canada horse pack trip is coming up in May. A couple friends and I will be horse packing from Flagstaff, near where Dad and I stopped in 2016, to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Actually, we’ll be stopping this leg at Tusayan, but may take a day and ride a few of the equine trails in the Grand Canyon National Park along the South Rim. This leg, as close as I can calculate, will be about 108 miles. We’ll start making tracks from Flagstaff on May 13…if all goes according to plan.
The next leg will take me through the Grand Canyon and up to the AZ/UT border, east of Kanab, Utah. Not sure just when I’ll be making that trip. Hopefully this fall or next spring. Once across the “big ditch,” I should be able to make two or three legs per year and maybe get this whole thing done before I’m too old to ride!
So, I thought I’d write a post about horse packing gear and what I’ve learned so far, in the 555 miles I’ve packed from the US/Mexico Border in Arizona to Flagstaff.
A pack trip such as this, in which I travel from one place to another, and then another, never spending more than one or two nights in the same camp, is a little different than one in which an outfitter packs into a base camp, from which riders ride out and return each day. For instance, packing to a base camp might include a pack kitchen, complete with stove and maybe even limited cabinet space, while my camp kitchen consists of a single-burner on a propane can. Whereas the outfitter’s meal plan might include such luxuries as chile con carne and beef steak, mine is normally re-hydrated foods, including soups, stews, or scrambled eggs, and jerky. I don’t pack a tent, but sleep under a canvas tarp, whereas an outfitter would pack wall tents for his guests. Non-horse folks might equate the two different methodologies to family camping with a camp trailer and long-distance backpacking.
On this and related following posts, I will be talking only from my experience with regard to long-distance horse packing. Your mileage may vary, so to speak.
In this post, I’ll talk about the primary gear for the saddle stock, the stuff that carries the stuff on the riding horse. Here’s a list of my primary gear:
Riding saddle
Bridle
Halter and lead rope
Saddle pad
Breast strap
Crupper or britchin’ (optional)
Saddle bags
Pommel bags
Hobbles
Brush and/or curry comb
The riding saddle for a long-distance pack trip should be a well-made, sturdy saddle. I do not recommend saddles with flexible trees, such as are sometimes marketed for gaited horses, with claims that they flex to move with the horse. I have seen some serious saddle sores caused by saddles of this type. They tend to flex width-wise, such that the weight of the rider sits directly on the horse’s spine, right under the cantle. I recommend a saddle with rawhide covered wood tree, with a gullet width and bar angle suitable for your horse. The style of saddle (Wade, Association, etc) doesn’t really matter, except that it should have saddle strings for tying on saddle bags, pommel bags, slicker, jacket, etc. Show saddles normally lack good saddle strings. The saddle should fit the rider comfortably. A saddle with a seat length too short will become very uncomfortable to the rider within a few miles. Aussie stock saddles are quite comfortable, when properly sized for the rider, however, the inexpensive ones have very lightweight trees that are not very strong. They can fail under stress and cannot be loaded heavily with the rider’s personal gear. A riding saddle need not be expensive, but should be of good make and condition.
I bought my saddle used, in good condition, for under $400. It is probably over 60 years old, but it would be the equivalent of a modern new saddle in the $3500 range.
The saddle cinch is something I have carefully considered and experimented with. I use only 17 or 19 strand mohair cinches. I have not yet tried cinches made of alpaca, but they appear to be very similar to mohair. Cotton saddle cinches tend to stretch when wet and can become too loose during a long day of riding. I stay away from the wide roping-style cinches (right below). They are too wide and tend to cause rub sores behind the horse’s elbows. I absolutely stay away from neoprene and felt cinches, which also tend to rub sores on the horses, behind the elbows. These cinches also tend to hold moisture and heat against the horse, making them uncomfortable for the horse during a long day under saddle.
The standard 17-strand mohair cinch (left) is the gold standard for me. I have never had a horse develop a serious cinch sore from a mohair cinch. They stretch very little, pass water and heat quickly, and dry quickly. They are easy to clean and return to near-new condition after being washed in a bucket of water with a little soap.
The saddle pad should be of good quality. I prefer a 3/4″ wool felt saddle pad. Mine happens to be made by Five Star, but there are less expensive saddle pads available through various sellers that would work nearly as well.
My second choice would be a mohair saddle pad. These pads are quite firm and hold their shape well. They also wick sweat away from the horse’s flesh and they dry quickly. Avoid thick, pillowy saddle pads. These pads are not suitable for long-distance travel. I also recommend against neoprene and other synthetic materials for a saddle pad. Just like the cinches, they tend to hold moisture and heat against the horse and can cause saddle sores during long miles under saddle. Some people have brought it to my attention that the US Calvary in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, used only a folded wool blanket for a saddle pad. It should be remembered that calvary soldiers traveled very lightly loaded and it was their practice to ride for about an hour, then dismount and walk for about an hour. You won’t be doing that on a horse pack trip. I also caution against over-padding, such as using a too-thick saddle pad, even one of wool felt or mohair. A too-thick saddle pad will cause a well-fit saddle to fit too tightly on the horse’s withers and can cause pressure points and possibly saddle sores.
While some people adamantly recommend break-away halters and lead ropes, in my opinion those items have no place on a horse pack trip. You simply cannot have your horse break away in the night and head back to the trailhead that might be 50 miles away. I always use heavy-duty nylon flat-braid halters with welded steel or brass rings and buckles. I have also found that the weak link in an otherwise heavy-duty setup is the lead rope buckle. I have eliminated the buckles from my lead ropes. I make my own lead ropes from 5/8″ poly rope, into which I braid a loop in one end and a return on the tail. The rope I prefer can be purchased by the foot from Rigging Warehouse. A horse cannot break it, yet it becomes soft to the feel with wear and is quite comfortable in the hand. The halters I prefer come from Outfitter’s Supply. These allow the lead to be attached on a side ring for pack animals and under the chin for a horse under bridle.
The bridle for a trail horse should be simple and sturdy. I prefer a bridle made from 5/8″ or 3/4″ harness leather with a browband and throatlatch. I prefer split reins of 5/8″ harness or latigo leather, at least 6′ long, although I knot them together, so I can lay them on the horse’s neck when I need to use both hands on something else. These reins tend to have a comfortable feel and balance in my hand. I use a curb bit marketed by Robart, which has proven to be comfortable and effective on my gaited horses. I occasionally use a braided rawhide bosal for training, but I do not use any form of bitless bridle for horse packing or trail riding. This is a personal preference for me, as I consider it to be a safety issue.
I consider a breast strap to be standard gear for horse packing. It keeps a heavily loaded saddle from slipping too far to the rear on a sweaty back when moving uphill. I prefer a mohair breast strap, because it passes moisture away from the horse and dries quickly. I have found that a heavy leather breast strap, such as is used for cattle work, will wear sores on the horse’s breast as it gets wet from sweat and gathers grit from the ride. I currently use a breast strap made by Hilason, but have still gotten mild sores on my horse’s breast during a long pack trip. The rub sores come from the leather medallion in the center of the breast strap. I intend to fabricate my own breast straps with no leather medallion and see how they perform. Keep an eye on my website, because if they work, I may offer them for sale to my followers.
A crupper or britchin’ is an optional accessory. A crupper is made to hold a saddle in position on the horse’s back when moving downhill.
They are effective for trail riding, but I do not use them on long pack trips, as they can wear sores under the horse’s tail. I also use a crupper for training my trail horses, because it teaches a horse not to be too concerned when a lead rope gets pulled up under its tail. For those horses or mules that are “mutton-withered” (rounded withers) or slight shouldered, that allow the saddle to move too far forward when moving downhill, requiring the cinch to be uncomfortably tight, a britching or “butt strap” is useful. My horses have sufficient shoulders and withers to keep the saddle in place under normal circumstances, so I do not use them on my saddle stock on pack trips.
Accessories such as saddle bags and pommel bags are useful on trail rides and pack trips, but care must be taken not to overload the horse. I usually put in them things I may need to access during a day of riding. I carry lunch and snack items for the day, as well as several survival/emergency items, such as a compass, waterproof matches, cigarette lighter, and flashlight. On pack trips I also may carry a change of clothing in my saddle bags, unless there is sufficient room in a pack pannier. For trail rides I may also carry water bottles in saddle or pommel bags, but on a pack trip I use a military canteen hanging on the saddle horn. For pack trips I also carry a power pack for my electronic accessories, such as my iphone and Garmin GPS unit.
I prefer leather pommel bags, but I have used canvas saddle bags for many years and have found them satisfactory. I like the canvas saddle bags with heavy flat-braid nylon or leather straps and metal buckles. I do not like plastic buckles, due to their propensity to break when you need them most.
I do not like the saddle bag/cantle bag combinations units, as they are not convenient for what I carry on my saddle during pack trips. I prefer saddle bags over which I can tie a slicker and coat without having a cantle bag in the way. A few year ago, I purchased a very large set of saddle bags, made of a heavy synthetic “bear cloth” material. They are very handy, due to their large capacity, but it is easy to overload the horse with them and I am careful to watch what I put in them. The same is true of many of the high-capacity pommel bags commonly offered by various makers.
The final item for this post is a short discussion about hobbles. It is important for a horse intended for trail and/or pack trips to be trained to hobbles. Hobbles restrain the front legs and are handy for allowing a horse to graze during breaks and in the mornings and evenings on pack trips. However, hobbles should not be used to allow a horse to graze overnight. Most horses will learn to move along pretty well, despite their front legs being hobbled. As they do so, they tend to wear sores on their pasterns from the hobbles. Many people fix the hobbles to the cannon area of the legs to avoid the sores on the pasterns, but my experience is that the hobbles will eventually end up on the pasterns anyway.
Years ago, I spent a bunch of money for several sets of very nicely made leather hobbles. I still have them in storage, most of them unused. They quickly wear sores on my horses, to the degree that I consider them unusable. Besides that, they are bulky and heavy. I have used flat-braid nylon hobbles with some success, as they are easy to clean and maintain and are durable, but, again, if left on too long, or if the horse tends to move around a lot while grazing, they will wear sores on the pasterns. The best hobbles I have come across were made by my dad from a soft nylon rope we found along the trail. I keep a pair of those in my saddle bags at all times. They let my horses know they are hobbled, but allow some freedom of movement. They are light enough that they do not wear sores on the pasterns. They are light, easy to clean, and easy to store in my saddle bags.
That’s about what I consider to be my primary gear for my saddle horse for horse packing, based on my experience. In future posts we’ll talk about camp gear and personal gear to fill out our equipment lists.
Next post we’ll discuss primary gear for the pack stock.
I got up early…but not too early, had breakfast, hitched up my trailer, and headed out to see the horses. I enlisted the help of my son-in-law to help me catch-up Oreo, who was to be taken to Harrisville, Utah to meet her prospective new owner, Cindy Boccia. Oreo is a little reluctant when it comes to being caught in a big pasture, so I knew it would take a few minutes. After allowing the six horses to run around the 3-1/2 acres for a while, they finally decided they’d had enough fun and games and settled down to be caught – Oreo last of all. We haltered and tied each one, after which Oreo stood to be haltered.
We loaded Oreo and Apollo into the trailer and I headed north toward Kaysville, where I picked up Jon Tanner and his yearling filly, Luna. Since we were to meet the Brand Inspector at Cindy’s place, we decided to bring Luna along to get her inspection done as well.
Once at Cindy’s place in Harrisville, both Luna and Apollo received their brand inspection. While that was going on, Cindy and I let Oreo out into her smallest corral, which was probably about a 75′ diameter round pen with a run-in shed on one end, so that Cindy could see how Oreo is to catch. After just a little effort, Oreo stood for me to halter her. She has been improving in that area over the past month or so, but she is still stand-offish. I am sure she will continue to improve and will eventually come to be haltered, under Cindy’s care.
Cindy, Jon, and I then loaded Apollo and Oreo back into the trailer and the three of us headed back to Kaysville, where we dropped Luna and loaded Jon’s Missouri Fox Trotter mare, Maya (Luna’s dam). We then headed over to Antelope Island State Park for an afternoon ride.
For those unfamiliar with Antelope Island, it is an island in the southeastern part of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Over the years, the State of Utah has used it as a breeding ground for the state’s herd of buffalo, antelope, and bighorn sheep. Each year the state holds a buffalo roundup, where they gather the buffalo, cut out the surplus and sell them at auction. The roundup has gained national fame and multitudes of people with their faithful steeds gather to participate. Registration for the event is held online and the available slots are filled many months in advance. The populations of buffalo and other animals are left to run wild, but are managed closely for health and numbers. The park service has created a number of trails for equine, foot, and bicycle traffic on the island, making it a prime trail riding experience for those who enjoy a relaxing day ride, while being able to view wild buffalo and other wildlife of the island. For further information, see their web page at:
Just a word of caution, buffalo are dangerous critters and they have no tolerance for the intrepid rider coming in among their herd. Do not think of them as cattle! Always stay well clear of them. There are more human deaths in Yellowstone National Park from buffalo attacks than from bear attacks!
The weather was not perfect, by any means, however. It was cold and a little breezy, with gray winter clouds hanging low over the mountain tops. We were unable to see the Wasatch mountains east of us. However, the temperatures were not too bad for riding, as long as one wore a couple layers and a good coat. We saw several other horse trailers parked in the White Rock Bay parking lot, but encountered no other horses on the trail.
As the real purpose for this ride was to allow Cindy to get acquainted with Oreo, we planned for only a couple hours on the trail. There are a number of trail options, each differing in distance and elevation changes. We chose one that would take us around one of the hills on the island, offering nice views, both of the landscape and several small herds of Buffalo. There were slight uphill and downhill grades, as well as some long flat stretches where we let the horses stretch out their legs and get into gait for a ways.
As both Oreo and Apollo are Tennessee Walking Horses, Cindy and I put our horses (she on Oreo and I on Apollo) into their traditional running-walk, for which the Tennessee Walker is famous, while I coached Cindy a little on how to recognize the various gaits and how to teach her horse to select and stay in the running-walk. Oreo has been unschooled for a number of years and prefers a stepping-pace. She will need some correction to learn to stay in her very nice running-walk. Cindy picked it up quickly and will have Oreo gaiting perfectly within a short while.
We discovered that Oreo wasn’t familiar with velcro. Cindy went to pull out her water bottle and when Oreo heard the velcro come loose, she shied and side-stepped a bit. She also became a little uneasy at some bicycles, but was easy to handle, even when being skittish. Cindy handled her well under all situations.
Apollo, still a bit unsure on the trail, shied at a row of monster horse-eating boulders at the trailhead, but I was able to convince him to walk between them. Thereafter, he was fine. He shied along with Oreo at some bicycles, but handled the whole situation quite well. The bicyclists were very accommodating, in allowing us to have the horses stand and observe the fearful objects until they realized they were harmless.
So it turned out to be a good trail training day for both Oreo and Apollo and a nice exercise ride for Maya.
As the weather began to deteriorate, we headed back to the trailer, arriving just ahead of the snow. By the time we were headed back to Harrisville, the weather had taken a turn for the worst and we found ourselves driving through poor visibility and falling snow. Still the roads were not bad, just wet.
Jon and I dropped Cindy and Oreo off at her place in Harrisville, where she and I prepared all the paperwork for the transfers of ownership for Oreo and Apollo. Once Cindy has had Oreo a while and has decided they will make a great pair on the trail, she will send in the paperwork to the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food and the ownership transfers for Oreo and Apollo will be finalized. As always, with my horses, I offer a 30-day trial period, during which the prospective owner may evaluate the horse, and if, for any reason, they do not feel the horse is right for them, I will take the horse back and refund the purchase price. In this instance, the purchase price is Apollo. Cindy and I have agreed on a trade, horse for horse.
Jon and I then headed back for Kaysville, but took a slight detour en route for a nice Philly Cheesesteak sandwich at a local sandwich shop.
After dropping Jon and Maya at his place in Kaysville, I headed back south for Salem. When I arrived home, it was snowing heavily and the roads were beginning to get slick. After dropping Apollo at the pasture, I nearly jack-knifed my trailer while making a turn into my neighborhood. Luckily, I was moving slowly and a little pressure on the gas pedal straightened everything right out. It was nearing 8:30pm when I backed my trailer into its place at home. I was glad to be back home to enjoy a warm evening indoors with my good wife.
You must be logged in to post a comment.