My current mare was a pretty good show horse before I got her. I’m not a show person, I just wanted something to trail ride with. I had to do a lot of retraining with her. She’s an Arab/Saddlebred cross so her past training was that they wanted her reactive to stimuli to get her in show form. Pretty to look at but you really don’t want a high head, high stepping, prancy, dancey horse when you’re out on the trail and that big buck comes flying out of the hedge row and takes off for the high country. She has a great mind and attitude and wants to please you so her training was easy to do. Once she figured out that what I wanted was planted feet, calm nerves and to just relax, she quickly picked it up and is a great trail horse. She’s come so far that I now take her out on Trail Trials and she is really coming along and has fun. We have a trail trial this weekend we’re going on.
Mine was a Big Lick TWH. The ones with the giant pads under their front hooves. Got him as a 4 year old. After a giant rear up and over meltdown, a few years of “light in the front” he steadied down to trails. New experiences like flapping tarps, giant feed bins, piles of trash, etc were faced until he touched it with a nose. At 17, he’s the kid packer yet fun over logs and gaiting the trails.
I have! My horse spent 7 years on the A circuit before I took him on his first trail ride. He got burnt out competing, so I started trail riding him, and now he foxhunts first field too! He’s never been happier. It took him a while to get over water, rocks, squirrels, twigs, etc, but he leads trail rides now. We spent several months rearing and spinning followed by leaping at every water crossing, but now he doesn’t bat an eye and is ol’ reliable whenever a non-horsey friend wants to go for a trail ride!
Yes! I got my OTTB when he was 10 and he had never been ridden on anything but a dirt track or in an arena. He was mostly in a stall or dirt lot, and was allowed supervised turnout for an hour a day, alone, in a grass field. I have no arena and my horses are generally out 24/7. It took him a while to stop tripping up on the grass when I rode him and actually look where he was putting his hooves, but he got there! It always took him a couple years of trail rides to become more trail saavy- aka not stumble on rocks, not try to be a speed demon down a hill, pay attention to trail debris, and to cross water without hesitation, but now he is absolutely fantastic. We still show as well, but we also do ALOT of trail riding, just 'cause it’s too fun not to. 
My other horse hadn’t really done much in his life (I got him when he was 12) and had been abused and neglected. The owners before us only had him a month (they rescued him from the bad situation) but he threw the parents and the kids and was supposedly awful spooky on the trail. So we bought him and he is now a fantastic trail horse. I did show him for a few years, but he lost some eyesight in one eye from the abuse and has that nervous personality- the combination did not do well in a hectic warm-up ring. So now he is leased out to a woman that absolutely adores him and pretty much only does trails. She’s even hoping to do some CTR’s soon.
Like others said, you can make almost an horse a trail horse. You will be able to tell if they enjoy it or not once they understand what they are being asked. Some love it, some don’t. You just have to listen to your horse.
Yes, turned my successful qh western pleasure horse into a heckuva trail and foxhunting horse. He was delighted to get out of the arena.
My OTTB after track, steeplechasing, and flunking out w/Dave Kelley as a show hunter, likewise became a foxhunter and trail horse.
Lynn Lloyd (MFH Red Rock) routinely buys show hunters/jumpers after their careers (or if they are having unsuccessful show careers) and makes them into foxhunters. If you buy something from her it was likely in the show ring before hunting.
My friend bought a 5 year old National Showhorse mare bred for English Pleasure. I guarantee you that horse had never seen a trail in its life. It was either two or three years later my friend won both the AERC 100 mile National Championship and the AHA National Competitive Trail ride on that horse IN THE SAME YEAR. She was all business when she hit the trail.
We had no proble
[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b386/clanter/NitaandFoxie.jpg)
[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b386/clanter/MrMResWorldchampWorkinghunter.jpg)
They also did many other things
Yes, and successfully. Former Arab A circuit horse, 11 years in the show ring. He did not want to go on the trails when we first tried, though! He would follow another horse, but panic if by himself. A lot of miles following calm trail buddies and he eventually figured it out. It took some patience, a calm rider and lots of exposure. He has become our unflappable steady eddy, the one we put first time riders, little kids, fearful adults on trail rides.
This is all interesting! Great thread! I actually looked at an A-circuit hunter pleasure Arab that I liked, but was scared of how he would be outside of an indoor ring! I guess there is not real way to know how they will be on trails when you try one who’s had a pampered life with little turnout is there?
[QUOTE=allisontatman;5870049]
This is all interesting! Great thread! I actually looked at an A-circuit hunter pleasure Arab that I liked, but was scared of how he would be outside of an indoor ring! I guess there is not real way to know how they will be on trails when you try one who’s had a pampered life with little turnout is there?[/QUOTE]
Allison, I think if you always allow that EVERYTHING is new and astonishing and give the horse time to absorb the new, you will be ok. Allow at least 6 months of regular outings to get him used to your local environment. Know the challenges he is likely to meet, don’t overdo it, and always tell him that he will be ok. My arab had lived alone in an enclosed (by hedges) paddock all his life, and was totally amazed at everything he saw. I think it was the wide open spaces as much as anything. More horses! Cattle! Pigs! :eek: Hills in the distance! Rattling leaves on the silverbirch trees, leaves on the ground (dare he step on them?) just about anything would reduce him to a trembling wreck.
Now he loves to go out, and loves being the leader on the trail. and loves trashing his way through knee-deep leaves. If he is uncertain, he stops, head up, ears pricked. I just sit and wait until he gives a wee nod of his head (ok to go!) a scratch on the wither, and we’re off again.
As others have said about their horses, now he is the one that a beginner can ride; he takes great care of new riders, but once he gets their measure he starts working on their skills, lol. Arabs are lovely intelligent horses, but I admit I’m biased:)
I had a standardbred who also took a while learning not to trip over the grass - she had only ever been on the track, but she absolutely embraced the trail-riding life. No track was too narrow, too steep, or too muddy , once she got her legs sorted, and she never showed the slightest nervousness, even though I often was a bit scared myself.
In 6 months you’ll look back and wonder at the progress you’ve made. Have fun, and good luck.
