I’m thinking about getting another horse specifically for trail riding. My current quarter horse is very calm on trail, but she is klutzy and not a fan of going up and down hills. I belong to a club that does rides once a month up in the mountains and the terrain is hilly and the trails are narrow. I’m considering adopting an arabian from a local rescue but I have zero experience owning them. I would like to find a horse that is sure footed with good stamina, but not crazy. I’m a very experienced rider, but on trails, I just want to relax and enjoy the scenery. What are your thoughts?
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If all I was ever going to do again is trail ride, I’d have a gaited horse in a heartbeat.
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Yeah, if you don’t mind that gaited horses are fattening, they are trail bosses. Also, it will be better if you’re a solo rider, as many/most gaited horses power walk harder just walking than do most trotting horses.
These are broad statements, of course. Generalities. But I’ll never own another trotting horse 
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Sounds right up my alley! I need me a walking horse! 
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Without even trying my 12.3hh Icelandic out walks any non-gaited horse she goes out with
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But if you’re going with a group of people on non-gaited horses and you’re on a gaited horse, you, and they, will end up frustrated with each other. You’ll either be holding yours back to stay with your friends, or going up and back, then up and back again to sort of stay with them.
I’ve been on rides with people on their gaited horses, and I, on my Paint gelding had to lope to keep up with them. Not that much fun. Find out what the makeup of the group is, and plan your purchase accordingly.
I personally love a good Arab, just like I love a good horse of any breed. Shop carefully.
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I have a very rare little SSH who walks like a QH. He doesn’t even look like a gaited horse, per se. But he gaits a hole in the ground and has a canter to die for. He’s rare enough that could I reasonably clone him I could retire today
With that said, he cannot keep up with my two TWHs, even just plain old walking their overstride is insane.
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Unless you get a chance to keep the rescue for a trial period, you won’t know if it’s suitable for what you want to do. Some are great and other’s might be like your QH or worse. If I was buying a horse to be safe on specific terrain, I’d try to find one that is already doing it. You kiss less frogs that way. Talk to members of your group and see if anyone knows of a horse suitable. Someone might have Dobbin at home that they don’t have enough time for since they prefer riding Whiskers.
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I’ve owned walking horses and I do love them, but they tend to outwalk everyone else on the trail. Definitely a possibility though.
One cool thing about this particular rescue is she competes the horses in endurance rides before adopting them out (at least some of them), so I would have a good idea about the trail-worthiness.
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Okay! That sounds a lot more promising! Definitely worth looking into.
I grew up with Arabians. If you want one, get one. They can be awesome.
But…
What’s better than sliced bread for trail riding? A no-nonsense standardbred! Sure-footed? Check. Stamina? Check. Not crazy? Check.
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I was just going to come back and suggest that, but again, it depends on the horse. My dearly departed Moe was a great trail horse (though I’m not sure how he would have been on tougher terrain than we have here), but we had a 1:51 pacer that tripped over shadows. My daughter was lunging him to get used to the saddle before his first ride and he tripped whilst walking and did a face plant on the roadway between the shedrows…and she still rode him after that. Poor boy had road rash from the stonedust. Fortunately no more face plants and he was a good boy too. We often wondered how fast he could have raced if he was coordinated.
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Absolutely. Everything depends on the individual!
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This is something my current mare would do LOL
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Ohhhhh, Texarkana. How easily thou doth call the OP away from the light.
OP, all breeds are equal but some breeds (cough, Arab) are more equal than others, to quote George Orwell in Animal Farm.
But, my Arab outwalked most other horses. She was not remotely crazy; she just loved the trail and liked to flow regally right along; she owned every trail she set foot on. If I were planning to regularly go out with a big group, I would want to know that I wouldn’t always be holding back my horse. I guess I would find a group with alot of Arabs, which maybe you have. Or I’d accept that I would get wherever we were going before the pack of quarter horses got there.
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I’m on my 3rd Walker & pls explain?
If anything, I’m skinnier now than when I inherited #1 from DH.
With the exception of my 2nd TWH, they do trot as well as gait. #2 was hardwired to gait, never trotted, even in pasture.
But his gait felt like getting a backrub, so…
He was also sure-footed enough to keep up with (& not outpace) a group of 7 riding mules on the very vertical trails of Brown Cty.
#1 Eventing with DH
#2 @ Brown Cty (treeless saddle)
#3 last August on trails with my Driving Club.
He could have cared less about the carriages
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Consider a mule. There are gaited mules. But for sure footed, mules are the best --check out the videos on line and of course the Grand Canyon mule ride --haven’t had a rider/mule accident in over 100 years .
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Im joking around. They are fattening because there’s no posting and riding is so effortless vs a trotter.
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I hadn’t thought about that. They require special saddles though, don’t they?
