What is your favorite way to carry your drinking water on trail rides? I’m in hot-hot Texas, and I get dehydrated. My saddle is an Abetta ‘endurance/trail’ and has no horn. Currently I have a small (too small) single water bottle holder hanging from the front dee.
I’m not seeing a double water bottle holder, or one that’s big enough for real full-size water bottles.
Horse Bums makes a really nice saddle bag with huge water bottle pockets and she’ll customize colors. Stowaway is another good option. Both will attach to an endurance saddle.
Great idea thanks! “What if you get separated from your horse?”
I find that drinking as much as possible, like multiple glasses of water with breakfast, before leaving on the ride is also helpful.
Hydration pack or vest is the way to go. This vid will give you an idea of what is involved.
I carry these. Usually 4 20 ounce bottles on a long ride. 2 on my cantle pack and then I have 2 individual Stowaway water bottle carriers. When it is REALLY hot, I take partially frozen bottles.
carry some water purification tablets with you, those things are designed to convert even the most bacteriologically questionable water suitable to drink.
I used these while in Asia, a 50 tablet bottle will purify 25 to 50 quarts of water depending on the water source… very inexpensive about $7 per bottle of 50 tabelts
I carry water in front and back packs on my horse, and if I’m going far enough will put a life straw (water-purifying filter straw for drinking from streams) in my tights pocket. However if there is no fresh water where you are, I’d certainly wear a pack. I also second (third?) pre-hydrating, and using a bit of electrolytes (I like the kind that I put in my waterbottles, taste like lemonade!)
The one thing I always consider is that if it is extremely hot and I need that much water, then I really need to limit the duration and speed of our rides.
I buy western saddle bags and attach a strap to them so they clip on my English saddle in the front. The bag’s weight sits in front of the saddle on the horse’s neck. No rubs or complaints from the horse. The only thing i need to pay attention to is keeping the bag balanced so it stays centered. If you drink all the water on one side of the bag, it will slip sideways.
I typically carry four 32 oz bottles in the summer ( 1 gallon total). The Ozark trail bottles you buy at walmart. I want enough water to dump on me or the horse if it gets too hot out. And that is for an hour to hour and a half ride in the summer.
We rode 10 miles today and I drank all 6 cups (and 2 cups before I left the house). I should have brought more water then that as I drank everything I brought with me. And it wasn’t even hot today, not by Florida standards.
I try to bring more water then I think I might need. You never know if you might get stranded. Good to pack food, a cellphone and wire cutters.
I have a couple of cantle bags for english saddles, which hold 2 water bottles (I can put 1L bottles in them). They weren’t expensive & work great – gets hot & humid here too. They are similar to this, but have bigger water bottle pockets: https://www.sstack.com/dura-tech-english-cantle-bag/p/18351/
Try googling “english saddle cantle bag” for some ideas.
Hydration packs. I use Miracool 2 liter one. It’s great!
I have two Platypus SoftBottle Water Bottle with DuoLock Cap that I bought from REI. My saddle pad has pockets on each side, and they fit snuggly. I did an 18 mile ride the other day and I felt like I had enough water. I like that they fold up.
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