Where are you located? There may be an organized group of trail riders in your area who would be glad to go out with you for confidence-building.
Just go out and have fun. Going out on the trail is not something mythical invention- just get out there and ride. If you are a reasonably confident rider and your horse has a decent amount of training youāll be fine. That fence around the arena is more for your brain than theirs
2 Likes
While I agree in part, this is kind of a ābroad brushā to paint with. Not all horses are created equal, as not all riders are. Horses pick up on the nervousness of their riders and you can get into a āclosed loop feedbackā reaction that can end badly. Working with other quiet horses and riders, or just working in short but increasing time segments, can help keep the novice rider more confident and thus the horse. In spite of what Curly once said, itās not just āone thing.ā 
G.
see note that was in my postā¦If you are a reasonably confident rider and your horse has a decent amount of training youāll be fine.
Either way, I highly disagree with drugging your horse (or placebo-ing them as in the case with most of the calming stuff lol) to get it out on trail.
If you canāt find anyone to go with you OP- maybe ask around for what the best novice trail is- an easy couple mile loop with no fancy water crossings or anything, maybe something low trafficed- then go hike it first so you are comfortable with it before you take your horse out
2 Likes
When I bring home a new trail horse, we go for walks, at first. Just lead them down the trail one at a time. Wear gloves and make sure you have a good, strong, lead rope and halter. I prefer the nylon, buckling kind for this work. I have seen rope halters slip. Bring rewards, if youād like to. Reassure them, with your voice only, when they spook (petting them can reward spooking, with some horses). Reward them for being brave and walking up to scary things. Make sure they see it with both eyes, or they will spook again on the way back. Be sure to go on garbage day so they can experience plastic bags, garbage trucks, and flapping things. Introduce them to school buses by knowing the schedule and picking an area with plenty of open space so you can give them room, if they need more distance. Go on the weekends when neighbors are mowing. Set up obstacles at home (look up horse obstacles; itās quite popular now). In hand leading is a great way to build trust. Iāve trained many trail horses and this works well.
Calming supplements are good for emergent situations. I would take the time to train the horses instead. I would want to know what my bothers my trail horses, so I can focus on it. If I take the edge off, I might not know what he needs work on.
I hope thatās helpful.
I suggest preparing them for strange things well in advance.
Iāve done a Trail Riding clinic with by WB who hates nature, and it really helped him improve his choices in a strange environment. create obstacles like:
Loose pool noodles that the horse has to step through, so they learn to pick through things. They learn that stepping ON strange feeling things is OK, too.
Make a Ground fence with pool noodles that they have to step over comfortably. This is a couple of 2 x 8 or so " planks with a 2 x 2 or so spacer at the ends, Insert upright pool noodles into the spaces so the horse learns things can touch and rub across the belly and be fine (like shrubs on trails).
Try a rotating thing that you can mount in a ground pipe. Put flags on both ends so the horse can see something moving away as you grab the other end and walk in a circle. Great for branch movement on the trail.
Tarps are great to get your horse comfy in footing and sound-of-footing changes, You can make a bridge or a row of sturdy planks that also really change the footing and sound. You can have a hose with punctures in it that you ask someone to turn on - change in feeling and sound as the horse steps over the hose.
All of this stuff is to create a āforeignā environment that your horse will eventually learn to say āyes, rider, I am listening to youā and tackle. A horse that can do these things in the arena is a horse that will do these things on trails. My horse had a meltdown originally but is now a solid obstacle horse and one who can listen to and have faith in me on trails because I spent time on weird things in the arena.
Well, the most likely reason this assumption is made is because itās usually largely true.
Iām a self-admitted purist, and proud of it. I want horses who are 100% okay inside because Iāve helped them get that way, not because Iāve taken a shortcut. Drugging is a shortcut, plain and simple. Sometimes itās a necessary short cut, in the case of a horse who needs emergency medical care, dental care, etc and thus the urgency of the situation necessitates the horse being entirely compliant and there is no time to help them get educated. But this is not one of those scenarios.
What drugs and calming supplements do is help the HUMAN get done what they want to get done when they want to get it done. They do nothing to help actually educate the horse as to what is expected of him. So if youāre looking to, as the OP seems to be, do a lot more trail riding, it makes sense that you would want to spend some time getting your horse good about being out and away from the barn. OP appears to have the ability to do this, which then suggests to me that THEY are actually the ones carrying some anxiety about what their horses might do while on the trail and that they will not be able to control it.
In which case, drugs are never going to fix that problem. Confidence in both horses and riders come from experience. If I were the OP, Iād start off taking some short trips into uncharted trail territory. Maybe do an unmounted trip first. Iād be sure to be very aware of if and when I started to feel my horse getting balky or stuck while we moved further and further from the barn and as soon as I become aware of that, Iād purposefully calmly turn the horse back towards home until they settled. Once settled we turn away from the barn again and proceed onward. If things are going well, Iād turn and head back then instead of pressing on. Iād rinse, repeat this cycle until I can take my horse on a good loop and have them remain calm. This is not to say that the horse might not see something that concerns him, but once that concern has been appropriately dealt with, the horse should come back down to being relaxed.
People run into problems on the trail more often than not because they have not prepared their horses properly. Having things like a solid stop, the ability to quickly turn your horses nose to you with a unilateral rein, the ability to dismount and remount anywhere at anytime using anythingā¦these tools are far more valuable to you long term than a bottle of Ace or a tube of Perfect Prep.
1 Like
Iāll add my voice to those who say, start now and take them for unmounted hikes to see the area and remove the rider factor from the new situation. You donāt have to go for miles, just walk up the road, eat some grass, turn around and come home, and next time go in a different direction, time after that go a little farther, etc. If theyāre pretty level headed, and you are too, youāll get an idea of their reaction if a garbage truck goes by or a kid pops out of a garage on a bike. Then with your new confidence in each other, you can try it mounted.
And, the first few trail rides of the season can be a little exciting, even for experienced horses. Donāt write off the whole experience if you get a taste of spring fever. This too shall pass.
Thank you to those of you whoāve given me actual practical tips on preparing my horses for success on the trails! Iāve already been working on desensitizing and Iām thrilled to have more methods to add to my repertoire 
for those of you whoāve presumed that my riding skills or my horsesā training is lacking, this is simply not the case. Iām a calm, skilled rider and my horses are extremely well trained. Iām simply trying to make this new experience as stress-free as possible for both of them Ć¢ĀĀ¤ĆÆĀøĀ
No need to be defensive. No one knows you, because a) itās the internet; and b) you have 24 total posts to your credit on COTH.
If you stay on COTH, you will learn that a lot of newbie posters are not calm, skilled riders with well-trained horses.
1 Like
Not defensive at all! I just donāt think most of the criticism was constructive.
Iāve been riding for sixteen years, but only recently discovered this forum. Iāve shown at the national and world levels. I donāt think itās fair to say newbie on an Internet forum automatically equals inexperienced, though I understand that may be oneās thought if thatās been their experience. Ć°ÅøĖÅ
1 Like
Right, itās that default assumption with facts not in evidence that drives me nuts. Ok, maybe not as nuts as being quoted and then taking me to task on a point that was actually made in my post, but I digressā¦ I get it, a fair number of unqualified people come in the internets asking insanely stupid questions, so believing you are dealing with the lowest common denominator is the easy way out. Iām of the opinion that that might also be the worst way.
(Donāt get me wrong, if you have an opinion, great. Share it. Just show the mental deftness and social grace that allows for the idea that you a) may not have a monopoly on the Only Way and b) you may not know how capable the person on the other end of the conversation is)
But a simple fix is for someone to start with that āNew poster hereā¦but not new to horses. Have been riding for 16 years and have shown at national and world levels. My question is about trail ridingā¦ā
Thatās a huge amount of information in one sentence. Many new posters come in with āIāve been riding almost my whole life and have been a trainer for 3 years.ā Three pages in we find that itās a 15 year old kid looking to buy a weanling to train at a kill auction but has no trainer/barn/arena/trailer/parental support or money.
Sorry, I see no reason for someone to give their resume in order to ask a question, solely to make following basic social norms easier for a random stranger.
And your example happens. Very rarely. Itās not ALL the new posters, but the plan is to start with that assumption? Does that really sounds like an effective way to make friends, influence enemies or impart wisdom to those seeking it?
3 Likes
Heavens, DMK, relax. I wasnāt ātaking you to taskā. Take a step off the soapbox. Insinuating that Iām crazy and canāt follow āsocial normsā is unnecessarily insulting.
You go on the net, you ask a question, youāre going to get a variety of answers based on all kinds of assumptions people will make about you. This is the limitation of the internet. Want more tailored information? Go ask someone who knows your experience level well.
2 Likes
Agreed. Just as being a newbie on COTH doesnāt mean youāre inexperienced, being experienced on COTH doesnāt necessarily equal being competent in the real world. If weāre going to say people should start posts by rattling off their achievements then that should be asked of everyone. Personally I think itās good ask questions if youāre unsure, rather than to make assumptions.
2 Likes
No butā¦
thereās going to be a big difference in advice if you tell me youāve been riding for a year vrs 16 so itās a pretty helpful thing to lead with. And itās a pretty fair assumption that when one of a posters first posts is how can I take short cuts with supplements, that poster is inexperienced.
1 Like
Clearly itās not a fair assumption though, because you were wrong.
The helpful answers Iāve gotten to my question could be helpful to anyone reading this discussion whether theyāve been riding one year, sixteen years, or longer. Iāve gotten advice on administering products or ace. Iāve gotten practical advice on desensitizing and preparing horses for the trails. Iāve gotten advice from personal experiences to trail clinics and everything in between. None of that required knowledge of my skill level. In fact, I think itās great for advice to be aimed at all skill levels so more people than just the OP can benefit from reading the discussion (though if thereās any doubt of the OPās competency itās totally reasonable to ask clarification or advise them according to your understanding of their skills. Thereās just literally no reason at all to be rude lol)
2 Likes
Not rude, honest lol. But in all seriousness, if you feel that a beginner and someone who has been in the horse world for several years should be given the same training advice, you should probably find a trainer/ instructor rather than get yourself hurt.
2 Likes
Nope, actually super rude. Youāre also taking what I said out of context. I donāt think the advice should be the same for all levels, but that the range of practical advice Iāve gotten in this thread could apply to all levels. Thereās been advice given that could benefit a newbie (especially about ensuring thereās trust between horse and rider and being solid on maneuvers like stopping, turning, etc. before going out on the trails). Thereās also been advice given that would benefit more advanced riders, including the desensitization exercises. I definitely believe that advice will be different based on experience, which is why I said that itās fair to ask for clarification or to give advice based on understanding of the skill level of the OP.
I trained with top trainers for many years back when I competed and am still in contact with them, though I donāt train at the level I used to and mostly pleasure ride now. My skills and knowledge are just fine, but thanks for your concern.
