I am into my third season on being camp cook on pack trips in Yellowstone National Park! We have a great string of horses and mules, but we have a bit of a problem this year. The mules we pack our gear on are belgian’s. They are great solid animals with great laid back dispositions, but they keep growing. My bosses assumed that they would stop growing at some point and they potentially have, but they are GIANT. This year our workers for packtrips are me at 5’9", my boss at 5’ 8" or so and a new girl at 5’4" or so. Do any of you have any advice on how a shorter girl can help with packing and tying giant mules? We use decker saddles, so the packs just hook on. Our top packs are light-ish and we tie the packs on using a box hitch. If anyone has any advice please let me know! http://www.yellowstone.ws/
How about one of the small, folding step stools? They raise you up about a foot, which would help a lot. Just extra work to keep moving the step stool out of the way of the horses. It folds down to about the size of a magazine, and 1 1/2" thick for last thing into the pannier.
Otherwise, maybe a round of cut wood as a stool, which can be left at the camp as you move out.
I never thought of tall horses being a problem to load, but that height has to be QUITE difficult to manage. You could tell the owners that you want Haflingers instead! Same bright color, usually quite calm to work with, but a lot closer to the ground. They can manage a good size load, stay plump on small food quantity or grazing. Lot of Amish crosses available locally, all handled and good workers.
Sounds like a fun job, meeting lots of folks and riding almost daily.
Either hire a tall wrangler or get something to stand on. A couple of flat rocks might help. I’d sure be looking for depression to get the horses to stand in before I started loading them.
I ride my 16H geldings and pack my 14-3H mares for just that reason. I don’t mind riding a tall horse, But I sure hate lifting elk quarters up on a tall horse.
Where in the park do you ride? I love riding that area.
But have mostly rode in from Bechler Ranger station or up in the Hayden Valley, with the occassional trip in from Turpin Meadows. We also ride around Two Oceans and Lake Matilda near Jackson and Granite Creek south of town.
With our BelgianX, I’ve had to resort to a small fold up step stool. It goes in the overpack after Ned is packed up.
Looks like this one: http://www.allmodern.com/Kikkerland-9-Easy-Fold-Step-Stool-ZZ09-KKL1340.html?refid=GX10690177020-KKL1340&ctg=527a&PiID=3643300&PiID=3643305&gclid=CIvJx7Tr3bACFSoZQgodhx3i4A
I know you can get them cheaper at walmart.
Heavy weight lifting.
My sister and I had to pack 16.2H mules when we rode the Bob. She is 5’4" and I’m 5’2 but her DH is over 6’. The packs were 100# on each side and we had to lift them above our shoulders. It took all 3 of us per pack, 2 lifting and one hooking. My sister and I did the lifting while her DH did the hooking. We were both too short to reach over the mule or beyond the pack to hook.
We both are/were very strong for our size. Even so, I remember I was at the top of my capability. It was a very difficult a task.
Maybe find a low spot for the mules when you are packing them. Unless one of you can actually hold the pack alone and hand it off to the person standing on a stool using a stool could become more problematic. Very difficult to step up while carrying a heavy load.
Or the person hooking could use the stool on the opposite side?
I would look up the local Backcountry Riders in your state and ask that question there. I’m sure you’ll find more experienced folks in the horse/mule packing hobby. Here is the website:http://www.wyobch.org/
Sorry, no idea. I clicked on this hoping for a picture of giant mules and short people!
If you’re already doing a box hitch you don’t need to do much from up top. On our girl trips where we often had a bunch of short folks we would just have one person on each side to make sure the ropes/top packs are centered. We did a modified hitch that was really easy, I wish I could explain it-you did all the work from the side except for the throwing over and it didn’t matter how high the pack was. I haven’t done it in years… DH and tall DS have taken over most of the packing now…
Short people are good for helping to hoist the pack up or supporting the one on the offside so the pack doesn’t get wonky when only one pack is up. We’ve had to use two people to hoist a pack while someone else clips on. I’ve had the whole dang pack sitting on my shoulders leaning on the pack animal while something gets organized too-short people have a place in packing! lol
When you need to be up higher obviously standing on a log/stump/rock/hill is handy but we have always gotten by without…unless I (at 5 feet tall) am tying a diamond-then it’s absolutely necessary for me to be up on some sort of elevation!
I bet I know those mules-DH shod for the Park the last few years and we know two of the outfitters that supply mules for the Park as well…
Somewhere I have some pictures of short people and huge pack mules but I’d have to locate and scan them. We borrowed a huge mule named Ernie for a pack trip a few years ago…
[QUOTE=NEWT;6388766]
I would look up the local Backcountry Riders in your state and ask that question there. I’m sure you’ll find more experienced folks in the horse/mule packing hobby. Here is the website:http://www.wyobch.org/[/QUOTE]
Actually a better resource for packing is an experienced outfitter. BCH are great horsepeople and they know the local trails/regulations but IME they are not necessarily packing experts. They function to clear and maintain trails. An outfitter’s job is to pack loads. I’ve seen some messy ugly packs on some BCH missions but an outfitter won’t stay in business long if he doesn’t know how to pack… Not dissing on BCH but I see them recommended over and over and it’s not always the best tactic…
