I live in South Carolina where the summers are long and hot, so I try to get away in the summer for a month or more.
I have ridden out west in The mountains a few times but never on my own horse.
I want to bring one of my foxhunters, he is small, (15.1) and an awesome trail horse.
However he is not a mule so I don’t want to scale Grand Canyon type mountains!
I am pretty open as far as states, just not anywhere hot, that is what I am running from.
So anybody have any suggestions on a place my horse and I can stay with great trail riding.
You might try reaching out to Back Country Horsemen of America. They have chapters in each state and they would know where to point you.
Many ‘stay and ride’ places provide mounts, no telling what some client’s idea of “trail broke” might mean and given the nature of some of those places terrain I don’t blame them.
Anyway, BCHA would be a starting point.
Stay up at high altitude and you won’t get too hot. Are you looking at staying at a ranch, or just wanting to know where to go for good riding? There’s plenty of campgrounds in the National Forest in the west where you can bring a horse and camp. They have corrals and water. You can stay 14 days and just ride out from there into the backcountry.
Go to Trailmeister.com for a listing of campgrounds, trailhead amenities, and trail conditions. You might want to go with an outfitter rather than hauling your horse across the country and they provide safe, experienced trail horses.
Depending on how far west you want to go…if you go all the way to the Pacific Ocean there is amazing trail riding at Point Reyes National Seashore, and b&b or camping accommodations. Also farther north in Humboldt county and the redwoods there. Weather is cool and often foggy in the summer, though certain months are better than others. The high Sierras in Northern California also offer great camping opportunities, and riding on the Pacific Crest trail, and are high enough to be cool even in summer. Enjoy your adventures, report back for sure!
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If you’d be up for going north instead of west there may be a few places that fit the bill. We do get our own heat/humidity up here but I imagine it’s still cooler than where you are now. Acadia National Park in Maine comes to mind, lots of great trails (carriage roads) and stalls managed by the carriage company that operates in the park. There was not turn out designated for guest horses last time I was there but for such a long term guest perhaps you could work something out to use their turnouts for a couple hours a day. I’m sure there are stables outside the park that offer temporary boarding as well.
Good luck in your search!
And to me, going north far enough to get cooler weather seems a lot less daunting, logistically and economically, than going west would be from South Carolina.
A few hundred miles north + some elevation = pretty nice weather in the summer. I’m in southwestern NC at modest elevation and, while it’s still pretty hot during the day in the summer, it’s usually at least 5-7 degrees cooler than it is even 100 miles farther south.
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