Trail Riding Blues....

[AKB]

Guilherme is right. You need to try the trail horse in a number of situations before you decide if he is right for you. I knew that my prospective horse had been a lot of places while he was Eventing. He was always the horse they used to make sure new working students could ride before they put them on the greener horses. He had been out on the trails for his conditioning for Eventing. I rode him in a group and out on the trail alone while I was trying him. I trailered him to a park to see how he was in strange places. While we were out alone, we encountered a woman who was driving her pony down a narrow trail. She asked if my horse would be ok if they scqueezed by and passed. My reply was that I didn’t know, as I was just trying him out for purchase. My horse was worried but stood like a statue as the pony went by. The woman laughed and said “Buy him!” I bought him and am very happy with him.

Somewhere, Mr. Right is waiting for you. Keep looking. Also, be ready to get some help (e.g. a weekly schooling session by a pro) when you buy a new horse, so you can increase your odds of success.

[SuzieQNutter]

Thank you for your update. You did not say what type of ground work or what type of lessons you are taking.

I do dressage riding and my groundwork is lunging correctly in side reins.

Bringing my guy back into work I went out by myself and he bucked when he wanted to canter. With another horse he bucked every time the other horse went out of walk. Sigh.

8 weeks and 4 lessons later. During that time I started taking him out on a short ride daily before walking home. It has 3 canters and then walk home. He has been perfect with that.

Yesterday we went out with hubby. Both are otttbs. My boy was a star. It was the first time my husband had galloped. My boy was over taken in the gallop. He stopped when I asked. He walked. He halted and walked when the other horse was upset and he walked home 200 m behind the other horse. I was sooooo happy with him.

[fledermaus]

My own experience is that the only way to get a trail horse is to take a horse out and ride it on trails until it is one. That “wet saddle blankets” thing actually works pretty good on most horses.

[SuzieQNutter]

Wet saddle blanket works on most horses and all disciplines.

[hosspuller]

I’ll agree, it takes time. My current horse was a handful at first. He was sold as a horse with “hundreds of trail miles” I quickly discovered it was the same ten miles at home repeated.

One aspect not covered in the purchase process is your relationship. I have taken to leading a prospective horse for a long walk without anybody else around. We test each other. Horse tries to walk faster/slower. I check him and see if we can “click” together. I try to startle/spook him. Will he calm quickly for me ? Does he learn to ignore my spook movement quickly? I don’t know what I’m looking for exactly … but it seems to get me horses that are teachable to be “the” safe trail horse.

[SuzieQNutter]

What does he do that you deem dangerous?

[SharonA]

What is the age of the horses you’ve tried? Maybe a nice mellow BTDT friend, in their late teens or early 20s, would fit the bill.

FWIW, my first horse was perfect. She was perfect when I tried her, then we got hit with an ice storm the day after she arrived and didn’t have an indoor, so no consistent work for a couple months, and by Spring, she was… well. A couple days in a different barn with a good trainer and alittle work, however, and she was then perfect again, for the rest of her life. So, they are out there. New fella and I have had a few “teachable moments,” as he was advertised as a trail horse but while he is a star with other horses all sedately behind him in a line, a la leading a kids’ summer camp trail ride, I don’t think he’d ever been anywhere alone in his life. And, he doesn’t really love the trail; he is very happy in an indoor ring [which he never had for the first 20 years of his life. But, once he found out about them and their nice footing and relative lack of bugs, he became suddenly very interested in dressage.] But, we have it mostly worked out, and we are like a little old married couple now, puttering along the trail and nattering to each other. He is probably saying, “This is silly. Why can’t we go home where it’s comfortable?” and I’m saying to him, “Don’t be an old fuddy-duddy. Look how beautiful the woods are,” etc.

Don’t give up. They are out there.

[Simbalism]

I have TBs. My older mare was a little spooky and hot headed when I first started riding her( I got her as a baby). Over the years I did lots of different disciplines with her, some bombproofing clinics and just plain wet saddle pads. She has been an awesome trail horse for years and lately has been the therapy horse to all my older friends that have required surgery or had injuries. My younger mare is an OTTB and I got her as a very green 6yo. I liked her because she was not flighty or spooky, and I built on those qualities by doing lots of ground work, introducing her to lots of new things, and having a friend ride her while I rode my older mare(her pasture buddy). We had some time off as a team due to some health issues for me and family issues. My friend rode her some and I have had a trainer working with her once per week. I am just recently getting back to riding her more. I took her out with another lady where I board last week for a trail ride and she was great. A few more of those under our belts and we will start doing some solo rides. Good luck finding a mount that works for you.

[shiloh]

OP, you have been given some excellent advice here. Please don’t be discouraged - good horses are out there, they might just take a bit of work to find or you might just luck into one.

One thing - and don’t laugh - look for a horse that others might describe as boring. My idea is that boring horses go everywhere and boring horses do everything. One of my BOs told me once that my last horses was “SO boring! I would hate a horse like him!” I smiled and told her the boring horse thing and she got all mad and stomped off. Her horses - all nut jobs that either dumped her, ran off with her, threw tantrums and were generally very scary. To each his own - but I’ll take a boring horse any day. I have this thing about coming home in one piece. :yes:

[akdraft77]

I think that first, you need to be honest about your expectations. What do you want the horse for? What is trail riding to YOU? Are you talking hour or two rides in the neighborhood, along the road, or are you hitting the wild? How often are you going to be riding? Make a list. There is a big difference between a performance horse you are hitting the mountains with on a regular basis and one you are riding for pleasure around the neighborhood.

Your hard-core performance/trail horse is probably going to need more regular work to keep him in shape and sane.

Your lower energy, “steady Eddie” pleasure horse you intend for shorter, less frequent rides around the neighborhood is less of a performance animal. You’ll probably be looking for something a little older. Maybe a horse who’s teenager is moving off to college.

If you try to make a high energy performance horse into a steady eddie, its going to take lots of miles and lots of maintenance. Best to try to buy one that is already steady eddie. They are out there. I have a few. I bought them that way.

I find my good ones by word-of-mouth. I called respected trainers in my area and was brutally honest about what I was looking for. None were cheap.

[TMares]

@PuraVida

Greetings, all! Long time reader, first time poster here.

I’m trying to find out if I just have bad horse radar or what. Over the span of 5 years…

SNIP

Next horse was sold to me as a “broke trail horse” as well w/the blessing of my instructor (not her fault, of course). The horse was, again, fine when we rode on property. I brought him home (where I boarded), and it turned out he was incredibly buddy sour. It was manageable b/c the barn was w/in eyesight all the time. It turns out he was a heck of a great lesson horse as my instructor used him many times each week w/her students, but since I’ve moved him to my house, he’s become dangerously barn sour w/my Haffie (and is becoming nasty as hell toward her).

***NOTE: I can handle spooky, nervous, cranky, bored, and lazy horses. What I don’t have the confidence to handle is dangerous (like my current steed). I’ve taken numerous lessons over the years (and still take them to this day). I know about groundwork, etc. The first two horses were sold to me under false pretenses so I don’t feel too badly about buying them (although I should’ve insisted on further trying out), but the third is just a case of buddy sour that I unfortunately cannot fix alone. I know realize that I need to get a horse on trial here on my property to make sure he’s a good fit.

So… do I just have terrible luck finding one that fits me? Honesty, I don’t have a lot of confidence anymore. I’m 40, and I have a new knee, two small children, and a husband who would like me to survive my hobby. But…am I crazy for wanting a quiet, sane trail horse to just poke around on for a while one or two days a week? Do they exist? My hubby made a joke the other day about how many horses can a person go through before they find the “right” one…and I guess that’s my question as well? Please be honest, but kind. Thank you all in advance!

My DH first horse was the perfect husband horse. He would stand there all day while you figured out a halter. Broke to death, sober as a judge, just a great horse, steady on the trail and with a good sense of humor. He was, however, the same horse that would carry you to the end of the driveway and then very carefully turn a half circle and just as carefully bring you back to the barn you could thump in the ribs and whack him with the reins and he’d just look at you. If you actually plow reined him around to one side and gave him a solid thump with the outside heel and growled at him a bit… he’d calmly turn back around and actually go where you wanted to go. You just had to actually insert your quarter and ride your horse. You couldn’t just say giddy up horsie. As they got to know each other, the need to establish the rules diminished.

I sound like a smart ass, I know, and for that I am sorry. The thing is that you have to ride the horse. You have to put in some time to build in some respect and responsiveness and forward … and only then can you just poke around. If Pokey is standing around with just one other horse 24/7 and you only occasionally make demands on him, he’s going to be a jerk. Well, ok, most of them will be jerks.

[saddleup]

I’ve turned four show horses into excellent trail horses. All were Paint geldings, so that stock horse mind helped a ton, but more importantly, all were really, really broke. Of course venturing into the great outdoors was stressful for them at first, but I always went at first with a steady eddy horse for its leadership and yes, babysitting value. Usually by the third or fourth outing they had calmed down and realized they weren’t going to die, and even started having fun out there. I ride in the nearby mountains, and we come across everything from mountain bikers, hikers, motorcycles, to moose, elk herds, free range cattle, rivers, etc. I also had good luck buying one gelding from a working cattle ranch, with photos and videos to prove he had “been there, done that”. He was perfect from day one. I could put anyone on him, and he’d adjust his level of energy to fit the rider.

[RiderInTheRain]

I think you’ve gotten lots of super advice.

I know you have mentioned that you have taken a knowledgeable trainer/horse person with you when horse shopping, but are these people trail riders themselves who do the type of trail riding you desire to do? Because in my experience sometimes riders/trainers (even those who are very knowledgeable and talented) can be really kind of clueless about what makes a good trail horse if all of their riding is done in an arena. You will get the most useful and relevant advice from an experienced horse person who is also a trail rider.

I think buying trail horses can be tough because unlike show horses, there is no official record detailing where a horse has been and how well he has performed. On a very small scale, I do some buying, training, and selling of ponies and trail riding is a huge part of what I do with them. If a prospective buyer expresses an interest in trail riding (and they have gotten along fine with the animal in the arena), I will haul the horse to a local trailhead for them to try him out on trails other than the ones that can be hacked to from home. I try to also have lots of pictures and video of the horse out on the trail to show to people ahead of time.

I feel like these are both normal things to expect from someone who is selling a trail horse, just as it would be normal to see video of a horse doing a 2’6’’ course and then ride him over a 2’6’’ course yourself if you were shopping for a 2’6’’ hunter. And I think the willingness of the seller to provide these things may in itself give you some indication of if you are really looking at a trail horse or a “fill in the blank here” type of horse that has the potential to be a good trail horse. Of course, you may exclude some perfectly good horses by being strict about only looking at ones with this type of information available, but I think it is one way you might be able to hone in a group of ones who are likely to be more suitable.

[Guilherme]

Re “wet saddle blankets,” any bozo can sweat up a horse. That may not make things better and can very easily make things worse.

INTELLIGENTLY wetting the blanket is an almost universal cure in almost every discipline.

Just WHAT you do to be intelligent in your wetting process depends on rider’s discipline, skill level, training available, equine temperament, etc.

If you’re going to do this get one of these:

https://www.ebay.com.sg/itm/152592757749

Put it on the bumper of your trailer. It will be a constant reminder to not become a bozo, hire a bozo, or listen to the advice given by bozos.

Simple, yes?!?!?!?!

G.