I’m good most weekends, although I’ll be on foal watch shortly until the Blessed Event. Houserabbitz is usually game for weekends too, so e-mail me; I would love someone to ride with.
Me too! My Arab is a great little girl but boy can she spin me off. :eek: She’s fast as lightning and before I even know what happened I’m sitting in the dirt and she’s standing over me. I’m considering buying an australian saddle to use on days when she’s particularly amped up.
Percherons trail riding
My Percherons LOVE trail riding. They are stable, willing mounts, who will go long distances, if conditioned. They rarely spook, don’t buck or run away and they are brave and smart and LOVE to go out all together, in one big herd of humans and horses. We have taken as many as six or seven out on the trails and it is a blast!
There is nothing like a bunch of Percherons splashing in the local river together! or cantering along a trail! We have had lots of people pull over and tell us they have never seen anything like it and they own horses!
They are safe enough that we can put a bunch of teens on the “mares” and wave good-bye as they head out over the hills.
The only thing is once the temps get really hot, they aren’t so happy after a few miles. Then we ride in early morning or evening. However, the winter chill just doesn’t bother them at all!
Hi Everyone! There was such a nice response to this thread that I thought I would post a quick update with pictures. Pocket Pony came down to my house this weekend and we did a bunch of trail riding, GG has been out now about 8 times and is becoming a good little trail pony. I bought her a Arab trail saddle and it has helped me a lot in the confidence department.
Here’s a picture of GG the Hanoverian doing her very best Cow Pony impression
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2806315120052562123KYDcXt
And here’s a link to some pictures from a couple of our recent adventures
http://pets.webshots.com/album/563109041MBoEqe
It’s so great to have such a nice pair to teach us the ropes 
What nice pictures! GG is looking very spiffy, as are all of you. I’m glad to see that all is going so well with trail riding for you and GG.
BEAUTIFUL!!! Miss GG looks quite content and your smile says it all. Ain’t it great?! 
Thanks clint! And I WILL get over there soon for Mt Diablo (and to see your baby!!!). I was out of town, then interviewing most of last week, then PoPo came down and just left yesterday. I will email you separately and see what we can work out.
Funny thing is I have zero desire to show anymore (which is good now that I am unemployed as well and could not afford it if I wanted). There’s just nothing better than a mosey down the trail for me.
PePo!!! I love the pictures! GG is a superstar and Miles is always happy to go out with her. One of these days we’ll get to Cool!
My non-traditional trail horse is a TB(chestnut mare at that). She was trained as a show hunter and did fairly well at it. She topped out at 15.2 and 1/2 hands. She’s now my old lady horse and we try many activities including a recent western riding lesson. Our favorite activity lately is trail riding. We do lots of different types of day rides including Poker Rides. We have tried some moonlight rides, we go camping and weekends away with friends at horsie b&b’s. We went for a weekend camping ride a few weeks ago and she even tied up well to a tree so I could eat my lunch. In two weeks, we are going with some friend’s to the mountains to a b&b for a fun horsie weekend. I’m sure we’ll do at least one moonlight ride, take advantage of the dressage, indoor and jumping rings as well as the cross country course and trails.
My old dressage horse (Hanoverian/QH) is now my husband’s trail horse - dressage saddle and all. She loves to go out in company (not so happy alone, though she’ll do it). She is semi-retired due to various old injuries and arthritis, and doesn’t hold up to ring work, but is happy to wander the trails, with the occasional canter or low jump thrown in. It keeps her fit without stressing her joints (our trails are mostly grassy paths and farm roads in rolling countryside, nothing too rugged).
Ooh, me too, me too!
Just getting into the trail thing (h/j, here) but my guy LUVS it. I think he’s getting spoiled… He seems to really like our trail-ride days. (don’t want him to love it too much - jumping is too fun!)
We’re going up to Hiskens to try eventing fences for the first time in June. Looking to do some horse camping this summer and try the “wilderness” out…!!!
My new gelding is an non-traditional trail mount…He’s a TB and is 17.0hh and 1,200lbs.
Every time i go out trail riding i get asked what breed he is and how tall is he…the persons eyes goes wide in amazement for few seconds and after they come out their shock…i get asked how i get on him…i tell them i get on him like i do my 15.1hh QH or their little 14.3hh Arab but just with a little more effort and oomph added.
Scooter(my gelding) is an ex-racer but ever since coming off the track he’s been a western horsie and doing lots of trail riding so hitting the trails is nothing new to him.
He’s also going to my dad’s mount(when i’m not riding him) since my other gelding refuses to tote him around longer then 15 minutes.
Scooter is big and tall and not the most common of breed on trails but is a great trail mount!
You’ll love Hiskens! The horses like it a lot - there are jumps for every level, the footing is great on the grass (the sand arena can be hard in the summer), the camping is fun. It will be a great experience for you guys!!
That hill looks like lots of fun. Cute mare too by the way.
I hope you enjoy riding her out there- much more fun than riding around in circles.
I’ve always been the queen of strange breeds of horses doing things they arent’ “suppose” to do. I barrel raced an arab, I did trails on a Irish Draught, and now I have a dutch harness horse/arab X I am training for endurance.
Proud owner of a warmblooded trail horse!
So I can officially count myself among the ranks of warmblood trail horse owners! This weekend my 3yo Oldenburg filly went on her first 2 trail rides! She went out for a short loop Sunday and a longer one Monday. She was so amazing; crossed the river and the train tracks without a hitch! I am such a proud mommy! I think we are going to make the trails our number one priority since she is too young to jump yet! Plus it is great for thier minds and bodies!
I have a 9 yo Hanoverian gelding that I ride dressage with. He is an excellent trail horse and I think he prefers it to anything else we do. I took him to Northern Florida this winter and spent a week riding with Tom Curtin at his ranch. We went out on really long rides and worked through quite a few issues on these rides. The countryside was beautiful and there where times we would trot for miles, which gave us the opportunity to work on our medium trot etc.
We even attempted to rope a few cows. It turns out that my horse who spooks and can get very silly in the arena is a very brave trail horse. It was the hands down best thing I have ever done with my horse and I am going back again next year. Tom was knowledgable about dressage and made things make sense to folks who spend most of their time in another discipline.
I even bought a Western saddle. While I love my dressage saddle (Prestige), the western saddle offers me much more security if things get interesting on the trail. I don’t know who feels more “out of sorts” in the Western saddle, me or my horse, but it does the job!!
This is my first post on this BB. I have read it for years. I would put a picture up of us with the cows, but I don’t know how.
