07/04/2024
"Oh, you're just a trail rider." Riders, particularly those in the arena disciplines, do not appreciate the qualities of a good trail horse. Any horse that can take a rider on a good long trail ride has to be versatile. The horse has to get along with other horses. It has to be open to new sounds, smells, footings, visual impressions and more without spooking. A trail horse has to listen to the rider in a crowd where other horses that might act up, take off, or otherwise threaten the peace and safety of the ride.
I have a lot of respect for anyone who can take a young horse and make it a good trail horse. The bottom line is these trainers have to build a high degree of trust with the rider in the horse. A good trail horse can handle mud, deep water, ice, rocky terrain, slopes, railroad tracks, pavement, traffic, ditches, logs, bridges, ticklish hedgerows, other animals from goats to cattle, or a bear to a rattlesnake, all without panicking.
I came up on a rattlesnake on a trail ride. It was coiled and threatening. At first, I thought the rattle noise was crickets. My horse, a well trained and valuable polo horse, quietly stopped and carefully backed up without a hitch. I had a horse that could be ridden over a bridge with a see-through metal grate floor or roadway. We both could see the river 30 feet below as the horse's metal shoes made their way across the metal grate footing.
While trail riding with a group on a full moon night we mixed in with a large grazing herd of deer as if we were invisible due to the horse's scent covering our human scent. On a January trail ride after a long snowstorm, my horse enthusiastically made a pathway through a five foot high snow drift. While crossing a hedgerow my horse's legs got tangled in unseen barbed wire. He stood perfectly still while I dismounted and unraveled the tangle. All these are traits of a good trail horse.
If you think a trained trail horse is "just a trail horse", you are mistaken. Trail horses are among the best mounts because of their versatility, temperament and problem solving abilities. An authentic trail horse can go anywhere in any season, at any time of day, in any weather. Please think for a minute and compare these trail horses to the specialized discipline horses of today. I'll take a trail horse every time.
