Trail Riding On Horseback

Yes, I have! Actually, my first real time riding a horse for more than a couple minutes was on a full trail ride.

It was during a trip to Nashville I took with my high school class back at the time and we stayed at this very traditional ranch. We rode horses up the trail for a couple hours and then returned to the saloon that night for hot cocoa, board games, and songs around the campfire before bed. It felt like a scene right out of the movies!

 

That trip sounds like a weird accident waiting to happen! Haha. I used to ride trails as a teenager but haven't in a few years. It's actually very popular where I live, it being such a small town. There are several "trail rides" every year in the area. They tend to turn more into big parties at night, though, so I tend not to go.

 

Growing up, I belonged to the Horseman's Association, and we would often to trailriding all day, and occasionally, we even went on an overnight trail ride. The last trail ride that I went on was about 10 years ago, and I was still not quite 60, and used to horseback riding several days a week. Even so, this was a challenging trail ride.

There were four or five us, and we rode up to a place called "Goat Mountain", which is actually on the list of highest peaks in Idaho. The trail was an old Forest Service trail, and used when they went up to the lookout during fire season. They made the trp with pack mules, which are a lot more sure-footed than any horse is.
The trail had not been used since the year before, and there were a lot of downed branches and even a few trees, that we had to either cut with the handsaw, or try to pushoff of the trail, or go around when that was possible.

It must have taken us 3-4 hours of riding to get to the top, and parts of the trail, we had to dismount and lead the horses, it was so narrow. At the top, we gladly ate our sandwiches and drank our water, and gave both the horses and ourselves a much needed break before heading back down again.

The trip down went much faster, probably only a couple of hours, but still needing to lead the horses through the bad (read scary here) parts. I was totally exhausted by the time I got home that night, and so ready for a hot shower and a long night's sleep! The highest green mountain on the left with the long bald slope is where we rode to. The bald slope near the top is where it was straight up and down, and we had to dismount and lead the horses.

 

Hi, @2sweed! (What an interesting name, by the way)

I grew up in North Idaho , and have lived in Washington, Oregon, Missouri, and now I am in northern Alabama where I can live closer to my daughter, Robin. For most of my life, I have had horses, as well as a variety of farm animals; and lived out in the country.

One of the best adventures on horseback was going on the Buffalo Range Trail ride. It is held near Ravalli, Montana on the National Bison Range there. I don't know if the ride is still held anymore, since it has been a lot of years ago that I went on the ride; but it was an annual event that drew trail riders from all over. The ride itself actually started on Sunday morning, but just about everyone got there on Saturday, and set up a camp for the night. Cowboys would bring their guitars along, and we would all sit around the big campfire that night and sing cowboy songs. They had a nearby cafe that served buffalo steaks and hamburgers, which were actually pretty tasty, considering that they were wild game animals.

On the ride, we usually saw the bufflao, although not up close, since they can be very dangerous. There was other wildlife to be seen, and once we passed a tiny fawn lying right along the side of the trail. The little fellow laid still while about 200 trail riders rode by, with his mother hiding out in the brush, anxiously waiting for us to all get past so she could collect her baby again.

http://www.allwhitefish.com/nature/national_bison_range.php

 

I love trail riding. One thing I have always wanted to do was go trail riding for a week into the mountains. Never get the chance though. Can't afford my own horse and renting one is out of the question. So I will just have to dream until the day comes.

 

I have never been on a week long trail ride in my life. An overnight trail ride is about as long as I have ever done, and I was always really glad to be home after spending two days in the saddle. Even though I rode my horse almost every day, neither the horse nor myself was in good enough shape for a week long trail ride in the mountains. I can see where it would be great though, to be able to ride up into the mountains and be that far away from civilization. You would need to have 1-2 pack mules as well as the horses to take along everything that you would need for camping and eating on the trail.

 

@2sweed, I do really like Alabama ! I am at the age now where I do not want to have to wade around in snow, let along shovel it, and fight to get in and out of my driveway in the winter, and in the spring. In the winter, I would drive my Mazda pickup up and down the drive way about every hour when it was snowing, just to try and keep the road cleared so I could get out in the morning. Some nights, it was just snowing so much that I had to park out at the road and walk up the driveway to the trailer. In Spring, the whole thing turned to mud, and I had to park out at the road for 2-3 weeks until the frost went out of the ground, and the water could sink in.

Here, I live in town, and the only animals I have are my two little dogs, but life is a lot easier for me to deal with here, and I enjoy the warmer climate. I miss my horses, but you can't have everything, and at this point; I would have a hard time taking care of a horse again anyway.

 

As I got older, it was harder and harder to ride a bouncy trot, but trail-riding is mostly done at a walk; so I still enjoyed doing that for as long as I had horses. I had a friend who lived out in the countryside, and I kept my horse at his place, or often, rode one of his horses, and would go trail-riding with him on my days off from work. Sometimes, there would be several of us, and sometimes it was just us, but it was always enjoyable, and I loved seeing the views down the mountainsides, and splashing across the creeks as we rode though the trails. I would have been seriously lost, but my friend rode there all of the time; so he always knew right where we were at.

When we got back to his cabin, we would sometimes barbecue a chicken for dinner, and then he would take out his guitar and we would spend the evening singing songs in the twilight. One of his other friends also had a guitar, and even though she didn't ride horses; she enjoyed coming over for the singing and guitar playing, and they performed some beautiful songs together.

It was a wonderful part of my life, and I am glad that I have the good memories of doing those wonderful trail rides.