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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 898
  
Location: Idaho | I know this a barrel racing board but I thought I would ask this as I'm sure most of you do trail ride! My gelding is, I'd like to think, pretty well trained. I ride him a lot, indoors, outdoors, taken him around the property (which is pretty big), hauled to see the sights (most of the time he is hauled by himself) and he does wonderful. No fuss, no foul. He is a good trail horse and I usually go in a small group, and he does awesome. But there are days that I would love to go out on a trail by myself because there is no one around, to give him a break from being in the arena. Sometimes I will walk by myself around the property, granted it is all pretty open but it is generally fenced in so in case something does happen, he won't be going "too" far.
I ride him a lot by myself, and we have always been like that so I feel we do have a good bond and the trust is there. I think a lot of that shows when I take him to new arenas or new experiences, that all I have to do is generally talk to him and work him through it and he usually comes right around. But he still IS a horse and I do well to remember that when it comes to new situations.
So is there anything I can do to help me along in this? I've done alone trail riding before but not with one who has never been on a trail.. alone.
Edited by DashNDustem 2017-02-17 9:07 PM
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 No Name Nancy
Posts: 2715
Location: never in the right place | how old is he? how big is your property? I would continue to walk around the property, trot etc. when you are comfortable with it and him just go for it. Wear a helmet please. |
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  Ms. Marine
Posts: 4627
Location: Texas | I say just go for it and see what happens. If you've got to take baby steps and slowly ride out further and further away from your usual then do that. You can't be timid, afraid or nervous or else your horse will feed off of you and that's how problems start. Just relax and go have fun! |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
 
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | I just point and go  |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 898
Location: Idaho | ctdrumrunr - 2017-02-14 11:47 AM
how old is he? how big is your property? I would continue to walk around the property, trot etc. when you are comfortable with it and him just go for it. Wear a helmet please.
So just point and go? Sounds so easy!
He is going to be 6 in May, so still young but he is pretty calm and mature for his age. Occasionally he gets to feeling good but it's usually he attempts to do something, but then once I get after him and put him to work and think about his behavior, he cuts it out really quick. He is a looker, but generally I have learned if you let him look and check things out for himself, then he just checks it out, assesses it then moves on. Where he is at is HUGE.. I'm guessing 200+ acres. And yes, I have a helmet I wear. I won't ride without my helmet. |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6437
Location: Montana | I'll trade you your coming 6 y/o for my coming 3 y/o, LOL! I take my coming 3 y/o out by herself...and have done so 3 to 4 times and will continue to. She gets a little nervous and wants to whinny for her friends (occasionally act out), but I work her a little and she's fine. Do wear a helmet, because you never know what could happen, but the only way to do it and build their confidence about it is to go for a trail ride by yourself, and just keep doing it!
When I got my other mare back from the trainer about 7 years ago, I had no other choice but to ride by myself most of the time as I only had one horse, and my friend couldn't always come. So I just went and went and went...put a lot of miles on that horse that way and still do. She was older, though, about 9 y/o, but hadn't had a lot of training (mostly left out to pasture). We had our spooks, like any horse of any age and/or experience, but you get over them and keep a going! |
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 I hate cooking and cleaning
Posts: 3310
Location: Jersey Girl | If he is good minded he will probably be just fine. If you get all tense about it then so will he.
Just go farther and farther (on your property) until you are comfortable to "just do it." |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | When I broke my youngsters we did alot of trail riding and pasture riding didnt hardly use arena's untill it was time to start doing some barrel work and tracking calfs. Would take them to help others move cattle, my horses never knew what a arena was I had to get them use to being in them,, was a scary place. |
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 Toastest with the Mostest
Posts: 5712
Location: That part of Texas | Just remember to make acting up or turning back more work than he wants to encounter. I have to ride alone on our ranch to check fence a lot of the time and encounter this problem with many of our herd-bound horses. When they start to act up, we do plenty of small circles that make the acting up and wanting to turn back to the barn more work than just walking forward and getting the job done. Give yourself extra time in the ride to work through the issues so you don't get frustrated and hate the experience. Just know that it will get better the more you don't let them get away with acting up. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 929
| Where I was at we didn't really have an arena so I had to work my horse on trails...I started on the same trail every day with a group of riders from different ranches. As they go to their places they left and pretty soon it was just myself and another rider or just us. She got used to this and the fact that others would join up or leave at any time and it was all...fine. She was 6, and I never had any issues with her. If your horse is calm and has a good mind you should be alright.  |
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 Veteran
Posts: 112
| I used to ride a lot by myself during highschool/undergrad. I would also be a little nervous taking them out alone, because whether they are 2 or 20, they have a mind of their own! I agree with those who said wear a helmet! Another thing I would do is maybe do a majority of your ride in the arena, and then for your "cool out", go on a trail ride. That way he is a little more tired and will be less likely to do anything. It sounds like he has a pretty good head on him though! Just start with short trail rides and gain confidence for both of you, and then increase from there :) |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 898
Location: Idaho | Soo, I did it!! I went ahead and decided today that I was going to "point and go" and take my boy out in the big pasture! We just went the same route we normally go with the other horses, except for a small variation at the end. We walked through a small stream that leads into the big pond, walked around the big pond. There will like a million canadian geese camped out there and they took off in flight when we got close. He just stood there and watched them fly off in their huge flock, I think I was more nervous about that then he was! But once they were gone we walked on, these he got a little unsure about the big cows at the end. There was a bull just hanging out, and he didn't spook just got the whole, head up and was looking thing and felt a little flighty. So instead of walking through the herd of cows (with new babies too!), I cut across by the pond and walked across the pasture back to where we started. It was a relatively short trail ride, but we did it and he did so awesome!
Thank you everyone for the encouragement!! I'm so proud :)
Edited by DashNDustem 2017-02-17 9:12 PM
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | DashNDustem - 2017-02-17 9:10 PM Soo, I did it!! I went ahead and decided today that I was going to "point and go" and take my boy out in the big pasture! We just went the same route we normally go with the other horses, except for a small variation at the end. We walked through a small stream that leads into the big pond, walked around the big pond. There will like a million canadian geese camped out there and they took off in flight when we got close. He just stood there and watched them fly off in their huge flock, I think I was more nervous about that then he was! But once they were gone we walked on, these he got a little unsure about the big cows at the end. There was a bull just hanging out, and he didn't spook just got the whole, head up and was looking thing and felt a little flighty. So instead of walking through the herd of cows (with new babies too!), I cut across by the pond and walked across the pasture back to where we started. It was a relatively short trail ride, but we did it and he did so awesome! Thank you everyone for the encouragement!! I'm so proud :)
How awesome for you and your boy, sounds like hes going to be a great trail horse.. LOL, if my looky looky gelding would have seen all those geese he would have had a meltdown..I have this one gelding and hes like 14 and all business thinking hes going to go run barrels every time I saddle him up,,, my goodness he sees more things then any of my other geldings, all he knows is the arena he was giving to me a few years back because he needed someone like me to take him under my wing and give him a chance to relax and enjoy being a horse, but hes a jumpy jack rabbit when I get him away from the others and take him riding by himself..But hes getting better I think!!!
But good for you you took that one big step.. |
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Ms. Marine
Posts: 4627
Location: Texas | How awesome! Keep it up! |
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