I have had horses in the past. Lived in the city with horse at a stables. Always had to ride short trails nearby or take them somewhere to ride. So much work and so little actual saddle time.

I don't currently have horses, but my inlaws have 6. Only my father-in-law rides and he can't ride them all so I go over 4-5 times a week, do grooming and other horse necessities and of course and ride for a couple hours. In Laws are only a 5 minute drive across the valley. There is thousands of acres of open state trust and BLM land around us. So it's basically saddle up, pick a direction and off we go.

I have mostly been riding a 10yr old gelding named Hawk. He is a gaited Foxtrotter, although we hardly ever trot or even get to a gallup. I started riding him this past fall and we have been slowly working our way into longer rides. He is a bit buddy bound and home sour as he wasn't ridden in about 3 years. First couple months were short rides in the pasture and then working our way to other places. I am pushing him more and more. I am a novice rider, but he seems to trust me, so we just take care of each other.

Yesterday we did just over 5 miles. About half of it picking our way through some small canyons and then a gentle ride through the flats back home.

Hawk, just shy of 16.5 hands. He is a big boy.











Pictures don't do this wash justice. It's about 35' down into this. I know the easy way around it where we don't have to jump and hold on for dear life. Also, Hawk isn't a fan of being down in the washes where he has limited escape routes and can't see.




Post ride roll to get the saddle itchies, sweat, and human stink off of him!

Thanks, for a therapeutic reminder of some pleasant memories of my own.

 
First of all I am not a horse person, but my wife has been all her life. We no longer have any horses. Our small community is surrounded on 3 sides by hundreds (thousands?) of acres of state trust land, and there are many horse owners in our community. They are about evenly divided between trail riders (who can and do enjoy all that state land), and ropers. Wickenburg has somehow become the country's center for team roping (the nationals are held here). Many of our snowbirds, as well as permanent residents, are ropers. I sit on my porch every day and watch the trailers go by, headed for the 5 local team roping venues. Many of them use just stock trailers, with their rides already saddled and ready to go.
 
I've posted this picture before. It was taken by a neighbor on his nightly stroll, showing two other neighbors practicing their roping in their home corral. I think it's kind of a cool pic.
 

Not lately, spent my adult life riding “open country.”

Sounds odd, but strictly speaking, Foxtrotters don’t “trot.” They move both feet on each side forward and back together, making for a peculiar (to me) ambling gait. Lots of people like that because it’s smoother to sit the horse and cover a lot of country. Gaited horses just never suited me.

I might suggest, since you’re venturing further and further from the barn, and admitted the horse is a bit barn sour, that you keep the halter on the horse and tuck the lead rope up through your belt. Might save you walking home.

Looks like Hawk is barefoot. Four white feet and they hold up to riding like that?

If I wasn’t facing C-spine surgery as a result of an old horse wreck, I’d like to go along.

I envy you, Looks like heaven from your pics. Unfortunately, nothing like that around us. Northern indiana. Even when I was able to take the time for riding, it was renting horses, and going to the owners property to go around their homemade trails. And little bit of cantering, trotting, with the occasional short gallop. Fun, but a long drive to them, and time just didn’t permit it after workload changed for the worse.
Good luck with Hawk, I bet being gained, he is pretty smooth.

quote:

Originally posted by Sportshooter:
Thanks, for a therapeutic reminder of some pleasant memories of my own.

You are welcome. It really is therapeutic to get out there. Nothing else really on my mind except choosing which direction we go.

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:
 
I've posted this picture before. It was taken by a neighbor on his nightly stroll, showing two other neighbors practicing their roping in their home corral. I think it's kind of a cool pic.
 

Wonderful picture. I once made the mistake of getting a great horse from a gentleman whose 90# 16yr old daughter rode him for roping and cutting. He never liked my 175# fat ass in a saddle on his back. And he had the moves to get rid of me real quick like if he so chose. I'll now take slow and distance stamina any day.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
Not lately, spent my adult life riding “open country.”

Sounds odd, but strictly speaking, Foxtrotters don’t “trot.” They move both feet on each side forward and back together, making for a peculiar (to me) ambling gait. Lots of people like that because it’s smoother to sit the horse and cover a lot of country. Gaited horses just never suited me.

I might suggest, since you’re venturing further and further from the barn, and admitted the horse is a bit barn sour, that you keep the halter on the horse and tuck the lead rope up through your belt. Might save you walking home.

Looks like Hawk is barefoot. Four white feet and they hold up to riding like that?

If I wasn’t facing C-spine surgery as a result of an old horse wreck, I’d like to go along.

My father in law likes the gaited horses so that what I ride. We moved out here to be near my inlaws, so for all intents and purposes, I "have" horses.

Hawk is a sweet gentle goofball. He has no clue of his size and power and we are getting better together. In the beginning he would see a rabbit and we would be jumping 3' sideways. Now he just kind of stops and waits to see what I want him to do. Also, our current rides are all within 1-2 miles of my place or the inlaws. So a walk home wouldn't be horrible, that is except for carrying my broken pride with me . But I shall take keeping the halter and lead line on into consideration once we start going farther.

Hawk is barefoot, as are all the horses here. My fathinlaw is a self taught ferrier and he says they have no issues at all. We ride some pretty rocky areas and I check every time we get back for any bruising or large chips and they always look as good as when we left.

I thought I was gonna have to have some back surgery, but the radiologist that initially read the spine pics is.......an idiot. Second and third opinion confirmed that things in my back are those of a 30yr old in a 50yr old body. I'm good for now.

I will be putting in pastures at my place next winter. Once done, you are welcome to bring a horse out and ride.

quote:

Originally posted by m1009:
I envy you, Looks like heaven from your pics. Unfortunately, nothing like that around us. Northern indiana. Even when I was able to take the time for riding, it was renting horses, and going to the owners property to go around their homemade trails. And little bit of cantering, trotting, with the occasional short gallop. Fun, but a long drive to them, and time just didn’t permit it after workload changed for the worse.
Good luck with Hawk, I bet being gained, he is pretty smooth.

There are certainly trade offs living out here. The views, serenity, solitude and riding are awesome. Anything breaks and it's two hours one way for me to get to an auto parts store, hardware or other.

We love it.

We're 45min west of DC so no "open country" but we do have park land along the Potomac and several farms in conservancy with frontage. My wife and daughter ride though notsomuch lately and enjoy the river and woods immensely. They even come up from the ride to the house for a bathroom break, though getting back on the horse requires climbing the fire hydrant across the street.

I'm not as far out in the boonies as you. I have access to 100 acres of riding from my barn, but to get more than that, I have to load up and go to a state park or wildlife conservation area. There are a couple of those withing 15-30 minutes, so it's not a big deal. Regrettably, I just haven't had time for much riding recently.

Nice to read your post OP. I see so many horses here in MT that are "prisoners" more than pleasure or Ranch animals. They are on small pieces of property, usually overgrazed or worse in small pens. Never see them brushed, even walked anywhere, much less ridden. WHY people keep them yet never do anything with them amazes me.

Hawk is a handsome animal. Your pictures are gorgeous and look very inviting.

I like horses from a pet point of view, but horses and I have an agreement:

I don't try to ride them, they don't try to stomp a mudhole in my ass. I was never around them as a kid and never learned how to ride. They know that...

PH, it's the same rule of thumb used for motorcycles. You keep the rubber side down, riding a horse is defined as the fine art of keeping the horse between you and the ground.

While living in Central Montana, we owned a couple of quarter horses. We had miles and miles of open country in which to ride. We summer pastured them in the Judith Mountains that seemingly went on forever.

As we got older and our kids got more involved with school, we sold them - but we'll alway remember our times that we were horseback.

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
Nice to read your post OP. I see so many horses here in MT that are "prisoners" more than pleasure or Ranch animals. They are on small pieces of property, usually overgrazed or worse in small pens. Never see them brushed, even walked anywhere, much less ridden. WHY people keep them yet never do anything with them amazes me.

Unfortunately, we see that out her too. My inlaws have 170 acres with about 100 of it fenced as pasture land. We have 70 acres and are going to fence is off next winter for more good grass land and space for the two baby horses coming in may (two of the inlaws mares are pregnant). My in-laws love their horses and at 63, my father in law is a cowboy and will work himself to death taking care of his horses and dogs.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Hawk is a handsome animal. Your pictures are gorgeous and look very inviting.

I like horses from a pet point of view, but horses and I have an agreement:

I don't try to ride them, they don't try to stomp a mudhole in my ass. I was never around them as a kid and never learned how to ride. They know that...

I learned two very important things about horses from a great horse person.......

1. Always remember, when your dog wakes up in the morning the first thing it thinks about is what it wants to eat today. The horse thinks about what might eat it today when it wakes up. Seems strange to think about a 1000# animal that is prey, but if you always take that into consideration and pay attention to their body language, you'll be fine.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
PH, it's the same rule of thumb used for motorcycles. You keep the rubber side down, riding a horse is defined as the fine art of keeping the horse between you and the ground.

2. A horse is like ordering a vehicle from the dealer and saying surprise me. You'll get a 4x4 drive train with locking diffs front and rear that will take you anywhere, monster motor with excess power and a steering mechanism. However; it may need a front end alignment perpetually, have a trunk thats welded closed, hand crank windows in the front and electric windows in the back that aren't hooked up, a sunroof that never closes, and the front windshield was sandblasted. You just have to learn how to take advantage of those "enhancements".

quote:

A horse is like ordering a vehicle from the dealer and saying surprise me.

Boy, is it ever...

I get to ride out here when visiting my brother in Southern Colorado.



My last trip with my niece.

Beautiful D, I feel a bond between you two forming.
you and hawk. I can only imagine his facial expression and thoughts when seeing you knowing it is time for sometime together. As it should be. You two be safe out there.

I had between two and eight quarter horses for 50 years starting at age 18. I did a little Quarter Horse racing during part of that time. Lots of fine memories and some tears. I sold the last two to good homes three years ago and hated to see them go but time marches on. I still miss being around them and taking care of them. We had land to ride on, enough good pasture and land to grow most of their feed. I don't miss throwing hay bales on 95 degree summer days or cleaning stalls on 10 degree winter days.

IM, very limited, experience, the largest issue people have with horses, is not spending enough time with them...

A horse won’t, quite, go as crazy as a dog will, without regular human contact, but a happy horse spends time with people, every day.

They aren’t quite the same as dogs, and the prey species is definitely a thing, but they need people time, work, and being fussed over to be good. My father kept his cutting horse barefoot for decades in the TX hill country. No issues, until he was in his late 30s, and we had rain for about a month. And , not that big a deal, then. We tried keeping him shod, and did in MT, but he kept throwing his shoes.

i ride once a year when i visit family in colombia. sometimes for a day or two camp out. how some of us re-connect over the years. horses that regularly rides always seem to be more peaceful to me. since i dont ride monthly or daily. i gravitate to the older grandma types...they usually treat me better. not in it to tame anybody. old custom down there i always recall. ride through a small town or parish, church will usually ring their bell for you as a blessing for safe travels. im sure it is a more common tradition than id imagine.