Train Your Horse for the Backcountry: A Comprehensive Guide for Getting Beyond the Round Pen

by Dan Aadland

Overview

Many clinicians offer strong instruction in building a relationship with the horse but too often exclude safety concerns and teaching the skills necessary for safe and fulfilling use in the backcountry. They don't show students how to tie up a horse's foot should you have to restrain him to pull porcupine quills, and they don't teach basic knots and hitches. Enter Dan Aadland, a seasoned equestrian and breeder who shares expertise gained from riding backroads and teaching clinics.

Aadland first teaches students to understand the natural impulses of the horse and how to stay safe, a method he calls "survival horsemanship." He then moves on to training both horse and rider in the basics of trail riding, including saddling, mounting with control, trail savvy, types of trails and obstacles, domestic and wild animal encounters, and staying cool in stressful situations. Other helpful topics covered include:

• Essential neck rein skills
• Elementary packing
• A mule primer
• Safe trailering
• Low-impact trail riding
• And much more!

With Train Your Horse for the Backcountry, riders will be ready for safe backcountry exploring in no time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781510729919
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	11/27/2018
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dan Aadland is the author of several books, including Treading Lightly with Pack Animals: A Guide to Low-Impact Travel in the Backcountry and The Pocket Guide to Equine Knots, and he is a frequent contributor to Western Horseman and other equestrian publications. He and his wife, Emily, live in Absarokee, Montana, where they breed Tennessee Walking Horses and organize pack trips.

Table of Contents

Dedication v

Acknowledgments vi

Chapter 1 Why This Book? 1

Chapter 2 Survival Horsemanship 4

Chapter 3 Foundation Training for the Backcountry Horse 18

Chapter 4 Basic Trail Training for Horse and Rider 42

Chapter 5 The Neck Rein and the Side Pass 78

Chapter 6 Walk On: Improving the Most Important Backcountry Gait 97

Chapter 7 Weighty Matters: You and Your Gear on the Horse's Back 109

Chapter 8 The Hunting Horse 119

Chapter 9 Long Ears and Short Tails: A Mule Primer 135

Chapter 10 Packing up for the Trail 146

Chapter 11 For Want of a Nail: A Note on Shoeing 172

Chapter 12 The Highway Trail: Tips for Trailer Training 184

Chapter 13 The Backcountry Camp: Leave Only Tracks, Keep Only Memories 191

Chapter 14 Some Essential Knots 200

Conclusion: Keep Learning, Keep Training, But Go! 221

Index 225