Why did I write this book? As a young girl, I dreamt of horses day and night. It was always the same dream. I would be riding out on a wooded trail on a lovely day in May, with the sun shining, the birds singing, wildflowers everywhere...
My first horse was an old Morgan named Brandy, given to me by my aunt. I found a place to keep him near some great trails, and it looked like my dream would come true. On our first trip out, I found I was the proud owner of a barn sour, hardheaded, confirmed runaway horse that was probably given to me because no one else wanted him. My third attempt at riding him on trail climaxed when he turned on a dime, ran into the street and, following the yellow center line, galloped for a quarter mile down the road before I got him under control.
I went back to the drawing board. We spent many weeks working together in the arena to improve my skills and teach him to listen better. I talked to many people and read whatever I could find. I was surprised to find very little to read that was of much use to me. Finally, I psyched myself into keeping my dream alive. My hard work paid off, and I was rewarded with 2 years of great trail riding before his death at the age of 24.
While I was out on the trail, I encountered many things, got into a number of difficult situations and didn't know what to do. I managed to muddle through them and come out all right, but maybe I was just lucky.
So why did I write this book? So I can help other people to achieve their dream or explore a different area of horsemanship that they may be unprepared for. Over the years, I have found many people who want to trail ride but are afraid. Some of them tried it a few times and had such bad experiences that they just gave up. A few just concentrated on a different kind of riding, but a lot of them actually gave up on horses altogether. Their horse would stand in his stall, neglected, for a year or two before they decided to sell him. My advice may help to give people like this the confidence to attain their dream. I hope to encourage them to form a training program suited to their situation to solve their problems and prevent them from muddling through it like I had to.
Just having an idea of what to do in a bad situation can keep a rider from panicking and may possibly prevent an accident from happening. If just one accident in the whole horse kingdom is prevented because of this book, all the hours of work I put in it will be worth it.
Much of this book is about training because I don't believe in just hopping on a horse and "cowboying" down the trail. I feel a good trail horse is made, not born. Of course, I've seen a lot of lucky people buy a horse and never have a problem trail riding. In most cases, those people benefited by someone else's hard work or were just plain lucky. Horseback riding is too dangerous to rely on luck.
Safety is behind everything I recommend. Trail riding is riskier than any other form of riding because we go so far from home and a minor accident can escalate into something serious if there is no help readily available.
So read the book, consider the advice, adapt it for your horse and your environment and open the door to miles and miles of trails waiting to be explored. It's really worth it.
Why did I write this book? As a young girl, I dreamt of horses day and night. It was always the same dream. I would be riding out on a wooded trail on a lovely day in May, with the sun shining, the birds singing, wildflowers everywhere...