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JUST Trail Riding???

20K views 213 replies 52 participants last post by  Dustbunny 
#1 ·
I don't know about the rest of you but the word JUST irritates me to no end. We go into a restaurant and the hostess say, "Just the two of you?" What? Do we need more to get into the place?
And too often when asked what type of riding we do, we reply, "Oh, I just trail ride." Like it's an apology. Or someone will ask if we show or just trail ride. Like that takes no skill and we go along like a sack of potatoes perched atop 1000 pounds of pure energy.
Trail riding is a pretty complex activity to my way of thinking. Most of the people here seem incredibly knowledgeable with diverse backgrounds and the desire to improve their skills and to help others along the way.
One thing is for certain with horses...you never stop learning. I can't think of a better arena for education of horse and rider than a trail with all it's obstacles and challenges.
Prepare yourself...prepare you horse...and have a great ride.
 
#2 ·
You really need to simmer down about the hostess/waitress asking if it's just the two of you. They need to know in order to determine best where to seat you. It's not a personal slap in the face, it's about giving you the best seat for the number in your party. I take it you've never worked any kind of customer service job with that attitude. :?

If you're apologizing for 'just' trail riding, that's on you. You don't need to say it that way. When someone asks tell them, 'We trail ride. It's a lot of fun.' If they disparage your choice of discipline, that's their problem.
 
#3 ·
I've spent 12 months now working on turning Mia into "just a trail horse", including hiring a professional trainer. She is 12 now, and a year ago wouldn't lift her foot up to clear a rock, because she didn't understand that sometimes the ground isn't smooth. We are currently working on short solo trips into the desert. Maybe by next summer, she'll be an OK trail horse.

And if someone asks, I'll say, "She's just a trail horse!" And only I, and my immediate family and good friends, will understand the pride in my voice...
 
#4 ·
Trial riding can involve much more than just riding a horse down a trail. Sometimes that saw that hangs under the saddle is put into use to clear the trail for example.

If it's a flat well groomed and maintained trail that's one thing.....many of the trails we ride aren't and you never know what the trail conditions might be or what we'll have to do to continue along the trail.

Then there's "off trail" trail riding....or cross country.

Just ask the Utah fellows how easy that is....

We understand exactly where you're coming from.....
 
#6 · (Edited)
I guess it is all in perspective. If someone just ambles down a straight flat wide, groomed path that goes out a 1/2 a mile and comes back without:

crossing a deep moving stream
crossing a stream with sand that is melting under the horses hooves
encountered a little litter of young pigs that explode out from under horses feet
stepped over knee high logs
got their horses feet tangled in vines
ran into alligators
had to go around a fence gate with a narrow path that hairpins around it with a 6 ft drop all all around
up a steep hill
down a slippery steep hill
step around a huge downed tree by going on the the edge of a ledge and stepping over the end of said tree when you are scared of heights
encountered a run away horse
had a horse run away with YOU
medical emergency 8 miles out in the bayou
been walking along in the woods and suddenly be belly deep in mud and your horse is galloping in place to get out!

and that is just a tiny part of trail riding....it is way more fun than anything I have ever done (well, scuba diving is pretty dang awesome) so I don't apologize for just "trail riding". There is nothing more fun to me than loading up my horse and going to somewhere to camp out and ride. A good trail horse is worth their weight in gold and while all horses can't be champion barrel, halter, reining, jumping, eventing, endurance, driving horses, not all horses make great trail horses either.

Love the outdoors, love the fellowship, love the campouts/cookouts, love tracking the trails with my Garmin and dreaming of ONE DAY riding and finishing an endurance ride. It may not be for everyone but it is the right discipline for me. I would love to have had show horses too, so certainly not knocking anyone's passion but for me...happy trails is where I want to be. My boy Biscuit is working on becoming a great trail horse. He is good but he has a long way to go to be great!
 
#8 ·
Oh yeah...or go down a trail and get not lost but too far away to ride back before dark...go down through a park, get up to the highway and be "locked in" by fences. That is when your trail buddy kicks a board down and we flag down someone to rescue our butts!!! Good times!!!
 
#10 ·
I find it way more fun to tell people I get on, hold on and see if I come back alive. Their facial expressions are way better that way lol. Or I just let my friends kid answer for me, "she rides the crazy, wild horse". Ahh the kid is such a great advocate for the Arab.

Guess I've never told people I "just" trail ride as I don't do "just" anything. My horse is green so "just" trail riding usually means some sort of unplanned situation. Much more fun than "just" trail riding.
 
#11 ·
Actually, Speed Racer, I've had a lifetime of customer service work and I was good at it.
My point, and I apologize if I was misunderstood, is that one never needs to feel that trail riding is less important than other diciplines. Many people show and trail ride and some simply enjoy the freedom of a trail. I have done both and now the trail is my activity...that and feeding and scooping.
 
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#13 ·
is that one never needs to feel that trail riding is less important than other diciplines.
Not sure that I have ever heard any "put down" trail riding so I'm not sure where all the fuss is coming from??

If you don't view it as "just trail riding", then don't say it that way.

"Just" is a word that has becomed attached to lots of phrases, the same way people around my area attach the word "huh" to the end of the sentence, when it's really not a question.
 
#12 ·
I think a good dressage horse will make a great trail horse...they know how to maneuver off of leg pressure, side pass, turn on those haunches and foreleg....yup...a champion dressage horse could go on the trails way quicker than someone's crazy barrel horse (not that all barrel horses are crazy!). My buddy's Arabian mare is trained in dressage and it really helps on the trails.

Knowing side passing is terrific when you have to play spider polo in the woods to keep the huge banana spiders off of one's cousin that screams like a girl (of course the banana spider was dangling off of my crop that I was trying to sling it off of - it slung back on said cousin with a nasty shirt staining splat) aaaaaahhhhhhhh always an adventure when we are trail riding and watch out for the Portuguese Man O'Wars on the beach rides!
 
#20 ·
I think a good dressage horse will make a great trail horse...they know how to maneuver off of leg pressure, side pass, turn on those haunches and foreleg....yup...a champion dressage horse could go on the trails way quicker than someone's crazy barrel horse (not that all barrel horses are crazy!). My buddy's Arabian mare is trained in dressage and it really helps on the trails.

Knowing side passing is terrific when you have to play spider polo in the woods to keep the huge banana spiders off of one's cousin that screams like a girl (of course the was dangling off of my crop that I was trying to sling it off of - it slung back on said cousin with a nasty shirt staining splat) aaaaaahhhhhhhh always an adventure when we are trail riding and watch out for the Portuguese Man O'Wars on the beach rides!

I am not coming to ride in your neighborhood!!!! :shock:
 
#16 ·
On the flip side...there are plenty of horses who I would call "just a trail horse." The kind that rarely, if ever leave home. Walk only on the same trails over and over - mixing it up is walking the same trail in the other way than you normally go. MAYBE a trot if there's a hill. No creeks, no odd terrain, a well worn path from having been walked on so often. They go forward, turn a bit, back awkwardly and stop. There's no moving off leg pressure to turn, no side passing, no Arabian equitation. While this is great for those who like that sort of thing, its also not exactly a demanding job or a very technical one.
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#61 ·
On the flip side...there are plenty of horses who I would call "just a trail horse." The kind that rarely, if ever leave home. Walk only on the same trails over and over - mixing it up is walking the same trail in the other way than you normally go. MAYBE a trot if there's a hill. No creeks, no odd terrain, a well worn path from having been walked on so often. They go forward, turn a bit, back awkwardly and stop. There's no moving off leg pressure to turn, no side passing, no Arabian equitation. While this is great for those who like that sort of thing, its also not exactly a demanding job or a very technical one.
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LOL noooo that isn't a trail horse that is a hack.
 
#17 ·
hahahahaahahaha take some of those on one of those hairy trail rides where you come back with your hair blown back :) Biscuit is good bless his heart but he has scared the bejeesus out of me a few times going up hills where he is literally galloping to get up them and I am a sissy!!! OMG I went up a freaking super steep hill in October in Mississippi. Biscuit asked me when we got up there "what the hell were you thinking sister?" LOL it was scarier going down!!!! Hahahahh trail riding will raise your heart rate a few times. Keeps me young!
 
#18 ·
I've been riding for over 20 years and call what I do "backyard riding." In other words, I basically just get on and go, no specialized training. I have also trained horses, and call my form of training "backyard training." I'm working with a professional trainer for my new horse and can really tell the difference.

So, I guess before I "just" trail rode, but now I'm really learning how to ride/train.
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#24 ·
hahahahaha come on now NV2 - the banana spiders are pretty dang big but you can generally see them before you run into the web. My cousin makes me go first down the trail so I can clear them out.

We see hogs and alligators there all the time - had the horses spook at the hogs but the alligators haven't been a problem for me yet. My cousin was riding out there a few years ago with another friend and they came around a corner and a a huge alligator was up on the side of the bank and rolled into the water. Their horses did a synchronized roll back and took off!!!

The Man O War's are pretty easy to see on the shore at the beach - they are bright blue/purple.

There are mountain lions up north of here but I have never seen one. Gaaaaaa....I would have a stroke!
 
#26 ·
Want nothing to do with big ugly giant spiders.Wild hogs wouldn't thrill me either.
I think I'll stick to the bear, cougar and bobcats around here. As a rule they want nothing to do with me. However, there are always the sasquatches. Maybe I better rethink this...
 
#31 ·
I think the potential implied insult of "just" depends on who is saying it and how.

I have had show people ask me what I do with my mare and the "just" was def meant as a put-down, put I personally have said I am going out with a group to "just trail ride" to indicate it was a fun ride (versus conditioning or a race, etc) and I certainly didn't mean anything offensive by it.

[BTW, my favorite reply to the obnoxious "just a trail horse" comment is "Yeah, we just do 50 or 100 miles across the mountains." That generally shuts them up. :lol:]
 
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