Riding/jumping up a bank?

Amazing pictures Painted. I only wish that I could trail ride like that some day. (well maybe not the cliffs, but..) =)
All of my horsey friends are fair weather riders (which there are few of here in Oregon.) and/or have completely different schedules than me. And I certainly am not going out on the trails alone. Especially those kinds of trails. =P

I'll be your friend! I go out riding in everything. The only thing I don't like are people who want to run their horses all the time and/or riding on really loose mud. Lacey gets really nervous about mud (I probably don't help because I'm terrified that I'll get smooshed under a horse that slipped on mud on day) and she slips all over.

Painted- I would be terrified to go on trails like that! O.o However, there's this one little mare that comes to my camp every year that I would feel completely safe doing that sort of thing with. She's the b**chiest mare EVER but she's also the most sure footed, brave horse I've ever met. That mare, who's 13hh if she's lucky (Quarter Pony), thinks nothing of jumping things taller than she is. And I've never seen her not make it over anything. She's basically a machine. Not surprisingly, her name is Lil B**ch. However, at camp we call her Lil Bit. Hahaha I would feel totally confident riding her in any sort of situation, Lacey not so much.
Thanks for sharing your photos!

Wallaby, I just wanted to add my 2 cents about the age of your mare. I wouldn't be concerned about her age if you haven't noticed anything out of whack with her. My girlfriend did stuff like this all the time on her 25+ Arabian. The only time he started to slow down was when she couldn't get out to ride him often enough anymore. I totally expect my horses to cross whatever obstacles I give them. On one of my "trails" I have a piece of bedrock about 5 feet up that is almost as steep as your "/". We go up and down, wet and dry. They can't really jump it, they just scramble up and hitch down!

Thanks, that's kinda what I was thinking. I figure that I've known her for 3 1/2 years, which should be plenty to know her fairly well, and I know her better (and what she can handle) than anyone on the internet who's never met us. I do appreciate the concern though!

As a consensus to her age, we don't ride down it, I do get off and we go around. I don't think it's fair to ask her to be that athletic before she's totally limbered up. But by the end of our ride, she's really warmed up and completely willing to do it. Of course, if she suddenly refuses to do it one day, I'm for sure not going to make her. She's generally very willing to try anything I ask her to do so when the day comes that she gets weird about it, I will definitely think twice about asking her to do things like that.

And, it's not like she's being worked to death or anything, I mean, we go for about two 2-3 miles walking journeys a week, she gets lunged at all gaits once a week and she has two 20 minute walking sessions a week teaching 2 little girls to ride. I feel like her life is currently pretty low impact but at the same time, she's being kept moving which has proved to be important in keeping her from getting stiff.

Also, down a 5ft sheet of bedrock? I would be really scared. That's impressive.

Well, Wallaby, the bedrock isn't as steep as yours I figure, but my girls are barefoot and have learned to be surefooted. Same as PaintedLady's horses have to be. I figure the horse wants to stay upright as much as I do and I just do my best to be "one" with the horse as I can. When I cut that trail, I almost went around the rock and then decided that if the horses can't do it, they'll let me know and I'll find a way around.

BTW, why do you have to dismount to go around your bank? If the horse can walk it by themselves, you should be able to stay on. About the only time I get off my horse because of trail conditions is when the branches are too low and I'll get cartooned off my horse if I try to stay on!

Oh! I should have mentioned that. It's because the way to go around is, thanks to a tree, human head height/short horse height. If I tried to stay on I'd get all annihilated by branches. Haha! The next time I go that way I'm going to try to bring clippers and make the opening bigger, but for now I have to get off.