Tag: equestrian

Let’s Discuss – Horse Poop on Trails

Have you ever seen posts on social media or talked to people who bemoan that horses are allowed on some multi-use trails? Welcome to this series where we are going to take a look at common complaints about trail riding and horses on trails and dispel some myths. We’ll keep doing this series until we…



The Magic of Trail Riding Under a Full Moon

Riding out in nature under a full moon can be a wondrous experience. It’s quiet, your senses are heightened, and you become fully immersed in the stillness of your environment. Horses have much better night vision than humans and if you can’t see the trail, you just have to loosen the reins, put your full…



Trailer Loading for the Nervous Horse

Loading a horse that does not want to get on the trailer can be extremely frustrating. You are really excited about going on a trail ride, perhaps you are meeting others and have gotten a late start, and then your horse doesn’t want to load. Erghhh! And of course, when we get tense, it only…



Beg, borrow, or steal ~ getting yourself a ride: The pros and cons of borrowing, leasing, and owning

I’ve ridden off and on all my life and before I bought my first horse 6 years ago, I managed to find horses to trail ride in a variety of ways. While I strongly recommend against stealing horses, I admit that I did steal a ride once when I was about 9 years old. My…



Trailering, from Your Horse’s Perspective

Do you have any idea what your horse experiences in the trailer? Most of us load our horses, drive to our destination, and, as long as we don’t hear kicking and our horse is in one piece at the end, we figure they are just fine. That’s how I always felt. The only signs that…



Pandemic Relief – Otter Creek 2020

The Horse Trail Chicks have an annual tradition of spending a week or so with our good friends Elizabeth and Erin riding at the Horse Trails at Otter Creek in northern New York. We always book our cabin at least 12 months in advance. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were not sure if we…



Trouble-Shooting Trailer Wiring

If you’ve ever had a light (or all the lights) go out on your trailer, you know that trouble-shooting it can be really intimidating. You’re smart enough to know that the problem could be the truck wiring, a bad trailer wire, or bad light. But how do you figure out which one of these it…



Adventures at Otter Creek

What could be more fun than trail riding? Going on a multi-day trail riding trip away from home! The Horse Trail Chicks plus two friends recently spent 4 days riding in the amazing Otter Creek Horse Trail System in upstate New York. We were there in 2017 and were so excited to go back. Our…



Me upon my pony on my boat

Kerrie and I saw Lyle Lovett in concert last weekend with several other horse-friends and family. We all got very excited and sang along when he sang “If I Had a Boat.” If you are not familiar with this song, the chorus goes: And if I had a boat I’d go out on the ocean…



Are you SURE your saddle fits your horse?

Years ago, if you owned one saddle, chances are it would fit most of your horses, at least well enough. But this is no longer the case. What’s changed? For one thing, the variety of horse breeds that people commonly ride has changed. When I was growing up the most popular breeds were thoroughbreds, Arabians,…