Customer Reviews

The Complete Trail Horse: Selecting, Training, and Enjoying Your Horse in the Backcountry

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book provides essential information for anyone riding horses. It does focus on trail riding and backcountry horsemanship but the information provided can be applied to any equine endeavor.

The book presents trail riding and backcountry horsemanship as its own discipline and stresses the importance of having a mount that allows both the rider and the horse to have an enjoyable experience on the trail. Perhaps the point that struck me the most is stressing that a good trail horse is not a barrel, reining, or dressage washout---but an athlete in it's own arena of mountains, streams, deserts, and woodlands.

I have been fortunate enough to meet Dan and I actually have purchased two of his Tennessee Walkers as my current trail mounts. They take me everywhere, from arid sagebrush to mountain passes and all points in between. Their ability as athletic, willing, and stable backcountry companions is evidence that Dr. Aadland has the knowledge of what it takes to breed and train a horse designed for the trail, no matter where it should take you.

The Complete Trail Horse presents the reader with this wealth of information in an enjoyable, readable format.

After wading through a pile of insipid books on trail riding, I was delighted to find The Complete Trail Horse. The authoritative voice, the passion, the humor that was missing from the other books is all here, along with the unexpected pleasure of exceptional writing sprinkled with references to Chaucer, Shakespeare, the Bible, and wisdom from the Ancient Greeks.

Author Dan Aadland lives on a 1200 acre Montana ranch, where he breeds, raises, trains and sells Tennessee Walkers for trail riding. He uses the horses daily for tending cattle and checking irrigation, and takes annual pack trips into the wilderness. His explanation of why it is important for your trail horse to know how to sidepass gave me chills, and his anecdote on why organized trail rides say "Don't even think about bringing your dog" was quite convincing.

The bulk of the material falls roughly into three categories: 1) choosing a horse, 2) training, and 3) techniques and equipment. On the first subject, he provides useful information for evaluating any horse. The author gave me new appreciation for my gelding's high withers, 8 1/4" circumference cannon bones, and enormous size 3 feet. Aadland makes an important distinction between spirited horses with a lot of desirable energy and hyper horses that can't be trained to stand still. He also points out that courage is a trait that may be present or lacking in a horse of any energy level, and a spirited horse that faces surprises with courage is safer than a lazy quiet horse that blows up without warning.

As a fan of clinicians like Pat Parelli and Clinton Anderson, I found the book's material on training particularly interesting. The author has a refreshing mixture of respect and disdain for these celebrity trainers and their methods. On the one hand, he acknowledges the soundness of their techniques and the benefit of distilling them into methods that have helped people all over the world get better results from their horses.

On the other hand, the author points out that natural horsemanship is at least as old as Xenophon's The Art of Horsemanship, written around 400 BC. He says many techniques that have fallen into disfavor today were only as cruel as the trainer, and that highly skilled and compassionate trainers have succeeded with all kinds of techniques.

He takes the clinicians to task for not teaching neck reining, which is essential for leading a pack horse and useful for a variety of other functions, and for riding with slack dangling reins, which may be safe in the arena, but could put you on the ground when you encounter a surprise on the trail. He also bemoans the mindset of the "clinic junkie," who spends more time watching videos than riding. "Ride your horse!" the author implores his readers, and a lot of your training issues will go away.

Aadland stresses the importance of teaching and enforcing that whoa means stand still, not slow down, and suggests using a sharp "quit!" rather than the more confusing "no" as a rebuke. I found his treatment of colt starting, spook proofing, preparing for hobbling, and other training material helpful and interesting.

Do you know the difference between a Decker and a sawbuck pack saddle? I didn't, until I read this book. Lots of good stuff here on bits, saddles, hobbles, gear to take along, how a pack trip works, techniques you need to know on rough trails (always turn your horse around so he faces over the cliff - otherwise he might drop his back feet off the edge.)

On the subject of the barefoot movement, Aadland expresses a kind of open-minded skepticism. He has been using iron shoes successfully all his life, and isn't convinced that it's a good idea to expose bare hoofs to the sharp rocky trails he frequents, no matter how perfectly trimmed they are. On the other hand, he carries hoof boots for emergencies, and allows, "Very possibly we'll eventually settle on products that do a better job than traditional shoes. Time will tell."

This book deserves a much more prominent place in the horseman's library than it has received. If you are a trail rider, and particularly if you ever wish to take your horse out west or ride him on an overnight or longer camping trip, this is a very helpful book. Beyond that, it is a joy to read. It is far and away the best book on trail riding I've found.

Delightful treatise on horsemanship, keen insight, well-written. Information, storytelling, wisdom, and insight portraying Montana wilderness and horsemanship ethics.
Sid Gustafson DVM
Nothing regarding horses is complete, however ;-)

Dan Aadland presents a wonderfully written guide for choosing, training, and enjoying your riding experiences on the trail. His extensive experience in all of these areas is extremely helpful to novice through advanced trail riding enthusiasts. He covers the basics as well as providing detailed information for a wide range of activities and gear. The author uses entertaining accounts to emphasize his points. The Complete Trail Horse is an easy read as well as excellent resource! If you plan to trail ride, horse camp, or pack out on horseback, this is the book.

Pamela DeMuth
Author of The Spirit of Horsemanship

Beautifully written compendium of advice and help on trail riding and the horses who make it possible. The author writes so well that you can enjoy this book even if you aren't a trail rider; it affords an elegant glimpse into a way of relating to horses that is as old as the equine-human relationship, as new as the latest high-tech GPS. Many extremely helpful photos and illustrations make the advice clear and easy to follow. particularly helpful are the sections on conformation, training, and horse camping. Informed throughout by a love of the horse and a concern for its welfare, this book belongs on the shelf of every serious horseperson. It will make you long to saddle up and head for high country.

Extremely well written book on the practical training and use of horses. Of course he says a lot of things that I have believed for a lot of years.