Trail Riding, or Driving, In Your Right Mind, by Patty L. McNutt

Mule Morsels: Trail Riding, or Driving, In Your Right Mind

Mark your slow moving vehicles. Photo by Patty McNutt

by Patty L. McNutt, from the February 2002 issue

Be it backcountry, wilderness, cross-country, competitive, endurance, outfitting, or family trekking on saddle stock, or driving a span of mules, or a pair of horses, this can all be done in group activity, or it can be enjoyed as a lone person. However, if all of this is to be safely done, with safe and enjoyable being synonyms, perhaps one needs to put one’s brain in gear, employing the mind in all stages of preparation for the upcoming spring, summer, and fall season of riding and driving.

Riders and drivers that prepare their animals with all-around prescribed health care, such as worming and vaccinations, which include lepto, along with whatever is recommended by the veterinarian in your locale. Also, if you are hauling to another locale, inform your veterinarian so he can make an informed recommendation. Mules and horses in today’s society can be relocated by hauling halfway across this country in two to three days, and different areas present different health dangers to our equine. So be informed.

Coggins test for all equine are a must if you are leaving your home turf. Have all these papers, such as negative coggins and the health records, that are current, in your towing vehicle at all times (best make copies and keep the originals in a file at home), as it is becoming more common for state police to monitor those hauling livestock. Please look at this aspect of monitoring to be a protective measure for all of us who own equine.

As here in Ohio, due to winter weather conditions, which are not present in some of the more southerly states, the mid-winter season is the time for overall maintenance of our stock hauling trailers. Since our trailer is a Featherlite, the yearly maintenance is minimal due to the fact that it is all aluminum, including the floor. Thus, on these units, the electric system and all lights need to be checked. Check that your tires are in good condition, repack the wheel bearings, and check the condition of the brakes. Know that the hitch is in perfect condition. Whatever type trailer you own requires a specific form of inspection and of maintenance, the major concern is that you either do the job yourself, or hire the job done....but do it!

When traveling, the act of preparing your mule/horse and your trailer, while not forgetting the condition and maintenance of your towing vehicle, please never neglect having the tools needed to change a tire. The one tool adding to the ease of tire changing is the 6x6x36 piece of wood with a slant cut on one end. With this inexpensive home-made jack, there is no need to unhitch the trailer, nor unload the stock, most often by simply driving the good tire onto the 6x6 so the flat tire is elevated, thus changeable. Yes, there are commercial jacks of this design also, made of metal and very suitable.

If traveling overnight with your animals, the opportunity of finding a mule/horse motel that offers people-quarters as well is becoming commonplace. The way to locate these would be by purchasing the mule/horse travel guides available; these guides are not something that is very new, the fact is some have been on the market for 20 years. The new aspect is that more entrepreneurs are offering this service.

Remember, it is illegal to unload livestock on certain roadways in certain states, thus the added need to find accommodations for your livestock and yourselves. Sure is a different society than when your forefather (mine were already here) settled this country, and would you believe they call it “progress”?

When readying this equipment for travel, just keep in mind you wouldn’t ask your minister to repair your livestock hauling unit, nor would you ask your plumber to shoe your mule/horse, nor would you ask your veterinary to make your travel reservations. My point is, we are in the livestock motel business with people and critter quarters and I could write a “book-of-problems-while-traveling-with-livestock” from the experiences with locked-up brakes, lights not working, holes in trailer floors, hitches that came uncoupled, back doors coming open and only the butt-bar holding the animal in the trailer, just to mention a few of our customer’s problems since 1974. Most were from having unqualified persons ready their trailers, or no one readying the trailer. Or the people owning the trailer, thinking that since the trailer did not have an engine, that probably no maintenance was needed.

Thus, if you choose not to use your right mind, please employ a full-time guardian angel to handle all your trail trekking. I know they are out there for hire because I know people who even have two, not just one, but two.

In any equine activity, there are certain elements of danger, but if one is riding or driving in their right mind, they tend to circumvent those dangers to a great degree by paying attention to detail and increasing their own level of mule/horse handling skills.

Either at home on the farm or away from the home turf, if your arrangements for equine care create a behavior problem with your animal, then either accept the negative behavior and do not criticize the animal or change your arrangement. An example might be with an animal that is subject to undo confinement for his level of energy, and while trying to hitch him to the cart, he prances around. That prancing is due to nothing other than energy level (most often), and had you provided that animal a pasture field in which to run free, he most likely would have stood still while being hitched. This is simply understanding the equine as a species.

Riders and drivers should understand that they are being quite unfair to their favorite mule/horse to ask, at the beginning of the riding/driving season, feats of distance and feats of endurance without some prior physical conditioning on a gradual basis. One hour of riding or driving once a day for five days with two days off, then another one hour a day for five days, will give 10 days of conditioning in a 14-day period that will give the animal the conditioning to do a two-day ride or drive without stress, unless extreme mileage is expected. Should over 30 miles be expected on a weekend trek early on in the season, then more and longer conditioning is best. This recommendation is based on moderate temperature conditions in hill country; in flat country, more miles can be added. Learn to take the pulse, respiration, and hydration level of your mule/horse. Know his norm.

The oiling/conditioning of all your saddles, bridles, cruppers, breastplates, and of course all parts of your harness will be much appreciated by your mule or horse, and paying particular attention to the adjustment of all this equipment is an added measure of assurance for enjoyment.

Safety headgear for all, with safety stirrups or irons for the mounted rider, should be considered a wise investment, for nothing is as expensive as an accident, and any measure of protection should an accident happen, will minimize the expense and possibly save a life. The theory, or thinking, that we use equipment to protect our youth in his or her equine activities is certainly positive. However, when this thinking seems to be combined with the idea that once a person is an adult, they can/should be less concerned about their level of safety, where might we ask.....”is the logic”? As the mother of five children, I couldn’t tell them to wear safety headgear and then tell them there was no need for me to wear safety headgear. Let us be honest with ourselves.

If my writing about safety headgear even saves one person from a head injury or one death, then it is worth being said. Saying “NO” to unsafe equine practice is a beginning, and if you are a leader, you will say no, but if you are a follower, you will do whatever the group with their groupism thinking does, regardless of the danger to you or your children.

For those who are going to be driving, some will be on roadways intermixing with motor vehicles, which brings to mind the great 20th-century theologian Reinhold Neibuhr prayer:

“Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

We are not going to decrease the number of motor vehicles on our roadways, the fact is the number is increasing every day.....can’t change that.....right?

But, everyone agrees that speed kills, so we can change through our elected officials the speed limits on our roadways, ask for a lowering of those speed limits, and for stricter law enforcement of those limits, and for increased fines if those limits are exceeded. This is the brand of wisdom that knows the difference.

We owe the motorist the courtesy of being as visible as possible, whether we are riding or driving on a roadway. Flo-orange vests are available, as are white jackets and white safety headgear. If you are in question as to whether white is as opposed to other colors, just test it out with a camera and you will soon be convinced. The tri-angle slow-moving vehicle signs are available, and in the hill country, the bicycle flag on a flexible pole is very visible. Fact is, anything bright or white and waving increases the human eye’s ability to spot. Be courteous and be safe.....you will feel better about yourself and your fellow man, and you will live longer.

The rider or driver crossing country should be able to recognize, or suspect, upcoming problems from the ground surface, such as is it frozen, is it slippery, is the mud too deep to be safe for the mule/horse, is the pace too slow or too fast for the suspected conditions, or to even suspect holes in the ground? Many holes have grass or weeds clustered around them so the handler and the mule/horse need to be aware. Fact is, there is nothing safer, in my opinion, than a well-trained and experienced mule or horse and a well-trained and experienced handler. That handler needs to be a leader type person, and those people are individual-minded enough to make their own decisions for what they put an animal through.

Have a great trail riding and buggy trekking season and remember.....safe is always best.