The Ideal Trail Horse

When looking for reliable trail ride horses to add to our herd, we look at both physical and mental qualities.

Physical Qualities

The physical qualities are perhaps the easiest to determine by looking at “soundness”. When a horse is “sound”, it means that it is free of pain, moves normally, and can perform the task asked of it without risking injury. At Sixteen Fourteen Ranch, we do ask quite a bit of our horses physically. Our trails go up and down hills, across various terrain (rocks, creeks, gravel, grass, dirt, etc). Most of the rides are walking but occasionally we will trot or lope. An ideal trail horse will be able to handle this variety of activity over multiple days. Riders that are inexperienced generally don’t have as much balance or the skills to move with a horse’s movement. This reality means that trail horses need to be of strong build, move consistently, and have hardy feet. Currently all of the horses at the ranch are barefoot, which means they don’t wear horseshoes. If the terrain proves too hard on a horse’s hoof, we will need to give them shoes. Like humans, no horse is perfect. When horse shopping, one has to decide what “flaws” or “not ideal” quality, one is willing to accept.

Mental Qualities

For mental qualities, we look for horses with a kind demeanor, tolerant attitude, and emotional stability. It is our hope that our horses will enjoy their job as a 4 legged trail guide. Additionally, a grumpy or scared horse increases the risk of incident compared to a pleasant one. Practically, our horses need to be able to respond to multiple kinds of riders (confident adults, small children, timid beginners, etc). Since these riders will all have a different feel to the horse when steering, we try to utilize voice cues in order to help provide some consistency. Perhaps, the most important quality is the ability to “emotionally regulate” or sometimes called “a horse that doesn’t get hot”. Our horses need to be able to go slow, speed up, stand, and go slow again. For some unfortunate reason, training a horse mentally is not a common practice in the horse industry. Generally this calmness and flexibility in activity is found in an older more experienced horse; however, we do have some younger ones that have shown an aptitude for trail riding.

Finding the Right Fit

Over time as we get to know each individual horse, we are able to fully determine whether our ranch will be a good fit for them. When the answer is no, we help find the horse a more suitable situation. For the horses that do fit our program, we love introducing them to guests and watching guests enjoy them as much as we do.

Topics: Trail Horses, Horse Selection, Ranch Horses, Horse Temperament, Horse Soundness, Trail Riding, Beginner Horseback Riding, Equine Education, East Texas Ranch, Sixteen Fourteen Ranch