Training a pack horse

PNWGATOR

WKR
Joined
Oct 14, 2014
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USA
Dave,
Nice to see you posting here and thanks for sharing the great pics!
Take care,
Chris
 
Joined
May 13, 2015
Messages
3,711
Lots of good advice here. I had plenty of horses in the past. I've done endurance riding/races and packing into the back country, from the same horses. I decided to complete college late in life, and unfortunately the horses had to go. And now, I just don't want the obligation. But, IMNSHO, you want animals that trust you, and trust what your ASKING of them. What I mean here is that for a packing animal, I do not want what is referred to as a finished horse, an animal that will blindly do anything you ask it to do, even step off a 1000' cliff. My point here is that as you work with an animal (it is work, and lots of time involved), you build a relationship of mutual trust; you need to be paying attention to what they are tell you too. As you start training an animal, you should be asking it, not telling it, and never forcing it. I recall a new construction project taking place in one of my regular riding areas. For the winter they spread out visqueen and sand bagged it to hold it in place. The ends of it however worked free, and would flap loudly and violently in the wind. The first time I took a fairly new horse by it, the horses eyes bulged and it's nose flared, and she blew, letting me know she was afraid it. She turned toward it to keep an eye on it, and we side passed past it, at the distance she established as within reason. Every ride after that I took her by it again and again, ever so slowly inching her closer and closer. Before I knew it, she was stopping to smell it, putting her nose on it; stomping at first. By the 100th or so pass, I asked her to step on it. By the 200th or so pass, I asked her to walk across it. The key here was to ask a tiny bit more each time, while keeping her in that trusting state, and reasonably calm. If I had required to much, she would have exploded on me. I had that same horse get a section of chain link stuck between her shoe and foot. Several people tried to help her, but she was kicking at them every time they tried to crawl under her to get at it. Someone finally called me, and I went down, talked to her briefly as I approached, crawled right under her, while maintaining physical contact with her, and had her free in seconds (at this point in time, I had the horse for several years. She was a skinny hyper Arab, that people didn't think much of, including my packing partner, until he seen her work. I could literally pack her up like the Beverly Hillbillies, with gear stretching to the sky, so to speak (I'd stack light stuff behind the saddle, and have a back rest). This horse never balked once. I of course was vary careful about securing everything properly, so nothing came lose. I once rode up on a sleeping bear, unbeknownst to me, at 5' when the bear jumped up and ran, so I asked her to chase the bear, to my surprise, she did (this was her first bear encounter). I could put kids on her, and she would be as gentile as could be. But adults needed to be very experienced riders.

My point above, is that you develop relationships with your animals, good or bad. And, I have never seen an animal that needed training. But I have seen plenty of owners that needed training. If you take the time, an investment, you can reap a lot of good memorable years from your stock.

I'm one that shot off the back of my horses. I did however take the time to train them/condition them to it. It's the same as working with a dog that is deathly scared of fireworks. You simply introduce the animal to the sounds from a safe distance at a very low level, and allow them to get used to it. then ever so slightly increase the sound, and repeat and repeat. Most dog trainers do this from recordings, something that can be immediately stopped if necessary. Then go to live fire once the animal tolerates realistic volume well (don't forget rewarding the animal). I even took my horses to Civil War reenactments (they were fairly close to me at the time), with live black powder and cannon fire. Same approach, small steps, just pasturing them close by, then every so slowly bringing them into the mix, and eventually participating. I'll tell though, the cannon fire with it's excessively loud percussion, is a bit much for horses that will easily tolerate gun shots.

If your going to use mules, asking becomes a necessity.
 
Joined
Apr 1, 2016
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733
Location
Eastern Washington
My favorite saying that I was told growing up is "It doesn't get packed if it doesn't have ears" and it has served me well. The biggest thing I've found with packing game is to get rid of the hide. Skin the animal and get them quarterred up or boned out but throw the hide out of site before you start putting meat on your pack animal. The smell will have them a bit ancy but if they can put that together with a strange looking animal (the hide laying out somewhere) you can be fighting an uphill battle. I use animals that have over a decade of packing meat and horns on them that you can load next to the gut pile without a problem, but if you drape the hide over a log 20-30 yards away and try doing it they are likely to be a fight to pack.

If it's the animals first time packing meat, have the snot packed out of it first. Don't do it with a young animal that has tons of energy because it hasn't been used, because they'll have just that more energy to fight you with.
 
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