Breaking Rules, Tack, and Everything Else: My DIY Horseback Hunting Chronicle

[yycyak]

Still alive, and no rodeos. Just haven't had the time to do a decent write-up on the trips.

The 5-day sheep trip was a bust and had to call it early, but still a ton of fun. (Logistics issues and some gear failures - Will post later.)

But, it's been a really good few weeks.

Any updates?

 

[ShootOkHuntWorse]

Excited to hear it!

 

[yycyak]

Figured this thread was due an update. This one will be short though, as there isn't really anything super cool to report.

Sheep Trip - The Bad
My enthusiastic 5-night/6-day sheep opener trip was cut short, due to government red tape (or my stupidity), and some equipment failures. Short version is on Night 1 of my trip, I got an inreach message from my wife saying "Oh btw you got a parking ticket for your horse trailer."

Well that doesn't make sense, because I registered my truck with a park pass. Well turns out if you read the fine print, you also have to register the trailer too. So, I had to decide if I wanted 6 days of parking tickets or not....

As far as equipment failures, my titanium pack stove had a couple of issues: The glass window on the front of the stove cracked during travel, and the rolled stove pipe was also crushed at some point. It was salvageable, but not a ton of fun setting things up. But it's not like it's -20 here, so it wasn't the end of the world. (Recommendation: Swap out the glass for steel, and store your stove pipe inside a hard container like a PVC pipe or something.)

But the thing that really sealed it was my hobbles. I've been experimenting with a mix of different hobble setups, and had settled on biothane dog collars with a chain in the middle. This worked great around the barn and during light use.

Fast forward to being out in the mountains with horses new to hobbles, and then cutting them loose on rough ground, and yeah. Popped the garbage, made-in-china rivets in about 2 hours. I managed a field repair (always have a possibles pouch with you), but by next morning, the biothane material itself was tearing/failing.

So between all of that, the trip was cut short. AKA I did not follow my @missjordan sticky note from last season, and I bitched out.

Sheep Trip - The Good
Lots of small wins on this short trip though:

-- My janky channel-lock pliers + hammer was a huge success.

-- 10" nail spikes for the 4 corners of the tipi tent were a great idea.

-- The lash rope + diamond hitch works darn well. I swapped out the braided nylon rope I was using during early summer for a 1/2" climbing rope I had laying around (I cut a 50ft length), and it works waaaaaay better. (Nylon rope seems to stretch too much, so I stopped using it on the pack saddle. Both lash and sling ropes are now climbing rope material.)

Sheep Trip - The Weird
So here's one I could use some pro help on:

Both on the trip in, and the trip out, my mare/pack horse would just stop. Like plant all four feet and refuse to move. It seem to happen mostly on the down-hill sections, which sucked.

I worked around it by either just leaving her (shes hardcore herd-bound), and after I got ahead about 20m, she would start to boogy to catch up. But this is not my preferred solution, that's for sure.

I'm thinking this is just a saddle fit issue, but I don't know. She didn't have any hot spots, no hair rubbed off, and the saddle was sitting correctly in the pocket as best I could tell.

She's done this on a recent trip on me as well again (and with waaaay lighter panniers that trip), so I don't know.

***

So that's it for this update. I've managed to fit in a few more day-trips since the beginning of the month, and even managed to connect with another Rokslider local to me and have done some rides together. Still hoping to get in some 3/4 day trips between now and the end of October. Then the rifle elk opener hits, and that's a different game.

 

[Ryan Avery]

This thread is awesome for my novice ass. Thanks!

 

[yycyak]

Tip On Hobbling
While I'm typing stuff, I wanted to mention a tip about hobbles and feeding. (I'm quite certain I picked this tip up from the forum, but I can't remember who told me.) I'm not saying this is the right way to do this, but just what has worked for me this summer and fall so far:

I highline my horses during the night. So, when I get up in the morning, the horses are HUNGRY. My routine is I walk them out to wherever they can graze, put their hobbles on, and then take their halter off and leave them be.

What you're watching for: The horses will have their heads to the ground, and start CHOWING. They will take tiny little steps, and keep mowing down grass.

Depending on the grass quality, at some point your horse will start slowing down. It'll start taking bigger steps with the hobbles, maybe even hopping. It'll stop chomping down everything in sight, and instead start to get a little more picky in what it wants to eat. It'll raise it's head, look around, maybe wander a bit, then go back to eating for a little bit.

This is when I catch them and put them back on the line/tie to a tree.

I'm posting this here because this routine wasn't obvious to me when I first started. I was all "Well how long do you graze for? How do you even do this hobble/feed thing?"

Short answer is your horse likely would eat non-stop if it could, so it'll always want to graze. The trick seems to be watching for when they switch from "Chowing like starving man on a ribeye" to being picky eaters, looking around at things, and starting to wandering off to random places not near where they should be.


The above assumes you're in a decent grazing spot. If you're in sparse grass, your ponies will wander trying to find feed. So you have to use some judgement here.

 

[pbroski]

I love this thread! It's great that you're getting out there and doing it!

The Custom Pack Rigging biothane hobbles work great. Easy to put on and take off. Very durable, too. I've been using them for years.

 

[missjordan]

I have a question. Have you been able to pinpoint a pattern to the mare planting her feet? How long will she travel before stopping? How steep?

Trying to get an idea if there’s the off chance she might be sore in the hind end and that’s why she’s stopping. Or if she’s being a crack. My guess is on the second choice since she has a history of similar tendencies but it’s worth asking just to make sure


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[Tobe_B]

I carry the same hammer set up you have. I use it for putting shoes back on, camp chores, all kinds of stuff. It’s unbelievable handy.

For hobbles I’ve always used leather. Leather has its own life. It’s breathable and pliable, and can break under heavy strain.

Your mare may be getting pinched by the pack saddle. Shoulder pain can cause horses to lock it up and quit.


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