From: china@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian
Subject: Re: Extended trail ride questions.
Date: 16 Dec 92 17:45:27 +1100
Distribution: world
Organization: Computer Centre, Monash University, Australia

In article <Bish.00ki@xanodria.UUCP>, Bish@xanodria.UUCP (Doug Bischoff) writes:
>     Hello all.	More questions.
> 
>     When I was getting fairly good at staying on the horse at all gaits, I
> suggested to my friend that we take the horses out overnight or perhaps over
> a weekend and make it a camping trip.  She's a VERY outdoors-y person, so I
> was very surprised when she VEHEMENTLY refused.  Her reasoning was that we'd
> have to carry food AND water for the horses as well as ourselves.
> 
>     Now call me naieve, but I thought that horses were once wild animals
> that could drink water from practically any (non-industrial waste
> contaminated, of course) water source.	Do horses have to worry about
> Giradelli and bacteria and all that jazz like we fragile humans do?  Would
> Iodine tabs help?  And as for food, so I loosen up a bit and let my horse
> graze as we're walking and find a campsite with lotsa grass and tie 'em with
> a long rope.
> 
>     Am I way off base here?  If not, could someone tell me what precautions
> and planning is necessary to assure that the horses will be properly cared
> for on an extended ride (perhaps even to weeks long?) 
> Doug Bischoff	

The advice that has already been posted concerning your drinking water is
in agreement with my experience (even puddles are generally ok), so I won't
dwell on that subject.

Ken Carvers advice about planning you overnight camp sites is important. If
you know where to find water, good grass, fire-wood etc, then long-distance
trekking is much more fun and less worrying. I don't necessarily agree with Ken
that you need to have someone bring horse feed to your campsites each night. It
all depends on the fitness of your horse(s), the amount of work they are doing,
the terrain and the quality of grass available. I travel hundreds or thousands
of km on my trips and never carry horse feed. I always make sure the distance
travelled each day is in accordance with the above conditions. In good
conditions we can travel 25-30km day after day, but in drought conditions we
may travel only 10 km for 3 days, then 2 days rest. The availability of water
can be the biggest factor in deciding how far to ride on any particular day.
A horse can travel for 2 days in mild weather without water, but by day 3 they
begin to really suffer. So you may have to travel long distances at night to
get the horses to water before the third day. Most people have difficulty
deciding how far to travel each day, but my advice is to let the condition and
health of the horse decide for you.

You should carry all your own food and at least 4 days water. A pack-saddle
with full-size bags can carry about 8 weeks food, but for a weekend trip you
won't need a pack-saddle (shoulder bags are fine). I recommend not tying your
horses at night unless there are brumbies in the area (ie wild horses). 
Horses tend to get into a tangle unless they have lots of experience with 
long ropes. I hobble my horses (make sure they are trained to hobble first)
at night and use a portable electric fence. You can buy 200m of fence in a
roll which is light and easy to carry. The charger is small and runs on D-size
batteries. It's the best invention!! Of course your horses must be used to
electric fences before going on a trip. You can make quite a large yard using
trees etc and the horses can graze much more efficiently than when they are
tied.

Best of luck

- Ross