Hobbles and horse camping

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> Glad it went so well! I have to ask you and others who have trained horses
> to hobble; How do you keep them from figuring out they can canter away? Mine
> quickly learned to stand stock still with hobbles on on command "whoa", but
> leave them to graze and they will be investigating the neighbors pasture
> within minutes. One gelding had to be hobbled front feet, back feet and one
> diagonal front to back. It still only took him a few sessions hobbled before
> he figured out how to "bounce" around in this gear. I can't imagine camping
> somewhere, hobbling him for the night, and actually expecting to find him
> within miles the next morning. I ask the question because the two horses we
> currently own have not been hobble trained. I'd like to get it right this
> time<VBG>! Any suggestions?
>
> Alison Farrin
>
Heee, heee, heee. ... canter away they will! From a packer's point of
view (mine ;-)), hobbles are only good for slowing them down. The trick
to camping with adventurous horses is to have "drift" fences up when
possible to keep them from going home (hopefully :-> ) and train them to
return to camp by early morning. The training worked well for us, as we
ALWAYS had grain waiting in nosebags for them by morning. If a horse
didn't show up - no grain, and no nightly outings for the next evening.
The "misbehaving" horse would become a camp horse for that night while
his buddies went out to graze and just be horses. Believe it or not,
they DO eventually figure it out.

Anyway, if you do hobble while horse camping, please be sure to use the
thick, sheepskin covered hobbles --- will save you a lot of headaches.
And, drift fences are a neccessity for horses not used to the camping
routine. If there's a pack station near the area you want to go, it may
be worth a call to ask them about their drift fences and where they
are. Most of the stations in the Eastern Sierras are pretty generous
with this information... I don't know about your area, though. Also,
you may want to hang a cow bell on one or more of your horses during the
night (leather collar which will break if snagged only), so it will be
easier to find any hiding horses in the morning.

E-mail me if you (or anyone else for that matter) want some detailed
info. on packing with horses, etc.

Kim (and hobbles-are-kinda-fun 'Lee)

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