UNBRANDED

The trek continues: 13 Mustangs, 4 men and more than 3,000 miles.

At left, Jonny Fitzsimons, Ben Thamer, Thomas Glover and Ben Masters at the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

The Grand Canyon, locally referred to as the big ditch, stretches east and west over 200 miles. This presents a difficulty on a north-to-south ride through Arizona. We had three options to get past the big ditch. We could avoid it to the east through a harsh desert, to the west through a harsher desert, or go straight through it on possibly the steepest trails in the world. Going through the canyon would allow us to have better grazing, better water, and save well over a hundred miles of travel. We decided to go through it.

I knew the Grand Canyon was big, but didn’t realize the enormity and depth until we came upon it. Pictures and verbal descriptions just can’t do the vastness of the world’s largest canyon justice. Speechless didn’t happen; instead I started giggling like a little girl thinking at the absurdity of taking a horse through such an unworldly place.

Before we got to the south rim I got in touch with some of the mule guides who pack dudes and gear to the bottom of the canyon. They reassured me that I wasn’t losing my mind by giving me a good trail report and saying that first-time riders regularly ride through the canyon. That reassurance quickly left when they later said less than a half-dozen private stock go from the south rim to the north rim annually. To top that off, a backcountry ranger told me that she’s never heard of horses crossing the canyon, only mules. Good thing we’re riding Mustangs that have only been around people for a couple months!

We reserved a campsite in advance near the South Rim visitor center and it immediately began to rain. Being the cowboys that we are, we went and got a hotel with a real bed, the first in five weeks—it was awesome! The next morning we were tacked and standing at the edge of the canyon about the time the sun started pouring over the horizon. We began the descent on a set of switchbacks on the South Kaibab Trail. On one side of us there was a vertical rock wall going straight up. On the other side of us was a vertical cliff going straight down. In between was a 5-foot-wide, well-maintained trail with good footing. As long as nothing spooked our horses we’d have no problem!

I’ve never understood why, but lots of horses like to walk on the downhill edge of a steep  trail. Not so in the Grand Canyon! Our horses were hugging the walls pretty tight. Shortly after we began our descent we began running into hikers and we found out very interesting news. There was a race that day and the next, and runners would be flying by our horses to get down to the bottom of the canyon and back up. Fortunately we’d already passed hundreds of hikers in the past month, so we felt good that our horses wouldn’t spook too bad with heavy-breathing, backpack-wielding, shirtless runners about.

True to the breed, our Mustangs carefully made their way down the cliffs of the canyon without missing a step or having an incident. We passed dozens of hikers, backpackers, runners, and even two mule strings—we found wide places to pass each other—before coming to the big challenge. At the bottom of the canyon runs the rapid-filled, freezing Colorado River. Crossing the canyon, 150 feet above the water, lies a 300-foot suspension bridge, the only way to cross the river. As if a tiny suspended bridge above a raging river isn’t enough to scare a horse, before the bridge lay a winding 50-yard tunnel barely large enough squeeze a pack horse through. It was scary, especially to an animal that naturally would never enter a cave.

I dismounted and began to lead my gray horse, Chief, through the tunnel. He snorted at the entrance, listened intensely at the echo, and gave me a look asking me if I was sure this was a good idea. I guess I gave him a convincing look, because he followed me in. Sunlight lit our way for 49 feet or so before the cave took a turn and we were enveloped in near pitch black. After a short distance we began to see the light of the exit and the suspension bridge beyond. We got to the edge of the bridge, and looking down I could see the raging Colorado River between the slats of board we were about to walk across. Chief took the transition of footing in stride and the sounds of hoofbeats on the bridge mixed with the rumbling of the river below us. Halfway across the bridge, 150 feet above a freezing drowning death, in the bottom of the largest canyon on earth, with a horse with 90 percent of its life in the wild, I stopped, looked back at my buddies and couldn’t help bursting into an ear-to-ear grin.

We got our horses safely across the suspension bridge and onto the north side of the Colorado. We spent the night at the bottom of the canyon before climbing over a mile of elevation the next day to get out. There are not a lot of people that go across the Grand Canyon horseback and that is a shame. The country is steep, but the Park Service does an incredible job of maintaining good trails. Will I go through it again? Absolutely. Will I go through it on a horse I don’t trust? Absolutely not.

—Ben Masters

For more information on the Unbranded Project, visit unbrandedthefilm.com.

Read about the four adventurers in the May issue of Western Horseman.

The trek continues: Four men, 13 Mustangs and more than 3,000 miles.

Since the day we adopted our mustangs in February we’ve worked hard to develop a strong trusting relationship with them. They trust us to take them places where they normally wouldn’t go, like skinny trails, over bridges, across large rivers, etc. Our end of the bargain is to insure that they overcome that unnatural location or event in a safe manner. When you break your end of the agreement and it leads to the injury of a horse, it is a betrayal of the trust you’ve worked so hard to develop.  Yes, horse injuries occur that don’t always involve human influence, but often times an injury can be traced back to a human-caused event that could have been prevented. Thus is the case of my favorite lead horse, “Violet.”

Violet (named for a donor to our trip) is a dark bay gelding that walks about 4 miles per hour all day over rough terrain. He’s sure-footed, level-headed, picket-broke, reliable and an all-around great mountain horse. Of the four mustangs I’m using on this trip, he is the best to lead a string; we connected. That connection and trust was shattered when I foolishly injured him through negligence and laziness.

I’ve spent a lot of time packing in the high country, both by myself and for different outfitters in many western states. People that I’ve worked for picketed by the halter. Others used a drag log, tied by the halter. I’ve seen horses that are hard to catch turned loose with a halter to catch them again easier. I’ve seen numerous trainers leave green horses haltered to let them get the feel for it. I’ve also heard people say that a haltered and unsupervised horse can get injured or killed, but I’ve never seen it happen nor do I know anyone who has witnessed such a thing. If you need proof that a haltered horse can get hurt, contact me. I now have first-hand experience and an obligation to let other people know that a haltered horse can get seriously injured.

We were camped south on the Superstition Mountains in central Arizona. The grass wasn’t great but certainly worth grazing, so we picketed two horses and hobbled the rest so they could graze through the night. Our nearest water source was a pool in some rocks about 400 yards away and our horses were in between our camp and the water. I watered Violet right at dark and put him on the picket line by the foot. I left the halter on his head with the lead rope wrapped around his neck so it would be easily accessible in the morning when I’d water him prior go his morning grain. I’ve been told not to do this, but I did it anyway out of laziness and because I’ve never seen anything go wrong.

I woke up the next morning at daybreak and before lacing my boots went to check my picket horses. I immediately knew something was wrong because Violet’s halter was loose. The part of the halter that runs down the side of the horse’s face was broken in two and the rope was stretched. He had some scratches on his face and it was obvious what had happened. At some point in the night Violet had reached forward with his hind leg to scratch his face. The heel of the shoe protruded about 1/4 of an inch past the hoof and when he went to put his hind leg back after scratching, the excess shoe caught in the halter. It makes me sick to think how long he struggled to break that halter rope. If the halter hadn’t broken, it’s possible he could have thrashed himself to death trying to free his leg.

Fortunately the halter did break, but in the process he tore a muscle in his rear end.  He has difficulty reaching a full stride with that leg now and favors it. After a week of recovery he appears almost fully sound, but he won’t be coming to Canada with us.  Healing muscles takes time and the proper thing to do is give him sufficient time to recover.

This blog was hard for me to write because it’s shameful to admit that my own stupidity injured an animal that I care deeply for. However, I feel obligated to share this story in the hopes of preventing someone else making the same mistake. There’s a few things I learned here that I’ll do in the future:

• Sleep next to my picketed horse.

• Don’t leave halters on my horse unattended.

• Be certain that no excess heel in the shoe protrudes past the foot.

—Ben Masters

The trek continues: Four men, 13 Mustangs and more than 3,000 miles.

May kicks off the second month Jonny Fitzsimons, Thomas Glover, Ben Masters and Ben Thamer ride the trail that will take them across the United States. Thus far, the riders, their Mustangs, the cameramen from the Unbranded Film Project and road crew member Val have covered more than 500 miles. There have been weather concerns and Cholla, “jumping,” cactus incidents, but the riders push on to reach their goal—arriving at the Canadian border in September.

On Sunday, the riders and their families meet up at Jacob Lake, Arizona, for a morale-boosting visit and a few days to rest up before reaching higher elevations and more dangerous trail. The adventures are sure to be more exciting and a change of scenery, from desert to mountains, is in store.

Here, view images captured on the trail and provided by Ben Masters.

"This is living," says Ben Masters.

The Mustangs are handling the trail well, and aside from one cactus incident, have taken to the daily routine like pros.

Jonny Fitzsimons looks back at the camera while packing on the Arizona Trail.

The weather turned cold, and the campfire was more than a means to cook a meal, but generated much-needed warmth.

Mountainous regions in Arizona brought snow and frigid temperatures.

From the Arizona Trail.

Stay connected with the Unbranded crew through this blog, and through their Facebook page, facebook.com

The trek begins: Four men, 13 Mustangs and more than 3,000 miles.

We’re traveling 20-plus miles a day, six days a week through some of the rockiest, steep terrain in the American West. We’re a month into our trip and have roughly five months to go. So far, we have covered nearly 500 miles through southern Arizona and have not worn through a single shoe or lost one. Prior to our trip we talked to numerous outfitters, packers and long riders about the best way to maintain our horses feet for a 3000-mile journey. Packing guru, farrier, support crew and mentor Val Geistler also provided crucial knowledge and skills that are keeping our horses sound.

Here are six shoeing techniques we are sticking to on our journey. Other people have different methods, but this is what works for us on the trail.

1. Make sure the shoe is shaped to the hoof with no excess shoe showing, especially in the heel area. What can go wrong will go wrong with horses and if there is extra shoe showing it can get stepped on and the shoe pulled out or bent. If there is extra shoe on the heel you’re almost guaranteed to catch a picket line in that gap at some point in time. Having extra heel also increases the chance of a horse catching its foot in its halter, which can lead to death or severe injury.
2. Leave as much sole and frog on the bottom of the hoof as possible. The frog and sole are part of the hoof for protection, there is no need to get rid of protection in a rocky environment.

3. Use a shoe most suitable to the environment you’re traveling through and the duration your shoes need to last. We’re using preformed St. Croix-style forge shoes that have been reinforced on the toes and heels by welding tungsten carbide on them. Mike Dailey of Emigrant, Montana, made the shoes for us, and after almost 500 miles through some of the narliest terrain in North America we have not worn through one shoe.
4. Leave lots of nail to clench and don’t rasp it to the point of weakening the nail. It may not be pretty but this will help keep your shoes on and held tight.

5. Eliminate long toes and maintain lots of heel. A 58- to 60-degree hoof angle is good for trail usage because it’s a natural break-over for the hoof, thus helping to prevent joint or tendon issues down the line.

6. Don’t be afraid to correct your farrier. Most farriers get paid by the horse, and some place priority on cosmetics over function in order to please the owner. It’s easier to clean up a hoof to make it pretty than tediously shape a shoe until its perfect. If you see something wrong with the shoe your farrier is shaping say something before the first nail is set. Yes, most farriers know what they’re doing, but they’re human and might cut corners to save time.

—Ben Masters

For more on Unbranded, pick up a May Western Horseman to read “Border to Border.” Visit unbrandedthefilm.com for more on the ride and documentary.

The trek begins: Four men, 13 Mustangs and more than 3,000 miles.

I’ve spent 4 months a year close to the Rio Grande in Deep South Texas every year for the past 4 years. Before coming to Arizona I thought that South Texas brush was prickly nasty country, but after experiencing the jumping cholla forests of South Arizona I’ve realized that South Texas brush is a pretty luscious forgiving landscaping. The jumping cholla cactus, also inappropriately called the Teddy Bear Cholla, gets to about 10 feet tall and is scattered in lower elevations throughout southern Arizona—and hopefully nowhere else on our route! They seem to grow in clumps of a couple acres in the hills where it flattens into a small plateau or tabletop. The cactus is made of a trunk that goes up and then has branches that have about 2- to 4-inch segments that are easily broken off from the rest of the plant. These segments have spines about three-quarter inches long completely covering these segments. When an animal or object walks by the cholla the air disturbance is enough to propel the cholla segments back and forth, sometimes enough to break the segments off the cactus and propel them to whatever caused the air disturbance, thus the name jumping cholla. The plants seem to be about one horse width apart, wide enough to be tempting to go through but close enough to cause a big wreck if something goes wrong! Well, something went wrong…

Three or four days ago we were traveling through the Tortilla Mountains in the Sonoran desert about 50 miles south east of Phoenix. It gets hot here in April, real hot, and its rocky and the water situation consists of muddy pools every 20 miles or so. Beautiful country, but tough on horses and horsemen. It was late in the afternoon and we were dragging through the last 5 miles or so to our camp. One of our horses, Gills, was walking along and decided he wanted a trail snack. I’ve seen horses eat some funny stuff on the trail like tree bark, pine needles, lead ropes and branches, but this horse reached over and took a bite of a cholla cactus! Gills reared back and crossed his eyes to see what he bit into, and a big chunk of thorn-covered cholla cactus was stuck to his bottom lip. He went to quivering his lip and shaking it back and forth and up and down trying to get it off. That cholla was stuck solid and the harder he tried to get it off the more spines he managed to get into his lip. He was obviously pretty bothered and needed a hand.

Gill’s personality is that of a dog. Ben Thamer, his owner, is even trying to figure out a way to teach him to fetch in the hopes of being a duck-hunting retriever after we’re done with this trip. The point being that Gill is a very good natured Mustang that likes hanging out with humans, he doesn’t have a mean bone in him, or at least until he gets cholla spines in his mouth! Ben hopped off Semi, the horse he was riding that day, and got out his leatherman to pull the cactus out of Gills’ mouth. The cholla cactus is hard to get freed and it hurts horrible when you yank them out of your skin, I don’t want to imagine them in my lip. Gills shied away from Thamer, but Thamer stayed with him and got a good hold of that cholla cactus. Ben gripped the leatherman, pulled back on the cholla, and brought the wrath of Gilly upon him.

Thamer saw it coming but was too late, with one quick movement Gill reached up and punched Ben Thamer with both hooves right in face and on the shoulder. I was standing next to Thamer and heard his glasses break and thought it was his head. Thamer hit the ground, rolled up, and stared past me and Gills to a commotion behind us. I spun around to see a snorting blow-up of Tamale (a different horse) with Jonny on his back and cholla cactus flying through the air. Jonny rode the buck our of Tamale for seven or eight hops before realizing that horse wasn’t about to stop bucking, and he bailed off in a flat spot.  Tamale ran for about a half mile before stopping and looking back. It turned out that Gills’ reaction triggered Tamale to spook into a cholla, which stuck him right in the rear, including a piece right below the tail!

It took us another 10 minutes and some mean looks from the horses before we realized that there was no getting the cholla out from sensitive areas on a riled up green BLM horse. And for all the people who’ve told me that BLM mustangs can’t buck hard, they’d change their mind real fast if they were there that day.  Over the next mile or two all of the cholla fell out of the horses and we later found out that that is the way the cactus spreads, by attaching to an animal and detaching after a couple miles or so. Lesson of the day? Don’t get your horses in cholla cactus, it’s not a plant worth spreading.

—Ben Masters

At left, Jonny Fitzsimons, Ben Masters, Ben Thamer and Thomas Glover take on backcountry of the American West armed with Mustangs and packing knowledge.

For more on Unbranded, pick up a May Western Horseman to read “Border to Border.” Visit unbrandedthefilm.com for more on the ride and documentary.

The trek begins: Four men, 13 Mustangs and more than 3,000 miles.

Word of the four riders and camera crew of “Unbranded” has reached a broad audience. Residents along the trail are keeping their eyes peeled for the horses and riders, and are also prepared to offer assistance. Western Horseman’s involvement in the project is unique and allows us to correspond with readers offering updates.

This week, Arizona resident Harry McWilliams sent us an account of the crew. With the help of his two friends, John Rendall and Arizona State Parks employee Jennifer Rinio, he located the adventurers. Jennifer sent Harry this update:

“John said there are four young riders who are recent Texas A&M grads riding. It’s a documentary with 14 mustangs. They have been falling into cholla and stepping on rattlesnakes as they make their way through southern Arizona. As he said, they passed through Oracle State Park on Saturday, and returned to the Y Camp where they stayed for two nights before continuing north. They all went through the culvert at Hwy 77, which surprised John. He has helped with some logistics, like helping to arrange their stay at the A Diamond Ranch at the Gila tonight, but he said they are very self sufficient and haven’t really needed him much. They are BLM-adopted mustangs. One of the guys left an expensive Mountain Hardwear Fleece jacket in the park, so if we find it John can help return it. They had a professional photographer traveling with them until just before Oracle, but one of the riders has a high quality camera and John said he’s getting amazing footage himself.”

Any travelers riding through Oracle State Park? Keep your eyes peeled for that fleece jacket, and maybe we can help the guys stay warm as they head north into the mountains! Many thanks to Harry for sending in this update direct from the trail.

Following Ben Masters’ planned route and logistics, the crew will pass the Theodore Roosevelt Lake and should reach the Tonto National Forest next week. Their route takes them northwest through the Mazatzal Wilderness on the north side of Payson. The riders will then head northeast to the Mogollon Rim. The crew will travel to Mormon Lake and may take a day of rest. Hopefully, this stretch will allow the riders to cover ground quickly.

The riders have made good time, and while we have a planned schedule to share, please note that we do not have accurate maps for each day. Best of luck to the riders, camera crew and Mustangs as they head north on this more than 3,000-mile trek. If you come across the crew, be sure to send an update for the exclusive Western Horseman blog.

At left, Jonny Fitzsimons, Ben Masters, Ben Thamer and Thomas Glover take on backcountry of the American West armed with Mustangs and packing knowledge.

For more on the Unbranded Project, read “Border to Border” in the May issue of Western Horseman or visit Unbranded’swebsiteUnbrandedtheFilm.com.

The trek begins: Four men, 13 Mustangs and more than 3,000 miles.

Picking a route through 3,000 miles of the American West takes a lot of time,  in the case of this trip it took three years. There are so many things to take into account. I prioritize my safety and the safety of my crew number one, the safety of my crew number 2, staying in the backcountry number 3 and covering ground quickly number 4.

Because of April and early May grazing conditions, the amount of distance we have to cover, and the difficulty of the terrain we’re traveling through we decided to use a road crew for the state of Arizona. Master packer, singer, songwriter and all around great guy Val Geissler stepped up to the plate to be our road crew through this state. We are mainly traversing the Arizona Trail through the state because it is well established and there is a huge amount of trail information on their website.

The Arizona trail is about 850 miles long and goes through some of the most remote areas in the American West. I did a huge amount of research on trailheads that have enough space and resources for Val to meet us with a truck and trailer. Depending on the terrain and the part of Arizona we’re on, Val meets up with us every night or every other night. At the trailhead, or a ranch if we’re lucky, we’ll put our horses in corrals-if they exist-or build an electric fence to restrain our horses. We give our horses as much hay as they can eat and about 25% of their diet is alfalfa. Another benefit of having a road crew with a trailer is that it allows us to rotate through our horses giving them a day off or time to recuperate if they get injured. This allows us to cover more ground quickly, which is very important since we have to get to the Canadian border before the snows set in at Glacier National Park, Montana, as early as September.

Garmin Basecamp not only tracks and plots courses, but saves the information for future use.

For maps we’re using the databooks given by the Arizona Trail Association, individual National Forest Maps, and a state atlas. We’re also using a mapping software called Garmin Basecamp which allows us to transfer information onto our GPSs (we’re using Garmin Montana 650t).  Before the trip started I put a waypoint at every available quality watersource, every available trailhead, as well as the entire Arizona trail route onto Basecamp and the GPS units. The more you know about the area you’re going through the better care you can give your horses. People along the way will help but having to search for someone when you need a hand takes time. In the words of Val Geissler and other packers before him, Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

Because we have a road crew and the ability to alternate our horses we are currently covering between 20 and 25 miles per day, largely through difficult terrain. This is a lot of distance and horses carrying loads cannot travel this far and maintain condition without alternating through your stock. When the cavalry first went West their rule was that a horse can maintain condition carrying one-third of its body weight for 25 miles a day on flat ground. We’re not going through flat ground by a long shot! When we get to Utah and our road crew leaves us then we’ll be averaging closer to 15-18 miles a day depending on terrain, a distance that will allow us to maintain our horses condition.

-Ben Masters

At left, Jonny Fitzsimons, Ben Masters, Ben Thamer and Thomas Glover take on backcountry of the American West armed with Mustangs and packing knowledge.

For more on the Unbranded Project, read “Border to Border” in the May issue of Western Horseman or visit Unbranded’s website.

The trek begins: Four men, 13 Mustangs and more than 3,000 miles.

We are about 150 miles into our journey and the trip has been perfect! We’re averaging more than 20 miles a day through rolling hills, sky islands and the Sonoran desert. The Arizona Trail is our main travel route, and the Arizona Trail Association has done a great job of creating a backcountry route that travels through the most scenic parts of the area you’re in.

Our favorite stretch thus far has been east of Patagonia, Arizona, through the Canelo Hills. The Canelo Hills are a rolling grassland as far as the eye can see. The draws are filled with Oak trees, junipers and willows along the creeks. Beautiful country with almost no fences!

The preparation with our Mustangs has really paid off. After a week of travel they haven’t blown up on any of the trails and they’re picking their way through the rocks and desert like they grew up here, which many did. Any second thoughts about using Mustangs are gone, as we haven’t had a single lame step on the trail or any slipping on rocks. We’re on schedule and covering this country in the way it was intended. Off to a great start!

—Ben Masters

From the starting point, near Nogales, to north of Vail, the riders travel the Arizona Trail.

(Note, the Unbranded crew is north of Vail, Arizona, now and traveling through Colossal Cave Mountain Park)

The trek begins: Four men, 13 Mustangs and more than 3,000 miles.

Ben Thamer, in the lead, Jonny Fitzsimons, Ben Masters and Thomas Glover embarked on their journey April 1, leaving from Nogales, Arizona.

Two days into the more than six month journey, “Unbranded” mastermind Ben Masters shares an exclusive blog with Western Horseman. The crew trailered the Mustangs to the stepping off point in Nogales, Arizona, March 29. The trek began April 1.

Since we’ve bought our mustangs we’ve used many ways to put them into the trailer and just recently have we been able to easily load them into the trailer. At the beginning of their training they weren’t safe enough to be moving around in the trailer with them. At that stage the only safe option was to divide them and push them into the trailer with pens. Over time as they got more used to our presence and we became more comfortable with them we started loading them into the trailer with a halter.

We found that keeping the horses calm and not getting in a hurry was the best way to get them to load voluntarily. Another important thing we learned was to not have too many people distracting the horses giving them pressure from behind. I’ll lead a horse up to the trailer gate and rub them a little and allow them to look into the trailer in a relaxed manner. Giving them a food treat helps get their mind on something else. Once I think they’re relaxed, which largely depends on the horse, I’ll step in the trailer and put a little pressure on the halter asking them to load into the trailer. If they freeze up I’ll let them settle again before putting more pressure on them. Eventually they’ll relax, sniff the trailer and think about loading up.

When they make a move forward like they’re contemplating taking that first step into the trailer I’ll release the pressure off the halter and give them words of encouragement. If necessary I’ll put a food treat to their mouth and “coax” their head further into the trailer.  It may take 20 minutes or so but eventually all of our horses except a couple would load without any pressure from other people behind the horses. The horses that would not load with only a food treat and applying halter pressure we would get a person behind the horse pressuring them with their presence and a halter rope. Its important for the person in the trailer with a lead rope to keep a loose halter when the horse has his head looking into the trailer and equally important to apply pressure on the halter when the horse turns to get away from the trailer. The person “shooing” the horse into the trailer from behind needs to only give encouragement when the horse is acting like he’s trying to leave the trailer opening.

When the horse looks like he’s thinking about loading let him think without giving him outside stimulation. In our case all of our horses will load in this manner without needing to smack them on the rear or using a flank rope to get them to go forward. It may take more time to get them in the trailer with this method but in the long run they’ll willingly load much faster than the horse associating a trailer with getting smacked in the butt from behind until they load up.

The basic foundation for a good mountain horse is trust. If you don’t have that trust when he gets pinned under a log in a river or in a wreck in the middle of a pack string you’ve really set yourself up for a difficult time trying to calm a horse in a stressful situation.  Loading a horse into a trailer those first times is a stressful situation for them, they just don’t have confined spaces like that in the wild. Taking your time to train your horses to enter into the trailer willingly will help develop that trust you’ll need in the backcountry when you get into a situation that could really injure your animals or yourself.

—Ben Masters

Four men, 13 Mustangs, six months and 3,000 miles: From Mexico to Canada, the deepest backcountry in the American West.

Between the four of us we have nearly 12,000 miles of experience packing in the backcountry and have seen a lot of different methods of packing and gear that people use.  We’ve talked to outfitters, forest service packers, and read the old literature on the best way to pack animals on extended horseback trips. Keeping our stock in good shape is our number one priority and you must have good gear. You can get by on weekend trips or multiple week trips with an improperly fitted saddle and cheap gear, but when you’re going for months on end your horses need the best equipment possible.

PADS: Bad pads can ruin horses during an extended ride. I’ve always thought it was strange to see people in $3,000 showy saddles sitting on top of a $50 dollar pad with a pretty design that doesn’t distribute weight well on the horse. We’re forsaking pretty colors for usability and are going old school with 100% wool. Wool doesn’t heat up to the temperatures synthetic pads do and it wicks moisture away from the skin. If you want proof go on a three-mile trot leading two horses, one with a wool pad and the other synthetic. I’ll bet my homemade saddle that the synthetic padded horse is more sweaty and hotter under the pad than the horse with the wool. We’re using a 32-inch-by-32-inch by one-inch thick pad for our riding saddles made by Five Star Equine Products.

Our pack pads come down the sides of the horses a little further and are one inch thick as well. The model is the “Mountain Packer” by Five Star. These pads aren’t cheap, but they’re a whole lot cheaper than replacing a horse that got too sore from a bad pad!

It took time, but all the Mustangs acclimated to the pack saddles. (Photo by Ben Masters)

PACK SADDLES: Every packer has their own idea of the perfect packsaddle and many will disagree with the packing system we’re using. We chose this system because it’s fast to load, easy to load with green horses, and can be switched to different horses without problem. Our packsaddles have a double cinch, rotating bars to fit different horses, and low profile hangers to put panniers onto the saddle. Our britchens are very thick with no sharp edges and the breast collar is rolled making it very difficult to cause a saddle sore.  The model we’re using is from Custom Pack Rigging in Canada. I used this packsaddle on a 2,000 mile pack trip in 2010 and it did very well.

SADDLES: We’re using our saddles for a variety of uses: to train these horses, drag logs, snub down horses, a pillow to sleep on, or tie our horses to so it forms a drag. You don’t need a pretty trail saddle but you do need a lightweight sturdy one. Todd Jey’s in San Angelo, Texas, made us some saddles to use that fit our trip perfectly. They have long saddle strings, a ¾-inch rigging to ensure cinches don’t get in the armpit, a rounded skirt to cut weight, in-skirt rigging to save ounces and knees, a fiberglass modified association tree, and a small profile horn with a wrap. I like to have lots of D-Rings to attach things to such as an elk quarter, jackets, backpacks, a travois (in case someone gets busted up), cruper etc.

—Ben Masters