“Thirty Years of Horse Packing Mistakes”
I’ve made lots of mistakes in over 30 years of horse packing! I hope that by outlining those mistakes you might be saved a lot of distress. One can cuss the horses or mules, but in 99% of all cases it always boils down to human error, either errors in choosing the wrong equipment, or errors in judgement about your stock, pecking order on the trail, choice of knots, choice of tightening cinches, etc. All right, let’s get on with the rat killin’!
I’ve ridden both horses and mules, and I can honestly say that once one has ridden a mule in the hills you will never again ride a horse! Mules, because of evolutionary pressure on one parent, the wild burro, have become more cautious over the eons. Mules are smarter than a horse. They are more careful! Mules don’t walk off the trail. They don’t cut their legs and fetlocks as much as a horse. When a pack slips under their belly they don’t explode and keep bucking until they rid their entire load 120 feet down to the bottom of Big Creek (I’ve been there). On that particular trip all our toilet paper got wet from just such the aforementioned incident. By the end of that hunting trip we became expert botanists. We learned just the right leaves that substituted well for toilet tissue.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve had excellent horses on hunting trips as well. Horses usually never ride as smoothly as a mule, but a good mule is more expensive than a horse, so be careful when you buy a trail horse or mule. Don't make the MISTAKE I made when we first bought our horses. We went to the horse auctions, and over a 30 day period, had purchased four head of horses. Two of them turned out, two of them didn’t. The two who did not turn out had names; but we soon changed their names to “Dink” and “Dummy”. Well I was the “dummy” for being naďve when buying these two at auction. We looked over the horses ahead of time before bidding began. Pretty smart, huh? Well, now I know that many horse traders will “ace” the horses 1 ˝ hours ahead of time, and one can crawl under the belly, lift up their feet, look in their mouth, shake a plastic bag at them and come to the conclusion that this must be a gentle horse, perfect for trail riding. Dumb, dumb, dumb! After a good shot of “ace” the wildest, bronkiest mustang, green off the B.L.M. will just plain be in “lala land”. Man, when we took “Dink” and “Dummy” home the ace wore off and, like someone once said, “Are you ready to Rodeo?” Two of the four horses we bought turned out, but if I had it to do over again I would scan the paper and visit the prospective horses unannounced two or three times before making a purchase. I would also ask the seller if I could do a vet check on the horse. If the seller hem haws – run as fast as you can! I never understood elk hunters/horse packers who always said, “well, I take a green colt on every trip, and by the time we get back he’s pretty well broke.” Let me till you something-life is too short for that non-sense. Bronk busters like this suffer from “cranial-rectal inversion”!
SAWBUCKS: I like a sawbuck. They stay on well because they have two cinches, but they have two disadvantages. I’ve made both of these MISTAKES with a sawbuck. A. After a week of packing it is very common to sore a horse along the front cinch line. Because of the cinch attachment design of a sawbuck one can’t move the cinch away from the cinch sore. B. When you arrive at your campsite and unload the packs, the horses, especially mules, like to roll. If they roll before you can stop them they can break a sawbuck tree. Once you break the sawbuck tree the pack saddle becomes useless as teats on a boar!
DECKERS: After my mistakes with a sawbuck I converted to half a dozen Decker’s and made a MISTAKE with them. I had a Decker with those wide extended horizontal bars. I eventually learned that when, not if, a horse goes down, thus leaning on one of the panniers, it becomes almost impossible to pry the bag strap or Decker hook from the bar. I learned to weld one inch chain links on either side of the “D” bar, under which I wedge the pannier strap. It is still a little difficult to pry the strap loose when a horse goes down, but much easier than coping with those wide Decker ear bars! Another advantage of a Decker over a sawbuck is the fact that one can move the cinch forward or back should you sore a horse.
WESTERN SADDLES: It seems that way more western saddle panniers (sometimes called “flop-overs”) are sold these days than are a set of alforjas bags (set of 2 bags). It’s because most folks are short on horsepower. They may have to walk in and lead their horse, but after unloading the gear they have a saddle horse to ride which leads us to talk about pack pads.
PACK PADS: I’ve made two MISTAKES with pack pads. A. I thought I was doing the horse a favor by using a triple pad-wrong! It causes a great deal of constant slippage. Use a 48-inch pack pad then a standard cool back or similar pad on top of the 48 inch pad. I use a 48 inch pack pad and cool back always under my western saddle because I have a rifle scabbard riding high to the right of the pommel, and a canteen and fanny pack on either side of the saddle horn. The large pack pad helps protect the mule’s neck area. I also carry a cantle bag behind my saddle into which I always carry a sleeping bag and survival gear. I do this in case I have to spend the night on the trail-it has happened many times. The large pack pad helps protect the mule’s kidney area from constant jarring.
Another MISTAKE I have made with pack pads is this. I used to use a solid felt pad. I learned that by sewing two 7/16 layers of felt together with a dead air space between that the pad would dry much faster thus enabling one to sleep on it that night.
I’m going to detail a lot of advantages of mantied loads, but at the end I’ll tell you why, after 20 years of using this method, I consider this method a MISTAKE, at least for the amateur horse packer.
I developed quite a method of manting loads that afforded us a little more luxury in camp. Start by laying out a 7 ft. X 7 ft. canvas mantie. Onto the mantie one placed a heat-sealed polyethylene envelope into which a 2” thick x 6 ft. long x 26” wide high density foam pad would be doubled over and stuffed inside the envelope. I heat-sealed the seams so the envelopes would not leak. If you sewed the fabric the needle holes would allow horse sweat and rain to leak through. I made the MISTAKE one year of sewing the envelope and by the time we arrived in camp the foam was soaked. I wisely chose high density foam because (A) you get a better nights sleep on this pad vs. low density foam and (B) you stay much warmer when the temperature gets close to zero. The foam pad also affords the horse a lot of protection between your load and the horse’s side. Next we placed a plastic box with lid on the foam-filled envelope. The box enclosed all our camp stuff. We then wrapped up the mantie with four toothed buckle straps, not rope, which enabled us to really pull the load together as compactly as possible.
These mantied boxes were hoisted up along side the Decker and tied on with basket hitches. I used 45 ft. of Manila hemp rope tied to the Decker “D” in the center. This left more than enough rope to tie each side with the basket hitch. The 45-ft. lengths of rope often came in handy in camp for many things including picket lines. The older I got the tougher it became to hoist those 90 lb. Loads on each side. It took me a couple of trips before I learned how low or high these mantied loads had to ride on the Decker. Each side, of course, had to be perfectly balanced to he exact pound, yet loads would still list to one side or the other because you would never quite basket hitch the left side exactly like the right side. To cure this I attached a military style feed bag to each load. If the left side would list lower, the nosebag would be attached to the right side and a rock would be inserted into the nosebag. If you try this don’t make the MISTAKE I did by using a cheap mesh nosebag. Four or five miles down the trail the rock would wear through the mesh and fall out. This experience led me to make nose bags out of Iron Cloth TM. After many years they still haven’t worn through.
Well, two more advantages of using these 24” wide X 40” long plastic boxes in our mantied loads were the use of the plastic boxes for (A) Bath tubs, (B) wood boxes, and (C) grocery shelving. We would place one box on top of another within the tent onto which we placed our groceries and SOUTHERN COMFORT.
The afore mentioned were several advantages of using mantied loads, and, certainly, outfitters will favor this type of system because clients show up with all kinds of odd shaped stuff. The outfitter wraps all the unpredictable items into the mantie and heads down the trail. An outfitter does not have the luxury of planning his loads like the amateur packer so mantied loads are more expeditious for him.
So why do I consider it a MISTAKE, at least for me, to use mantied loads? Because (A) It takes too much time to wrap up a load (B) The loads constantly have to be retightened as you progress down the trail (C) They are exhausting to load; more age-more exhausting and most importantly (D) If you’re packed in 20 plus miles you have to break camp very early in the morning in order to reach the trail head by dark. On November 1, it gets dark at 5:30 p.m. Mantied loads take so darn much time to wrap up and load that you are virtually guaranteed to be on the trail after dark. When breaking camp one just doesn’t weigh your loads as accurately because you are pressed for time. I would rather take a whippin’ than to be on the trail after dark. A wreck or slipped pack on the trail after dark is an absolute nightmare. I’ve had several of those MISTAKES all of them caused by not being able to hit the trail early enough after breaking camp. Those after dark disasters caused me to start sewing reflective tape on my panniers so I can see if my loads are balanced. If a load starts to list to one side we stop immediately and place a rock in the opposite pannier. You wouldn’t believe how that reflective tape has saved my butt many times!
Well, I’ve settled in on panniers and top packs after all these years because they are much faster and easier. I’ll place my gear in a polyethylene liner, weigh each box exactly, place the plastic box in the pannier and hang each bag on the Decker (or sawbuck). Because I am often short on horsepower, sometimes I will find myself leading a horse with a western saddle over which is a “flop-over” pannier (western saddle pannier). When I get to camp we unload the gear and I have a saddle horse to ride all week. Twenty years ago most of the panniers sold were alforjas bags (set of two). Today, flop-over panniers out sell the alforjas sets by 3:1. It seems I’m not the only guy short on horsepower. Below is a photo of one of our early pack trips when I first bought cheap pack bags. What a MISTAKE! You place 180 plus pounds on a horse or mule. That 180 lbs. Bounces up and down a thousand times a day until the seams of the pannier or the bottom of the bag rips out. Cheap pack bags will absolutely ruin an entire trip!
We’re going to spend quite a lot of time talking about panniers because a well-built bag ensures a good trip. A poorly built bag can ruin an entire trip. I’ve made at least a dozen models until I gradually learned all the inherent weaknesses and flaws. After 30 years I believe I’ve corrected most of the pannier manufacturing MISTATAKES.
I, personally, do not prefer a canvas pannier. Canvas will mildew and sun rot. We use 30 oz. or better, Ironcloth TM. If you cut a pannier at a right angle you are asking for a rip-out on the inside corner. When I started to cut patterns at a large curve, there were no more rips. Geometrically, there are far less pounds of pressure on a curve than at a 90-degree angle. When you shop for a pack bag look for double sewn seams and don’t buy a pannier with plastic snaps or buckles. In cold weather they disintegrate when they hit a tree. One of the MISTAKES I made in the past was the use of a standard two-inch nylon over strap. These two over-straps are usually pulled through a toothed buckle and tightened by one individual while the other guy pushes upward on the opposite bag. This adjusts the bags away from the horse’s side in order to give him “breathing” room. On will usually travel down the trail a couple of miles and re-do the process after the loads settle. All this is peachy grand until it starts to rain. The standard, good quality two inch webbing twists and binds when it gets wet. Trying to pull it through any style buckle becomes futile. I messed with this problem for several years and finally copied a method we use in the manufacture of hay stack covers. A two inch camlock buckle is threaded with divers belt. This webbing is meant not to twist while under water. The camlock buckle actually acts as a sort of pulley. One person can pull on the two over-straps and pull panniers away from the horses side when you’re alone. Another person hoisting upward on the opposite bag is not needed. These same camlock buckles (one inch) along with scissors snaps also allow one to tighten pannier lids with a gloved hand. Cold fingers, webbing and buckles just don’t work well.
What a headache! There’s no such thing as a throwing a diamond hitch over a tent and going 20 miles without having to stop and retighten. If you’re packing a 75 lb. Canvas tent on top of your load you probably don’t have much choice. That 75 lb. tent usually becomes a 100 lb. tent after being rained on all week. Looking back, it was a MISTAKE to pack in a canvas tent. Back then we didn’t know any better. Today’s technology offers lightweight waterproof, breathable tents that weigh less than 20 lbs. and fit in sleeping bag stuff sacks (Dry-Lite Tents TM) If you’re hunting out the back of your pickup an old canvas tent is fine, but if you pack in, times have changed. You no longer have to throw diamond hitches.
RIFLE SCABBARDS
I’ve made two MISTAKES with rifle scabbards.
(A) Mounting them in the wrong place
(B) Purchasing the wrong type.
(A) MOUNTING: I turned out to be a MISTAKE to mount the scabbard horizontally under the stirrup with the butt of the gun to the rear. When the horse lunged uphill the gun would shoot out the back of the scabbard, ruin the scope, and ruin the hunting trip. If I would mount the scabbard at an upward angle with the butt of the rifle near the horses shoulder, I couldn’t reach down fast enough to deflect a branch on the trail. The branch catches the scope. Another ruined scope! I ended up placing the butt of the rifle as close as I could to the saddle horn whereby I can act quickly if the rifle comes close to a branch on the trail.
(B) PURCHASING: Purchasing the newer 4 layered water-proof breathable scabbards insures that your rifle doesn’t get rusty. Most saddle scabbards are lined with closed cell foam. This doesn’t breath and a wet rifle cannot dry itself. Again, the rifle ends up rusty at the end of the trip.
HORSE BLANKETS
Anytime after the first of September it can snow in the back country. If you take valley horses to the hills they are not used to the cold. Some horses can take the cold more readily than others. I learned that when a horse stomps in the middle of the night he is usually cold. After 15 years of trying different fabrics we finally found the perfect lightweight (2.6 lbs.) solution to the problem. I discovered the method be experimenting with fabrics for a sleeping bag cover (bivi sack). I tried GoreTex R Supplex R and a dozen more fabrics. All were waterproof, but not very breathable. I would wake up the next morning in my experimental bivi sack totally soaked. Then I tried a triple layer (2 dead air spaces) thing that really worked. I could lie out in the rain all night. Not one drop leaked through and I was completely dry inside – no sweating! So I incorporated this triple layer thing into horse blankets, bivi sacks, rifle scabbards, bib overalls and IronCloth TM chaps. Anyway, at 2.6 lbs. one can pack in eight horse blankets and only occupy one half of an H-Pack. If one can keep the water and wind off a horse, mother nature will keep your horse warm.
“DOWN THE TRAIL”
When we would pack in 21 miles and start saddling our stock at daybreak we always arrived in camp after dark. That was a MISTAKE. Again, anytime you’re on the trail after dark you leave yourself open to disaster! To rectify this we had the horses saddled, with cinches firm, but not tight, the night before. If you tighten the cinches the next morning and load your gear you are making a big MISTAKE. A mile down the trail you will have to retighten the cinches and have to do so underneath the pressure of a pannier over your back. Tighten the cinches, then walk the horses or mules to water, tie them up and retighten cinches only after the pack animals walk a goodly distance. Then load your gear and head down the trail. Be sure to use the breakaway cinch knot that can be pulled loose in an emergency!
PECKING ORDER
Horses and mules have a social life just like we do. One horse may refuse to walk behind another . If you see ears constantly laid back when horse A is close to horse B then change their spot in line. Not to do so will result in the biting of rumps and / or the kicking of the horse behind. Once you find a proper line order that works memorize it and don’t change it the entire trip.
The “breakaways” that you use to tie the trailing horses halter to the pack saddle ahead is extremely important. If the breakaway is too light a mule will learn that all he has to do is come to an abrupt stop, the breakaway will snap, and the mule can rest and eat for a minute or so. This has been one of my MISTAKES I struggled with for some time until I learned the right combination. One can always use very strong stuff as a breakaway, but then you defeat your purpose. If it doesn’t break a horse will go over the cliff and take three more pack animals with him. I came to use 1/3 of a 3/8” sisal rope. It wouldn’t break as easily as baler twine. Simple unravel a two foot section of rope separating the three woven strands. Attach one of the strands to each decker or Sawbuck.
As you are walking down the trail and feel the horses (or you) need a rest, wait for a safe open spot. If you stop to rest in the middle of trees it won’t be long till the entire pack string has wrapped itself around trees. I’ve been there and actually had to cut lead ropes. I reluctantly adopted the philosophy to never stop till we reached camp. Many times when you stop on the trail you have a problem develop.
IN CAMP
CARE OF HORSES: Lets talk for a minute about the care of horses in camp. Be sure to have your vet make up a horse first aid kit. Be sure he includes novocaine type pain blocking shots and a decent suture for sewing up horseflesh. I’ve actually done it with a sewing awl. Be sure to take your horse shoeing tools and extra shoes. I have never been on a trip where horses did not need to be re-shod. One of the terrible MISTAKES I’ve made is picketing individual horses in a meadow so they can eat. I would use a screw-in type picket stake, then tie a rope to a single hobble on a front hoop. As the horse turned he would rope burn a rear fetlock. This is a good way to lame your entire herd. Boy, did I pull some stupid MISTAKES. If you’re going to picket a horse in this manner be sure to use a section of chain. Chain will not rope burn the fetlocks.
FEED: I tend to hunt more late in the season than early. A big MISTAKE I made on one late hunt was packing in and feeding pellets. The later it gets in the season the colder the water becomes and the less water a horse drinks. Because horses don’t drink as much water on a late hunt you will end up walking your horse half the night because he developed colic. Pellets lend themselves to a colic situation. Stay away from pellets whether hunting early or late. I’ve packed in cubes, and they worked out okay, but the best and most efficient feed I’ve found is dehydrated, chopped and compacted alfalfa with molasses added. These packages look like the package that comes out of your household trash compactor. They weigh 45 lbs. each, and the label says you should feed 14 lbs. per day. I have found, however, that the horses will eat 5 lbs. in each nosebag in the A.M. and 5 lbs. in the P.M. They sometimes have a little feed left over which leads one to believe they are getting all they need. I think it’s because the hay is left to wilt in the windrow only one day, then chopped and dehydrated for a minimum of nutrient loss. Vitamins and molasses are added after dehydration. The horses love it. They never colic and I can pack 180 lbs. (4 units) on one packhorse with one of the larger size panniers. After my panniers are loaded and weighed precisely, I accurately measure and dump oats into each pannier. By the time you unload your gear in camp you have a goodly supply of oats in each pannier that can be rationed out to the stock.
OTHER HELPFUL HINTS
BACTERICIDE: When you handle lead rope, britchens, etc. one gets microscopic bits of horse manure on your fingers. If those fingers touch your mouth be prepared to run to the latrine often throughout the night. Keep some bactericide to rub on your hands often while in camp and keep a supply of Kaolin Pectin incase you come down with trots. I buy a gallon of the pink stuff for about $9.00 and pour it off into left over Nyquil R bottles. This stuff really stops diaharrea!
DRINKING OUT OF THE CREEK: In most cased the docs are right-don’t do this! I’ve done it all my life and will probably continue to do so. The older doctors will tell you that back in the days before water supplies were chlorinated/fluoridated that giardia was a common flora in all water supplies. The population had a general immunity to giardia. After chlorine and florine killed all the giardia the population lost their immunity. That’s why most of us get sick after ingesting giardia. Because I have drunk from creeks, and an occasional hoof print, all my life, I probably have and want to maintain my immunity.
BRING THESE TO CAMP: The three things I learned to bring along are (1) A good sleeping bag cover; my triple layered “Snug Bug” TM will add 15 degrees more warmth, and I use it as a Bivi Sack/Tube Tent when I biouvac. By the way my elf hunting success tripled when I learned to biouvac. I will leave camp in mid-afternoon, back pack to the top of the mountain or ridge, spend the night hunkered under the cover of a tree, and I’m ready in early A.M. when the other hunters push the elk up to me. The Bivi Sack/Tube Tent allows me to have a comfortable night in the nastiest weather. The nastier the weather that night, the better the hunting the next morning. (2) A stocking cap to wear to bed at night. If your head gets cold the rest of your body is cold. (3) Slippers give your poor aching feet a rest after pulling off those heavy hunting boots. Speaking of boots I have learned to put on three pair of wool socks, then try on the right size of hunting boot. My feet have never been cold, and I have never had a blister. I’ve also learned to purchase boots with an air bob sole. It seems I slip less frequently on wet rocks and logs.
TENTS AND STOVES
Consider this: A fair size canvas tent weighs 75 lbs. and a decent stove weighs 75 lbs. This 150 lbs. takes up most of one entire packhorse. With today’s tent and stove technology a 16 X 16 Dry-Lite Tent (waterproof and very breathable) weighs 18 pounds complete and fits in a sleeping bag stuff sack. There’s a new tent stove on the market (17” X 17”) that weighs about eight pounds. Eight plus eighteen equals 26 pounds compared to 150 pounds above. This saves one entire pack animal. Speaking of stoves, make sure you cut dead upright trees. If the dead tree is horizontal the wood will be “punk” and your fire will constantly be going out. Once your stove is burning well be sure to adjust your chimney damper to 45 degrees and use a chimney top cap. If your stove chimney does not have a damper, get one. Otherwise (1) all the heat goes up your stovepipe instead of heating your tent and (2) sparks will come back down on your tent and burn holes.
