You had to have been dealing with halter horses.
Actually, I've only owned one true halter horse. She was one I bred and raised. She was haltered up until three, then began her saddle work after I sold her. She was never made into a trail horse, as her career was show, then breeding. All my horses were trail horses, first and foremost and show second. I do not subscribe to the training theory that show horses cannot be trail horses. This idea comes from public trainers that have a barn full of show horses, owned by clients that are taught what buttons to push after the horse is push button ring trained. These days most halter bred horses are so conformationally lacking that they would never hold up for heavy trail riding.
All of my horses, no matter what they started out as had to be able to go out on trails safely ...getting them there was not always the safest situation. Any horse that I raised that was too young to be under saddle were just about veterans when they hit the trail. They were always ponied along side me on trails and introduced to any and every obstacle I could think of in the barnyard. What I mostly am speaking of are horses that I bought and retrained, or horses owned by timid trail companions.
My first Appaloosa, Chataqua was a big 16.2 hand lunkhead. I bought him as a four year old that belonged to a timid lady that would turn around and go home if refused to walk over a log. Chataqua and I had some epic battle of the wills for a few months until he finally came to the realization that it was easier to just do it than to mess with the hard headed human on his back.
This horse hated water...but, the light bulb finally came on one cold, wet December afternoon when we were out alone trail riding. We came upon a fairly wide creek, and the battle was on. We spent about 20 minutes on the bank in the mud duking it out about crossing that stream. It was a rearing, spinning, snorting, head throwing ordeal, throwing himself down on his knees, all which resulted in him getting two shoes sucked off in the mud. Finally, deciding to use another tact, he took a big breath, gathered himself up and took a flying leap with the idea of jumping the creek.
This resulted in him landing squarely in the middle of the creek instead, in very cold water which came up to his belly and covered my ankles. As he again gathered up to lunge to the other side, I reined him back and made him stand there and look around. We then waded back and forth for a good 10 minutes until he decided that water was our friend.
When I finally let him out of that creek, we crossed it back and forth several more times for good measure and headed home, both of us sopping wet and muddy, one of us humbled by the skirmish. No more water problems after that day! There were no horses to follow that day, he had to accept me as his leader. Chataqua went on to become a brave leader on the trail and my absolute favorite of all time trail riding horses. That sucker hated trailers though, that's a whole other story!
I also agree very much that if a horse is pointed at an obstacle and allowed to refuse without further consequence that horse learns a quick lesson of "You can't (or won't) make me.", and can become unreliable in a hurry. Horses are masters of reading body language and gauging the fear factor or determination of the rider.
I will say if ever there's a breed I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole for a trail horse, it would be a Thoroughbred. TB's seem prone to blow right when you need them (and even when you don't) to bear down and focus.
I have to pretty much agree here, from my experience. It's like trying to take a greyhound and make a Great Pyranees out of him. TB's are very quirky, generally speaking of course. Bred for speed , sometimes all that built up pressure to go full steam ahead erupts unexpectedly when it is most inappropriate. It's like a wire gets crossed or snaps. Channel that breeding and energy into a job that they are bred to handle, and it's pure poetry in motion.
Maybe you have read my post on the horse group about Sidney, the
crazy (certifiable) thoroughbred I owned. In fairness, I've owned three thoroughbred, but only Sidney made it to the trails before getting sold, so I can't say how the other two would have turned out.
Years later, the barn owner where I kept my Arabians got talked into buying a very thin thoroughbred, because she felt sorry for him, and he seemed sweet. I told her it was a mistake, because when this horse got fit he would be a handful. When he started to gain weight and feel better, she began to lightly ride him. Sure enough he dumped her twice on the trail, once two days before her daughter's wedding, bruising her ribs. It wasn't too long before he went down the road.
However the co-operation between man and beast came about in military riding, I loved seeing that old film of horsemanship of an era gone by, and the sheer balls to the wall riding. I have to get my thrills vicariously these days.
