Anyone trail ride thier draft horse? New draftie owner :)

[Fancy That]

We just purchased a wonderful big Belgian draft as a pleasure/trail horse for my tall, long-legged boyfriend!

He grew up riding, took a long hiatus, and has been riding my friends' Belgian cross for the last year or so. We are buying horse property now, so took the plunge to get him his own "pony" :)

Anyone else ride thier draft horse for pleasure? They'll be mosy-ing down the trail probably 3-4x/week and doing camping, clinics, etc. I may convince him to join me on a Hunter Pace if we ever get an english saddle for him! (I'm an ex-Hunter Princess who enjoys eventing now....and of course trail riding, too)

Here is our new boy (old owner up..not us!)
Jake - 17+ hand Belgian Draft:

http://render-2.snapfish.com/render2/is=Yup6aQQ%7C%3Dup6RKKt%3Axxr%3D0-qpDofRt7Pf7mrPfrj7t%3DzrRfDUX%3AeQaQxg%3Dr%3F87KR6 xqpxQQeexnnGxeaQxv8uOc5xQQQl0JJnnlJa0qpfVtB%3F*KUp 7BHSHqqy7XH6gX0QoP0%7CRup6eQJ%7C/of=50,503,443

Would love to hear from other Draftie Owners!!! We just love this big boy!

[Prieta]

Ahhh, I do not get to see the picture - there is an error.

[Fancy That]

Ahhh, I do not get to see the picture - there is an error.

Retrying the photo link:
http://tinyurl.com/3p98ab

Does that work for you? The other one works for me...wierd! Thanks for checking him out :)

[HOH]

I couldn't see the photo either. :(

However, I'm very excited for you! We do a lot with our draft crosses - trail riding, hunter paces (taking most of the jumps), competitions, and even team penning (we aren't very good at chasing cows, but it's fun! :)). They won't be upper level anything, but their combination of lower level talents and easy going temperaments are hard to beat!

[gabz]

The only problem I'm aware of are low branches!! LOL...

Heck, even riding a 15.1 hand QH I sometimes get whacked by a branch.

Good luck and have fun.

[undersaddle]

I rode and conditioned a totally out of shape 17.1 and 1/2 hand percheron X (she was maybe 7/8ths tb, god she was a tank) hunter. She loved to trail ride! I used trail rides as reward and down time from our retraining schedule. I will tell you though- her favorite thing in the world to do was to to rub against the closest tree if you were on her back or not.

[Fancy That]

Okay, let's try this link for a photo of Jake, our new 17.1 hand Belgian Gelding:

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk150/elaineshickman/Jake119_smhighresolution.jpg

Yes, tree branches may definitely be more of a problem considering his height, and rider is 6'2"!

Thanks for sharing your draft riding experiences!

[Sarah Ralston]

They make great trail horses as long as their feet hold up.
Our belgian/QH cross, RU Sir Galahad, has even done really well in competitive trail (25-30 mile rides, one 2 day 60). Key is to get them fit and avoid them eating everything in sight on the trails (Gala does a great "grazing trot"). He is the BEST husband horse-our favorite ride is the 7.5 mile to the nearest pub, picket the horses and get a pizza and beer-Gala likes his Sam Adams straight out of the bottle :D

He also enjoys the beach.

[Luckydonkey]

I love to trail ride my belgian mare- she is only 16.2, so a relativly small draft- but she gets us a lot of attention on the trails... and is a lot of fun!:D

[GallopingGrape]

I had a belgium mare that passed last year at the ripe old age of 32!! She was the BEST TRAIL horse... honest, steady and bomb proof. She would take care of us on the trails... good luck to you!!

[ChocoMare]

I do with not one, but two drafties... :D

Clydesdale/Standardbred cross: http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1338312214015305252WSoBcE

and Percheron: http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2250388930015305252DHMYxo

[Bravestrom]

We have 8 draft crosses - while the yearling colt and two year old filly aren't ridden yet, even they go on the trails for hand walks through the trails.

All of our draft crosses go on regular hacks - My husband has a 1/2 clyde/tb cross - she is a rescue and is absolutely sweet - we just him a western saddle too -he was riding in a stock but the western one sits on her better.

My older son events two draft crosses and I show two in dressage.

All our horses take short hacks after they work to cool out when the weather is nice - it's good for their minds and we go on lots of family hacks.

My younger son's welsh/tb/han pony smokes us in a gallop but we all have a great time when we go.

Congratulations to your boy friend. Have fun.

[jerry]

I trail my Belgian. I am forced to lead so that I can clear the path of cobwebs for the women! I carry a stick and when I see them coming I hold it out front to keep from catching them with my face. Branches get a very wary eye from me.

[gypsymare]

One of my kill-buyer rescues, Max, was a Percheron cross, only about 16.2 but built like a tank. He was a fabulous trail horse, surprisingly light on his feet with a lot of go for such a big boy. He never batted an eye at anything and smoooooth.

Canter (http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c367/reitz27/Max/maxfly.jpg)
With his best buddy (http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c367/reitz27/Buckwheat/buckwheat002.jpg)

[jumpingpercheron]

My Perch loves trails! I used to trail ride a Shire mare all the time too and she was a happy girl out on trails.

[amdfarm]

I have trail ridden my Percheron stallion and mare. They both seemed to enjoy it and we had fun.

Congrats on your new boy. He's cute.

[Fancy That]

Loved all the draftie pics and stories of trail riding, etc!

So happy to hear there are others out thier riding thier drafts for fun. I don't know anyone around here that does it, so I'm sure we'll stick out like sore thumbs, but Jake is so huge and handsome.....bet we'll get some interesting reactions!

Here are a couple more pics of him (8 year old 17.1 hand Belgian)
Me, up! (doesn't he have a pretty head?)
http://tinyurl.com/6c4lj4

Chris, up!
http://tinyurl.com/62ggyp

Me up again (don't have a clue what I was doing here... but Jake looks quite content to stand there)
http://tinyurl.com/5e3od7

We don't have him home yet, but it should be this coming weekend. We are so excited!

[stecia]

I ride my 5 yo perch x andalusian mare at least 10 miles weekly. She actually now prefers we go alone...that way she gets to think she is really fast! She is a sweetheart about NOT peeling me off, although in the beginning I did sometimes look back to see if my kneecap was adhered to the passing tree bark. We've just started jumping logs, what a blast! And now we're learning a new skill, ground driving. Next thing...trail driving?

The mighty mare:

http://picasaweb.google.com/esthavera/Tess2008