We would like to pack in on our saddle horses into an area that is mountainous with little to no grazing. We just want to do one night. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to take for the horse feed and still be able to carry people food and necessities? We do not have a pack animal so that's not an option at this point.

Thanks!

First off, I can't imagine anywhere in Florida where you would not find some grass. Or in the South East for that matter.

From what I read, You are taking X number of people and the same number of horses, No extra horses for packing.  So each horse will carry his rider and their gear. Am I reading your post correctly?

We pack in for fall deer and elk hunts. We stay for a week at a time. There is not much graze that late in the fall.  The frost has hit, sometimes snow, cattle have grazed the area hard before they were pulled off the mountain. So it's slim pickens.

We turn the horses out to graze, Usually with hobbles,  give them as much time as you can, they will find some grass, leaves etc.  During any rides, I let the horses graze on any feed along the trail. I'll stop and give them a moment if I see some good grass. Take the time and enjoy the scenery while your horses eat.

I pack my eggs in some grain. Keeps the eggs from breaking, When I cook the eggs for breakfast, I give each horse some grain. They may not get enough roughage, but the grain helps with the calories.

There is an old packing saying,  "It's better to count ribs than to count horses"  Meaning, it's better to keep the horses tied up close and not getting as much feed than to let them run free and get plenty to eat, but also run away home. So yes my horses come off the mountain a little more guant than they went in.  I don't starve them, but they don't get as much fiber as they would at home.

Marla, we do intend to feed the horses. No one said the horses went with no food...

Painted Horse, I was hoping you would reply. We are going to be in the Smokies and when we rode there in March there was very little and my horse will eat just about anything green or sometimes brown. This time of year will probably be better but I don't know for sure. I think we should be able to find some edible stuff along the way which will mean we will only have to carry in some 'grain' (we feed something that's mostly beet pulp anyhow) and maybe a little mixture of alfalfa cubes mixed with some beet pulp that can be wet down in a collapsible bucket. Oh, and yes it will be just the four or five of us and our saddle horses, no pack horse. I've taught one horse about hobbles and I will work on the other shortly. Thanks so much for the info!

I hobble the horse and watch them,  I figure they get about 60 minutes to graze.

If their heads are down eating. Fine, Once they start holding their head up and looking around. It's time to put them back on the highline. And I always keep at least one horse tied up. As Bob said, Even a hobbled horse can run faster than I can.  But usually they won't run far.

Another thing to do, is stuff them full of feed before you head out on your overnighter.

Just be careful that you don't overload your horse. I rarely carry any camp gear on my saddle horse because of my size, But I do pack some gear behind daughters.  They just don't weigh as much as I do.  The basic rule of thumb is that your horse can carry 20% of his body weight for 8 hours or 30% for 4 hours.

Sometimes it not the weight, but rather how it's carried on the horse. Make sure it's well balanced

Well, we just got back from our trip to the Smokies. What a great time! We managed to accomplish one overnight trip although we would have liked to do two separate trips. Time just didn't allow it with our friends getting up there a bit later than expected. The 20% rule really does count. The only problem we had was on the way back our friend's younger horse tired because he took on some extra weight from his wife's horse. Though we were a lot lighter, he still weighs a bit and he ended up walking his horse a bunch on the way home. The horses did great on the way out to our camp, however. We love the packs we purchased and had no issues with them shifting. We will tweak it up a bit for next time but overall had a great experience. Riding in the Smoky Mountains is absolutely fantastic. We did get into some bees twice. Once at the camp my husband got into them when he was breaking up some firewood and another when we rode out and back past a nest on our last day. They got one horse on the way out and, not realizing exactly where on the trail we were, a couple of the horses got stung on the way back. No humans got stung that time except a hiker who was walking very fast behind us. We doctored him up and his friend waited until the bees settled down before he passed. When everything settled a bit more we went back and flagged the nest. I recommend carrying a bee sting 'stick' (hydrocortisone) for stings on humans and horses. It really helped a lot and seemed to get pulled out of the kit a lot too :)  Our friend got harpooned in the neck while riding in the truck with the window down!

We went first to Townsend, TN and stayed at Gilbertson's Lazy Horse Retreat. Melodie is a fantastic hostess and the place is very quaint and tidy. Our friends met us there and we got one ride in on the TN side with them and we saw a Momma bear and her two cubs! I was in front and rounded a corner in the trail and the horse and I saw them at the same time. He just stood at attention and we all watched them. That was just sooo cool. We watched for a while and they finally meandered away from the trail. That was on Monday then we hauled across the park to Bryson City, NC and stayed at Deep Creek Horse Camp. We have stayed with James before and we always love it there. We packed in on Wed night and would liked to have turned around and gone again on Friday night but the horses needed a break so we went shopping around the little town of Bryson City. We rode again on Saturday and left for home on Sunday. Everyone and everything came home in one piece so now I just have to make plans for the next adventure! Oh, and Friday evening we drove up to the visitor's center and saw a huge bull Elk and some Does with their calves. (I hope I got all of that right) They look fenced in in the pictures, but trust me, they are free roaming. I got a picture of the big bull hopping over the huge fence like it wasn't even there.

I hope you enjoy the photos

Excellent photos.  Loved the elk!

It's been so long since I've been to the Smokies.  I spend a few months there many years ago.  It's beautiful.

Looks like you had fun.  That elk will be a nice bull in a couple more years.

I just got back from elk hunt where I was calling the rutting bulls in close. We passed on 12 bulls that we judged to be too small for what I wanted to shoot. Its great fun to bugle to them and have them come tearing through the trees to try and fight you. I've got a couple days of work then we head back for another weekend.