I finally have gotten my own trailer and would like to start exploring more of the state land around home.  Can anyone recommend a good book, video, or website that covers topics about what to expect, packing equipment that would be necessary, and how to deal with horses while camping???  For example, I see mention of high-lining your horses.  I'd like to learn more about that and how I can prepare my horse to accept that setup, things I should avoid so as not to damage trees, etc. 

Thanks!

Might want to check out getting subscriptions to Trail Blazer or Trail Rider. Both these magazines deal with topics tailored to the trail rider.

What you take depends on over night pack trips with your horse or just day trips. You'll also want to work with your horses at home with the desensitization of bouncing saddle/cantle bags and the sound/sight of a raincoat while riding... crossing water, logs etc. Check out sportack.com for no bounce packs... they are great! There are many things to desensitize a horse to also. Such as mountain bikes, hikers, ATVs etc. if you are using multipurpose trails. The list goes on and on and what to bring and how to be prepared. I love trail riding and the tranquail oneness you feel with your horse. Have fun and happy trails.

Trail Rider magazine is the way to go for sure!  Here is a link to their website: http://www.trailridermagazine.com/home.html

Happy Trails!

Is it the Stowaway brand backs you are talking about? If so, my wife has the western cantle pack. She likes it, and it is great. It doesn't look that big, but it is well organized and can hold a lot of stuff.

I have on of those and I love it.  The only problem I have with it is I bought it for my aussie saddle (it was advertised to fit it) but it is to small.  It does fit my my daughters western saddle nicely though.  It hold lots of stuff and has straps on the top to add bedrolls or raincoats.

I don't know if there are any NATRC Competitive Trail Rides near you. But they are great way to get and learn.

First of all they have a marked trail for you to ride. This gives a chance to ride a new trail that is marked for you with fellow riders.

Everybody has always been very friendly on the rides I attended.

You have both a Vet and a Horsemanship judge watching you and your horse through out the weekend. They will give you some good feedback on thing you can do to improve your trail riding. Including camping with your horse.

www.NATRC.org

You are in Region 5 which is the whole East coast. So you probably wouldn't attend a lot of the rides in the South East. But maybe there are a couple close to you.  Or there may be other similar organization in your area.

All excellent suggestions.

You didn't mention what environment your horse came from.  Was he used as a trail horse at some point previously?  If so, he probably has the drill down pretty good.

If he was or is a show horse, is he used to being tied at the trailer in-between times in the show ring?  If he was or is, that all helps.

If the horse has never had ANY kind of tying experience or if it's always been a show horse and has never had the opportunity to go on a trail ride and be tied up for even a half hour lunch break, my suggestion would be to take your horse with a horse that is street-wise when it comes to trail riding and standing at the trailer or tie-line.

It's a whole lot easier for the new and/or nervous horse to "get it" if he has a "been there done that" horse with him as a good example.

While you will probably be a little nervous on your first trail riding venture, try to rise above that nervousness because it will carry over to your horse.  You are his alpha leader and if you are nervous, he will most likely be nervous.

A good example (and this is just a "for instance"):  If your horse were to somehow get the rope wrapped around his leg, you wouldn't want to run toward the horse screaming and hollering "oh lord my horse is caught in the rope!"  All the hoopla coming from his alpha leader, would most likely make the horse panic and pull back even harder, causing more damage.

Rather, you need to force yorself to stay calm, walk as quickly as you can toward your horse without being in a panic and say "Prince, look at you, you've gone and got yourself caught in the rope.  Wait! I am coming to you".

My horses know and comprehend several voice commands that go beyond the norm.  "wait! I'm comin' to ya" is one of them and is a crucial one.  They also know hand commands.  People have smirked at my teaching my horses "dog" commands, but down thru the years, it has saved my butt and my horses'.

While you do need to always "keep your eyes open", not panicking when potential trouble does arise, shows your horse you ARE his very good leader and he hopefully will listen to your commands, and avoid possible disaster.

Hope this helps you some

Thanks for taking the time to offer your insight! 

I've owned this appy since he was a weaning, he is now almost 6.  We've done several open shows each year (pleasure, halter and such classes) but mostly we go on 1-3 hour trail rides from my house (borders state forest for endless riding).  Now that I have a horse trailer I'm hoping to expand our trail time to all day rides in other areas and maybe some overnighters eventually. 

This forum is an excellent resource for collecting info on new adventures such as these so keep the info coming and happy trails!