With the widespread use of the truck and stock trailer, trailing livestock, especially horses, has become a thing of the past in most parts of the country. Many hands do nothing more than jingle up horses out of a horse trap come a morning. In big country, wheather out on the desert or way back up in the mountains, one still needs to know how to trail horses from one place to another. The following is a way that I've found works best . You can take what you want from it and leave the rest.

   When gathering horses to trail them to a distant location the first thing is to get the jump on them. By this I mean locate the horses you're after and get them held up as quickly as possible. After you have the bunch stopped you need to let them settle. This may take less than five minutes or over thirty minutes. The amount of time it takes to settle the herd will depend on several different factors, like how far you ran them, how wild they are and how much they've been handled.

   In the long run it takes less time to settle a bunch of horses and line them out properly than it does to not settle them, and it doesn't matter how long it takes to settle them, it is always quicker to settle the herd.

    The important part isn't how long it takes to settle the herd but how  well settled  they  are when  you start  to trail them.  Being able to read horses helps. A group of settled horses, unlike cows, may not allow one man, of a two man crew, to ride amongst them when settled. But when settled they will display signs of being relaxed and not on edge by licking their lips, cocking legs, relaxed ear movement and calm eyes.

    Next, after you settle the bunch and can ride around it within a couple horse lengths without getting them all jacked up, you need to pick the horse you believe will most likely take the lead. I'd start with the horse the herd was following when you jumped um. So one man can ride off four or five horse lengths from the herd by taking a route that allows a clear line of sight with the horse you picked for the lead horse. The other man can ride to the opposite side of the herd from him and in towards the herd getting within their discomfort zone. The second man is not    trying to push or drive the horses. His job is only to keep the herd grouped and block the back door.
  
    If it works right, your lead horse should move off in the direction of the lead man and the herd should move with him. If the horses we're working are wild and have not been handled I like to move them 10 or 20 yards and then resettle them, repeating this process five or six times while doubling the move each time just to teach them to settle, move, settle. When you finally lead off to trail out across country they should be just right. Plus, since you went through the trouble of settling them several times, if they get spooked or jacked up, you should be able to just hold um up, settle them real quick and line um out again.

   When trailing horses a long distance you may end up in a position where the horse you're on is played out or comes up lame. If the horses you are trailing are broke to ride or you had the foresight to turn some spare mounts in with the bunch you are trailing then you will need to change mounts. The slickest way I know to do this is to hold up your horses in a nice open spot and let them settle. Now, I'm assuming there are only two of you on this chore. The job of roping will fall to the man who was not leading. First, after the horses are settled, the second man will put enough pressure on the bunch to move them towards the hand that was leading. The lead mans job is to stay put and let the bunch settle near or around him. If the bunch tries to leave, the second man will herd them back to the stationary man. If the ponies have been trailed a ways and they are used to being settled, they should settle around the stationary man pretty quick.

   Next, after you have the ponies settled around your stationary man, ride slowly into the herd and peel out a horse by positioning yourself between the bunch and the selected horse and push him away from the herd. In doing this, you will be able to circle the herd at half the speed of the horse you've pushed out. The reason why is the horse you pushed out  has to cover more ground to get around you and the herd because he is farther out. Try not to get him or the bunch all jacked up when you do this.

   Try to push the selected horse counter clockwise if you plan to rope him with a standard over head swing.  If you plan to rope him by standing a loop up in front of him and roping across the nose of your horse, push him clockways around the herd. If you keep it slow, this is what will happen. The selected horse will not run off. He will try to get back to the group. In his attempt, he will take the shortest route, which will be right in front of you and your horse (At that point stick it on him). When pushing him away from the herd, if you create a distance of a couple horse lengths between you and the herd, you can rope him before he gets back in the herd. You always want to be between the pushed out horse and the herd. You are not trying to chase the selected horse.

   Also, never ever do anything that will jack up the settled herd.  This whole deal works because the settled horses will not quit the bunch, because you are not bothering them. Since they are calm, the one horse you are bothering wants to get back over to the bunch, because he thinks if he does you will leave him alone too.

  This is old school and works well when needing to rope a mount.  The slower you keep the action when doing this,  the better it works. If done correctly, it will only get easier as the horses and you figure it out.

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This Article was first printed in Fall 2008 Issue of RanchWorldAds Magazine  Article by Jack Blerry