Learn horsepacking and veterinary care in the high Sierra. This deluxe pack trip covers all the essentials of horsepacking in the wilderness—with the Golden Trout Wilderness of the High Sierra as your laboratory. The instructors will discuss equipment, emergency veterinary care, feeding and managing livestock in the backcountry, and more. Past participants have acclaimed it as an outstanding adventure.
Location
Originating from Horseshoe Meadows, this course travels through the Golden Trout Wilderness of the High Sierra, near Sequoia National Park.
Format
The program consists of a series of informal but structured presentations and discussions spread throughout a wilderness horseback camping experience.
Lecture and Discussion Topics
- Wilderness conduct of people
- Trail riding
- Feeding livestock in the backcountry
- Backcountry livestock management
- Preventive medicine
- Evaluating the normal horse
- Treating a hurt or sick horse in the wilderness
- Mules
Laboratory and Topics
- Packing: equipment, fitting saddles, making loads, hitches, leading strings of mules, etc.
- Backcountry shoeing
- Veterinary skills: physical examination, floating teeth, intramuscular/IV injections, applying wraps, animal restraint and aging horses
- Evaluating conformation
- Shoeing
- Diagnostic techniques in evaluating lameness