By Tania Millen, BSc, MJ

With winter fading and longer, warmer days ahead, now is the ideal time to plan for a standout trail riding season. Whether you’re a seasoned rider or new to the trail, these steps will help you make the most of your summer trail riding season and build a strong partnership with your horse. 

Create a Calendar

Plan your year by selecting one to three highlight events (goals) for the season — mountain rides, group rides, solo adventures, wagon treks, or multi-day horse camping trips. Choose specific, achievable goals on set dates to provide focus and motivation. For example, you could do a special ride for six hours with your favourite trail riding partner on the longest day of the year (June 21). Or a three-day pack trip with a group of friends on the August long weekend. Whatever your goals, mark them on your calendar. Then, assess your horse’s current physical and mental condition to determine what you need to do to reach your goals.

Solid preparation and bonding lay the groundwork for your horse to trust you in new situations, making trail riding safer and more rewarding. Photo: Tania Millen

Horse Fitness

How fit is your horse? Is there extra weight to work off, or does weight need to be gained before conditioning begins? Do you have a designated space for training and conditioning, or will hauling to another location be necessary? Was your horse turned out for the winter, or regularly handled and ready for increased stimulation? Are your horse’s feet in good condition?

Once you have determined your horse’s condition, use your major goals to create a calendar with interim milestones that will build fitness to equip your horse for the task.

For example, if you’re aiming for a six-hour ride on June 21st and your horse hasn’t been ridden all winter, you’ll probably need four months to get him fit enough to do the ride. 

• Month 1 — Groundwork, core conditioning, and building up to one hour of walking under saddle. 
• Month 2 — More of the same, building up to two hours under saddle at walk. 
• Months 3 and 4 — Solidify your relationship, add skills, and build up time under saddle.

Break down each month into a schedule of training and conditioning for each week. If you’re unfamiliar with developing a conditioning program, enlist a certified professional.

Related: What To Do In Remote Emergencies with Horses

Work on Yourself

The rider’s preparedness matters, too. Building your own fitness will mean a safer, stronger, and more enjoyable trail riding season for you and your horse. If winter brought less activity and more indulgence, now is the time to begin a well-rounded fitness plan.

Here’s what’s important for riders:

• Flexibility — To improve range of motion and help prevent injury.
• Core strength — To support balance, posture, and back health — think planks, crunches, and yoga.
• Cardiovascular fitness — To build endurance; walking, running, and cycling will be effective.
• Leg strength — For strong quads, hamstrings, and calves to create a secure seat.
• Balance — To enhance stability in the saddle; practice single-leg work or use a stability ball.

Create your own system or work with a professional to develop an effective program. Pair training with proper hydration, a balanced diet, and enough sleep.

Along with focusing on the physical, develop a strong mental mindset, too. Train focus and resilience with the same intent you train your body. Set clear goals, rehearse success, and learn to stay calm under pressure. Many professionals can help you with this.

Review your survival skills. When was the last time you did first aid training, navigated with a map and compass, or started a fire in poor conditions? If you plan to trail ride — particularly in less-travelled areas or mountains — these are essential safety skills. Identify the non-horse skills you’ll require for your planned adventures and strengthen them if needed.

Once you’ve got your calendar, fitness, and skill upgrades planned, it’s time to map out your horse’s training.

Trail horses must take advantage of the opportunity to drink when water is available. Photo: Tania Millen

Train the Way Your Horse Learns

Lots of horse training is based on historical beliefs rather than scientifically validated equine learning theory, so here’s a summary of training methods that reflect how horses learn.

• Operant Conditioning — Use rewards and/or release pressure to reinforce behaviour. Positive reinforcement is most effective.
• Classical Conditioning — Pair cues with other actions.
• Habituation — Exposure helps teach horses to remain calm when new things are introduced.
• Shaping — Break complex tasks into several small steps and teach each step.

Here are some tips to help horses learn quickly with minimal stress and confusion:

• Train one response at a time. Too many signals at once can overwhelm the horse.
• Use consistent cues. Horses learn faster and trust more when we’re predictable.
• Be precise with timing. Release pressure or reward immediately when the horse does the right thing.
• Avoid interpreting behaviour through human emotion. Horses aren’t “being naughty;” they’re confused, scared, physically incapable, or in pain.
• Build trust. Good training should leave the horse confident, not anxious.

Related: The Trail Rider’s Guide to Horse Camping in Canada

Above: Meeting unfamiliar horses on the trail sparks interest but is no big deal. Photo: Tania Millen

Above: Resting patiently during noisy trail clearing, this horse seems interested in watching the task at hand. Photo: Tania Millen

Understanding how equine vision differs from our own is helpful, too. Horses need to raise their heads to see distant objects and lower their heads to see objects nearby. They have 350-degree vision, including substantially better peripheral vision than humans. Some horses are farsighted, some nearsighted; however, they must be 50 percent closer to an object than humans to see the same level of detail. With this knowledge in mind, it’s time to ensure that your horse has the skills to achieve your goals.

A good trail partner is unphased by cows or wildlife seen along the route. Photos: Tania Millen

Basic Skills Check

Once again, assess your horse. Compare the skills needed to achieve the goals you set with the skills your horse already has. The missing skills are what you’ll need to train, either on your own, with the help of a professional, or by sending your horse for training. If sending your horse elsewhere, be sure to choose someone who understands equine learning theory, provides appropriate care, and has the experience to train your horse in the skills you desire.

Related: Solo Horse Packing Adventures in Canada’s Southern Rocky Mountains

A good trail horse’s resume includes being easy to lead in any situation and confident navigating tricky footing. Photos: Top-Tania Millen; Bottom-Brent Wray

Start with the basics and consider what your horse needs to be a good trail partner in all situations. Your horse should:

• Be easy to catch in a pen or field
• Leave friends to be led elsewhere
• Tie quietly
• Stand peacefully for grooming and tacking up
• Load in a trailer
• Travel quietly
• Eat, drink, poop, and pee in new places (if not, this is where you need to start)

Above: This experienced trail partner ties quietly and rests when he can. Photo: Tania Millen

Above: Being able to follow a poor trail in the back country is part of the job of getting there and back again. Photo: Tania Millen

If your horse is challenging to work with, consider adjusting his living situation to better reflect equine needs. Horses need friends (a herd is ideal), freedom to move (preferably pasture), and continuous roughage (grazing or hay). Often, improvements to daily living conditions will result in a horse that’s more relaxed, confident, and keen for human interaction.

Horses also require farrier care, vaccinations, deworming, and proper nutrition for their workload, so be sure these are part of his ongoing management.

Relaxed in rough country with big views, this trail horse seems to be enjoying the vista. Photo: Tania Millen

Trail-Specific Skills

Once you’ve got the basics, prepare for your specific trail riding goals. Will your horse need skills riding up and down hills, through water and mud, alone and in groups (first, middle, last), over bridges, and in places that require fancy footwork? If so, plan a training program that teaches those skills while utilizing equine learning theory.

Related: Horsepacking Across Canada's Rockies

Behaving well in a group is essential in a trail horse. Photo: Tania Millen

Hills — A trail horse needs to lower their head and slowly grind uphill using their hind end. Downhill, they must lower their head and “sit” on their hind end. It’s easy to teach this inhand using walk-halt transitions on a hill while encouraging a lower headset (classical and operant conditioning). Showing your horse how to do this (shaping, habituation, classical conditioning) without rider weight in a calm setting with positive encouragement (operant conditioning) will teach useful trail skills while building the correct muscles for the task.

Water — Crossing water confidently is another important skill for trail horses. Train this by breaking it into baby steps (shaping), allowing the horse to think, and rewarding the slightest effort (operant conditioning). 

The important skill of crossing water can be trained by breaking it down into small steps over several sessions. Photo: Tania Millen  

Start by letting your waterer, water tank, or bucket overflow so the horse has to step into a small puddle to drink (habituation). Lead the horse through a puddle or shallow water with good footing. Ask for small steps — one foot, then two — and reward any try with praise or treats (shaping, operant, and classical conditioning). Encourage the horse to lower their head and explore the water (classical and operant conditioning). Over several sessions, gradually ask them to walk through puddles, first on the ground and then under saddle (shaping, operant, and classical conditioning). Keep sessions short, reward often, and build confidence by practicing in different shallow water spots. Following a calm buddy can help, too.

Crossing water while leading a pack horse is taken in stride by this trail horse veteran. Photo: Tania Millen

Introduce just one new thing at a time (shaping). Crossing a flowing stream with a half-metre embankment, alone in the dark, is a big ask. Build up to every “ask” by training all the different skills your horse will need to complete the task before putting them together (shaping, habituation). It may feel like you’re advancing at a snail’s pace, but you’ll be much more successful by going slowly than by dumping too much on the horse at once and having to fix the inevitable problems that arise.

Related: An Unforgettable Horseback Riding Adventure in the Canadian Rockies

Above: A solid lead horse will encourage a more hesitant trail mate to cross the water. Photo: Tania Millen

Going through mud is all in a day’s work. Photo: Brent Wray

Bridges — Crossing bridges is another challenge for trail horses. Fortunately, it’s easy to train.

Build a simple bridge by screwing plywood onto a wooden pallet and place it where your horse feels comfortable (habituation). Put protective boots on all four legs to prevent injury. Nothing will derail training faster than the horse connecting pain with an obstacle. Let the horse explore the bridge — sniffing, pawing, or touching it — and reward any interest (operant, classical conditioning).

Once the horse relaxes, slowly ask for small steps: one foot on, then two, then walk over (shaping, classical, and operant conditioning). Practice first on the ground, then under saddle. Reward every try and stop after a success (operant conditioning). 

Horses learn to love bridges if you get off and/or untack while they’re standing on the bridge (operant conditioning). Take as much time as needed. This is about building confidence, balance, strength, and trust. It’s not about completing tasks. You’re building a partnership using communication that your horse understands, so that when you encounter something strange or difficult on the trail, you can work through it successfully together.

Crossing bridges with confidence is an easy skill to train. Photo: Tania Millen

It’s About the Relationship

Exposure (habituation) will help, but what’s more important is the confidence your horse builds.

Experiences that you haven’t planned for will always arise — a pile of hula hoops along the trail; a bear encounter; flying garbage; a train whistle; a porcupine waddling down the trail; a hiker reaching out to pat your horse; a cyclist flying up the trail behind you. You simply can’t train for everything. But if your horse-rider partnership is strong, your horse will mentally “stay with you” and look to you for direction rather than react on instinct. That could be the difference between a dangerous incident and a partnership-strengthening experience.

Doing the work to develop a bond and build your horse’s confidence, skills, and strength will make trail riding safer and more enjoyable for both of you, and create what you need to do the trips you’ve dreamed of. 

Plan your calendar, enjoy the process, and set yourself and your horse up for memorable adventures in 2026.

Related: Survival in the Back Country: Be Prepared

Related: Riding Horses in Bear and Cougar Country

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Main Photo: Tania Millen