Description:

TALES FROM THE TRAIL
Sounds like something from the boy scouts, but nothing beats being prepared. Applies as much to camp life as being around horses.
Get the basics right, and even if the rest is a little rough around the edges you’ll be okay.

Trail horse
Providing he’s fit and well, almost any horse (or pony come to that) is capable of long distance trail riding, provided they are not overloaded.
It is considered that a horse naturally grazing will travel 10 miles a day just to eat. So twenty miles a day is not too hard.

On the trail.
Be constantly aware of your horses condition.
Watch for- dehydration, although offered water a trail horse may not drink much during the day, and if grazing the rest of the time, may consume enough fluid from the grass. However, at main rest stops and overnight always offer water.

Loose shoes or stones.
Either of these you should hear, but check hooves at least at every rest stop. (A lame horse is no good on any journey)
If you have been working hard, ease down slowly before coming to a stand still at break times
When working your horse day after day, grooming becomes very important, especially when removing tack.
At a lunch stop, even if you don’t have brushes with you, massage and rub down the areas covered or under pressure by tack to encourage circulation. When carrying extra gear check that it is not rubbing or impeding the horses movement.

Trail camp
Number one. Your horse. As a captive animal it’s your responsibility to look after him to the best of your ability. He worked for you all day; a little time spent for him will ensure he’ll work for you tomorrow as well.
When you arrive at camp, before you even think about yourself, let your horse unwind. Get his tack off and give him a good rub down, brushing away sweat marks. By grooming him all over you will find any irregularities, cuts nick etc. Pick out his feet and check for any damage. If grazing, make sure he is secure, has fresh water, and that there are no objects in his vicinity on which he can hurt himself.
If he is eating hay and drinking out of a bucket, for the first couple of hours regularly check to ensure he has enough water.
Now you can have that drink you wanted, but don’t forget to check the condition of your tack, wipe it dry and air your saddle blanket or pad.

Number two, three, etc. Good shelter (tent), cooking fire, a supply of fuel and water. Not forgetting food.
In our climate, get one of these wrong and you could be spending a miserable night.

Cooking fire
Get your fire going, it will be a while before you can cook on it, as you need coals not open flames. Once established use a corner of your fire in which to collect the coals and put on your kettle, either on a stand or supported by stones.
Unlike a campfire, intended to keep you warm and give some light from a distance, the cooking fire only needs to be quite small, and fuelled with smaller pieces of timber which will turn to coals quickly, but unfortunately will also burn out quickly. Which is why you need a constant supply.
It really is surprising, at close quarters how much heat is given out by just a few coals, so much so, that it can be really quite difficult to just simmer food.
As a constant supply of small diameter fuel is required, a small axe or billhook is always useful around camp for splitting logs down to usable size. If you are able, it is prudent to carry a small amount of kindling with which to start the fire, especially in wet ground conditions.
When you have tried to achieve coals from an open fire, you can understand why so many outdoor cooks use charcoal briquettes.
Once alight these briquettes will burn
independently for a good 45 minutes to an hour before they need to be replaced, while making it much easier to achieve and maintain a required temperature.
So far we’ve talked about getting a useful fire going. In case it does get out of hand always have something handy with which to control it. (water bucket, sand, earth, etc.)

Camp living
Set up your tent and get the bedding in to air and prepared for the night. (Always use the daylight to your advantage).
Always keep a watchful eye and ear out for your horse. Eventually second nature will make you aware of what is going on around you and anything out of place.
Having boiled your kettle, you probably now have your fire established enough to start cooking over a supply of coals. (You need to keep them coming because they don’t last long).
Two things here. 1. Before you start to cook, go and check your horse, his security, water and hay (if not grazing). 2. Never put a greenhorn in charge of coals production. (You will have either a raging inferno or no fire)

Now to cooking
For best results you really need cast iron camp Dutch ovens and skillets for good heat retention and conductivity.
Camp Dutch ovens have three stubby legs on the bottom to raise them off the fire bed and because of their lipped lids you can stack them one above the other and keep a cooking heat by placing coals in the space between them. To prevent hot or cold spots, move the coals around about every 15 minutes. Ideally you want to rotate each oven a quarter of a turn relative to its heat source every 15 minutes, but not so easy with a stack.
Using Dutch ovens you can cook almost anything, bread, roasts, puddings and desserts, using them as a cooking pot or oven. In fact, you’ve got it cracked when you can produce sourdough bread from scratch, baked in a Dutch oven over coals and served warm whilst living on the trail. (Show off)
When using an open fire, achieving a set cooking temperature takes practice, but if you use good quality charcoal briquettes you can almost be sure of a particular temperature. As a rule use twice as many briquettes as the diameter of your oven i.e. 10” dia oven requires 20 briquettes to achieve approximately 350 degrees F. As heat rises you will need twice as many briquettes on the lid as under the oven. (The heat on the lid is required under the briquettes) Therefore, say 7 under and 13 on the lid. Each additional briquette increases the temperature by around 10 degrees F. However, consider that in a stack the Dutch oven above this will have a lot of heat under its base.
When cooking in open pans or skillets remember that every time the fire is disturbed ash and dust will rise and it takes no prizes to know where it will land.

Now before you start, plan out your surroundings. Everything you go near around the fire will be hot so work out how to pick it up and where to put it down. (Dutch ovens will be hot. Take a lid off to attend to the food inside, where do you put the lid down. You can’t turn it over because there will be coals or at least ash on the lid, so find a surface you can put it down onto other than the ground unless you want “earth” seasoning.

When cooking using skillets, have the coals prepared to enable you to cook without disturbing the fire, and have a place you can put the skillet down onto when not on the fire.

Have your cooking utensils placed near by and have something that you can keep them clean on (spare plate), and if you have one its also useful if you have your cooks box close by, so not only do you have everything handy, you have something to sit on.