I'm interested in taking up horseback riding expressly for big-game (deer, moose, elk) hunting in Lower-48 America be it by a guide/outfitter or by a DIY hunt. I'm age 57. I see a good horse or even a mule as a great 4-leg-drive vehicle for the sport. Many hunting lands prohibit motorized vehicles while pack/saddle animals are permitted in the field. A horse or mule can get into boonies places no truck or ATV dares tread.
Who here has hunted in North America via horseback or mule back before?
My experience riding animals is limited: pony rides at zoo, a couple rides as a passenger on the horse owned by a next-door neighbor at age 5 and 6, camel and elephant rides at an amusement park. No formal riding or horsemanship training of any kind.
I want to master enough horseback riding skills and have just enough riding experience to go hunting without getting saddle sore and such. Some booked clients show up to hunting guides as in the elk mountains of the west, get on a horse for few hours and the hunt is ruined because they are feeling totally miserable. Their bodies weren't broken into the horse-riding experience.
I don't want to own a horse or horse tack and saddle. I would only ride borrowed, hunting-guide-provided or rented horses, trailer and tack. I feel I would need a rifle scabbard that does NOT go under one's leg as the shown in the picture here hanging off the saddle horn. Having a long gun between the leg and the saddle fender can be uncomfortable. I would probably hunt with a Savage Model 99 lever-action rifle on horse or mule back. A lever job is just a natural for American horsemanship. All the old-fashioned cowboys had lever guns for the saddle. I figure that western riding is best for American big-game hunting.
I live in SW Oklahoma. Where is the best place to start in my neck of the prairie to get entry-level equestrian training and riding experience as a non-horse-owner? I feel riding a horse or mule on a hunt would be a romantic and charming old-fashioned adventure as well as a practical form of transportation in the field. Kinda like the warmth of having a nice trained dog in a dove or pheasant field.
Who here has hunted in North America via horseback or mule back before?
My experience riding animals is limited: pony rides at zoo, a couple rides as a passenger on the horse owned by a next-door neighbor at age 5 and 6, camel and elephant rides at an amusement park. No formal riding or horsemanship training of any kind.
I want to master enough horseback riding skills and have just enough riding experience to go hunting without getting saddle sore and such. Some booked clients show up to hunting guides as in the elk mountains of the west, get on a horse for few hours and the hunt is ruined because they are feeling totally miserable. Their bodies weren't broken into the horse-riding experience.
I don't want to own a horse or horse tack and saddle. I would only ride borrowed, hunting-guide-provided or rented horses, trailer and tack. I feel I would need a rifle scabbard that does NOT go under one's leg as the shown in the picture here hanging off the saddle horn. Having a long gun between the leg and the saddle fender can be uncomfortable. I would probably hunt with a Savage Model 99 lever-action rifle on horse or mule back. A lever job is just a natural for American horsemanship. All the old-fashioned cowboys had lever guns for the saddle. I figure that western riding is best for American big-game hunting.
I live in SW Oklahoma. Where is the best place to start in my neck of the prairie to get entry-level equestrian training and riding experience as a non-horse-owner? I feel riding a horse or mule on a hunt would be a romantic and charming old-fashioned adventure as well as a practical form of transportation in the field. Kinda like the warmth of having a nice trained dog in a dove or pheasant field.