Trail Horses Of THE WEST
New Mexico

The History of The Horses and The Owner
of Trail Horses Of THE WEST, Inc. 

Allow me to encourage any prospective buyers to read this section of the website. I believe it is important for a potential buyer to understand the breeds of horses THOW offers for sale, as well as get to know me, the owner and operator of THOW.
I’ll begin with myself:

My interest began with my fascination for the western part of North America, particularly the Rocky Mountains. I am pleased to say that I have trail ridden in Arizona, Utah, Idaho, California, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, Illinois, Wisconsin and of course New Mexico. I have also trail ridden in British Columbia, Canada and Sonora, Mexico. Perhaps the most unique part of my riding background was being an outfitter operating in the most remote and largest Wilderness Area of the continental United States. In this modern day, there really are few people left that have had the privilege to live and work with horses twenty-four hours per day, seven days a week and for four straight months, like I have.

You may or may not know that a designated Wilderness Area only allows humans to enter its boundaries by either foot or horseback. No mechanical devices like wheels on a cart, chain saws or generators are allowed. My concession within the Bridger Teton Wilderness was seven and a half hour horseback ride each way. This is seven and a half hours in the saddle! This doesn’t count the hours prior saddling and packing clients gear, food and supplies. One hundred percent of food, (Human and horse) equipment and tack had to be packed in by horse. There was no cell phone coverage anywhere near that area nor did I use any satellite phones to aid in coordinating supplies or customers coming in and out to camp. By choice and necessity, I ran my operation just like it would have been run a hundred years ago! If anyone had to get back to civilization, we saddled up a horse and rode back out. Due to the distance and nature of the business much of our riding was done at night. I would venture to say that I have ridden more hours in the darkness of night then many folks have ridden in daylight hours.

Camp consisted of a very large cook and dining tent which had two wood stoves. In addition, there were three client tents, three staff tents and a shower tent. All of these canvas tents were fitted with a wood stove as well. All firewood had to be cut and split by hand. One fall, prior to the beginning of our season, I had forty horses; both saddle and pack horses heading into the Wilderness in one long string. This is the number of horses needed to bring in the camp equipment. Once camp was set up, my horses were turned out to graze. There were no fences to keep the horses confined. These horses were free to roam within hundreds of square miles.

Being the boss, I filled in on any duties that needed attention. That included cooking, wrangling, packing and guiding. When the weather was warm and game needed to taken to the locker plant so it didn’t spoil, I was the one who lead the loaded pack horses out, took care of the meat, and brought back in more supplies and grain. This required an overnight stay in the town of Cody, Wyoming. No assistant accompanied me; there just wasn’t enough qualified help to have an assistant. All of us with the exception of the cook had to be able to pack and lead up to six pack horses through some off the toughest and most rugged country in North America. If you ever had a wreck on the trail, you better be able to figure out what to do by yourself because it was doubtful anyone else would be coming along soon to help! I am happy to say that in all of the thousands of miles on the trail and the hundreds of clients who were in my care, I never lost a horse to injury and only had one client who received sore ribs when he fell off his horse in camp! Now I will tell you that we did tip over a few horses and may have messed up some of the cook’s groceries but that is it!

I gave up the outfitting business and that part of my life a few years back. Now, my sole focus is selling gaited pleasure/trail horses to clients wanting a safe, enjoyable horse and in the past eight years I have sold over one thousand horses to satisfied individuals. Each and every year I ride and evaluate over two hundred different horses. I would like to believe that I know a good horse from a bad one!

First let’s establish that all breeds of horses are just that----horses! Horses have been bred for many different tasks or disciplines. Some were bred to go long distances. Some were bred to run fast for several furlongs, and some to sprint in a quarter of a mile and others to look pretty in a show ring. Some were even bred to pull a beer wagon!

Gaited breeds were bred for a rider to ride them comfortably for long periods of time. I was introduced to the gaited breeds while riding in the Grand Tetons of Wyoming. I met a fellow on the trail and as he was coming toward me, I noticed the rider wasn’t moving in the saddle like I was at the time. After talking to this gentleman and discovering how many miles of trail he was enjoying throughout the year, I inquired where to buy such a breed of horse. Not long after that I owned six black and white Tobiano Tennessee Walkers/Spotted Saddle Horses. While in the outfitting business, I would take clients into the Teton Wilderness on gaited horses. Because of the number of clients enjoying and expressing interest in owning such a comfortable, well mannered horse, I got into the gaited horse business. I can honestly say I’ve never experienced another occupation more fun and rewarding! Besides the smooth, comfortable ride of a gaited horse, they are also known for their friendly personalities and willing temperaments. Don’t just take my word for it. Read any book on these breeds and the wonderful temperament is always mentioned.

Now let me broach a subject that will certainly get some folks upset. Many of my clients are people just getting into horses, and only want to trail and pleasure ride. Often they seek the advice of other people who own horses and are at times advised to buy a Quarter Horse. I will tell you here and now that I have owned dozens of Quarter Horses and don’t have one bad thing to say about them. However, they were not bred for trail riding and sure as heck are not comfortable to ride. If I were to go into team penning or team roping, a well bred horse of this discipline would be what I’d buy. But I sure wouldn’t buy one for trail riding! What would be the point? Posting or getting jarred up and down just isn’t fun. If it were so much fun, people would be putting square tires on their automobiles too! Yes, I do have friends that show, team rope, or team pen that do a AQHA sponsored ride or two a each year, but they didn’t buy their horse as an exclusive trail riding horse.

Speaking of the AQHA, it is a good organization that is very successful in promoting their breed. They even have folks believing they can’t be a cowgirl or cowboy if they are not riding the Quarter Horse breed. If you go back and look at old photographs of real cowboys and cowgirls riding horses, they certainly were not sitting on a horse that looks anything like the modern day Quarter Horse. You know, the Quarter Horse Association or registry didn’t even come about until 1942! The breed became popular long after cowboys drove cattle from Texas to Montana or Cheyenne to Kansas City. Today events that simulate the ways of the old west take place in an arena and a Quarter Horse with it great athleticism excels in this environment. It is true that enthusiast of this breed spend hundreds of hours putting a handle on their horses, but a well trained horse has nothing to do with the registration of the horse. One can put a handle on any breed of saddle horse if that is what you want. When I lived in Fremont, County Colorado the best cow/rope horse in that part of the world was an Arabian. My cowboy buddies used to drool over how well trained this horse was. And then they would always say, “But it is an Arabian!” Now my point is, who gives a darn what registry it is registered in? It was a fine cow/rope horse. Period! There are individuals who only know one breed, one discipline and never ride outside of an arena that are giving advice and they shouldn’t be.

I hope that you are getting what I am trying to say here. The gaited horse breeds dominate the trail riding world and there is a good reason for it. They are bred to do this discipline. I often get asked, “of the four breeds you offer for sale, which is the smoothest gaited?” The answer is there is not one breed that is smoother than the other. It is all a matter of the individual horse. Do I have a preference in breed? No. I can tell you that gaited horses are just plain fun to ride and the horses offered on this website are or were breed to be pleasure/trail horses.
~Fred Mau

Coast-to-Coast Transportation can be arranged