Wild Horse Plains Back Country Horsemen hosts packing workshop
Dan Mathis teaches Mathew Wyatt the fine art of saddling a mule at a packing class
David Crawford teaches participants how to saddle a mule. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
16-year-old Sam Burcham attempts to put a harness on a mule. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
Jean Neneth teaches knot tying and how to care for mules. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
Jean Neneth teaches participants how to tie knows for mule packing trips. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
Members of the Wild Horse Plains Back Country Horsemen, along with the Youth Conservation Corps, hosted a horse and mule packing class at the Plains Fair Grounds on Friday.
Youth from as far away as Superior, and several very patient mules, took part in the training. Many participants had little or no experience with horses or mules, so the instructions started out with the basics, like how to act around the animals.
Instructor Jean Neneth taught the fine art of knot tying. She stressed the importance of a good tight knot at night means you still have an animal in camp in the morning.
Another interesting knot Jean Neneth taught was the bank robber’s knot. This knot was designed to keep the horse from pulling the knot loose, yet easy for the rider to loosen the knot with one pull, which makes for a quick getaway.
Instructor David Crawford, a veteran of over 40 years of packing experience, was next up in the program teaching the youth about different types of saddles and how each was used. He had on display an antique saddle called a sawbuck saddle. It was used by miners to haul ore.
David Crawford demonstrated the importance of checking the animal over for injuries before saddling it.
Wild Horse Plains Back Country Horsemen is an organization to promote the use of horses in the back country as well as helping government agencies in maintaining resources and teaching about the heritage of the horseman.
Event instructors were John Errecart, Dan Mathis, David Crawford and Jean Neneth.
