Trail Riding Assessment and Informational Learning System – REVIEW
How’s your horse at trailer loading? My mule Ruger is a solid 5.
What about having their hooves worked on? Ellie is a 2 (I hope she moves to a 3 but I have my doubts).
If you answered either of these questions with “good”, “OK”, or “not well”, you should think consider reading David McFadden’s new book T.R.A.I.L.S. – Trail Riding Assessment and Informational Learning System.
David has taken the subjectivity out of judging an animal’s skill sets. Being able to objectively use quantifiable data can be a very valuable tool for deciding:
- If a prospective horse is a good fit for you
- Areas to work on with your current animals
How I’ve been using the book:
I’ve been using the book to evaluate my animals to find skills that we need work on. Using the scoring system Cocoa started at a 1 – Crowds, pushes, pulls, attempts to graze when led. She’s now at a 3 – Respectful and easily haltered.
With Ellie it would have been easy to say that she’s simply bad at being alone. Using the scoring system she ranks at a 3 out of 6 – Reluctant alone, spooky, stops, slowly recovers. She could be worse and it gives me a tool to measure my progress.
There are two flavors of the book; one unabridged with color images, and another with B&W pictures that includes the most pertinent information.
If you’re looking for a new trail horse, or mule, and want a tool to cut through all of the subjective platitudes offered by sellers, or if, like me, you want a way to quantify how your animals are progressing in their training you should check out T.R.A.I.L.S. – Trail Riding Assessment and Informational Learning System: Buying and Training Fearless Trail Horses.
Here’s a link with more info – https://amzn.to/3326G8V
For more TrailMeister reviews – https://www.trailmeister.com/category/reviews/