Trail Obstacles Produce Training Opportunities for Horses and Riders
Trail courses have many benefits. Primarily, they create interest for horses and riders and provide positive training opportunities. They can also be beneficial for the natural environment around us.
Landscaping a trail course with a few native plants or a pollinator hedgerow can provide food and habitat for native insects and wildlife. Add in old logs, a brush or rock pile, and you have a perfect habitat for other small critters. As a bonus, plants can help you with mud management by soaking up excess water and helping to dry out an area.
Here are a few tips for building small-scale trail obstacles for your horse property.
Set It Up
A pair of straw bales (or similarly sized objects) can serve as a simple back-through chute. Sturdy wooden boxes can be constructed as platforms for stepping up and down. Lay out a series of logs or large rocks to guide through, around, or side pass across. Create a “bridge” by attaching a sheet of plywood to a durable wooden pallet which horses can learn to cross. Build a shallow wooden box that holds water to provide a simple water training experience. Consider different footings, such as gravel or larger rocks in several spots to exposure your horse to footing conditions that differ from arena training rides.
Utilize Small Spaces
Simple obstacles, like walk-over poles/logs or a pallet bridge, can go next to the driveway or in other small spaces such as behind the compost pile. A fan of larger walk/trot logs can be set out in an unused corner of the pasture. Almost any sized horse property can accommodate at least a few obstacles.
Recycle Objects
Don’t discard old wooden fence posts; incorporate them into your trail course. A wooden post with holes can become the perfect log drag. Fallen logs or downed branches piled up from the last windstorm can be used as step overs or jumps.
An old gate or discarded mailbox works great for creating obstacles you can side pass to and open. Look online to find other free things such as electrical spools, railroad ties, plastic barrels, or wooden pallets which can all be made into interesting obstacles.
Property Esthetics
Trail obstacles can add to an attractive property landscape. A bench added for spectators creates a comfortable feel. A pollinator hedgerow brings a splash of living color, adding eye appeal. An old wagon wheel or a piece of farm equipment creates interest. Place these pieces off the beaten path for safety.
Utilizing native plants (which are less expensive than their non-native landscaping cousins) and natural features like rocks, logs, or old stumps is an easy and inexpensive way to landscape your trail course.
Play It Safe
Keep things safe with no protrusions, rough edges, sharp corners, or pockets that a foot or leg can get cut on, trapped under, or get stuck in. Avoid used tires as obstacles; the edges of tires can trap a horse, especially one with shoes.
Change It Up
Whether under saddle or in-hand, spending a little time on a trail course can give you and your equine partner a break from the usual routine. Any age horse in any discipline can gain positive experience and confidence from navigating trail obstacles that practice “real life” trail skills such as stepping up and down steps, side passing, crossing logs, or walking through shallow water. Trail obstacles provide equine enrichment and stimulation that benefits the psychological and physical well-being of the horse, allowing horses (and us!) to think outside the arena “box”.
Check out the Horses for Clean Water website for information on upcoming events, online classes, private consultations, tip sheets, and other resources for horse keeping and land management. Visit the Sweet Pepper Ranch website for info on our horse motel or glamping tent.
See this article in the May 2025 Online Digital Edition:
May 2025
Alayne Blickle began in the 1990’s as a pioneer in water conservation and natural resources conservation by creating the entrepreneurial consulting business, Horses for Clean Water, an award-winning internationally acclaimed education program that looks for horse-healthy, nature-based solutions to land management challenges. She continues this work today partnering with agencies, organizations, and horse owners throughout North America and worldwide. She is a regularly contributing writer and photojournalist to several equine publications.
Alayne lives with her horse trainer husband, Matt Livengood, in southwestern Idaho where they raise and train AQHA horses and mustangs on their eco-friendly horse ranch. Contact her through the Horses for Clean Water website or through their ranch website Sweet Pepper Ranch.
For more information contact Alayne at [email protected] or 206-909-0225.
