Leave No Trace, outdoor skills and ethics. The National Outdoor Leadership School has developed and is teaching practical conservation techniques designed to minimize recreational impact in the backcountry (and the front country) by horse users. The NOLS adapted these techniques from the ones set out for mountaineers.

Principles of Leave No Trace:

• Plan ahead and prepare before you go
• Minimize horse impact
• In popular areas, concentrate use
• In remote areas, spread use
• Avoid places where impact is just beginning
• Use campfires responsibly
• Pack it in, pack it out
• Properly dispose of what you cannot pack out
• Be considerate of others
• Leave what you find

• Always carry a manure fork to clean up after your horses.
  
• Horses should only be tied to trees for short periods of time.
  
• Trees should be at least 8" in diameter if you tie your horse to them.
  

Additional Tips

• Check which states require coggins tests every six-months. This is where to find the information: www.law.utexas.edu/dawson/eia/eia.htm

• Use beet pulp and/or wheat bran in the feed to prevent colic when traveling. Start mixing it in at least a week before you begin the trip and increase until it is about a 50-50 mixture by the time you leave. Continue feeding this mixture until you get back home then reduce the mixture for about a week until you get back to the normal feed. A word of caution, ALWAYS pre-soak the beet pulp. It needs about 2 to 3 times the amount of water to pellets.

• Carrots are very good for a laxative affect. Feed up to 5 pounds.

• You can use the pet areas at rest stops as long as you clean up any manure that happens! Also anything that falls out of the trailer at loading and unloading.

• Horses need a 30-minute break every 2 to 3 hours. At this time offer them some water. They don't have to be taken out of the trailer just standing still is a rest for them.

• Carry your own water if possible. If you can't carry your own and they won't drink:
  Try apple juice or gator aide in the water.
  Feed watermelon or grapes and you don't have to worry about the seeds.