Ginny's Horse Product Review

Riding horses at the beach should be on everybody’s bucket list! While this wasn’t my first time beach riding, it was Monk and Bamboozal’s first times being ridden at the beach! We did this ride at Cape Blanco State Park in Oregon. The first day we arrived in camp, we took them down to the beach in-hand, so they could get a look at the Pacific Ocean and know what to expect the next day when we went for a ride. Overall, they were both pretty cool customers about the whole thing, in spite of the HOWLING wind. (I had to turn the sound off on the video!)

This morning, the tide was pretty low, so we had PLENTY of beach to ride on without the wave monsters trying to get us. PRO TIP: If you’ve never been riding horses at the beach, or it’s your horse’s first time, prepare for teleporting spooks and sideways leaps to avoid approaching waves.

As usual, Bamboozal is just taking it all in.

Monk is a very sensitive horse, so we have to be keenly aware of her mental state at ALL times. If she gets very worried or panicked, she will explode. Here, Max is giving her some treats, as we do practice positive reinforcement with her. It has been the most helpful tool in our ability to help her get over frightening experiences, gain confidence and stay under threshold! If you’re interested in the awesome treat bag Max is wearing, check out the review I did of it here! 

Bamboozal leads the way, on a loose rein, like he’s been there before, no big dealio. Who doesn’t love a senior gelding??

Did I mention the wind was HOWLING??

Monk wasn’t sure about the little tide pools, but with some coaxing, she was happily tromping through them in no time. The wind made them ripple and look kind of strange, so I’m sure that was a factor in her concern.

We were cruising down the beach in no time!

The scenery here is gorgeous, Pacific ocean on one side and dunes and forests on the other.

Riding Horses at The Beach Isn’t All Sunshine and Rainbow

So far, we’ve had a pretty glowing review of beach riding at Cape Blanco State Park, but here’s where our ride got a little hairy.

The trail to get from camp to the beach is pretty flat, until you reach the dunes. You have to go down a VERY steep in some places sand dune. It is a legitimate trail, but the sand is hock/knee deep in some areas and so soft. In most cases, just take it slow, and this is not a big deal for short stretches.

*****Sand is kind of inevitable when you’re riding horses at the beach, but do your best to stay on the firm stuff. If you’re not familiar with deep sand, you should know that it can be very dangerous for horses that aren’t conditioned to ride in it. Ligament and tendon injuries can happen easily, especially if you’re riding too fast or too long in deep sand that your horse isn’t used to.******

Trail Riding a Senior Arthritic Horse

With that being said, my horse Bamboozal is 25 years old, and he does not need to be schlepping me up and down hock-deep sand dunes. I just don’t feel like that is fair to his old body. Over the past few years, Bamboozal has stayed sound and happy in our trail riding adventures, even up to 10 miles, and I believe that’s partly due to how conservatively I ride him. If I see anything that might be hard on his 25-year-old legs, I will get off an hike with him. This includes very steep technical trails and deep sand.

Monk Gets Worried, and Max is Wading Through Knee-Deep Sand

Anywho, I dismount to hike with him up the dune, and Max gets off Monk in solidarity. Turns out, that was a huge mistake for him and Monk. For some reason, she started getting very worried (probably just because we were turning for home/camp). Normally, Max could handle her worry on the ground okay, but he was also dealing with the deep sand, so he was basically just hanging onto a big chicken on a string… a chicken on a string, lurching and doing circles in knee-deep soft sinking sand.

With her spinning around him and the deep sand they were both in, he was having a really hard time getting her to calm down and go quietly straight up the trail, so they could walk together rather than her dragging him.

Bamboozal Decides to Take Action

During this time, Bamboozal started to get a little worried and impatient watching Monk have a mini meltdown, and decided to take action and lead the way. Unfortunately, I was unprepared and kind of lagging behind him as he was powering up the dune. We stopped to wait for Monk and Max, but I was too close to the edge of the dune and slid WAY down, like 5 feet below Bamboozal. I was eye-level with his HOOVES, and hanging onto the buckle of the reins, trying to give him some slack and not pull on his mouth. The sand was too deep there, and I couldn’t even crawl up, so Bamboozal had to shuffle back down the dune.

While this isn’t a very flattering shot of our horsemanship, planning skills and handling of the situation, I decided to include the clip for two reasons.

1. That’s just horses. Not everything goes according to plan, but it’s easy to think other people have everything figured out in our heavily curated social media world. So, here we are, having some challenges on the trail, maybe not making great choices, but learning from the experience.
2. The shot of Bamboozal shuffling back down the dune REALLY shows you exactly how steep, deep and soft the sand is in some places.

What Did We Do Next Time?

The next time we came through, we decided it was safer to have Max riding Monk. That way, if she got worried, he would be on her dealing with it and not also fighting the sand.

I still got off and hiked Bamboozal to save his legs, but with Monk keeping her cool and more easily controlled with Max up, it was no big deal, and it was basically a non-issue after that. Sometimes, whether you’re riding horses at the beach or anywhere else, you have to adjust, troubleshoot and work with the horse you have.

At the top of the dune, you still have a bit of an uphill trail to get back to the flat trail that heads back to camp. It’s sandy, but not too bad and eventually turns to firm ground, so you can go a little faster.

As per usual, Bamboozal’s number-one priority back in camp is to get a really good roll in and rub his face on the ground.

In Conclusion

Overall, I consider riding horses at the beach to be a huge success! Even with challenges on the dune, both horses did spectacular! As always, Bamboozal took everything in stride with a good work ethic and steady calmness. Monk, had ZERO explosions on the beach and stayed well under threshold, until we had the issue at the dune. That being said, she never exploded and was just worried and Max wasn’t really in a position to help her through it very well. She did come back down from that quickly, and we had a good hike and ride back up to camp.

Until next time, Happy Trails!

P.S. If you haven’t checked out my Horse Trailer Tour and Review, go do that now!