Trail Pony on a Mountain Path coloring page

About this coloring page

This trail pony is ready for a big adventure, with saddlebags on both sides and a bedroll strapped behind the saddle. In mountain country, horses, ponies and mules have carried gear for centuries, because they can go where trucks and wagons cannot.

A good pack animal needs to be calm, strong and sure-footed. On narrow trails it has to watch where every hoof lands, wade through creeks, climb steep switchbacks and stay cool when something rustles in the brush. Sturdy, short-legged mountain ponies are especially good at picking their way over rough ground.

Loads go into saddlebags or onto a pack saddle, often a sawbuck style with wooden crossbars. Packers balance the weight evenly on both sides and keep it to an amount the animal can carry comfortably, so its back does not get sore. Tying a load securely with knots like the diamond hitch is a skill all its own.

Today, outfitters lead pack trips through places like the Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone and the High Sierra. Riders spend several days on the trail with guides and pack strings, camping at night and reaching backcountry lakes and meadows that would be very hard to hike to with all that gear.

• trail pony
• mountains
• camping
• saddlebags
• kids