Water: If the creek flows year round do that. Nothing worse than screwing with hoses and tank heaters when it’s -30.
Tack: I much prefer Deckers. I’ve never heard anyone say sawbucks are easier, that’s a new one to me. Sawbucks are probably cheaper. Deckers are about as easy as it gets for slinging weird loads.
Horses: pick disposition first. I never liked really big horses. If the downhill pack slips and your horse is 16.5 hands, that sucks. Don’t get hung up on sturdy. My best pack horse was 14 hands and I paid 400 bucks for him.
Look for good withers and sound feet. Beyond that, straight legs and a good hip. You aren’t going to put enough miles on a decent confirmation horse to notice. If you were doing 100 miles a week, maybe.
If you’re going to do gaited they all have to be. You’ll pay more for it.
All that.
Deckers and panniers are the way to go. I've used sawbucks and deckers both, definitely prefer deckers. I've tried cruppers and breechings both. Prefer breechings. I know I've never wanting anything down there, IYKWIM.
I use a breeching on saddle horse in steep country, but I think nothing beats a good withers and a double rigged saddle. I hate having a saddle tip forward. I grew up on roping horses, all we had were roping saddles. I still look at a single rigged saddle and shake my head.
I only have one horse left now. It's really a drag keeping his trough full if it's below freezing at all. It's close enough to power that I can run a cord for the tank heater, but dragging out the hose and coiling it up every time is a PITA. When it gets REALLY cold, the water will freeze before it gets to the end of the hose and now you have a 60 feet of straight frozen hose. First you fill the 70 Gallon trough with buckets. That's 7 trips with two five gallon buckets assuming you don't fall on your butt in the snow and cover yourself in water. After you get the trough filled, you have to try to get the hose coiled again without breaking it. Only the most expensive hoses will be flexible that cold, so you will probably snap it in two or more pieces. If you do get it coiled, you will have to bring it in a heated place for it to thaw. I use our mudroom shower.
I had the under valve system, which is supposed to never freeze and be automatic. It wasn't. If you don't have every inch of pipe above frost line wrapped in heat tape and foam, it will freeze and break. You won't know until the well pumps out.
There may be good winter watering systems out there, but hoses are not one of them.
Unlike
@JLS , I like big horses. At least for a saddle horse. I think they have a smoother gait and I'm a big load to carry. My dad was a big mule fan, but they have gotten crazy expensive. I admit the extra load capacity on a big pack horse may not be worth the food bill.
When my brother was packing out of Huntington Lake, a lot of their pack stock were big warmbloods. But there is no blowup like a big horse blowup. Most of my wrecks have been self-inflicted.
If you have never had horses in snow country, foot care is an education as well. Snow builds up on their feet like volley balls and you have to watch for it. Snow sticks to steel shoes, they are a no-no in wintertime for snow country.
When we landed in Idaho 30 years ago I planned to build a big string. I'm glad now that I didn't. I've never had more than 3 horses here.
Tack Rooms:
It amazes me how a creature as dumb as a porcupine can weasel into a tack room. They are crazy for salt though. I had one chew through a T1-11 door to get in. They can ruin a ton of valuable tack in one night. I got into saddlery after I had to replace the riggings and stirrup leathers on a whole room full of saddles. I keep all my tack inside the basement now. My neighbor uses a Conex Box. I really like that.
Hold on to your wallet, but enjoy!
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