Horses, Hitches and Rocky Trails

Rating:
Summary: Horses, Hitches, & Rocky Trails by Joe Back
Review: I have had a copy of Horses, Hitches, & Rocky Trails for eighteen years. It has been taken to the field many times and read in total and in part many times. For the past eighteen years I have been alert for books that would provide new information or expend on Joe's presentation. If there are better ideas out there they need a literate, artistic, and humorous champion like Joe Back.

Rating:
Summary: Horses, Hitches, & Rocky Trails by Joe Back
Review: I have had a copy of Horses, Hitches, & Rocky Trails for eighteen years. It has been taken to the field many times and read in total and in part many times. For the past eighteen years I have been alert for books that would provide new information or expend on Joe's presentation. If there are better ideas out there they need a literate, artistic, and humorous champion like Joe Back.

Rating:
Summary: Joe Back understands horses, mountains and much about life
Review: This is a repurchase of an old friend. Years ago my career and life took me to Wyoming. Like many, I fell in love with the high country and soon realized that the only way to get to the best of it was with horses. As a relative greenhorn, however, I had a lot to learn about getting to and living in the high country, with or without horses. A friend gave me Joe Back's book Horses, Hitches and Rocky Trails. Somewhere along the way, I misplaced it. I'm glad to have it back.

This book is more than informative. It delivers all its name suggests, telling all I needed to know about the tack, rigging and techniques of handling horses in a pack string. By simply following his advice, I found myself not only able to do it, but do it without embarassing myself in the company of real mountain men.

Beyond that, Joe's earthy narrative and humorous, but informative, illustrations make the book a joy to read. Even after you read it cover to cover, you'll want to spend some time looking at the illustrations and re-reading the tidbits of wisdom. If you have an interest or plan to go into the primitive areas of the mountain West, I encourage you to read this even if you never intend to pack a horse yourself.

Rating:
Summary: The Horse Packers Bible ........
Review: This is probably the single best work I've ever seen on the "science" of packing. Joe Back lived and worked in N.W. Wyoming, and was a legend in the area. His humorous annecdotes, and extremely accurate hand drawn diagrams, combined with his obvious knowledge of the subject, make this a "must have" for anyone seriously interested in learning how to pack horses or mules, and survive. This little work deserves a place in any packer's library.

Rating:
Summary: The Horse Packers Bible ........
Review: This is probably the single best work I've ever seen on the "science" of packing. Joe Back lived and worked in N.W. Wyoming, and was a legend in the area. His humorous annecdotes, and extremely accurate hand drawn diagrams, combined with his obvious knowledge of the subject, make this a "must have" for anyone seriously interested in learning how to pack horses or mules, and survive. This little work deserves a place in any packer's library.