When you own a horse, well you can't truly say "horse ownership" because after you have a horse as a companion, some days you won't be sure who owns who; but when you have a horse in your life, riding the trails is one of the most pleasurable activities you can indulge in with your horse.

Training your horse to be a good trail horse will take a little effort and regular training on your part. Your horse must be confident in himself as well as you as a rider. You must teach your horse not to fear things he will encounter on a typical trail ride. Many horses can be spooked by large logs in the path, walking through ditches or shallow water. Your horse is psychologically wired to be a prey animal and is automatically suspicious of anything he doesn't readily know won't hurt him. Let him examine logs, water and other common trail items with his nose and mouth. Horses get a good sense of everything through their sense of taste and smell.

Praise him for being calm and stroke him while he looks over the various parts of the trail. If he will allow you to ride him, do so and keep praising him all the way as long as he remains calm. If he is a little skittish, don't risk your personal safety and just lead him through the area that is making him skittish. Then in the future, with gradual training, he will have no problem being ridden on once he realizes that there is no threat to his safety.

If you practice this on a regular basis with your horse, he will be an absolute delight to take out on a pleasure ride, no matter where you two go.

Absolutely. As part of learning basic training, every horse should learn to back step effortlessly. This is necessary for him to learn to keep his space from other horses and you; as well as backing out of a trailer.

To teach your horse to walk backwards from a standing position, use an orange safety flag that you might use on a child's bike. It's not to large and most horses don't find it threatening.

Lead your horse around an enclosed area he is comfortable in where there are few distractions and then take out the flag and wave it gently in front of him and give the back up command. When your horse takes a step backwards, stop and praise him.

Repeat this exercise until he backs up when he sees the flag. Then cease using the flag and wave your arms backwards with the back up command, when your horse shifts to begin backing up - stop waving your hands and praise him and pat him. He will soon learn to back up on command with regular work outs of this training command. Once he moves on command, you are ready to take it to another level.

You can also train your horse to back up on command while you are in the saddle. This is done by mounting your horse and taking him for a trot around an enclosed area then give him the command to stop. From a standstill give him the back command and gently tug on his reigns to one side, you should feel his weight shift and he should take a few steps backwards.

Praise your horse as soon as he begins to move backwards. He may only manage a step or two in the beginning but praise him just the same. With regular practice, he will back up on command.