Podcasts · The NOËLLE FLOYD Podcast
The Trail Riding Mistakes Nobody Talks About - Gillian Larson
· 1 h 17 min
Episode The Trail Riding Mistakes Nobody Talks About - Gillian Larson
Last year my horse G slid down the side of a mountain in the Tetons.
He came out of it okay. I carried it for a lot longer.
Gillian Larson has spent her twenties and now her thirties trail riding the backcountry from Mexico to Canada, more than once, on the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide, the Arizona Trail and the Colorado Trail. She calls herself a thru-rider. She recently raced across Patagonia in the inaugural Pass of Tears and finished second.
I traveled to Gillian's backyard in California to talk about trail riding at that scale. The mountain horse who reads the trail fifty feet ahead. The horse who pours gasoline on the fire. Two five-year-old Criollos nicknamed the Ferrari and the tractor.
And then I asked her the question I had been carrying since the Tetons.
How do you live with a decision that put your horse at risk?
Her answer is one of the most honest things I have heard about horses.
Gillian says the guilt belongs. It comes with being a good horse owner. You sit with it, you ask what you would do next time, and then you let yourself go back out. Horses forgive our flubs with a generosity that is, in her words, "immense and wild."
We talk about her first ride from Mexico to Canada at 22, when good horses carried a rider who was still learning. Why she went back and rode it again. Why the horse world shows the clean version of every trip and hides the scrambles. And why second place in Patagonia feels like a win to her, because she rode a race she can stand behind.
If you have ever lain awake replaying a call you made with your horse, this one is for you.
The question that stays with me is the one Gillian lives by.
Was I a good teammate to my horse today?
Gillian Larson is a thru-rider who travels long-distance backcountry routes on horseback. She first rode from Mexico to Canada at 22 and has since completed the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, the Arizona Trail, the Colorado Trail and the John Muir Trail, along with her own route from the Grand Canyon through Utah to the Wyoming border.
In this episode you'll learn
• How a seasoned mountain horse reads the trail thirty to fifty feet ahead, and how a rookie fixates on the next step. • The horse who pours gasoline on the fire, and the one who freezes and looks to you. • Racing the Pass of Tears on two five-year-old Criollos, the Ferrari and the tractor. • The weigh-in, the waypoints, and the riders who dropped gear and called it kindness to the horse. • G's slide in the Tetons, and the guilt that followed Noëlle into the Wind Rivers. • Why Gillian rode Mexico to Canada a second time, and how it felt to finally carry her share. • The most undervalued skill a rider can have, according to someone who has ridden thousands of backcountry miles.
Chapters:
0:00 Welcome: the Wind Rivers and why the backcountry grounds us 5:18 What a thru-rider is, and how it differs from long riding 12:05 The Pass of Tears: racing across Patagonia 16:15 The Ferrari and the tractor: two five-year-old Criollos 20:56 What makes a good mountain horse 26:00 Criollos, estancias and making weight 35:06 Money, ethics and defining success 39:43 Guilt, mistakes and the horse you put at risk 50:19 Hyper-fixation: watching a horse after an injury 53:04 Why the horse world hides its mistakes 59:34 Being the partner your horses deserve 1:07:27 Rapid fire
Interested in more from Noëlle?
Noëlle's writing again — head to her Substack for essays, observations, and the kind of thinking that doesn't fit in an episode. https://noellefloyd.substack.com
Every episode is also on YouTube, where the conversation continues in the comments.
https://www.youtube.com/@noellefloyd_plus
And if you're ready to go deeper, NF+ is where the real work happens — masterclasses, curated content, and a community that takes horses seriously. https://noellefloydplus.com
You can also download the app - NF+ App
Thank you for your listening!
Links in the notes 4
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