# snowshoeing with young goats



## Mt.goatguy (Dec 2, 2011)

My kids do great until I need to put on snowshoes then they struggle along and complain for 500 yards or so then stop...I hike out of sight but until I go back and put one on a lead they just wait and cry.

So what experiences over time have others had as their kids mature?

maybe I got the wrong size shoes for them?


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

Snowshoes for goats? I did not know such things existed. Do you have a picture you could post? I'd love to see!


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

Goats do not like deep snow. It is difficult for them to get through if they are postholing which wears them out quickly. You'd need to make sure you had a hard working breed for this type of hiking. My Alpines and Saanens seem to do fairly well though they are worn out in a mile or two.


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## Mt.goatguy (Dec 2, 2011)

I was joking about the goats wearing snowshoes...
but this is the second time I have taken the kids out in deep snow, although we have done a number of miles on dry trails and bushwacking.
The whether is mostly Saanen with a little Alpine and his half sister is full Saanen.
On the way home after about a mile of deep snow they were totally happy and quick down the 2 to 3 inches of snow and ice on the trail. Total distance for the day was 6 miles.
Deep snow does make it easy to get them a good work out in a fairly short period of time.
My concern is doing too much too soon but they seem to love it and sure let me know when they don't at which time I make it clear that we are still going the direction I want but I then turn back after they have agreed to follow and quit complaining (usually only 10 minutes later) also the boy totes a empty Northwest saddle which rides him very well.


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## AACmama (Jul 29, 2010)

Our Saanens have followed us around while XC-skiing in the pasture. They try to ride the back of the skis. Ours just seem to feel about snow the same way they do about walking in the wet...blech.

It's too bad, as we'd love them to pull a sled. May have to leave that one to the dogs...


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## Mt.goatguy (Dec 2, 2011)

my lead goat will tend to get too close and end up on the back of my snowshoe but I have found that if I fully swing my walking poles around the back of me he catches on within just a few steps and stays off. I also use my poles to keep either of them from trying to take over the lead on the trail.

I have an old dog sled that I may try out when we finally get some snow here in the valley, will let you know how it works out.

After only 3 months of having goats it looks like it is becoming a very positive way to spend time.


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

In the winter of '79 a man brought a burro from Mineral Point, at the head of the Uncompahgre River, over Engineer Mountain, to the head of Henson Creek, on snow-shoes. He made the shoes of sole leather and taught the burro to use them. It was slow work, yet he succeeded in getting his "jack" across the range.

Eyewitness to the Old West: First-Hand Accounts of Exploration, Adventure, and Peril, Richard Scott, p.327

If a burro can do it, why not a goat? ;-)


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

Bob, I was actually thinking of the mule trains that wore snowshoes to deliver mail in our area in the late 1800's and early 1900's. I grew up in Lake City, CO, and Engineer Pass is the road that connects Lake City and Ouray. They've got a mule snowshoe on display in the Hinsdale County Museum in Lake City. Fascinating what people did to get over the mountains in those days! We're pansies now. That pass is now twice as wide as it was 100 years ago, but is closed from the first snow (usually sometime in September) until Memorial Day.

I'd still like to see goats wearing snowshoes!


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## turbot (Jun 6, 2010)

Bob,
Where do get this stuff!?


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

turbot said:


> Bob,
> Where do get this stuff!?


Well... In a previous life I collected some stuff...

I don't believe in reincarnation, but in that previous life I did. ;-)


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## turbot (Jun 6, 2010)

Well, I hope this reincarnation is as interesting and entertaining as the last go around! I am usually entertained by your words of "wisdom"


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