Manage cigarette butts. If you smoke, completely extinguish each cigarette, then put the butt in your pocket to burn later or pack out. Never leave a cigarette butt behind on the trail or in camp; the filter isn't quickly biodegradable.
Select your campsite carefully. Bypass any camping sites better suited to backpackers. Keep horses out of the camp area itself.
Be fire-conscious. Use a backpacking stove for cooking. If fires are legal, burn only dead, downed wood. Keep fires small, and build according to the regulations you determined earlier. Be extremely careful with fire to avoid causing a wildfire.
Leave trees alone. Don't cut any living trees or shrubs. The days of the pine-bough bed are long gone - sleep on a pad or self-inflating air mattress. Don't drive nails into trees, and don't dig a trench around your tent.
Contain with care. When possible, hobble your horse rather than picketing him (assuming that grazing is legal). Tie to trees only when there's no other option and then only to large ones for very brief duration. For long-term tying, rig a highline using tree savers, wide straps, or cinches around trees to protect the bark. Locate the highline over high, rocky ground.
Avoid overgrazing. If you do picket your horse (with a hobble half by one front foot), frequently move the line to avoid grazed circles. The lowest-impact method for containing a horse (where grazing is legal) is a portable electric corral, which is extremely compact and easy to relocate. But you'll still probably need a highline during the night - a deer or moose can destroy an electric fence, releasing your horse. Don't allow your horse to graze in fragile areas, such as alpine meadows.
Watch water purity. Keep your horse at least 200 feet from streams and lakes (or farther, if regulations require). Take him to water in a rocky place twice each day rather than leaving him to water himself. Better, pack water to him with a folding bucket.
Store food/feed wisely. Use bear-resistant storage boxes, or hang food high and out of reach.
Go green. Use biodegradable soap to wash up.
Manage human waste. Bury human waste in single holes one shovel-blade deep; replace the sod to make the area look as it did when you found it. Select sites for this purpose on high ground at least 200 feet from streams or lakes. Use only white, unscented toilet paper, and bury that with the waste. (Large parties in stationary situations should follow whatever waste procedures the jurisdiction requires, such as using a latrine.)
Leave nothing behind. When breaking your camp, police the entire area. Scatter manure so it fertilizes rather than degrades the area. Pay particular attention to the area under the highline, smoothing any damage with your camp shovel.
Pack out all garbage. Pack out anything you pack in and that isn't consumed. Don't bury trash. Where legal, burn truly combustible items (such as paper plates), but keep foil wrappers and other fire-resistant items out of the firepot. Pick up trash left by others as well. End your stay with a thorough on-line "policing" of the area. Treat the outdoors as though it were your living room - pick up and pack out trash left by others, as well.
If we all pitch in, the backcountry is likely to stay both more enjoyable to visit and accessible to our horses and us. Let's all learn to keep it light, to keep it clean, and to try very hard to leave nothing in the backcountry but tracks.
Dan Aadland (http://my.montana.net/draa) raises mountain bred Tennessee Walking Horses and gaited mules on his ranch in Montana. His most recent books are The Best of All Seasons, The Complete Trail Horse, and 101 Trail Riding Tips. Sketches from the Ranch: A Montana Memoir is now available in a new Bison Books edition.
