Guns and Horses--a cautionary tale.

[Readyrod]

I've driven horses as a tour guide in Quebec city and Vancouver but I haven't ridden much. The Quebec city horses in general were old farm and race horses that were saved from the slaughterhouse. The Vancouver ones were mostly teams of Belgians or Clydesdales, many of which had done horse logging. They were beautiful animals and a lot of fun to be with, but you could never, seriously never, let your guard down. No matter how much you thought you knew the animal they could always surprise you. I had one horse decide to freak out over a manhole cover that he had walked over maybe hundreds of times before. You just never know. As for avoiding a pack heading straight for you? I'd try to stand tall so they notice me and avoid me. I know it's not the same thing but it worked with the cows on the dairy farm I worked on. I hope your friend recovers ok.

 

[209]

My wife owns and operates a small horse training facility. If you think that would mean I'm well-versed in horse stuff, you'd be wrong. It's her job and I stay out of her way.

But, I have picked up a bit of knowledge over the years. I've seen some horses that are dangerous. I've seen some horses that are stupid. But most of the time, if you are paying attention you can make it through without getting hurt. Most of the horses I've been around never intentionally tried to hurt me.

A horse that was startled or frightened by something new or strange can often times first attempt to get away from whatever frightened it. If you are in the way, you may get run over. The horse isn't doing it on purpose, it's just that you were an obstacle barring their way to safety. Horses are prey- and everything strange and scary is a predator coming to eat them.

My wife spends a lot of time "desensitizing" horses. She exposes them to things they'll routinely see and hear. She has good success with it.

As far as gunshots go, we had one horse that my wife trained for Cowboy Mounted Shooting. That horse really enjoyed the whole process. Anytime a shot went off within that horse's hearing, he'll get excited up because he thought he was going to play. Since he was the herd boss at the time we had him at the farm, it made him an excellent choice for trail rides. He had to be lead horse and the other horses behind him would generally take their cues from him when gunshots and such were going off.

 

[Noban]

My good friend has a ranch here in Santa Barbara, 50 horses on site at any given time, including my two. One fellow who's a regular trains for mounted cowboy action shooting within 50 yards of the pens. Consequently, all of the veteran horses are exposed to gunfire and have no adverse reaction to it. Other new horse arrivals are a bit jumpy the first few times, but tend to quickly relax, taking the cue from the larger herd.

Having said that, I agree with some of the above posters that you must respect the size and relative unpredicability of a horse. No such thing as bomb proof. They are a prey animal and when they decide to scoot, they explode and you better be ready.

I've been kicked, bitten and thrown and it will happen again. Always try to give yourself and out and stay alert.

Kev

 

[ar10]

And always remember, horses DO NOT enjoy being ridden.