MOLLY PRITCHARD I once boarded at a barn with a round pen made of wood panels with a 6-inch spacing between the bot om board and panel, and when I was working my horse he actually stuck his hoof through the space and tore half his hoof off . It was awful and totally unsafe! Aſt er that happened, they fi lled the space.
Q
K Y OILER DEAN Taking the stall dividers out of the horse trailer to fi t four horses into a three-horse. My friend did this and when they arrived her horse was lying down under the other horses all scraped up. Could have been worse. All that even though they had two trailers and two trucks but didn’t want to haul both. Scary.
Q
NOËL KUZNICKI BURRELL Whi le training for an endurance ride, to access the trails we have to ride on the road past a cow fi eld for 500 yards. We have a wide shoulder but a truck coming up behind us did not slow down. At the same time, the cows started to run. My horse spooked into the paved road as the speeding truck was going by. He slipped on the pavement and almost backed into the truck!!! I saw everything that was in the bed of the truck and I saw my life pass before my eyes. Luckily, I was able to get him back on the grass and we were safe! I have never been so scared for him and me.
Q
ANN LEGRIS A child who had no knowledge of horses or “riding” on the trail at a state park wearing shorts and fl ip fl ops. Oh, did I men- tion she had no control over her horse who was wandering off the trail to God knows where? T e parents and others in the group seemed unconcerned.
Q
KELLI CLUKEY RICHARDSON While riding with my daughter during the fall of the year, the frost on the ground made it a bit slick. I had my horse’s Easyboot Gloves on (minus the studs) and was walking down a kind of steep lit le hill. Both horses started sliding like they were on skis. It scared the daylights both of us (she also had them on her mare).
Thankfully we were going slowly enough that nothing happened, but it just makes you realize how quickly something can go wrong!
Q
APRIL FISTLER I hate when people tie their horses up with their reins and just leave their horse. If the horse spooked it can do a lot of damage to the horse’s mouth, and I have also seen the bridle come off and the horse run loose aſt er they pulled back!
Q
KIM BEUS My horse slipped off a bridge that had been constructed for horses in the backcountry by the Forest Service. She went off the uphill side of the bridge and was hang- ing upside down by her back leg that was being held by a toe kick. Aſt er several terrifying min- utes, we were able to cut the saddle off , she slid under the bridge and landed on a ledge with only one way up. It was a live or die, she was on a ledge, situation. We hooked reins together and coaxed her up a slippery, gravelly deer trail that we couldn’t even stand up on. She picked her way up and we took a LONG time let ing her recover and fi nding another way out. She was barefoot but the bridge surface was new slick wood and it was like a skating rink. I now check every surface before I ask any of my horses to follow me. Yes, we had 8 other horses that we had walked over this before her and no problem! T is bridge needed side railings! Several years later, and many more horses having wrecks on this bridge, the Forest Service will not address this. She fractured her pelvis and retired with that ride. I bought her as a weanling & she is now 27 and is enjoying her retirement.
Q
DEB MCINTYRE SCHLABACH I want folks to know to take off those tie downs when trail riding and crossing water. Allowing the horse to properly use its head and neck to balance and move. I watched a horse nearly drown when in less than a foot deep creek, as it could not get its head up. It slid on rocks and tipped over. T en the tie down prevented it from get ing its head out of the water.
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WWW.TRAILBLAZERMAGAZINE.US • June 2013 | 11
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