the last word
All horses and ponies can suddenly demonstrate ‘unwanted’ behaviour, staying alert can make all the difference to your safety
Anyone who has been around horses for even a short time will know, just like farmers do, that large animals can cause injuries and given that horses tend to be fitter and rather more ‘flighty’ than the average cow, then the potential for accidental injury is only too real. Having witnessed many unfortunate injuries and even more ‘near misses’ over the years, who better than John Collier BHSI to have ...
... the last word
Riding is a risk sport and although there are probably more books written on horses and safety than on any other subject, I can guarantee that someone is currently sitting in a casualty department as a result of a horse related accident.
Accidents are invariably caused; they rarely just happen and one of the worst ones we experienced was a lady who suffered multiple injuries from jumping a clear round. How? Well, she had stopped outside her stable to talk about her success, when the horse went to grab a hay bale, which fell on his head, so he shot backwards into an open stable door, panicked, shot forward again and knocked her over. Had she not jumped a clear round, had she not stopped to talk, had someone stacked the bales elsewhere and had the stable door not been left open, none of this would have happened. To rub salt into the wound, her husband asked me to accept liability and then we could go halves on the damages. Err - and no thank you.
Sadly you do need a bit of ‘nous’ to work around horses, as I was reminded on three separate occasions earlier this year. Picture this; two spectators
www.theequinesite.co.uk
asking each other why was that daft bloke over there waving his arms and shouting loose horse? Unfortunately I think they now realise the reason. This also highlights why it’s not a good idea to walk round or ride with your mobile phone earphones plugged in! This has got to be the worse time of year for hacking out, as even with swathes of high viz that most riders now sensibly wear, you cannot be clearly seen in a low sunset; drivers are blinded and not expecting to come across riders. Narrow country roads might be quiet, but as I found out last week they are not safe places, having turned a tractor and trailer over in order to avoid a speeding car on a blind bend. I think it was fortunate for the driver that he didn’t have the decency to stop, but had I been on a horse, the outcome would have been far worse. As I was once told whilst being given a safety check on a light aircraft with regard to the propeller, flesh and metal do not mix. Sadly that is very true for horses and cars. I have to say too, that the risks of riding on the roads are increasing, as drivers might slow down but the majority are still going too fast to be safe when they pass.
It’s also surprising that at this time of year, some riders forget how fresh horses get when they are on a winter regime – even more so when they’ve recently been clipped! Restricted grazing means you can expect the odd buck, along with an expression of ‘opinion’ from your horse, which are very good reasons to accept the old fashioned advice of sit up and get your heels down, or failing that, get a neck strap. It is what I call the theory of the bleeding obvious... On that note, I sat through a presentation last week of how it is that whatever we put on the horse, be it a roller, or ear fly cover, adversely affects its way of going. Pressure on the vertebrae T11 and T12 badly affect the horse. Sadly the presenter couldn’t think of a better place for the saddle to fit than on T11 and T12 = and short of not riding your horse there is no way of avoiding pressure. At that point I made a discrete withdrawal from the room.
The same theory covers the rider registration form, which states riding is a risk sport and that if you fall off, then you might hurt yourself. Apparently several novice riders have received compensation because this had not been explained to them. I go
Safety around horses and ponies
a step further and tell clients that 99 times out of a 100 you will emerge unscathed, but that one hundredth time it will hurt, and it may involve a broken bone or worse. I had a nice novice rider who came for a good while until he cracked with the pressure. He hadn’t fallen off since he started riding, he felt the odds had shortened; he was convinced he was heading for a fall and his nerves could no longer take it! At that point he stopped riding, and took up knitting. In my defence I do say that I was not a complete fool although I have part of a finger missing which was due to a disagreement with a forklift. My experience was unlike one of my clients who has part of a thumb missing; if you walk down a passage carrying hay past a greedy horse that apparently is what can happen.. She never did find the missing bit, yet the books all say that horses are herbivores... See accidents are ‘caused’. Horses are unique though, they injure us when we’re handling them, we fall off them, they stand on your toes and yet we keep going back for more. Anyone know of a good psychiatrist?
Equine Page 15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
