Trail ride gone bad.

sebocat · Trail ride gone bad.

Horses are good for teaching two things. Humility and patience. In that order.

M 14 yo son Jonathan has been begging me to go for a ride. When I was invited to a friends house for an all day event, I figured it would be a perfect time for bonding.

Jonathan has never been "horsey" and has been on only one other ride. He went to summer camp a few years ago. There were horses there and he rode one a few times. He feeds the boys here when I am unavailable. The the 14 year old brain, this is qualification enough to make him an expert.

I trailered both boys, which was an event in itself. My husband left for the day in MY truck, and MY truck has the only hitch that works for the trailer. I tore the barn apart looking for the spare i *knew* we had. I an around to different local shops. Its Sunday, they were all closed. I drive 25 miles one-way for a hitch. I came home and while loading tack into the truck, tripped over the spare. Welcome to my life.

Trailering goes well enough. Of course, I made the mistake of hitching the trailer BEFORE I caught horses, so the catching part was another story. In short, we "knocked the fresh off of 'em". *sigh*

Both load and transport fine. Ty exits the trailer with the cool confidence of a seasoned veteran. I feel a sense of pride because I remember the rodeo it was trying to trailer him home. I thought he was going to single-handedly be the reason my 1984 Rawhide trailer would be sent to the scrap yard.

Paco, on the other hand, sure Steve the 1000 lb female pig was lurking around the corner waiting to pounce, exited the trailer like a wild-eyed mustang fresh off the range. great. I was planning on my only child riding that wildabeast.

I tacked both up, and we led Ty and Paco about 400 yards from the barn area. Paco and Ty are both calm. The other 4 horses and riders, all fine. I tightened Ty's girth and look over his back to see Jonathan pulling himself into the saddle. At exactly the same time I started to tell him to stop, the cinch isnt tight yet, the saddle slipped.

My normally stoik Paco launched into the air with the pomp and circumstance of the Fourth of July Fireworks. He was right next to Ty, and Ty was not moving away. Paco was throwing a bucking and kicking fit, and my child was in between, clinging to the saddle like he thought his life depended on it. I got between the two, but was behind Paco. I caught a foot to the shin, Jonathan caught a hock to the back, but I pulled him from Paco in time for Paco to go charging forward. Through a cable fence. Paco gt hung up in the fence and started bucking and thrashing. I was horrified watching.

Paco bolted across the hayfield on the other side of the fence, and stopped when I called to him. He turned around and started to come to me. I was full of mixed emotions. I had a gun on my hip, and seriously considered shooting the son of a bitch.

Don't worry, Jonathan and the fence are fine.

I walked over, checked him out, and decided he was fine. We played circling game until his adrenaline was back down and I decided he was good to continue.

Jonathan, however, didnt want any part of him. Cant say I blame him.

So I put Jonathan on Ty, which I quickly decided was the wrong thing to do. Ty is pushy and very much LBI/RBE. One extreme or the other. Oh, and green. He's usually a good boy, though, and I am hoping he will help Jonathan relax.

Nope. otherway around. Jonathan was scared, and now Ty is, too, and we are a mile from home.

Paco was being a doll. So I make Jonathan trade. It was like Paco was sorry, because he was an angel the rest of the ride.

Ty, on the otherhand, was throwing grade A sized tantrums.

We were in a narrow portion of trail, and he was stepping over some branches. I dont know what happened after that. All I remember is looking down at my empty saddle. I landed right behind him, sill holding the reins. So he did what he was essentially being asked to do. He backed over me. Don't worry, Ty is fine. It was, however, the second time today I seriously considered shooting a horse.

I hopped back on, and we continued our ride. Im stiff now, but he didnt step on me, just knocked me around. Thank God for helmets (both Jonathan and I were wearing them. Both boys were settled from this point on and behaved how I had excpected them to.....for the whole ride.

Paco started to move a little "off" and I opted to discontinue the ride. Jonathan and I both got off and slowly walked the boys to the house. Everyone else continued the ride. We had been planning this a long time, and I wasn't about to let them turn around on account of us!

Paco and Ty both passed up hay on their way to bed when we got home. I think they are as tired as I am.

I gave Paco a dose of bute. He seems still and I think it is in his right shoulder. He has a little gash behind his knee on the same side and some patches missing hair. I think he is fo the most part, a very lucky horse.

What an aweful day.

thebundychick

Oh Bloody hell! What a rotten day!!

So glad EVERYONE is OK.

jackspark

GEEEEEEZ, my god Suz! So glad that you all made it home in OK condition.

CoolsLadyInRed

OH GEEZZZZZ is right!!! I would have been horrified. So glad you and JOnathon are ok and Paco didn't need a vet

You did the right thing going home, I think. Take a hot bath in some Epsom salts. Ouchy.

thelmanelle

Oh Suz,
I am glad you are okay, except for the bumps and bruises you all endured. It is hard to do a trail ride with someone new and being sure your horse will be safe. Plus, they do have a brain of their own, period.

We had a nice benefit ride Saturday, but two people fell off. One lady could not keep herself centered and many times we stopped since she would lose her right stirrup. She could not feel the stirrup and her saddle would start siding. her horse was so well behaved, but she fell anyways.

Another lady was riding too much horse for a group ride, with not enough experience and the horse took off galloping and she had never even cantered and she fell face first onto the ground. I sat with her for a few hours to be sure her head was clear, because she was saying a variety of confusing things.

The ride itself was gorgeous.
But, yes, things can go south quick. I had a child with me in the saddle and Flint tolerated that very well, until we got near dogs barking in a kennel. He start to get nervous. Then, I tried to hand of the child to her grandma and she clung to me so hard. Flint saw her and calmed enough to go by the dogs. I was amazed that he regained his composure that quickly. I thought we were fixing to hit dirt and I was trying to decide how to land to protect the little girl.

So glad your incident did not get any worse, but it was serious enough.

PasoBaby_CarolU

Sounds like Murphy rode your shoulder all day.

Glad you all are OK. Ty is your new horse...sounds like he's not quite ready for trail rides. Diablo did one similar to me when his footing 'moved' and scared him. I spent a lot of time with him over things that moved after that, but he's still a wimp. Can you pony Ty a few times from Paco?

Glad you are OK. A hot bath and a cold beer sounds good.

Clarissa

If it wasn't so serious it would be halarious! lol They sure can put you in your place.

Isn't it funny how horses feed off each other energy wise?

I always remember being given a 'kick up the bum' at the beginning of some work project or something. "oww" I would say "what the hell was that for?" "Just incase you got above yourself, that's just for good measure to keep your mind on the job" I would be told.

& so it is with horses too. When I was competing on Sonny, there was the odd time when he was fine to travel & unload but it was like I had a balloon on the end of the lead. So I would ask him to do some very quick 7games to move his feet a lot & get his mind on the job, then give him a sharp popper around the rump 'just for good measure'. It bought him back to earth & got him on the same page as me & to remind him what would happen if he got too 'up'.

Most competition days he was perfect but just now & then he needed a stronger helping hand. It was more like an inate feeling I had rather than specific things he was demonstarting or doing that told me today was different.

bit

Don't get me wrong, I am so dang sorry you and your son and the son of a bitch had such a bad day. This is also the hardest I've laughed for a while. Great story! Bet you and your horse is a bit sore today. Sending hugs and smiles!

becdubie · Re: Trail ride gone bad.

Wow...you definately stuck with the "trail ride" longer than I would have. I would have probably have never gotten on after the first cinch accident.
This is definately for sure...

ErinR76

Glad everyone was okay! Someone was tryin' to tell you something, though, when your husband took off in your truck for the day LOL

sebocat

sebocat

Carol, ponying Ty is actually a really good idea. He is ususally pretty good, but I take Paco when I want a steady eddie and Ty if I want to train on the trail. He's usually looking around and really interested in everything around him, and this is the first time he behaved like a green horse.

I want to go back out today, but Paco is stiff and I am going to give him time to heal.

Not to mention the fact that I think I hurt my shoulder and my back is killing me

Ill try ponying in the pen since I have never done it before.

Any tips? I know not to tie the ponied horse to the riding horse and not to let the rope wrap around my hand, but I imagine there are tricks...

oh, and bit, if I didnt have a sence of humor about this, I think I would be too horrified to try again. Actually, I read it this morning again, and chuckled myself.

I asked Jonathan this morning if he had a good time and wanted to try again and he said yes. A friend has a 20+ yr old horse he will use and I will ride Paco. Part of my problem with y was that I was so focused on Jonathan and Paco, and nervous about them, he must have felt that.

Hubby asked if I was done with horses yet, and told me he was seriously considering sending me to the psych ward when I told him I wanted to ride today

ErinR76

"All in all, murphy may have been on my shoulder, but our Guardian Angel had our back."

Aint that the truth!!

ztmag

thelmanelle

Suz,
That was quite a day! For everyone. Keep us posted on this new ride. Tell Murphy to stay away , but keep the guardian angel!

jackspark

Ponying is a good idea.......... I'd like more tips, if Suz doesn't mind morphin' this thread. The rope under the tail is a good start! Any other dos and don'ts?

PasoBaby_CarolU

I like to put cherry timbers on the ground where the horses eat. It is 'moving' footing and gets the horses used to this for when they cross logs and rocks that will move.

Use ropes up and down legs, lots of wiggling, get the horse to not fight them - this can really save your horse if they are ever caught in wire.

Get them used to dragging things and flapping things. Windy days are my favorite days to play....get out a sheet and play all 7 games.

If firecrackers are legal, buy some and light them. Otherwise a pellet gun or other loud bang snap sounds.

Have people mow lawns, cut weeds, ride bikes, ATVs, motorcycles around the horses when you work. Have that dog run around while you work. Make it a non-issue. Don't train in a sterile environment.

Anything on your list that your horse doesn't do...that is on your list of things to work on.

bit

Good ideas, Carol. Something I've heard Buck and Brent mention, do all these things while the horse's feet are moving. If you do them with horse standing still, he can go introverted and that's not a good thing. Moving feet will get you a very different reaction. Even throwing that lead rope over the back while horse if walking forward will be a whole different ball game than if he's standing still. Flag him walking, use the flag to move him, and use the flag to pet him. Intent to move him, and intent to stroke his legs is different. Do both.

sebocat

I totally dont mind morphing this thread.

I worked with Ty for about an hour today. Did lots of liberty work - circle with direction changes, two eyes on me, turning into me instead of away from me, lots of leading at liberty (figure 8s and patterns around cones) and a tarp as the main obstacle. I had him following me pretty tighty at the walk and respecting my stop. He backed when I did when I had the stick as an aid. Couldn't help it and actually asked him out loud "who are you and what have you done to my horse?"

Can't complain a bit....he did awesome. I did tons of friendly with him and the stick/string in preparation for ponying. He was great with all of that. (Of course he is LBI in the pen, RBE out of it.....) I imagine his ground skills had better be AMAZING in and out of the pen before I get too carried away.

I did all of this in the part of the pen that is mostly cleared to be my arena, but there are a few tree stumps and natural obstacles. Makes him have to pay attention to his feet, which I like. Just need to figure out a water/mud obstacle....

Will do the same with Paco, and maybe practice dragging a log on Paco so he gets used to feeling weird pressure. At least it will be with a predictable object, and not a goofy half arab

I think I will get Jonathan in on the fun and pretend to pony him a little as my phase 2 (of course, we will keep the kiddo WELL out of kicking range....

I dont think there is such a thing as too much preparation here. Its probably not something for the faint of heart, eh?

When its time to put everything together and pony Ty, how long of a lead do I want? My gut says about 3-4 feet???

Copious_Amour

You'll want to use a 12' line. It's always better to have slack then none at all. Chances are, he'll hit the end of that line a few times before figuring where his place is. You'd be suprise at how horses react to ponying. Just because two horses ride fine together doesn't mean they will pony fine together. Ponying is a lot closer than riding. Also, 3-4' isn't that long if your horse decides to spooky that rope will fly right out of your hand whereas a 12' gives you some 'breathing space.' Just my experience

So glad you are okay Suz. SO GLAD.

bit

On dragging a log, Hawk did well with the dragging, and not so well with what happened to the ground as it changed when the log was dragged. It left drag marks, that changed the appearance of the dirt, and he was scared! The trainer said most horses do just fine dragging something, but not so good with the drag marks. Giving you a heads up on that one.

jackspark

ztmag

Before I ponied Dolly, I also practiced doing the seven games from my pony horse with her. Once I was confident I had the dexterity and control to do all seven games from the back of another horse, I knew I could handle most situations outside.

Clarissa

Over the years I've done a lot of ponying to exercise several horses at once & teach the more nervous ones various things from the back of another horse.

Some things I found to make the process easier were:-

Bring the lead line from the led horse around under your horse's neck & up to your strongest hand. That way if the led horse pulls back or can't keep up the weight comes on your horse's neck not your hand, arm, elbow, shoulder pulling you sideways/backwards out of the saddle or worse letting go the lead & that horse running away. Most horses will usually lean into the weight & keep walking forward so the led horse is forced to keep up. It's an easy way to teach that part.

Another way to get the young horse leading along side in the beginning is to mount, set up your lead & start walking circles around the led horse by pushing on it's head with your horse to make it yield away. That keeps the led horse on the inside of the circle you are making on your horse. Slowly extend the circles into straight walking every time the led horse takes some steps to follow & if it stops again just go back to walking circles by pushing it's head around into a circle with your horse. It will usually turn within it's own length to keep it's head near the head of your horse. Sometimes your horse knows the score & bites the led horse on the rump if it doesn't turn around to follow on the circle!

If you have a horse that wants to drag on the lead, set it up as I said with the lead going around under your horse's neck to the other side away from the led horse but hook the lead under the front of your foot as it rests in the stirrup on the side near the led horse. That adds an extra point of leverage & you can exert a good deal of pressure on the halter without it pulling on your hand/arm.

So to picture the lead better, it comes from the led horse's halter, down under your foot, across the chest of your horse & up to your strong hand. When I mount I always set the led horse on the opposite side to the side I am mounting on. So if I mount my hrose on the near/left side, I will set the led horse on the off/right side of my hrose. Once mounted I will flip the lead over my horse's head to set it across the chest.

If I then want to move the led horse from one side to the other I will turn my horse inbetween them to push on the led horse rump which causes that horse to yield it's rump away & I steer my horse into that space. The led horse then has to do a sharp 180 turn to follow my horse.If I need to change the lead I will just flip it to the other side as per we did in L1 1 rein riding. It's a bit like doing falling leaf pattern from L2/3 only done mounted. The full falling leaf pattern would have you directing the led horse across the front of your horse to your other side & then led horse needing to do a 180 to fall back beside your horse. A very good exercise!

When I'm ponying I use my left hand to hold my reins & my right hand to hold the lead/s. Irrespective of how many horses I am leading & which sides they are on, I have all those leads in my right hand because it is my strongest. However all those horses being led would be trained to lead so they naturally kept up anyway & just trotted along in a line.

If I had a learner it would be on my right so it's lead could go under my horse's neck & cross over the saddle back to my right hand. Then if I am also leading a trained horse it would be on the left with it's lead going straight across the saddle to my right hand.

Trail ride gone bad.

Re: Trail ride gone bad.