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Cheers
Give a Cheer
Give a Cheer
This is my friend John, who chased my horse Charlie for two miles after a local trail rider "eased up on us" over the top of a hill.
John and I had stopped for to water the horses at a creek. I took my feet out of the stirrups, dropped my reins, and had turned around to say something to John when Charlie - who is as well broke a horse as you'd ever want to ride - saw a pair of ears coming over the top of the ridge.
Horses are prey animals, and as such, they expect everything to eat them. They rely on their quick reactions and speed to keep them out of harm's way. True to his nature, Charlie did not stick around to see what the pair of ears were attached to. He spun and was gone. The spin wasn't anything I could not have ridden if I'd been prepared, but I was already off balance because I was turned around talking to John. Charlie's spin just finished the job.
The creek was sandy and soft, and I wasn't hurt, but Charlie was seriously spooked, not only by the pair of ears - which happened to be attached to another horse coming to the creek from the other side - but also by the trauma of unloading me. I guess he thought he was going to be in some serious trouble, but the whole incident wasn't his fault either.
The man whose horse spooked Charlie said, "I heard you, and I wanted to just ease up on you...." That's just stupidity beyond belief. Trail Etiquette dictates that when you HEAR other people on the trail, you CALL to them, so that THEIR horses know that something is coming.
The guy was semi-apologetic (not sorry ENOUGH, considering it was his stupidity that caused the whole preventable incident), and he kept trying to tell me about his "great gaited horse, and his friend who couldn't come with him today, and how young exactly is your horse, and a shame he's not better broke." I tried to be polite about it, but I was a little shook up from the fall, and I finally had enough. So while John was chasing Charlie, I gave Idiot-Boy a lesson in Trail Etiquette 101.
"Ease Up isn't the way you DO it, dude. You let people KNOW you're coming when you hear them. It would have been one thing if you hadn't heard us and surprised us by ACCIDENT, but you did it on PURPOSE! The fact you DID hear us means that you should have WARNED us you were coming.
My horse is NOT a youngster. He's a seasoned trail veteran, kid broke, and he loves trail riding. But you....YOU spooked him by appearing from nowhere. You snuck up on him like a mountain lion would have done, from a vantage point of a predator. Any horse -- ANY horse -- in that situation would have reacted just like he did. It's their INSTINCT.
You are UNBELIEVABLY lucky. I could have been seriously hurt and it would have been your fault. 100% your fault.
No. I do not want you to wait with me until my friend gets back with my horse. I'm fine. I'm not hurt - thankfully - so you go on and have a great rest of your day. Try to learn something from this the NEXT time you hear people that you don't see. And I'll be sure to warn everyone that *I* see that you're out here sneaking up on people. Have a nice day."
It's a good thing he was gone by the time John got back with Charlie or John would have given him another earful. I hope the guy learned something, but I doubt it. He was too busy trying to impress me with his horsemanship skills and his gaited horse.
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March 14, 2011