The most dangerous and ridiculous thing i've seen to date?

Question

i just looked out my window and saw the most dangerous thing....our neighbours do western riding and were exercising horses in our adjoining pasture....anyway brother was riding "bombproof" 20 year old QH and sister was riding the spookiest 7 year old i've ever seen. anyway horse is spooking at everything..as always, so brother has stellar idea of getting the lead line and tying it the spooky horses saddle horn and then tying the other end to "bombproof" horses saddle horn, thereby connected. as soon as i saw him do this i called their parents, who i saw waling down the lane towards them...but alas too late...as was expected spooky horse does what spooky horses do best, freaking out even more when she found that she was attached to "bombproof" horses saddle. she reared and sister fell off, then her forelegs got tangled in the lead line and she fell, taking brother and "bombproof" horse with her. brother got stomped on pretty badly and finally "bombproof" horse got up , more coming

Answer 1

Okay...that would qualify as #1 on my top 10 list...

I hate it when you see a wreck 'happening' or going to happen...and not a thing you can do except watch and pick up the pices.

Mine that I can think of right away...I raised my niece for a year and introduced her to the world of horses.  We go for a trailride one day.  I was leading and I turn around to check on her.  What do I see???

BOTH feet stuck all the way through the stirrups.  I say...very calmly..."You need to get your feet out of those stirrups right now."  *Didn't want the horse spooked at all.*  

Once she removed them...I came totally uncorked on her!  Chewed her up one side and down the other...then went back for a second helping.  

We went back home and I took the saddle away from her.  If she wanted to ride...and she did...she had to do it bareback.  *Weird punishment*  But it worked.  That could have turned out so badly....

Answer 2

Geez.  I guess their parents don't believe in raising their children to have any common sense and/or horse handling and riding knowledge.

A little girl died about a month ago after she was dragged on a horse for over a mile.  She wasn't even doing anything stupid, by the news accounts (well, other than not wearing a helmet).  These kids are lucky.

Answer 3

Wow!  Yours takes the cake!!!

Mine wasn't in the same category as yours, but I was once at a show where a lady on a gray TWH was asked to carry the national flag around the ring while the national anthem was played.  She did, but the horse had never done this before and the flag scared him. He threw his rider, who lay stretched out on the ground while the flag slowly settled over her.  Not one of the poor woman's happier memories, I'm sure.

Answer 4

A couple summers ago I was backpacking in Kings Canyon just getting up the last switchbacks of Grants Pass but we stopped half way up to wait for 2 (mother and daughter) couple of idiots with their horses and donkeys who were freaked out of their minds and clearly inexperienced. The donkey's seemed fine but out of the 4 horses, the last 3 carrying the weight of supplies, were obviously not prepared for this kind of work.

The woman who we presumed to be the mother of the other woman insisted on driving the terrified horses up the steep incline despite our efforts to persuade her to back down and take the longer but safer route for her inexperienced horses. She insisted that they were simply misbehaving and they must be taught to obey.

Seeing the writing on the wall, we headed for some bomber rocks out of the way, preparing for inevitably falling horses. Like clockwork the last whip crack finally did it. The last horse reared, lost his poor footing on scree and as his load dropped off his back spraying cans and debris everywhere all three of the young horses became a clamor or spooked horses loosing their footing it seemed all at once. The horse in the middle fell first yanking the last who was tied closer to him, then yanking the first bringing them all down in a tumbling bloody ribbon. When all horses were amazingly back on their feet after such a brutal fall she pushed them even harder to reach the top which was still quite a few switchbacks away. We yelled at her to stop. she was literally  working them to death. Now they were in even more of a frenzy. she tried to drag the first horse, leading the other two who had been untangled, and as he spooked backward and fell once again, the whole train went with him and all the gear. She was screaming like an idiot at them again as if this was somehow their fault.

There was blood everywhere and they were covered in scrapes from the hard rocks they had fallen on. We demanded to pass. One horse though he was on his feet again after tumbling about 20 ft was badly injured and we couldn't stand and watch anymore. We passed, got over the pass and practically ran down the back side to the next camp and went straight to a ranger station to report the incident.

When we left the park at the end of our trip a few days later we checked in with the rangers again at another camp. Apparently two horses had to be euthanized and the two idiots leading the operation had been escorted out of the park. I'm not sure what happened to them after that but I know there was a felony charge against the mother because she had threatened one of the rangers with a pistol she was concealing on her hip when she was confronted about the treatment of her "stock" horses.

I don't think I've ever been so angry in my life. There's nothing worse than helplessly standing by watching animals relentlessly mistreated when you can't do anything about it.

Answer 5

wow

that was a very dumb thing for them to do =/

the worst ive ever seen is my sisters friend came over to help me with my crazy horse and after she got him a little calm she stood up on him,and he ran off,but luckily she was ok,my mom was freaking out though lol

Answer 6

Sorry but it seems to always happen at quarter horse shows.  People tie their horses to something less than secure...then horse is seen dragging the object thru the show grounds.  I've seen horses dragging stall doors, portable picinic tables, and even pop-up canopies....moral of the story...horse is better off untied than dragging some object behind him!

Answer 7

Thats really mad. It's an awful situation to be in when you can see something about to happen and are powerless to stop it.

Heh Heh Something I did was so stupid some years ago. When on one of our many rests in the middle of the arena I liked to rub my thoroughbreds nose with my foot as he turned his head around to me. Yes my foot was still in the stirrup! I was absently doing this when someone next to me said very quietly but strongly "Get down Quickly"

Hehheh My horse had caught his teeth in the Iron. English saddle.  No it was fine he did get worried but stood until I unhitched him.

Answer 8

This woman from our barn took a retired jumper (huge 16 + hand) strawberry roan gelding that had impressive show record but was weary and bored with his role, and decided to train him to drive.

This was not her first driving horse, so we figured all was within her ability.

All went well during her initial training with this boy. He seems unflappable and accepted the harness and shafts with no problem. His attitude improved and he seemed to actually have fun as a driving horse.

She entered him in a local driving show and I was there.

Once in the show ring, his ears went up and  he became very animated being very familiar with the whole show scene from years of being a jumper.

Unfortunately his jumping history came into play when he decided that his job was to jump the fence encircling the show ring, harness, cart and screaming passenger included.

What a wreck! Busting the cart and the shafts all to h**l. Broke the woman's arm and ribs and impaled himself on one of the splintered shafts. The horse was euthanized  at the scene and the woman rushed to the hospital. She is lucky to be alive and still drives....but now she is much more particular with her choice of driving horses.

Answer 9

I tie horse and lead them like that.  I do this to train them to neck rein.  But a little different scenerio.  

First I never pony a spooky horse with anything.

Second the area I tie in is small enough that by the time a horse breaks into a gallop they are in the corner.

Third the horse I am leading ALWAYS knows how to lead and do so calmly.

Fourth the people riding know what they are doing and are ready to release the rope.  

Anyway yes the two kids are lucky they did not get even more hurt than they did.

Answer 10

young kids and spooky horses, recipe for disaster.

Stupidest thing I've seen.  

We'd a woman in our riding club, that while she was a sweet lady,, was far from a equestrian.   She usually was a passenger on a babysitter of a quarterhorse mare.  I could have put a 4 year old on that mare and had her ride across the center of a football game and she'd never have batted a eye. she came compleate with Wish stearing and stoping. ( ie  I wish we could walk over there.. and the mare did)

Well...The predictable happened.  The woman decided because she'd been a passenger on the mare for years, she was now a fine horseman because SHE NEVER HAD TROUBLE LIKE ANYONE ELSE DID.  Ah the Hubris before the fall..

She went and got a new horse.  A refined hot blooded little arab mare. Pretty as a picture, should have been racing across sanddunes with a bedouin on her. Ad proclaimed Experienced Riders ONLY. Our club trail boss( her BF) went and got it for her,ego stroked and told her how nice she looked ect.. .  

We go out on a 15 mile ride, along steap river valleys and hills.   Babysitter mare would have taken her along fine.. this arab..Well  the trail boss(her BF) put her right beside him to try and head off any trouble, even though all of us are saying. HEY, she shouldnt be here with that horse,ect. She'd had her rearing, and been run off with before we got out of camp. We go 5 miles and arab is getting hotter and more wound up the whole way, passenger is upset because she is being jiggled and gets a tighter hold of the reins, her legs ect.. arab gets more upset..vicious circle begins.  Arab tries to run .Trail boss grabs arabs reins, arab rears and spins.. comes down on top of trail boss's horse with its front legs.  his horse freaks, rears, runs.. both fall off.. reins of arab are hooked to Trail boss's horse.. both go tearing away down the hill to the river below and end up falling down it..

End of story.. Life Flight has to med evac the woman with a broken hip.. BF has a ride as well with a broken femur..and dislocated arm.. arab ends up euthanized with a broken leg on the trail and flown out with a helecopter.. and the trailboss's horse still wont let another horse and rider near him, and hasn't for 4 years.

Answer 11

Oh my gosh! That is terrible. What were they thinking? Obviosly they weren't!!! I want to hear the rest of the story! Keep adding details to this story!!!  I hope their alright!

EDIT:

Wow!!! Is the concussion a mild or sever or mediam one? I really do hope she and the boy are alright. Did an ambulance come to get them? The parents know right? The stupidest thing I've ever seen was this girl at a Saddlebred show. She lost her sturrip and wasn't too good at picking it up again and when the judge wasn't looking she bent down way tooo far and kind of got caught and then she fell off. Her horse stared running all around the place and tried to jump the fence. Then people stared running after the horse to calm it down and that just made things worse. The hrose was eventually caught and the girl was fine though.

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Answer 12

Many trainers will tie a spooky horse to a bombproof horse. Given these kids should not have done it because they have no idea what they are doing but training in that matter is very common. Although normally there is only the trainer riding the bombproof horse and the spooky horse is riderless.

Answer 13

The only bright spot in that terrible story is that spooky horse will not be a hazard to innocent, responsible riders in the show ring this week.  

The most dangerous thing I've seen...

Let me think on that one awhile...Ok, got it.  Loose saddle slipping on horse, (pony saddle, large girth for horse)  Young kid is hanging on for dear life off the side of the horse, and mom says "hang on" while she ran for the camera to snap a picture.  

Sure the horse was "bomb proof" and the kid wasn't scared once she saw that the adults weren't, but it could have been so very, very bad.

Answer 14

i bet they wont do that again.i have seen this happen more than once by the young and old and it is the wrong way to pony a horse.ponying a horse can be a usefull tool to train a spooky horse but there are rules that have to be strictly followed and proper equipment has to be used when doing this(DISCLAIMER:ponying horses is dangerous unless you have been taught properly by a trainer!!!) even so i have had a concussion from ponying a horse when i wasn't paying attention for a split second(i have the scar to prove it) and i was raised on a horse ranch and taught by extremely knowledgeable top hands.i hope that the kids and the horses will recover but they will always carry the mental scars with them and sometimes they are the hardest to heal.

Answer 15

Well, those kids are damm lucky to be alive- and this just goes to show you what can happen when young, green, ignorant kids are allowed to ride unsupervised. WHERE WERE THESE KIDS' PARENTS???? THEY are the ones who deserve the blame here, NOT the KIDS. IT WAS THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to know what their children were doing, and to keep them safe- and they were utter failures at that. The kids paid the price for their parents' stupidity and carelessness- and so, unfortunately, did the horses. WHY weren't those kids wearing helmets, which ALL juniors are required to wear, even in the Western disciplines? The girl is lucky she didn't wind up with a skull fracture and permanent brain damage, instead of just a concussion. As for the boy- he's going to be lucky to be able to walk normally after this, from the sound of things. This is a tragic and totally preventable situation, and it reminds me of many other hair raising, STUPID, preventable accidents I have seen. I once worked at a place where it was common practice to let kids ride in sneakers in open toed Western stirrups- and on one occasion, there was a horse that saw a deer on a trail ride, and spooked. The little girl riding him fell off and suffered a concussion too- and only narrowly avoided getting her foot caught in the stirrup on the way down. She was wearing a helmet, yes- but she still had a head injury.

I won't relate the story of the worst horse related accident I have ever seen here, because it is too graphic for this column. I will, however, say that I still have nightmares every once in a while because of what happened on that horrible afternoon eleven years ago. Panicked horses and barbed wire fences don't mix- and I have NEVER SEEN SO MUCH BLOOD anywhere in one place in my entire life, either before or since that accident.

I have seen my share of people who are normally very smart, but who behave as if they were idiots where horses are concerned. It's almost as if, when some people get near a horse, their common sense flies out the window. I don't pretend to understand why this is the case. The parents of these kids in your question sound like perfect examples of this, at least to me.

Answer 16

gggeeees they are luck my kids love to ride but never ever without me watching. Well this story was told to me but it happened to my mom when she was in her early 20s she was going to this horse for her landlord she has been riding her hole life and lots of experience. The horse was in its teens and she got on and all seem to be OK and as she rode off the horse got nervous and took off right through a barb wire fence and my mom landed on the T post on her back she is fine no major damage.The horse was really cut up but fine the horse later coliced and died but it all could have been much worse.

Answer 17

will  the horses should be taken away. But the stupidest thing i have seen is a person had a little girl on the back of the horse with no saddle and they were ridding in the middle of the rode and the child was about 5 years old and nether of them were wearing a helmet and the little girl fell off  and i was in the pasture with my child who was learning to ride and she said mommy a girl fell of her horse i asked were she said look so my daughter called the hospital and i went and got the little girl out of the rode she had broken ribs and a broken arm she had a consign  to but she serifed

Answer 18

at our local show one of the horses were kicking at the audience just missing by inches

Answer 19

How old are the brother and sister? It may have been ignorance. Yes what has happened is shocking but if the brother thought he was acting in spooky horse's best interests... I'm sure neither of them meant for this to happen! I'm not excusing what they did but I'm sure they have both learnt their lessons the hard way. Keep us posted!

Answer 20

ouch!