Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Tevis

I feel the same way.....I'm absolutely terrified of falling, whether it be
off a trail or off a cliff (without a horse, even), or into a river, or
whatever.  As for horses walking too close to the edge, I've noticed horses
like to do that, for some reason.  A horse that stays to the inside of a
trail on a mountainside wins my undying gratitude.

Barbara

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lif Strand" <lif@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "RIDECAMP" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2002 8:47 AM
Subject: Re: [RC] Tevis


> At 07:30 PM 7/22/02, Barbara McCrary wrote:
> >I would love to know why a trail dangerous enough for horses to fall off
of
> >is presented to the public for a competitive event.
>
> Actually the places I *personally* know of where horses have fallen off
the
> trail aren't all that dangerous in themselves - they're not necessarily
> narrow or rocky or steep.  However, each time a horse has gone off a trail
> *in my presence* it's been on trails that are traversing very steep
> hillsides.  These trails don't have any place to go but down if a horse
> steps off the side of the trail.
>
> One year I actually saw a horse go off a trail I'd just ridden over.  I'm
> guessing the trail, which was flat at that point, was 4' wide, but it also
> zigg-zagged around to follow the contours of the hill it was
> traversing.  The horse no doubt went straight when it should have zigged
or
> zagged.  It only fell about 15' but it was still scary.
>
> I myself am so scared of doing just that - having my horse step too close
> to the edge or off the edge and falling all the way down to the bottom -
> that I hug the inside of the trails.  One year, in the dark, this caused
me
> to be caught on the neck by a really thick tree limb that wouldn't have
> touched me if I'd been anywhere near the middle of the trail where I
should
> have been.  I had to bend back over the cantle of the saddle to avoid
being
> decapitated and had a really bad bruise on my spine from that - but better
> a bruise on my back than fall down to the river!
>
> Anyway, my point is that if you look at any horse trail, you'll almost
> always see some hoof prints where horses do step off the edges.  A trail
> can be flat, wide and solid but if that trail is going across the face of
a
> hill, a horse can still fall off of it if the horse is stepping on the
edge.
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