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Re: [RC] guns - Sky RanchHope I never have to see it, but I do know it can happen: an injury to a horse that is bad enough that it's necessary to put the horse down. There was an accident in the mountains near here a few years ago, where a bunch of riders were literally "bunched" on the switchbacks of a mountain trail. (BTW, please DON'T do that...!!) A horse in the front of the line stopped, backed up and knocked into the horses behind him. One of the horses stepped backwards into nothing, and went down the steep slope. His rider somehow got off, but the horse went all the way down. It took a long time to reach him, and he was skinned up badly and in shock. I was not there, so this is "hearsay" but was told that the horse was in severe shock, and I believe it had a broken jaw. At any rate, it was felt by his owner that the best thing to do was to put him down, rather than try to get him out and try to save his life. But, no one had a gun, and apparently no one knew how to cut a jugular vein (another quick way to quickly kill an injured horse). So it was several hours before the horse was destroyed - it may have even been the next day. In the meantime, the horse suffered. I DO understand why people carry guns, especially in the backcountry. I can offer my extreme plea, however, that anyone carrying a gun -- *please* be trained professionally to use it correctly and safely. I have a 44 magnum revolver (the "make my day" gun). It will stop a bear, a man, probably anything coming my way. But I did take the trouble to learn how to handle it, and I'm a good shot - I can shoot a tin can at 20 yards, woo-hoo! However, I don't carry it when I ride. It's too damn heavy. Actually, it's so LOUD that all you'd have to do is shoot it into the ground and anyone around would high-tail it. Best choice for home protection? A shotgun. Like someone else said, the mere sound of a shotgun being cocked to fire is enough to send a bad guy running. Carla Richardson Colorado but there was a ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Sutliff" <mtnriderII@xxxxxxxxx> To: "Sisu West Ranch" <ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: <jlong@xxxxxxxx>; "Truman Prevatt" <tprevatt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2005 10:45 PM Subject: Re: [RC] guns My husband and I spend as much time as we can packing our horses in the backcountry and we have been on a trip with a friend that had to put one of his horses down. It was heartbreaking and not at all pleasant but it was clean and quick with a gun. I hate to think what it would have been like if we hadn't had a gun with us. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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