What an awful story. I hope you and your
friend recover quickly and with no residual effects.
Let me put a different spin on this. What
if you took the story below and replaced the word “horse” with the
word “dog” [whether or not it was at a ride]. In that case, the victim
would be well within their rights to contact the authorities about a dangerous
animal and possibly sue the owner for damages.
At the minimum, I agree with Beth’s
suggestions about what steps to take. Alerting RM may be enough to keep the
problem away from rides. I know local RM has warned one rider that if their
stallion couldn’t be brought under control they were no longer welcome at
rides. I see this as no different. How does she keep the mare from attacking
the vets and P&R people?
Kristen in TX
From:
ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Susan Shook Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008
8:40 AM To: Ridecamp Subject: [RC] Biting Horse at Ride
I had a horse bite me
at a ride the weekend during a vet check and I would like to get the opinion of
others on ridecamp regarding the incident.
During the vet check I
took my horse to eat with 3 others, one was the horse that he came to the ride
with. As I approached, one rider told me to be careful because her
horse (mare) bites. Normally I take this type of warning to mean that the
horse would bite other horses, not people so I put myself in between my gelding
and her mare. We were not crowded. Next thing I knew
her mare lunged and viciously bit me in my side. I jumped into my horse
to get away from the attack which caused my horse to jump into my friend,
which resulted in a back injury for her. The bite resulted in
extensive bruising and swelling and my friend ended up driving home early from
the ride due to her back pain. The rider showed absolutely no concern for
either of us (never asked if either of us was o.k.), did absolutely nothing to
reprimand her horse and finally moved her horse away from the group.
Since I know the
owner of the biting horse I asked her to look at my side so that she would be
aware of how hard her horse was biting. I told her I was not trying to be
ugly about the situation but that I was concerned that the horse has the
potential to cause serious injury in the future, especially to
children. Her response was to say "I told you she bites"
and that she did not "want to argue" and refused to discuss the
matter. She got mad at me that I even wanted to talk about it.
Now 2 days after the
ride I am still really shocked that someone would take a horse that bites to a
ride and not keep it separated to prevent accidents. Looking back on it I
would still respond the same way to her warning. What I can't quit
thinking about is the potential for this to happen again.
Any opinions on what
type of action could/should be taken to ensure the safety of riders at future
rides? I don't want to act in a punitive way but the whole thing still
bothers me, especially the fact that the owner does not appear to understand
the seriousness of the situation and apparently believes that is everyone
else's responsibility to avoid her horse.
