RE: [RC] Guns with Blanks (was: Folsom Lake Accident) - Ranelle Rubin
Kat, that is the most intelligent post I have ever read of yours. Thank you for pointing out the obvious.
After having grown up in the area of the Folsom Lake accident, ridden many miles there, (and recently moved to glorious NV), I have a pretty good idea of what this issue evolves around. It is not an "our sport against yours" situation, as there tends to exist in that area with some of the mountain bikers who poach riding and hiking only trails. It is the nature of the geographic area immediately surrounding Folsom Lake. Before the recent decline in property values, many of the homes that can directly access those trails were in the $5-10 million dollar range. Many local celebrities live in Granite Bay and the areas immediately NE of there that become Loomis as you travel toward Auburn.
Their children often are left to their own devices with little or no discipline and no one to teach them values. There are other places for them to ride their OHV's, but they require a bit of effort to haul them to, and likely parental involvement if these are kids underage. Again, teenagers left to their own devices. So, what happens? The lake is low, exposing a huge sand bar, and it is just too damn tempting! IMO, the State Park Rangers who are less than a mile or two away should be patrolling this area. Instead, they sit in their cozy little kiosks and collect fees!
I agree with D'Arcy..you better desensitize your horses to these OHV's if you are going to ride there. I used to have my teenager ride around the perimeter of my horse's pasture slowly a few times on his dirt bike, then go to the middle and cut the engine. I would walk up to him, and get some carrots that he was carrying in a fanny pack and start munching them. Of course my horses would hear it and come up for carrots. He would feed them carrots from his bike for a few minutes, then start the engine and slowly go away. When he was far enough away, he was allowed to play for a bit, doing circles and revving the engine..then back to the middle, cut the engine and wait for the horses to come up for carrots.
We repeated this exercise 3-4 times every few weeks until the horses were so accustomed to him on the bike, if he rolled slowly into the pasture, they followed him! It became a game! Amazing what a couple well placed carrots can do!
Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway. ~ John Wayne
> Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 19:03:55 -0800 > From: katswig@xxxxxxx > Subject: [RC] Guns with Blanks (was: Folsom Lake Accident) > To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > > Susan said: > > > My thought would be to carry a gun with blanks. > > They won't kill unless it's point blank but sure > > will hurt within 10 feet but not kill. > > Since rule number one of proper gun handling is NEVER to point a gun at somebody unless you are prepared to shoot them with it, I simply do NOT advise this. > > A gun with blanks is okay for theater, is okay for pointing at and shooting balloons, and is okay for the purpose of desensitizing a horse to the sound of gunfire, but it is most definitely not something for pointing or shooting at people. > > The reason for not pointing a gun at somebody unless you are prepared to shoot them with it (and by definition, a gun loaded with blanks, or even an unloaded gun, is not one prepared for shooting with), is that you might just have to. > > Pointing a gun at somebody escalates the situation to that of deadly force, and when you escalate the situation to that of deadly force, you had better be ready to use deadly force or risk having it used on you. > > You point a gun at me, you had better shoot me with it, or I will wrap it around your head. And I won't stop to ask if it is loaded with blanks. > > kat > Orange County, Calif. > :) > > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > 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!! > > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
