Re: Weapons

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

> Are there any other women who ride primarily alone & carry a weapon
> and if so what kind and have you ever needed it? And just where do you
> carry it anyway?
> Cathy


I almost always ride alone and normally in both wilderness area and in
urban parks.  I carry a rawhide quirt that has a steel rod in the middle
of it.  It's on a leather thong clipped with a scissor clip to one of
the dee-rings of the saddle, so it's easy to get to.  It's flexible so
it doesn't interfere or bother Cato as we trot along, though I have had
a few funny looks or snide comments about how us endurance riders all
run our horses into the dirt, see, she has to ride with a whip! :-O  Oh
well.  I also found out after a few weeks of hanging on Cato's shoulder
and getting horse sweat building up and drying on the little leather
lashes on the end, those things dry stiff as all get out. I was only
bothered once on a horse when a smarmy sort jumped out and tried to pull
me off the horse.  I grabbed the quirt and hit him across the face and
it laid him wide open.  I don't ride with a gun, and the dog waits in
the truck while I ride, so I guess if I hadn't had the quirt I would
have had to beat him off with a cut-up bleach bottle, or maybe strangled
him with the wires off the heart monitor!

Susan