unsafe saddling

["Rick Forrester" <rwforest@eoni.com>]

I've seen a couple of people fasten the breastcollar BEFORE tightening the
girth, and when the horse moved or spooked at something the saddle fell off
and was hanging by the breastcollar hitting the front legs while the panicy
horse broke the leadrope and went running through camp causing all sorts of
panic and dangerous situations to other people  saddling their horses. I
happened to be the person who caught one of these horses, and unfastened
the mess, lead the horse back to the proper trailer and told the owner
where she could find her saddle, and that she should ALWAYS tighten the
girth first, and reverse the order when unsaddling. Funny how common sense
has gone so far from the grasp of some riders. I don't pretend to be an
authority, just an observer, and one who hopefully has learned to think a
little about what could go wrong.        Mary Forrester in Oregon


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=