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The older I get, the harder and farther away that
ground gets. I HATE falling off. I'm with Howard, I'm staying
on if I can, and no cliff or tree branch awaits us!
Debbie Trimble
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2002 12:45
PM
Subject: RE: [RC] Bailing off a runaway
horse
A
few years back in my infancy as a trail rider, my trusted steed and I were out
on Eglin AFB's reservation in FL panhandle (thousands of miles of trails)
doing our LSD training. We had gone a good ways and were doing a nice working
canter, nice and aerobic. Well, I had my sponge clipped onto my saddle and
suddenly began accelerating for no known reason with great intensity. I really
started to panic because he wasn't responding to my hand control. Once I
looked around a little I saw my sponge flying in the breeze out to my side and
realized what had happened. Sabian saw the green sponge bugger trying to catch
him floating in our air speed in his peripheral vision. It's amazing how
quickly thoughts of what your options are in a case like this come flooding
through you mind and I was tempted to bail off his back into a large sand
burm, but quickly passed it by realizing I would have a long road to walk
home and I would have to find my horse as well. The thought of my getting hurt
if I bailed never crossed my mind, because I am pretty good at coming off
horses when I least expect it, having done hundreds of spills + the sand I
would be landing in would be cushy landing. Once I grabbed the
sponge and secured it to the saddle, he started to come back to my hands and
all was well again.
That's the closest I've ever been to a runaway situation and it was
scary while I was going through scenarios to deal with it.
Happy Tails,
Susan & Fly Bye - who's tried to runaway in nose controlled tack
during races, but was yanked from the fray before disaster could happen. BITS
REIGN!
I've got to admit it,
but I'm with Howard on this one. My husband claims he once clocked my
horse going 35+ miles an hour (he was behind me in a truck. The horse
was 5 years younger than now, and I was 40 pounds lighter, and there were
horse eating holsteins (cows) in the pastures on both sides of us.).
He wasn't running away, either, because he was still responding to
me. ANYWAY, I can't imagine jumping off my horse on my 42 year old
knees. Yeah, I played around with "emergency dismounts" when I was a
kid, riding bareback on my ponies and landing on grass in the yard or
hayfield. That was when my knees still had synovial fluid in the
joints. But I firmly believe that the safest place on a runaway is on
top of them, at least in Michigan where we don't have cliffs. If you
have the time to pick a landing place devoid of trees, metal junk, and large
rocks, clear your feet from the stirrups, untangle your hands from the
reins, have the strength and coordination to push yourself off the
pommel to clear the horse, AND do all this while traveling a bumpy 30
miles an hour in a direction you are NOT choosing, surely you have the
time to hunker down, hang on, and pray. The first year or two I had
him, Revvy ran away a lot - a true runaway - as fast as he could go,
without regard to his surroundings or the potential for harming himself, and
totally oblivious to me up there. By "a lot" I mean maybe 5 or 6
times. Trust me ONE true runaway is terrifying, and no, you don't get
used to them. I ride mostly on open country roads, and after 1-2 miles
he would slow down and stop. Then we would trot back up the road to
whatever had scared him and repeat it at a less mind numbing speed. My
point is, on a totally open road he would run himself out in 2-3
minutes. That was enough to save his short grass plains ancestors from
the asiatic lions, and after that, his three brain cells would start making
synaptic connections again. I would be interested in hearing from
those who HAD bailed out. Was the horse more likely to run away
again? Did they get hurt? Would they do it
again?
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