Horses and tractors

[RichZ]

No matter how careful you think you are, something unexpected can and usually does happen./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif I pride myself with being careful, especially because my full time employment has to do with health care safety. Here's my foolish story:/w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif
I was loading up the trailer that I use with my tractor with horse manure in my paddock. I thought the horses would stay away from the tractor, so I didn't lock them out of the paddock while I was working. While I was shoveling, our three horses had a great time inspecting my tractor, touching it, licking it, even spinning the seat around./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif When I got the trailer full my wife opened the gate, and I started to drive through. All of a sudden, I realized that the horses were following me, like I was the Pied Piper. My wife tried to partially close the gate to stop the horses from running out. I was watching the horses behind me, and didn't even realize as she was pushing the gate closed, it hit my back wheel, which pushed the gate back open, and knocked her down. Her foot went under the back wheel, and I ran over her foot without even realizing it!/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif One of the horses got out, and she was chasing her, but noticably limping. This particular horse lives to eat, so my wife yelled "Get some corn!". I ran into the barn, got a bucket of corn, and the horse followed me back into the paddock. It was only then that my wife told me I ran over her foot! I had seen her fall out of the corner of my eye, but I thought she fell behind me while she was chasing the horse.
I helped her into the truck and we rushed to the local hospital. Luckily she was only bruised, but I shudder to think what could have happened! For the next several days, I kept telling her how sorry I was, but she said that since she wasn't hurt too bad, she thought the whole thing was actually funny.
Well I'm not amused, and I'm kind of freaked out by the whole thing, because I can't believe I was so stupid, when I thought I was being so careful! It just goes to show that you can never be careful enough!!!/w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

 

[GrantMO]

Rich,
Glad your wife wasn't seriously hurt. It doesn't take much to distract a person while they're on a tractor does it? You hear people say that when you take your eyes off the wheel of a car going 60 you travel so many feet in even an fraction of a second. Same holds true for a tractor but I would say that even though you're going slower, you can wreak a lot of damage. I remember discing one time years ago and turning around after a turn to see the last disc blade pulling fence off the posts easy as can be. Being in a cab with the engine roaring I couldn't hear or feel it. It just takes a second.
Since my wife is the horse expert and I'm the novice in the family I tend to be pretty cautious around them and gates. Anyway, glad noone was seriously hurt.

 

[cowboydoc]

Rich,
Yea go figure a horse. They will run hell bent for leather away from a blowing trash bag and then try and stand in the way of a 4000 pound tractor! Half the time my horses would literally just stand there and let me run them over with the tractor. I can't mow the pastures with them out there either as they just follow the tractor and mower. Now how smart is that to walk up and sniff a rotary mower and be afraid of a trash bag!!! Oh well glad to hear all turned out ok.

Here's another quick little story to give you a laugh. One time I had this horse i was training that was hard to get onto. Would dance around, dance around all over. Well I got him over it with me but then he would do it with the owner. Well I thought I'd get my wife to see if he did it with her. The roundpen was all muddy, and I mean really muddy, like 6" of muck. I've since put in drain tile. Anyway I said step up but don't swing on until he quits prancing. Well she swung up and stopped with one foot in the stirrup. Then he decides he's taking off and I didn't expect it and he jerked the lead rope out of my hand. Well here she goes about halfway around the roundpen and then trys to step off and trips and falls face first right in the mud!!! She is literally stuck in the mud. I go over and help her up and she is just a mud cake!!! Mud in her hair, eyes, ears, everywhere and she is mad as a wet hen!! Took me awhile to get her over that one and alot of flowers and backrubs!!! So don't feel too bad we all do the dumb things with our wives.

 

[Billc]

Rich, great story. That would have been a Kodac moment....that she would have killed you for.

Bill

 

[skent]

The first Holstein steer I raised would follow me (on my Sears Garden tractor) around the meadow the entire time I was mowing. My wife and Uncle were in tears. He would get glose enough to try licking my hat and when I would turn around to shoo him he'd stop. That went on for the entire two hours I spent mowing. Later I'd tie him outside the meadow when I would mow. Seems he knew just how to torment me. I was fixing a fence once and he would come up behind me, nip at my pants, scare the daylights out of me then run off. As I would turn around and start working again. . . here would come Snots again. . . . It's hard to believe an 800 pound steer and be so quiet.

Steve

 

[cowboydoc]

Haha, good story Skent. You're right those bottle fed calves are the worst!! They never leave you alone. They act more like a dog than cow.