Birdhunter1
Veteran Member
Yesterday evening my 7 year old daughter and I went for a trail ride, we have a ton of trail sin the national forests nearby but I have not been on many of them, I mainly hunt private land so I never had a use to go on any of them. We typically ride on the farm and a few neighbors farms and we find plenty of obstacles, our horses are both old trail horses, very level headed and easy going.
There was a log across the trail, no biggie, I went on the uphill side of the trail maybe 10' so it was less of a step over it for the horses, on the way back I went the same path but my daughters horse decided it didn't want to go that way and instead went over the log on the trail. The top of the log was maybe waist high on me, I'm 5'10", the horse is a Halflinger about 13 hands 800 lbs. His front feet went over, he high centered and his back legs came over it when he fell downhill but his legs and hips were still on the log with his front legs pointed uphill, and his back was against a tree so he couldn't roll downhill anymore. My daughter stepped off the horse unharmed, but the horse laid there. I thought the horse was dead, not moving at all, no fight to get up nothing. I will admit I panicked, I pulled the headstall off as I thought it was choking him, and then I pulled the rear end of this horse uphill and then he just stood up. No huffing and puffing, excitement, nothing, just stood up and stood there like we were just taking a break. I walked him around for a bit and he showed no sign of anything, my daughter walked him around so I could watch his back legs and he was like he always is.
I have never seen a live healthy animal just lay there like that with no fight to get up, he wasn't moving his head, his lips, his feet nothing. I thought he had died, but even dead animals twitch, luckily I carry a rope about 15' long for whatever I might need it for, good thing I had it. My daughter was in tears, I told her it was ok to cry this time, the only injury she had was a sock that was muddy because her boot was still under the horse. She wears her helmet all the time.
Afterwards I cracked a Coors light, shared some with my horse, saddled up and we went the last mile back to the truck. Horses acted just like any other day.
There was a log across the trail, no biggie, I went on the uphill side of the trail maybe 10' so it was less of a step over it for the horses, on the way back I went the same path but my daughters horse decided it didn't want to go that way and instead went over the log on the trail. The top of the log was maybe waist high on me, I'm 5'10", the horse is a Halflinger about 13 hands 800 lbs. His front feet went over, he high centered and his back legs came over it when he fell downhill but his legs and hips were still on the log with his front legs pointed uphill, and his back was against a tree so he couldn't roll downhill anymore. My daughter stepped off the horse unharmed, but the horse laid there. I thought the horse was dead, not moving at all, no fight to get up nothing. I will admit I panicked, I pulled the headstall off as I thought it was choking him, and then I pulled the rear end of this horse uphill and then he just stood up. No huffing and puffing, excitement, nothing, just stood up and stood there like we were just taking a break. I walked him around for a bit and he showed no sign of anything, my daughter walked him around so I could watch his back legs and he was like he always is.
I have never seen a live healthy animal just lay there like that with no fight to get up, he wasn't moving his head, his lips, his feet nothing. I thought he had died, but even dead animals twitch, luckily I carry a rope about 15' long for whatever I might need it for, good thing I had it. My daughter was in tears, I told her it was ok to cry this time, the only injury she had was a sock that was muddy because her boot was still under the horse. She wears her helmet all the time.
Afterwards I cracked a Coors light, shared some with my horse, saddled up and we went the last mile back to the truck. Horses acted just like any other day.
