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I am catching up on some of my e-mail and had to throw my
two cents in. I realize that many people get dumped off their horses every
time they soppk and try to run off. I have been riding heavily since I was
born and have been dislodged from my horse or mule a total of 8 times.
That is 8 out of thousands. I asked a few of those folks that hit the
ground a lot why they fall off. I noticed they will make a half hearted
attempt to stop the horse, then start looking for a place to land. The
most common response was "I do not want to be on the horse when it is acting
up." Personally, I have clawed my fingernails off to stay on. Only
once did I get hurt by staying on. The hundreds of other times, I most
likely saved myself from great injury by staying on. Also when they first
spook, I do not grab for the horn, it is on there pretty solid. It will
not fall off, so I grab the reins and check up the horse before it can get
going. That will usually prevent having them run off because it changes
their course of thought and you can give direction at that point and keep the
horse under control. And yes, I agree, do not get off your horse when you
see a bear or Mountain Lion.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 5:21
PM
Subject: [MSAR] Coyotes, or are they
really? And what stinks...
The first dismount, I
assure you, was NOT voluntary. ;-) The second was well
after the bear was out of sight (I watched it go up and over a ridge) and just
briefly. After much reflection on the first wild ride which occurred in
the open, I was willing to take my chances on foot if it was going to be a
repeat performance through mountain terrain. Taking just moments
to insure control was the safer option in this particular incident. If
the bear or cougar were in front of me, no way would I get off the safer
option then would be to stick on with all Ive got!
Now back to
scents!
-----Original
Message-----
From: Paul
Fleming [mailto:pfleming@nwlink.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 19,
2008 7:02
PM
To: lhanahan@mindspring.com; 'Mounted
search and rescue'
Subject:
RE: [MSAR] Coyotes, or are they really? And what stinks...
Bad Idea
getting off of your horse in front of a bear or cougar. Now your horse has
only to out run you!
From:
msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Laurie
Sent: Tuesday, August 19,
2008 3:21
PM
To: spanishequines@yahoo.com; 'Mounted
search and rescue'
Subject:
Re: [MSAR] Coyotes, or are they really? And what
stinks...
Karen
can you please elaborate on scent training? If you start in a familiar
environment, such as home, will it cause the horse to become more spooky or
jittery for a while?
I have
had 2 black bear encounters in the past 3 months here in Northern
Virginia, obviously bear are
becoming more numerous but luckily they have been very happy to run in the
opposite direction from us. The horses reaction was not cool the first
time she left the scene and I ended up on the ground. So obviously Id
like to modify her reactions. And I ride more alert nowadays!
The second time as soon as I saw the bear was leaving our area, I
dismounted to avoid a repeat reaction. But Id like to be able to do
better than that.
Thanks
for sharing.
-----Original
Message-----
From:
msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Karen Nesbitt
Sent: Tuesday, August 19,
2008 2:57
PM
To: MSAR
Subject: [MSAR] Coyotes, or are they
really? And what stinks...
Message: 5
Date: Tue, 19 Aug
2008 09:31:39 -0600
From: "David Skofstad" <dbs54neigh@earthlink.net>
Subject:
Re: [MSAR] cougar sightings
To: "Mounted search and rescue" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID:
<380-22008821915313931@earthlink.net"
ymailto="mailto:380-22008821915313931@earthlink.net">380-22008821915313931@earthlink.net>
Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
You didn't expect a reply from the
Chicago, IL, area but here it is. A Cougar was shot and killed by
Chicago PD in a north side neighborhood this year. DNA testing indicated
the same cat had been confirmed in the area of central Wisconsin some
months before. There have been reports for a couple of years of
cougar sightings in northeastern Illinois, some of them from reliable
observers. A casting of a footprint was taken about 18 months ago
by a wildlife biologist.
Perhaps cougars are taking the
evolutionary path of coyotes...formerly highly shy and secretive, now
not so much.
As a side note, local animal rights crazies have
been very critical of the shooting, stating that cougars "never attack
humans". This cat was a couple of blocks from a grade school. My
opinion, it would have been irresponsible in the extreme to pass up the
chance to contain the threat.
---message truncated for
space>>>>>>>>
In response to Dave and some generalizations...,
The so called evolutionary path of the coyote
has been to mate with domestic dogs and therefore the result of that
mating is neither a coyote or a dog, but what many refer to
coy-dogs. These types of animals are confused in their thinking
and are a detriment to the environment. Don't know what your big
cats are mating with, but surely not a housecat as size is
everything. They are just gradually getting into the suburbs
due to urban sprawl which is compromising their territory as well as our
own areas to ride in.
Where a coyote is actually an asset, the coy-dog
is the nusiance because it does not know its own mind whether to partake
in domestic dog activity or wild. Where a true coyote will kill
and clean up its prey simply because it eaats to survive and its prey
being mostly small animals such as rabbits, ground birds,
squirrels, fox, etc a coy-dog will rather play with the animals it
staulks, kill it and leave it for dead than eat it a majority of time,
becasue they are killing for sport and chase. Wild coyotes
conserve their energies to survive so they generally do not hunt for
sport and as a rule, a good HELATHYcoyote is often heard, but never
seen. Where ranchers have sheep, sheep can become victims if they
are young, weak or too old to defend themselves. However a good
sized HEALTHY sheep can pack a helluva a whallop in defending themselves
when it comes to a well pounded headbutt. A sheep can literally
break a human leg or worse if in a bad situation of defending
themselves. Especially bighorned varieties. Deer too.
A healthy deer can take out a coyote or out run it. Having been a
rancher, I would just asoon the coyote or wolf take my weak and let
nature keep my flock stronger by natural
selection.
There has been romoured to be a large type
of cat in the Iroqouis County area of Illinois in my
area, however, in ten years I have yet to see, hear or lay eyes on any
tracks of one. Tracks mostly have been dogs, deer, rabbit, small
housecat, bird. They coyotes the train whistles...
We have sighted Texas Red wolves here which are
not native and due to some bonehead (for lack of a better word)
decideing to try ot raise them, and after finding out it was illegal to
do without special permits etc, he released them into the wild quite a
few years back and now the wolf is here in an area not its norm, but
like the coyote, they kill to eat, clean it up and hunt to
survive. They don't as a rule hunt for sport. Coyotes and
wolves will scavenge, they also eat berries and certain plants to
survive.
Horses can feel threatened by the smell of
foreign urine and fece. They can get spooky. Suggested
remedies is to train your horses to accept the scents and learn his
reactions individually when possible.. You can get scents in your
local hunting supplies stores or by mailorder. Bear, coyote,
cat all seem to be offensive to many a steed and some horses will even
get antsy if smelling human urine or fece, other scents deer scant as
well. and things such as chemicals...gasoline, diesel, decomp
etc.
Some horses will craze out and throw their
riders. Much of the time when your horses is spooking, it is more
so on scent then sight. Take time to learn how your animal reacts
to weird scenes as well as wild scents and also the scents of
chemicals. Horses can virtually see 360 degrees all around except
in certain situations and they cannot see directly behind. When
startled, horses will bolt or strike, kick and many will take terror and
runaway with or without their rider..
Equine accidents often are just that, accidents,
however criminals acting on a victim who they know are around livestock
can use that to cause injury or harm with virtually out a clue.
They can try scenting to cause the animals to react to harm
their handlers or other means such as noise to startle the
animals. Learn your animal. Turn its habits into protection
for self. That is YOURSELF.
I guess coming form the old school of
preparedness, ride prepared, then you can ride well. Riding or handling
well, means safety for both you and your mount.
Having been attacked by dogs on the bridle path,
I have found taking your horse into a speedy tail spin to confront
the would be attacker k-9 works extremely well, as you are
bigger and badder in their eyes and they generally will leave with tail
tucked, but yes, the 45 degree angle method of not taking your EYE off
the intruder is good too, but keep the other peeled for traffic.
There seems to be a huge amount of IDIOTS on the road these days and
could careless that you as ahorsemen have the right of way. There
are of course some breeds of domestic dogs that are chasers and a word
of caution too is advised on what you are going to confront as some of
those can be persistant and relentless in their harassments to
equines. It is sometimes hard to tell in the case of a
coy-dog if it is a chaser, but assume that it is. In which it is a
good idea to have a mount under you which will defend itself by either
striking, kicking or rearing. Works on two legged offenders as
well. But distance is the key in safety. Never let anyone
approach your horse from the front so they can grab a rein. The
medevial dressage manuevers were
used with great purpose but not everyone can
perform a piaffe or levade without practice or training.
Now, about that snake... oh, you did not see
that one coming. But bet your horse smelled him before he
struck.... sit tight. SCENT is everything. But having a
visiual, is not always possible.
The million dollar question can often be, what
is my mount smelling that I don't see. And never forget
that odors can carry for miles. If you are only smelling a little
of it, your animal is smelling it alot!
Iroquois County -
Illinois
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