Horse wrecks

[Pony Soldier]

The worst wreck I got into was early in the elk season with my favorite horse. It had rained for a week before I got there, and then it froze. I was taking an old USFS trail from the bottom. Everything in the trees was fine but I stepped out into the open I could tell by the sound that the ground was frozen. The horse took about three steps and suddenly his feet went out from under him and we fell. I stayed on him in fear that if I jumped off it would tip him over the edge. He tried to get up and fell again and rolled over on top of me. He went over the edge after crushing my ribs and went down the hill like a rocket. I finally got up after a minute when I could breath again.

My cork boots allowed me to go down the hill after my horse without falling. The shock kept the pain at bay while I went down. My horse was under a pile of downfall and I had to cut him out with a hand saw. I got his head up hill and got him up.

My brand new rifle had a 45 degree bend in the barrel and the stock was kindling. I led him down the hill a half mile to the trailer and by chance an outfitter stopped and helped me pull the saddle and load the horse.

I drove back to my house and dropped the gun off with my gunsmith. Then I headed home to my ranch and help. The road was so rough going through Missoula, I had to stop to let the pain subside.

I had to fill up in Deerlodge and it took me 20 minutes to get out of the truck, fill up and go back to driving.

I made it to the ranch, did first aid on my horse, and stumbled into the house. My wife didn't get home till four hours later and take me into the hospital.

I hunted the rest of the season - painfully but didn't get to sleep in a bed for three months and was scared to sneeze for 6 months.

 

[Tobe_B]

That’s a hell of a wreck. Glad y’all came out alive on that one. It’s not a matter of if but when will the wreck come and how bad. I’ve got a few good ones that still play in my head. I almost cashed it in completely a few years ago taking a few new animals up a particularly challenging trail getting ready for the packing season. I’d opted to ride the mare that’s in my profile picture, her first trip up that route. We got to a set of bridges and my buddies mule wouldn’t cross them, only thing my mare is concerned about is heights, so I stepped out front and off we went. Got to a hairpin turn on a ledge, when you come around the corner the trail just kind of disappears. The ledge is about as wide as your stirrups, rock wall on one side and cliff/river on the other. She saw the trail vanish and went to backing up, her back feet went off that cliff and she lunged forward and spun around. My buddy looks at me and says “well this isn’t ideal”. I stepped off against that rock wall and flipped a rein over her and spun her back around and led her down that spot. To this day, that’s one of only two places I’ve ever stepped off and led a horse.

 

[Pony Soldier]

When I first started, I was exploring a trail up a creek bottom and met an old packer coming down. In the ensueing discussion he told me he had packed into camp one night ten years before and on steep section of the trail, a herd of elk boiled off the hill and went through his pack string of 7 horses and took them over the edge into the creek. The water wasn't that deep but trying t straighten that mess out in the dark was a hell of a challenge and then leading his string up the creek for 1/2 a mile to get back on the trail just ran shivers down my back.

 

[Tobe_B]

The outfitter I worked for told me about a pack string that went over the same ledge I almost did. Dumped eight head fully loaded in the river. Nothing but scratches on any of them. My biggest fear packing is sending something over a cliff. And there’s plenty of them.

 

[Pilsner]

At this point in life I'd almost rather juggle Iraqi IED's than work with horses in the backcountry. At least my luck with IED's is better than my luck with horses - and my luck with IED is abysmal.
Gimme mules or my fat a$$ will just hike in, thank you very much.

 

[Tobe_B]

I’ve seen mules do some wild stuff, they generally keep all four on the floor though. A good mule is hard to beat, a bad mule you can’t beat enough. I was riding a pretty young impatient mare coming out in a downpour of a rain storm. We were climbing some switch backs and had some hikers in front of us with a dog. They looked back at us and kept hiking in front as we closed the distance. Instead of pulling off the trail in a good wide-ish spot they stopped in a little cut on the uphill and squeezed up against a cliff. I was hollering at them to just keep going and trying to hold that mare up. She started dancing and kicking rocks off the cliff and so I just went. All was good until my last mule passing them, he jumped clean off that trail in arcing motion and landed in front of him. I thought we were gonna lose that one.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I was riding down a trail with a bunch of nasty switchbacks. When hit the bottom there was a steep gulch. As I was coming to the top there was a pair of llamas. My horse felt he had just seen the devil. Wild ride but no wreck.

 

[Jimbee]

I watched an Amish horse and buggy go by a small town Halloween trunk or treat gathering. Someone was wearing one of those inflatable dinosaur costumes and that horse's eyes about popped out of it's head but it kept trotting by.

 

[CRJR45]

Once I was in a group of seven mounting up in the morning and a horse behind me reared and tossed the rider under two other horses.
It was an exciting couple minutes , in the dark , trying not to make any noises, but not knowing where the guy was at first , everyone was trying to keep their horse still .
My mount was unfazed , and I caught the loose horse as it went by .
The guy got stepped on , but went hunting anyway .
Not sure if this qualifies as a wreck ?

 

[deserthunter2016]

I was riding down a trail with a bunch of nasty switchbacks. When hit the bottom there was a steep gulch. As I was coming to the top there was a pair of llamas. My horse felt he had just seen the devil. Wild ride but no wreck.

No bad wrecks due to hikers, dogs, llamas or mountains bikes but I don’t enjoy coming across any of them. Hikers typically don’t have the best trail etiquette and knowledge of what not to do when approaching livestock.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RockAndSage]

Hikers typically don’t have the best trail etiquette and knowledge of what not to do when approaching livestock.

That's generally the bigger problem, especially with well-meaning but inexperienced suburban types, hippies, and kids - they seem to conceptualize horses more as animated bicycles, than living herd/prey creatures with their own minds and fears.

 

[bullmtn]

In Boy Scouts, my scoutmaster had a mutt that liked to lunge at pack horses. It never lost all its teeth or learned its lesson, but it sure taught me to give horses an excessive amount of room.