# Odd trail experiences!



## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

Alright ya'll lets share our odd trail experiences...

My most recent one was a couple of nights ago; I had taken my mare to this really fun area to ride hills, and gallop the trail, and we had been there for probably 40 minutes, and I was working some hills with her. Well we came up the slope at one point, and landed right in front of a coyote!!! Like he was literally no more than 4-5 ft away! :shock: The weird part was that 1) my mare did absolutely NOTHING...no snorting, didn't wig out, just was like it is perfectly normal to encounter a small wolf on a trail! Course she does have to go past several places on our rides that have absolutely BALLISTIC dogs!! Thank god those are fenced! 2) Coyote just stood there like "what the???" His eyes were HUGE! After a brief moment, took off back down the hill I believe he came up. We hung out at the top of the trail just to make sure mr. wiley coyote didn't come back up and try anything sneaky; he did come back out of the bushes, and just stood there and the three of us just stood there watching each other, and finally the coyote wandered off into the gulley, and back up a larger hill way across from Flicka and I. So then we went the opposite way, more towards the 'busy' part of the town she's boarded in.


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## Solon (May 11, 2008)

I was riding out of Red's Horse Ranch up Lostine Canyon in Oregon with my Grandpa and his cousin as a kid. I was the lead horse on a beautiful Appy named Tamber. We were moseying along and up comes a bear cub with a big ol' fish in his mouth. He stops on the trail because we had surprised him.

Tamber looks at him with indifference and the cub took off at a run up the hill. Tamber watched for a bit then walked on like nothing had happened.

I however about pooped my pants.


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

Yeah, it kind of took my breath away, even though I know that it is highly unlikely for a coyote to try and attack a horse, let alone a horse with a rider, but you never know right? 

Never encountered a bear on a trail, before...yikes!


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## rraylutz210 (Jun 24, 2010)

Oh my goodness, I never thought of that; that a horse would not react to a coyote because of their experience with dogs. Kind of spooky. If it was a mean coyote who was hungry I would want my horse to react. lol

So this story unfortunately is not mine to claim. It came from a boarder at the barn I work and board at. She came up to the office one day around dusk in quite the panicked state. She explained to me that herself and a friend had been on the trails near the mountains and had encountered a cougar. :shock: How the story goes, truth or fiction I will never know, is that the cougar had crossed their path from the front. He was about to retreat when the horses reacted and bolted. The cougar then pursued them and eventually gave up. Perhaps a game or instinct? The boarders made it safely back to the barn. I called animal control who told me he was simply passing through and was no real threat unless challenged. Whether or not the cougar had actually pursued them remains a mystery :lol:


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## Solon (May 11, 2008)

Solon's never reacted to the coyotes that go in the field. None of the horses have. We have a lot of dogs that use our barn for agility classes, so I don't think they see them as anything but dog like.


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## Solon (May 11, 2008)

You never want to run from a cougar - it kicks in their instinct to hunt. Some horses would probably get so terrified you couldn't keep them from bolting.


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## rraylutz210 (Jun 24, 2010)

oh yeah no doubt on that! cougars are very scary business, how they outran it though is a true mystery. being that I just moved to Oregon the fact that their are big cats in these hills petrifies me.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

My Dad and I were calling elk years ago and a big bull elk charged us! My Dad said he was so in-awe that he was getting a good view of the elk that it didn't occur to him to be scared but his horse spooked and tried to run so my Dad spun him in circles until he could stop him. My Dad said the horse shook all the way home! (and nobody saw what happened to Mr. Elk but obviously he got wise and ran off).

I still go out and bugle for elk, because I love to see them, have had them get very close, but haven't been charged since. :lol:

Oh, and last winter I was playing around with a cow-elk call and had 2-3 cow elk jump out of the bushes right in front of me. My horse spun and the elk ran off. That was the first time I ever had cow elk respond to a call like that. 

Elk are fun! And coyotes we chase! Never saw a bear (while riding) or a mountain lion (alive) but maybe someday. :lol:


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## Solon (May 11, 2008)

They are getting worse too. It's only a matter of time before some is killed. We've had several horses killed by cougars in the area I work in southwest Washington (just across the Columbia River from Portland). They are a problem.


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## rraylutz210 (Jun 24, 2010)

oh my goodness that scary! no hiking unless armed. lol
I was definitely scared for my own horse who goes out in a huge field right around that area. Perhaps he will become an indoor boy. lol


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Cougars are hunted out here, so they are pretty scared of people and there aren't very many of them. I would actually love to see one someday (safely of course). 

We were at the game & fish department one day getting our fishing licenses and there was a couple with a HUGE dead cougar in the back of their pick-up truck and a smashed bumper. The truck was brand new and they hit a cougar. What are the odds of that!? I think game & fish let them keep it. It was beautiful and I think the were going to make a rug out of it, but it would have been a real trophy stuffed!


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## rraylutz210 (Jun 24, 2010)

I would have stuffed it as well. =) 
I would love to also see one in person, just not in an incident where it sees me or my horse as its next meal. =P


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## Solon (May 11, 2008)

They are hunted in Oregon and Washington as well. But when a bunch of yahoos got the baiting and hound hunting eliminated, the populations exploded. Cougars aren't afraid of people around here anymore. That's why there are so many problems. Same with the bears.


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## rraylutz210 (Jun 24, 2010)

So why then has the Bureau of Land Management stepped in? are they waiting for someone to die? hmm.. I would fancy a cougar rug if the hunting became large again.


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## rraylutz210 (Jun 24, 2010)

sorry I meant not stepped in. you would think they would order a mass hunting or something.. my experience with this isnt very high so I wouldnt know if they would even do such a thing.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

They use dogs around here. But as a cat-lover I never thought that was fair. But maybe it would be a good idea in problem areas. I certainly wouldn't want to HAVE to worry about cougars. As it is, I never worry about them.


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## ChevyPrincess (Aug 27, 2009)

We have always had seldom cougars here. Normally, they are too scared to bother with people. They don't mess with livestock unless food is short. We have deers by the dozen, rabbits, coyotes, whatever else they eat. 

My old mare was being kept at a friend's pasture with a weaned foal. Sadly, a mountain lion did attack the foal and kill it. As normal citizens however, we are NOT allowed to kill these cats. If they are a proven threat to livestock, like in this case, the sheriff's department comes in and baits a trap, and they get relocated. It's illegal here to hunt and kill them. 

But the cats patrol a radius of up to 12 miles they say. So, normally after they kill something, they leave off somewhere esle, as they never caught the cat who got the foal. (sorry, off topic)

Back to the PO original post:
I was riding an old mare appy and my friend was riding her younger appaloosa. We were calmy walking along, rustling branches, running water, nothing bothered this old horse. Then, my friend's mare sneezed and farted at the same time. 

I guess ol Magic thought the world was going to end. She lunged forward, scared to death, now, of course, my friend's horse wasn't scared becuase, well, she was the one that did it. But, when my mare took off, you better believe that she thought something was about to eat her alive. 

After everything was clamed down, we all shared a good laugh about Magic, and how that was the only thing that got to her on the trails that day.


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

Mine is pretty bogus compared to the moutain lion and bears, but....a field where I regularly ride has about 15 turkeys in it quite often and they scared the poo out of Sista one day. :lol:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Boy, for a horse that has never seen them, turkey might as well be a large group of satan's little minions:lol:. We do have some of the larger predators around here like cougars and bobcats but they are so few and far between that it has been years since I saw one. We do have a few billion deer that are really good at spooking horses though. Gotta love when a deer jumps out of the plum thickets or the group of trees you're riding past. 

My favorite though is my first summer riding Dobe. I was loping him across a pasture and all of a sudden, a coyote jumped out from between his front feet. I just knew that he was going to dodge and dump me but he never even batted an eyelash.


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## wyominggrandma (Nov 4, 2009)

We come across elk, deer, coyote, foxes and moose, bears and wolves. The coyote, foxes don't seem to bother them, they get the head up ears forward for the elk, deer, but the moose, bears and wolves , they will stop dead and go no further.
Someone posted about why the BLM doesn't go after the mountain lions, etc that are reeking havoc??? Too many humaniacs involved politically now and they don't want the sweet little creatures to be killed. We now have a huge wolf problem outside Yellowstone and states around us decided to start a hunt for them. Idaho and Wyoming hunted the wolves as big game. But a judge in Montana managed to put a stop to all the wolf hunting and now the problem has gotten worse. Funny how a judge in another state can stop what other states want, but it was done. Humaniacs are getting to involved, they don't care that the wolves are killing cattle, sheep and horses, they just want to save them. Too bad when they turned them loose in Yellowstone, they didn't train them to stay there.


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## Amlalriiee (Feb 22, 2010)

I had an odd trail experience today actually...

I was walking along this trail near where I board my horse and it's a fairly narrow, rocky trail with branches across it. Big enough for an ATV but I've never seen anything on it. I heard a low rumble coming down the trail and thought "hmm that sounds nothing like an ATV"...there was not a place yet to get out of the way and I see a TRUCK come around the corner.....a TRUCK! haha....so I waved madly at them and they stopped so I could find a way around them. Next step if they didn't stop was to dive between trees I guess. I talked to my BO about it and apparently they don't have license to drive on the road so they use the trails to visit people....oh dear....


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## Solon (May 11, 2008)

rraylutz210 said:


> sorry I meant not stepped in. you would think they would order a mass hunting or something.. my experience with this isnt very high so I wouldnt know if they would even do such a thing.


There are a lot of people that hunt! It's just not as easy to hunt them without dogs. Almost all of my co workers hunt them every year. Not ONE has gotten them. It's not that hard to get a cougar tag. You just go buy one. A little bit harder to hunt them without use of dogs.


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## rraylutz210 (Jun 24, 2010)

hmm.. makes sense. I would imagine they would be very difficult to spot without spooking them as well as difficult to shoot.


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

Yikes, cougar would be the one thing I would really NEVER want to encounter on the trail...I also like to hike, so that thought is never far from my mind! I always try to go with more than one person, and when I had dogs, always took them with me. Unfortunately for the dogs, they would likely be the first target, allowing me and the horse, or other folks to get away; unless I were carrying a gun (eventually I will), there is no way I would take on a wild animal...I hate to put it that way, don't get me wrong, and I really would hope everyone would get out safely.


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## horseluver250 (Oct 28, 2009)

I was not on a horse at the time, but I do have a really odd trail story. My husband and I were hiking with the dogs in the adirondacks, and we came around a corner and here was this guy bent over in the bushes about 50 feet ahead with no pants on. My first thought was that we came across someone doing his business in the bushes, and a little embarrassed we turned around and went back around the corner and waited for him to leave. So we continue on after he walks off, and not even 20 minutes later we catch up with him again. He is leaning over the trail, looking like he is picking things up... and guess what, still no pants on. Now we are a little worried something is wrong with this guy and go back on the trail a bit out of site and wait wondering what we should do. This time my pitbull was really agitated in seeing him and had her hackles up, growling real low. So after waiting about 10 minutes and him not leaving, we start egging her on until shes barking and growling really loud. The barking must have started the guy and he stops whatever he is doing and goes walking down the trail.. still pantless. We got back to the parking area without seeing the guy again.


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## rraylutz210 (Jun 24, 2010)

that is so odd. hippy perhaps? I wouldn't know what to have done either. :lol: good call on the dog barking.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

I hunt a lot and have spent a LOT of time in the mountains these past 3 weeks hunting elk. One evening we were sitting in the treeline watching a water hole in the meadow. I see a cougar slinking along the edge of the meadow across from me. In and out of the trees around the rim the meadow. I can see that his path will bring him around the meadow and up behind me. The wind is blowing into my face, So I hope he will catch my scent when he gets around behind me and just go away. But I keep one eye on the water hole hoping for an elk and the other eye watching the forest behind me.

About a half hour later this cougar sneeks up behind me. Sits down about 15 yards away and is watching. I nudge my buddy and say, Look at that. He jumps up, screaming loudly and runs at the cougar. Which of course lites out of there like the devil himself is chasing it.

A couple of nights later, we were watching another water hole. Somebody had shot an elk there a few days earlier and there was a gut pile in the meadow. As we watched a coyote came walking by, I assume heading out to get his share of the gut pile for his dinner. He was also about 15 yards away when I nudged my buddy for him to wake up and look. The coyote saw my movements and froze. He stood still for a few minutes trying to figure out what we were. In our camo cloths I think they have a hard time seeing what we are and it's a few moments for either one of use to move or our scent to drift over to him, Then he trotted back the way he came from. Stopping a couple of times to look back at us.

Sunday afternoon we bugled and a elk answered. Out of the trees 300 yards away came two cows and 6 point bull. I glassed him over good and decided he was a nice bull, but not trophy material. So I was going to pass on him. He came running down to the creek where we were sitting. Stopped 20 feet away and put his head down to drink. I slowly set my rifle down and took my camera out of my pocket. I pushed the on button and the camera made a soft beep beep sound as it turned on. The bull jumped up and ran off 150 feet and stopped to look at us.

A few years ago, I was breaking a young gelding. We were out too late one evening and coming up the trail in the dusk. Up jumps a young moose. I'd seen him a few times. He had broken off his right antler rubbing on trees, So I called him "lefty" He jumped up and started trotting up the trail trying to get away from us. My young gelding, lacking in self confidenceand looking for a herd, figured he better keep up and started after him. It was late in the ride and the gelding had been dogging it on the way back to the trailer, So I was glad to have some spring in his step, So I allowed him to speed up and keep up with the moose. For about 200 yards the moose trotted up the trail, before he decided he had enough of us and took off through the brush. Not wanting to get scratched up. I kept my gelding on the trail.


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## Heartland (Aug 9, 2010)

I thought it would be fun to go on a quickie ride with my old QH gelding. We took the hunting lab. Bad idea. His whole though process was "find the bird! Find the bird!" We were riding down a trail when the dog darted into a bush and out flew a turkey! He barely cleared my head and I was hunkered down over the horn. My horse had a leg in each direction. The neighbor saw the whole thing and had himself a good old laugh. :lol:

Once I was out riding the same horse and he suddenly freaked. I mean rearing up... the whole nine yards. It was odd, because he never did this. He bolted and galloped all the way back to the barn, which was about a mile. I was ****ed. I lunged him for awhile and put him back out to pasture. When I got home, my dad asked me how my ride was. I scowled and said, "Don't ask." 
He replied, "Did you feel that earthquake?"
"What?!"
"Yeah, we had an earthquake about an hour ago."

 That would explain my horse's freak out. It was a small earthquake, but here we don't get earthquakes.


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## shesinthebarn (Aug 1, 2009)

I had a Spruce Grouse go all Bruce Lee at my horses face and got caught up in the bridle. Good times.


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## Lonestar22 (May 22, 2009)

shesinthebarn said:


> I had a Spruce Grouse go all Bruce Lee at my horses face and got caught up in the bridle. Good times.


 
****! Ahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

shesinthebarn said:


> I had a Spruce Grouse go all Bruce Lee at my horses face and got caught up in the bridle. Good times.


OMG you must have wet your self laughing after that one!!! :lol:


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## shesinthebarn (Aug 1, 2009)

Even while it was happening and my poor horse was running backwards, it was kinda funny...I guess she was nesting near bye. Is it sad that the horse freaking out didn't scare me, but I was terrified of this stupid bird?


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## Carleen (Jun 19, 2009)

I was on a trail ride once many years ago and the guide's horse tripped and nearly went down. He dismounted to see what his horse had tripped on and it was a bone that seriously looked like a human arm bone. I mean, it could have been something else obviously but it was super creepy.


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## WalkerLady (Jul 22, 2010)

Two days ago DH & I were riding a trail that's just 1/2 mile from our home when an emu jumped out of some bushes right onto the trail about 10 feet in front of us. He stood there & glared at us as if to say, "Get off my trail". An EMU! When we walked toward him he turned & began running down the trail. He looked like he was leading the way. Finally he jumped back into the bushes and disappeared.

Our neighbors keep emus and a few months ago 2 escaped their pens & were never seen again - till now. Our neighbor told me she was sure they had been stolen or become roadkill.

Our horses didn't bat an eyelash, I guess because their pasture is right next to the emu pens. But I laughed so hard I almost fell out of the saddle.


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## masatisan (Jan 12, 2009)

This past summer Caleb and I were out on a trail, we were leading a ride with four other riders and going very well. We were taking the back loop, just an easy trail that was about 45 minutes walking. We had made it to about the halfway point which was a large clearing with piles of old wood. 

Caleb had behaved perfectly the whole time, as had all the others until the second we got to this clearing. When the trees broke Caleb instantly became tense, I wasn't sure what it was. Soothing him, I asked him to keep moving keeping a lookout for whatever was bothering him. I warned the others that Calebs leadership instincts were kicking in and told them to be prepared. Caleb became increasingly agitated as we moved along, snorting and making rollers. Then I saw what was upsetting him, two strange bumps about thirty meters off the trail, lying out on the short grass. At first i couldn't figure out what they were, then to my and Caleb's surprise, one sat up. Caleb spooked and tried to run, but I calmly opened a rein and looped him to the others, who were a little nervous, but standing quietly. _Sunbathers!_ I called to them "Don't move until we are out of sight and then please leave! This is private property!" 

Then we continued on our merry way down the trail.


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

Sista and I encountered an armadillo a few weeks ago. :lol:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## traildancer (Oct 27, 2010)

Years ago with my first horse in Alaska, my dad and I were in the woods in the fall. I was riding and my dad was walking. Fauna pooped and when the turds hit the dry grass it spooked her!

A few years ago I was riding in the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness in Oregon and my boots were brushing against tall horsetail reeds. Well, Sailor decided that sounded suspiciously like a rattlesnake and he bucked and I went off. The worst part? I crunched one side of my brand new straw hat. It never was the same.


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## Thatgirlsacowboy (Aug 17, 2009)

... We got attacked by a peacock once.


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## BlueJayWay (Feb 8, 2010)

A friend and I went with our familys up to camp in british columbia. We love to trail ride and it's only us two that go with the horses. We had been trail riding all day and dusk was settling in. We never saw anything but we heard the most bone chilling screech, it was like a warning and a tapping sound. Of course not knowing what animal we were going to run into we bolted. Our horses were so shaken up.


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## Hunter65 (Aug 19, 2009)

BlueJayWay said:


> A friend and I went with our familys up to camp in british columbia. We love to trail ride and it's only us two that go with the horses. We had been trail riding all day and dusk was settling in. We never saw anything but we heard the most bone chilling screech, it was like a warning and a tapping sound. Of course not knowing what animal we were going to run into we bolted. Our horses were so shaken up.



Oooh I bet that was the sasquatch


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## faye (Oct 13, 2010)

I've got quite a few!

1) I was hacking with a group in the woods not far from the yard, we were just coming out of the gate from the woods and had to pass a car that was parked rather oddly (and extremely close to the gate). I had no option but to ride within inches of the car. There was a completly nude couple in it in a rather comprimising position (well they hadnt noticed the approach of 8 horses!). I didnt know that position was physically possible! Unfortunatly I did have a young child in the group (8 years old) and to prevent the kid getting an eyeful of stuff she should not be seeing I had to pretend that stan was refusing to move forwards through the gate so that no one else could go past, I "accidently" knocked the window with my boot and the speed at which they moved was amazing. However trying to explain away why stan was playing up was very difficult as he was a very good hack normaly and supposedly a confidence giver for this kid and her pony. The adults very quickly got the messege i wasnt saying but holding in a blush and making a plausible excuse for the kid, whilst trying not to burst into laughter was difficult.

2)along a similar vein to the above story, we were hacking up on some fairly deserted moorland (the denbigh moors if anyone knows them) and in the distance there was a 4x4 parked facing away from us with a guy standing facing the back of the car. It was quite strange as he didnt seem to be getting something from the back. As we got closer it became very obvious that he had his lady friend bent over the flat bed and was giving her a good "seeing to" from behind!! One of the dogs barked at this point. He shot round, ran for the drivers seat, and drove off VERY fast. His unfortunate partner was hanging onto the flatbed for dear life with her legs akimbo and but naked to the world. The entire group of us (thankfully all adults) nearly fell off our horses laughing.

3) I've been riding along in the woods and a wild boar with piglets popped up, trotted accross our path and continued on her way. This is not normal for a wild boar, they are generaly one of 2 things, either painfully shy or very agressive.

4) was galloping up a stratch called the 5 fields as it litteraly takes in 5 good fields and has a very long well surfaced track for galloping up. anyway at the top of the hill you have to turn left and continue along side a wall along the brow of the hill. As we were galloping up my frien behind me shouted a warning for me to pull up, I honestly thought someone had come off or a horse had gone lame etc, when I stopped and turned round to see why there was a cow standing in the group. Apparently the cow had jumped the wall and had been following us at the gallop!

5) I was riding a Cob out for a friend. Now this cob is HUGE, he is purebred welsh D, he is pushing on for 16hh and weighs at least 800kg. He is utterly enormous. So we went out on this ride, he dutifuly ignored the buldozer that was pulling down a house, he ignored the JCB that trundled past us, he ignored the tractor, he ignored the farmer who was loading a quad onto a rattley trailer, he ignored the HUGE lorry that was moving a static caravan. He ignored the ambulance that went past us with its sirens and lights on. However on the way back we got to a junction and all hell let loose, danny practicaly turned himself inside out trying to get away from what ever was scaring him. When I finaly got him calm enough to try and figure out what he had spooked at I found it was a tiny jackrussel dog on a lead with an elderly couple who were walking him. They looked shocked and were extremely upset that they may have done something to spook my horse, I tried to explain that they hadnt done anything and it wasnt thier fault. This horse could have stepped on this dog and smushed it, he had nothing to fear from the dog, but don't you know that 5kg of dog is far scarier than 20tons of plant machineary!


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## Phantom Horse (Nov 28, 2010)

A few years ago my family went on a trail ride, and my dad's horse fell to his knees out of the blue... It was really weird, since he didn't trip, or anything. My dad just said that he decided to pray randomly. :lol:


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## RaynRavyn (Dec 7, 2010)

Phantom Horse said:


> A few years ago my family went on a trail ride, and my dad's horse fell to his knees out of the blue... It was really weird, since he didn't trip, or anything. My dad just said that he decided to pray randomly. :lol:


 
Afriend's horse does that occaisionally. The official diagnosis? She has narcolepsy. Never would have imagined it in a horse, but... :lol: (not really funny, but at the same time, it kinda is...)


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## PerchiesKisses (Dec 6, 2010)

Me and a friend were out trail riding one day, exploring the fireroads and enjoying a good gallop here and there when we decided to go up a long, winding ATV trail that wove off the fireroads. It's a beautiful trail, and one of my favourites still, but it leads to a private property, and rather than cutting across the property - which belongs to some very easily irate neighbours, we decided it would be better to turn around and go back the way we came.

Well we were just about back at the fireroads when we saw a big jeep parked dead centre of the trail, rocking back and forth... My friend was talking on her cell, and both the horses we were riding stopped, ears pricked, snorting away. There was no way to go around the jeep without passing right beside the windows, almost touching the mirrors. 

So, trying to be descriete and looking everywhere but the jeep windows, we set the horses to go as wide around as the narrow path would allow. Well just then a shriek came from the jeep, startling the horses and causing both me and my friend to scream as the horses jumped clear of the side of the jeep and bolt a little ways down the path ahead of the jeep.

We though out encounters with the rocking jeep were over when we made our way further down the trail and onto the fireroads, but not long after we heard the rumble of a vehicle behind us and pulled our horses to the side of the dirt road to let the vehicle containing a very angry looking man and a girl hiding her embarassed face pass.

That is... by far... my favourite funny trail riding story.


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## AppyLuva (Oct 25, 2010)

PerchiesKisses said:


> Me and a friend were out trail riding one day, exploring the fireroads and enjoying a good gallop here and there when we decided to go up a long, winding ATV trail that wove off the fireroads. It's a beautiful trail, and one of my favourites still, but it leads to a private property, and rather than cutting across the property - which belongs to some very easily irate neighbours, we decided it would be better to turn around and go back the way we came.
> 
> Well we were just about back at the fireroads when we saw a big jeep parked dead centre of the trail, rocking back and forth... My friend was talking on her cell, and both the horses we were riding stopped, ears pricked, snorting away. There was no way to go around the jeep without passing right beside the windows, almost touching the mirrors.
> 
> ...


Did the angry man decide to yell at you? I mean he shouldn't have been mad when it was his own silly fault for parking in the middle of the trail and doing something innapropriate. I don't have any odd experiences yet, but I'm waiting for the day when that'll happen to me. Hopefully it won't be the nude couples. That'd be awkward for all of us including Quinn.


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## Carleen (Jun 19, 2009)

PerchiesKisses said:


> Me and a friend were out trail riding one day, exploring the fireroads and enjoying a good gallop here and there when we decided to go up a long, winding ATV trail that wove off the fireroads. It's a beautiful trail, and one of my favourites still, but it leads to a private property, and rather than cutting across the property - which belongs to some very easily irate neighbours, we decided it would be better to turn around and go back the way we came.
> 
> Well we were just about back at the fireroads when we saw a big jeep parked dead centre of the trail, rocking back and forth... My friend was talking on her cell, and both the horses we were riding stopped, ears pricked, snorting away. There was no way to go around the jeep without passing right beside the windows, almost touching the mirrors.
> 
> ...


That's when you wish horses had a horn installed, hey? :lol:


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## PerchiesKisses (Dec 6, 2010)

He didn't say anything to us, just kinda glared at us.. and yes a horn woulda been awesome!! XD


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## PerchiesKisses (Dec 6, 2010)

Oh I just have to add another one..

I work at a Dude Ranch as a trail guide, and we lead trail rides in all kinds of weather. Being a customer-based facility, it is a general rule of thumb that customers get first dibs on horses and trail guides get what's left... and on this particular ride what's left happened to be Max.

Max is a 17 hh, 1700lbs Belgian gelding who has a particularly nasty habit of trying to kill me. In the history of our time together, he has taken off with me in harness, crashed a wagon, bucked me off, sliced my ear open when he pulled a clip out of the wall, jumped over top of me instead of going around me, and just generally we don't get along. He's a good horse for other people, just for whatever reason he and I don't always click.

But on this particular ride he was what was left, and I bit back my annoyance at having to take him out. 

It had been raining on and off throughout the day, and the trails were just to say a little bit wet. But wet trails have never hindered me before. I led the group of eight-or-so riders onto the trails and for the most part Max was behaving himself. He was dancy, but that’s just the way Max is.

Anyways we had done a few warm up trots, and I felt comfortable enough in his responses and the give of the trail to dare a lope. So I slowed the big horse to a walk and turned around to ask the customers if they felt comfortable trying a canter.

They did. So I touched my heel to the right side of Max’s belly and away he went. The perfect gentleman... I should have known better!

He had a big, rolling canter going. The kind of canter only a draft horse can pick up. The trail is a beautiful trail that breaks out from between trees onto a grassy field, the trail itself is dirt, with a grassy slope that slopes down onto the field on either side. Well I guess Max thought he could get out of work by dodging off to the side. But I was ready for him when he started pulling to the left, and fought to keep his nose pointed down the trail. But he kept going left, and after only a few short strides he was going off the slope. The grass was wet and he slipped, rolling as he went down the slope.

I don’t know how I managed it, but as soon as I felt him go down I jumped off of him, somehow keeping presence of mind to keep a rein in my hand as I did. He slid to the bottom of the slope and started to rise to his feet. But before he did I grabbed the saddle, swinging up as he got back to his feet. 

Boy! Was I mad at him! I growled at him and he took off into his canter again, quickly getting back on the trail and continuing on like nothing had happened. I only pulled him up again when we got to the end of the stretch. I turned around in the saddle to apologize to the riders for the bad canter, but to my surprise no one but the girl directly behind me had noticed it happen, nor had any of the horses broken stride. I guess the whole incident happened a lot faster than I had lived it.

And before you ask, he was fine. Not a scratch on him and only a few bits of mud to show for the incident. 

I’ve since come to the conclusion that that horse hates me, and will sooner guide with anything other than him!


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## flamehead (Dec 14, 2010)

Oh my god! I've been reading all your stories, googling images for the animals you're naming and thanking my lucky stars that in England we have very few (if any? I cant think of any...) natural horse predators!

My goodness I've have actually shat myself if I met a cougar....!


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## faye (Oct 13, 2010)

Flamehead, Except for wild boar and the odd big cat that has escaped from a zoo we have no preditors.
Wild boar are not realy preditors but they do go for horses legs and horses are scared of them.


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## flamehead (Dec 14, 2010)

Sheesh kebab....I saw some photos once of a horse after a supposed wild cat attack, was horrific.


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## Hunter65 (Aug 19, 2009)

PerchiesKisses said:


> Oh I just have to add another one..
> 
> I work at a Dude Ranch as a trail guide, and we lead trail rides in all kinds of weather. Being a customer-based facility, it is a general rule of thumb that customers get first dibs on horses and trail guides get what's left... and on this particular ride what's left happened to be Max.
> 
> ...



This story reminds me of when I used to work at a riding stable. I had an awesome trail horse but when it was super busy they used him for customer and I had to ride whoever was left. My archenemy was Baldy. I was never afraid of any horse but that guy scared the crap outta me. Anyhoo He was the only horse left in the barn. I was about half way up the field with a trail of 15 riders or so when he just exploded and I went sailing through the air. Thank goodness another trail was coming back in and the other guide gave me her horse. I hated that horse.

Ever take a trail ride of about 20 Chinese people that don't speak english? Now THAT's entertaining- and of course we had to stop every 50 feet and take pictures ****


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## Hunter65 (Aug 19, 2009)

Sunny said:


> Mine is pretty bogus compared to the moutain lion and bears, but....a field where I regularly ride has about 15 turkeys in it quite often and they scared the poo out of Sista one day. :lol:
> _Posted via Mobile Device_




Hahaha when I was at my old barn we had a ride we called the Turkey Run because we had to pass a Turkey farm and sometimes it took quite a while as my friend would do her Turkey call (which was hilarious) and all the Turkeys would come running and the horses would freak out.


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## Hunter65 (Aug 19, 2009)

Phantom Horse said:


> A few years ago my family went on a trail ride, and my dad's horse fell to his knees out of the blue... It was really weird, since he didn't trip, or anything. My dad just said that he decided to pray randomly. :lol:




Hahaha Hunter did that to me but that was I wasn't letting him eat grass so he just plopped down on his knees and started to eat with his butt in the air and me on his back. Silly Pony


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## Katesrider011 (Oct 29, 2010)

My friend and I went on a trail ride once and passed an old cemetery and the horse just stopped and stared at it for a few minutes, it was creepy.


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## BecArabian (Dec 15, 2010)

well my unusual exp is when dad,my sister and me we got back from a trail ride and my sisters horse pocket (TB) who is always calm went sike and galloped off my sister fell off and then my horse squirt  whos literly BOOM proof went sike and i fell off and my dads horse who is really crazy just stood there doing nothing he would usualy go CRAZY........weird i know


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## Rascaholic (Oct 4, 2010)

Trail riding and inappropriate behavior sitings must go hand in hand LOL !! I was 16 and 7 of us saddled up and went riding. Gorgeous day, perfect temperature, good company, and a picnic lunch, it was awesome! We went for a swim at the lake. As we started home there was a cut through at the church we used quite frequently so we took it. 
Well we passed our principle and his lovely "wife" gettin busy in the back of his 4X4. They were semi hidden beside the brick graveyard fence so we had to pass close or jump the 6 ft fence, umm not happening!
My friend snapped an instant picture sans flash. (no you couldn't see nakedness, but it was obvious what was happening)We got to school the nest week and she then asked if it could be included in the year book. ROFL She was suspended for 2 weeks and that picture found it's way around the whole school. Sadly we had a new principle before the school year ended and he wasn't near as nice, nor did he have a cute bum


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## cher40 (Nov 19, 2010)

Rascaholic said:


> Trail riding and inappropriate behavior sitings must go hand in hand LOL !! I was 16 and 7 of us saddled up and went riding. Gorgeous day, perfect temperature, good company, and a picnic lunch, it was awesome! We went for a swim at the lake. As we started home there was a cut through at the church we used quite frequently so we took it.
> Well we passed our principle and his lovely "wife" gettin busy in the back of his 4X4. They were semi hidden beside the brick graveyard fence so we had to pass close or jump the 6 ft fence, umm not happening!
> My friend snapped an instant picture sans flash. (no you couldn't see nakedness, but it was obvious what was happening)We got to school the nest week and she then asked if it could be included in the year book. ROFL She was suspended for 2 weeks and that picture found it's way around the whole school. Sadly we had a new principle before the school year ended and he wasn't near as nice, nor did he have a cute bum


LOL...awkward. I bet you laughed for days.


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## cher40 (Nov 19, 2010)

Katesrider011 said:


> My friend and I went on a trail ride once and passed an old cemetery and the horse just stopped and stared at it for a few minutes, it was creepy.


That is weird..lol


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## cher40 (Nov 19, 2010)

When I was in my teens, a friend and I took our horses out. We decided to hack around the lake. We could tell the ground was kind of marshy. My friend went ahead and I was following. When all of sudden we started to sink. My horse sunk up to his knees and I had to dismount. It took about an hour to get him out. 

He was very nervous to walk on squishy ground after that. The poor thing. We were laughing our heads off and he was just standing there like what the...???


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## melinda27858 (Dec 27, 2007)

This past fall, a friend and I were riding along a local farmer's soybean field. The rain had been good the week before, and the plants had grown fairly tall. As we were riding along, a buck popped his head up out of the soybean plants to stare at us, stock-still just 20 feet away from where we were riding. I saw him first, stopped, and pointed him out to my friend. We had a staring contest with this deer head in the field....trying to figure out why he wasn't moving AT ALL. We actually toyed with the idea that perhaps it was the head of a hunter's kill that he put on a stick in the field. After about one minute of staring, he turned away from us and bounded off. Just as we were commenting on how strange this had looked, a doe popped her head out of the field in the same spot, giving us a second staring contest! After seeing her, we were pretty certain that we had caught these two "in the act!"


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## chvyluvgrl (Jan 16, 2011)

I have had many odd trail riding experiences, I have rode on a glacier, topped Alaskan mountians, but I think the oddest trail I have been on was up a trail so steep we had to get off our horses and let them help us up by hanging on to the horses tails.


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

I've encountered two large herds of deer this winter, riding on some of the mesas here in CO...it's kind of cool, because where I grew up in MN, you wouldn't see more than 3-4 deer at a time...but these are herds of 15-30 deer in one place!! It's pretty neat...they aren't really afraid either, and most just look up and watch as we pass by. Some will bound off a few hundred feet, and then turn and look, but other than that they aren't scared.


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## avjudge (Feb 1, 2011)

I can't read all these stories without remembering what happened to me one day - this would be in the late '70s, so I must admit some of the details are hazy, but I know EXACTLY where it happened and still have the picture in my mind: 

I was riding by myself (as usual) one day in the woods near my home in northern NH and a fawn came running up to me - so young it still had spots. It didn't just happen by, it was running straight at me, and all I could think (and still do) was that it thought my horse was its mommy! It really seemed to have that "oh, there you are, at last I've found you" body language.

Especially since, when it got close enough to really see us, it put on the brakes, stared a moment, then turned and high-tailed it out of there!!

Every time I think back to that (and I still occasionally do) I end with the thought that I HOPE it found its mother, that they didn't get separated for good just because this fawn didn't do as it was told and stay put.

I did have one other fawn encounter. In 1997 or so I had my horse (same horse, my one and only, who I got in 1975 age 7 and put down in 1998 age 31) in Dutchess County NY and was riding with a couple others when I came upon a younger fawn nestled in the high grass, obviously left there by Mom as she went off to do her thing (as deer do). Very cute. But not as memorable as the first.

Anne


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