# Encountering wildlife



## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

I would much rather my horse be startled by a gunshot than mauled by a mountain lion. Just saying. :lol:

I'm interested in others' answers.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## furrera (Nov 5, 2010)

I totally agree I just wanted to see what other people had to say.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

I worry more about hunters shooting us than wildlife mauling us! 

I've never had a problem with the wildlife, and we have bears, mountain lions, etc. I've only seen a bear twice (and never while riding) and never a mountain lion. I would actually like to see a mountain lion!

I ride alone all the time and never even think about the animals, other than I enjoy seeing them and I do bugle for the elk during the rut. 

Now during hunting season I dress me and my horse in flaming orange. Hunting season scares me, because of the PEOPLE with guns. (I'm afraid they may get a little excited and shoot anything that moves).


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

PS. I always feel safer on horseback than on foot. I figure they have an extra set of sharp eyes, can spot anything that moves and can outrun most anything out there. In other words, the horse is on my team and I am never alone when I ride. :wink:

I never feel alone when I am with my horse. :mrgreen:


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## furrera (Nov 5, 2010)

I kinda figured that my horse would see/hear things way before I did and we're a pretty close team so I know he'd take care of me if necessary.


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## mysticalhorse (Apr 27, 2011)

I horse will smell a cougar or mountain lion before you can see them....listen to your horse.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

We have coyotes and rattlesnakes. The snakes have been known to scare a horse on occasion, but they won't attack you unless you step on them or get too close. Dogs pose a bigger threat to me. A friend of mine was attacked by pit bulls while riding and got hurt pretty badly. The deer hunters do scare me. I avoid riding on opening day, and during the heaviest hunting times, I stay on the dirt roads. I did have an episode of a hunter threatening to attack me. I showed him my .38 and he decided to leave. I was glad I didn't have to shoot the gun to scare him away because my horse would probably still be running.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

Go out and enjoy yourself. Don't rub a steak or bacon all over you before you leave and you will be fine.

We occassionally chase cougars. And for the most part, They want nothing to do with people. Bears are opportunist. If they thing you smell like a easy meal, maybe they will check you out. But most black bears are pretty easily intiminated. Make your self look as big and loud as possible. Grizzly bears are different store.

Use your gun as noise maker. No need to kill most preditors. Just make a big noise. Teach your horse to cope with that before you need to try it. Hold you horse and comfort her while somebody fires the gun 10-25 yards away. Fire away from the horse. As the horse gets used to , Move closer. It's won't take long before you can shoot of her back. ( Think Mounted Shooting competition)


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## ognend (Sep 3, 2009)

furrera said:


> So I was wondering is anyone has any advice, other than don't run away from it, if you come across a cougar/mountain lion/other predator while trail riding. I live on 800+ acres and can ride just about anywhere. I haven't really gone back in the forest much because I have a nagging feeling that I'm going to run into something that will think me, or my horse, looks tasty. It's not so much of a problem when I'm riding with my aunt but, because she's so busy with my cousin and her catering business, I ride alone a lot.
> 
> I've heard that most predators are more afraid of you then you are of them, unless they're starving or you're around their young, but I still worry. I always ride with my cell phone but that won't really help much in the heat of the moment. My family own a lot of guns and we do a ton of target practice around my house but I don't think my horse would react too well if a pull out my 9mm.
> 
> Any advice would be extremely helpful to calm my nerves because I love the area back there and the views are AMAZING! Plus it's fun . Sorry for it being so wordy.


Your 9mm would probably serve well to make the cougar or bear mad 

Anyways, even "benign" wildlife can cause a wreck. I have a 23 yr old QH/Draft mix that has been there, done that. Rode him in WY in the wilderness for a week, didn't flinch. Got him back to South Florida, ran into an armadillo and he was interested (to say the least). He didn't do anything bad but the little thing darting across sure got his attention.

The other day we rode and ran across wild turkeys. My wife's 7yr old Heinz 57 and my 23yrd didn't care. The next day I came back with some friends and was riding a 3yr old filly on one of her first trail rides. She didn't loose it when she saw the turkeys but her head went up in the air and she was definitely aware of the birds. It is easy to see how less trained horses could cause a bad accident even with something as benign as a turkey 

Hunters are in my opinion the bigger problem. We have 60,000 acres of a wildlife management area here (codename for hunter's paradise) and last year someone got shot (not on horseback). I routinely carry a 9mm not for the wildlife but for the drunken idiot with a rifle.

Most wildlife will hear you and see you way before they are a threat to you. If you do happen to stumble upon a grizzly bear momma with cubs, my advice is (if your horse is still between you and the ground) - run like hell.

Shooting a grizzly bear requires skill, plenty of weapon, shot placement etc. even when you are looking for a fight.

My $.02


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

I love Wyoming so much, but I am glad that we don't have grizzlies here in Georgia!
Actually, the worse animal scare that we had was a poodle. It weighed about 6 pounds. It hid in ambush and jumped out at the horses. Had it been a real dog, they would have been fine. This looked like a ragged mop with teeth. My Arab jumped straight into the air and took off as fast as she could run. My husband's 24 year old walking horse was running just as fast. Once we ever got them reeled in, we laughed like crazy.


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## furrera (Nov 5, 2010)

It's always the little dogs that are the scariest


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Been trail riding for ~20 years. Seen half dozen black bears and never a cougar (bobcat once). May or may not see any rattlers depending on where I'm riding. Not once have I had a problem, add in family/friends who ride and I don't know one person that has had a bad encounter with wildlife other then the two legged kind. By far the most likely culprit of trouble is the common dog.

As for the horse spotting before you, it's true. Gave up hunting long ago but wish I had a horse back when I did. By watching the horse I see more wildlife then I ever did prior to riding (back then if it didnt a motor I ignored it as unimportant).


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

From Yesterdays Ride
The elk were laying on the snow trying to stay cool in the summer heat









This doe probably has a fawn nearby.









Had to stare down a few cows yesterday also.









Once I spooked a herd of Antelope. As they jumped up and started to run, My figured it must be a good time to run also. Or why were they antelope so scared.


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## furrera (Nov 5, 2010)

Great pictures! Where were they taken?


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## furrera (Nov 5, 2010)

We (Turbo and I) went on a three hour trail ride and everything went well. Thank goodness he can't talk cause I was singing (very badly) to him the entire time, mainly to calm my own nerves. On the way down the hill we saw several peacocks and a couple of deer, he didn't seem to care one bit. I did see some shotgun shells that weren't there when my aunt and I went the same way a few days ago...figures.








Bo Bo looking all handsome









View from just up the hill by the barn









Way up the hill


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

Furrera About 50 miles SE of Salt Lake City

SLC is over that distant mountain in the middle of photo


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## furrera (Nov 5, 2010)

Gorgeous!! I've only been to SLC once but it was just their airport but even there you can see the mountains and it was awesome. Mine are taken from the southern Willamette Valley in Oregon. On a clear day you can see the Three Sister's in the Cascade range.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

I just had to say, awesome trail photos guys!


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

I've got to get a decent camera to haul along on trail rides with me!

That down around Coburg Furrera?


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## furrera (Nov 5, 2010)

Darrin, I'm 20ish minuets south of Eugene


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Ahh, Ok kind of looked like the flat ground around Coburg from up in the hills. Sounds like you are not to far away from Cottage Grove then. Used to live in that area but it was years ago now.


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## Cinnys Whinny (Apr 10, 2010)

I used to ride out in Whiting Ranch in CA, and there are mountain lions and other wildlife there. We had volunteer park rangers that boarded at our stable and they said the best thing you can do is make noise on your ride. Talk to your horse, sing a tune, most importantly let the wildlife hear you coming and they will go away and hide from you. They want to NOT be seen by you a lot more than you not wanting to come across them.


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## furrera (Nov 5, 2010)

Darrin- I'm in Creswell, most people don't know where that is but if you lived in C. Grove then you've probably driven passed it a few times
Cinnys Whinny- I was making up songs and singing pretty terribly, I probably would have scared anything away


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## wetrain17 (May 25, 2011)

I cant say I have an out of the ordinary animals in my area. I live in PA (not that there isn't wildlife in PA) but where I am, I sometimes see a deer.

I do have a story about my OTTB. We were out for a hack and we turned a corn and what do you know! A horse eating Canadian goose was right there! Well my horse stopped dead in his tracks. I was going to just run over the thing, but it must have had a nest near by. It spread its wings, and came right for us, squaking the whole time. Needless to say, we went a different way home!


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## Cinnys Whinny (Apr 10, 2010)

wetrain17 said:


> I cant say I have an out of the ordinary animals in my area. I live in PA (not that there isn't wildlife in PA) but where I am, I sometimes see a deer.
> 
> I do have a story about my OTTB. We were out for a hack and we turned a corn and what do you know! A horse eating Canadian goose was right there! Well my horse stopped dead in his tracks. I was going to just run over the thing, but it must have had a nest near by. It spread its wings, and came right for us, squaking the whole time. Needless to say, we went a different way home!


Ha ha, I had almost the same exact experience with a couple of wild turkeys a few weeks ago. There were two of them with 5 chicks tagging behind them and they were ready to eat Cinny alive!!


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

I had a bull elk jump out of the brush practically on top of me this last fall, luckily it spooked me more then my horse. Of course he knew it was there without telling me about it.


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## goneriding (Jun 6, 2011)

Darrin said:


> I had a bull elk jump out of the brush practically on top of me this last fall, luckily it spooked me more then my horse. Of course he knew it was there without telling me about it.


Go figure!:smile:


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

Those pictures are beautiful!!!


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## CanyonCowboy (Apr 30, 2010)

Cinny, I know that park well. That is one of the few parks in the lower 48 where an actual human/mountain lion predation event has been documented. It happened about 6 years or so ago. First incident was a adult male mountain biker who was out (on Cactus Trail) at about 6AM. The lion took him apparently while he was crouched down fixing a broken chain. At about 2PM a group of bikers went by and the lion grabbed the woman who was in the back of the group. Luckily another rider saw her being dragged off the trail by her face and grabbed her legs. Eventually several other riders helped and they saved the woman. After that they found the man's body. While sherriff was there at the scene, the lion back tracked around and was stalking back into the area. Sherriff helicopter spotted it on infrared and the deputies on the ground shot it.

However, the advice you have given (make noise, make yourself big, don't run) is the right advice for avoiding these animals. Part of the problem in urban Orange County is that there hasn't been any hunting pressure and the young lions start to think of humans as potential food. I encountered a collared adult male near O'Neill Park about a year ago that simply stopped and watched me from about 10 feet.


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## Freda (Jun 26, 2011)

My real life experience, 
1) on my dead broke, spook at nothing, very experienced trail horse
2) middle of nowhere on a mountain trail in Alaska...(bear country)
3) riding along singing a song 
4) horse stops dead in its tracks
5) won't go forward or backwards
6) bear comes out of trees about 25 yards ahead of us
7) I say a few four letter expletives
8) grizzlies can outrun any horse, don't try
9) thank goodness its' a black bear, say thank you God for watching out for me today
10) bear looks at us with no interest in us today and runs off the trail
11) my mare, bless her little pointy head, travels on up the trail without incident
12) thinking on the way back to the trailer, what a great ride and how wonderful my horse took care of me and how glad I was I listened to her this time !!!!!!
13) I guess theres no moral to the story, just ride safe and use common sense. Never try to outrun a Griz, find a tree to climb, they don't climb trees. Black bears climb trees but will almost always run from you unless threatened in some way. Always make noise in the woods. Don't shoot at a grizzly bear unless you know what you're doing and have the fire power to back you up. I've never had to worry about cougars. Read up on your local wild life and try to know their frequented habitats, the local forest service can help you out there too. Good luck and be safe. Oh, I know some people don't like guns, but having one is a choice I would make.


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## Bearkiller (Aug 10, 2011)

mysticalhorse said:


> I horse will smell a cougar or mountain lion before you can see them....listen to your horse.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


 
Wow, that is ignorance at it's finest. I wonder how a mountain lion eats? Certainly a deer or elk will smell them before a person could see them. :lol: 

A couple years ago a guy was attacked while riding his horse in the high uintahs by a mt lion. As people, we have been given a brain and part of using it means we can prepare. Carry a gun to defend yourself and then go have fun. No point in living scared. The most basic of human rights is the right to defend oneself and their property.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

Gorgeous pictures!!! I have been to Oregon on business in '96 and it was stunningly beautiful. I stayed one night at a B & B on the MacKenzie River in Vida, one night in Florence on the coast and one night in Portland. I would love to have rode around Vida. It was GORGEOUS - I was there in October so I got to see beautiful fall colors.

We have seen different kinds of wildlife and we listen to the horses - they certainly can hear/see them before we do. Hogs with piglets and alligators are the ones here locally that get our attention!!!! Alligators can run fast but generally they will slither away into the water.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Our larger wildlife includes moose, deer and black bear altho the cougar is making a comeback. Thankfully it is more the size of a linx or bobcat. The black bears are fairly timid and with poor eyesight have to rely on their sense of smell. Moose seem to upset a horse more than the others, especially a bull with a large rack. Our wolves have increased greatly because of being overrun with deer. I've been thinking of packing a rifle mainly because of the wolves.


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

WELL yesterday out on trail we were attacked by a horse-eating BRANCH!!!!!!! It grazed my mare's belly as we walked by and she acted like a gun went off on her butt, lurched forward and bucked hahaha!! Luckily I'm always on guard so I stayed on her back even in my launching-pad of an English saddle  

We saw deer of course as always (they are all OVER the place here in northeast Ohio), and we occassionally see coyotes but they just look like mangey little dogs to me and always run away tail tucked. My horse who has been fox hunting with 25 hounds doesn't regard them as any kind of threat, she's actually more nervous around the deer because they look like some strange version of her and usually wait until you get 4 feet away and then BOLT which always scares her half to death! 

I have heard that black bears are slowly coming back to the area from PA, but I have yet to see one and I don't think anyone's sighted one for a looooooong time anyway. Bobcats are around but I've only ever seen 1 in my entire life so they're also pretty rare. 

Supposedly we have rattle snakes, but I've never seen one! Deer jumping out in front of us and scaring the wits out of my horse are always my main concern!


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## Freda (Jun 26, 2011)

Hoofprints in the Sand said:


> WELL yesterday out on trail we were attacked by a horse-eating BRANCH!!!!!!! It grazed my mare's belly as we walked by and she acted like a gun went off on her butt, lurched forward and bucked hahaha!! Luckily I'm always on guard so I stayed on her back even in my launching-pad of an English saddle
> 
> We saw deer of course as always (they are all OVER the place here in northeast Ohio), and we occassionally see coyotes but they just look like mangey little dogs to me and always run away tail tucked. My horse who has been fox hunting with 25 hounds doesn't regard them as any kind of threat, she's actually more nervous around the deer because they look like some strange version of her and usually wait until you get 4 feet away and then BOLT which always scares her half to death!
> 
> ...


Rattle snakes are hard to see, but you can hear them if you are too close. A friend of mine horse was snake bit on a trail in AZ, the cure for the bite killed the horse, it was very sad. Rattle snakes give you lots of warning, Just have to keep your ears open. I run up on bear all the time, we don't have anything bigger than a bob cat here as far as cat predators go, we have moose but in 10 years haven't encountered one yet. In the back country, packing a weapon is a good plan, ya never know what lurks behind the bushes. We have active wolf packs.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

My horse is more likely to spook at a walmart bag than she is at a snake.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

I hear that, had a horse that never spooked at something natural. Put a lone fence post up (or anything else obviously man made) and there was a good chance she would either spook or at least look at it crosseyed.


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## Freda (Jun 26, 2011)

Celeste said:


> My horse is more likely to spook at a walmart bag than she is at a snake.


LOL, that too.


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## outnabout (Jul 23, 2010)

Celeste said:


> Actually, the worse animal scare that we had was a poodle. It weighed about 6 pounds. It hid in ambush and jumped out at the horses. Had it been a real dog, they would have been fine./QUOTE]
> Interestingly enough, we have several poodles who hang out
> at our barn


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## outnabout (Jul 23, 2010)

QOS said:


> Hogs with piglets


Feral pigs... anybody have experience/advice for feral pigs? We have them in south TX and while I have never ridden down there without a local guide, some of us are planning to go down to Hill Country to ride this fall/winter with our own horses. 
The men have guns, but I don't. Maybe I should get one and start going over to the shooting range close to our barn. Our horses are used to the constant popping of gunfire because of our neighboring shooting range.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

We have an occasional ferel pig show up around here. They are afraid of you and run away usually. The only way they would attack you as far as I know is if they are cornered. They could scare the horses half to death just by existing.


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## outnabout (Jul 23, 2010)

Celeste said:


> We have an occasional ferel pig show up around here. They are afraid of you and run away usually. The only way they would attack you as far as I know is if they are cornered. They could scare the horses half to death just by existing.


 The south texas pigs run in packs. Never have encountered them personally. Horses do smell them, have always trusted the wrangler on our rides and his horse. 
As others have said, hunters are the really scary ones


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

We have seen them numerous times in Tyrrell Park out in the back but have seen tracks and droppings in the woods adjacent to the stables and picnic areas. LOL Last March we were riding and come off the bridge over the bayou and down about 75 yards was a sow with about 5 piglets...OMG it was hilarious - we were yelling at LeAnn to get her butt back on her horse!! I took some pictures. The sow was pretty good sized, black with a huge white spot on her left flank area. We had seen them running prior to this in the woods but just caught glimpses of ears or the top of their backs through the brush. That was the first time I saw them fully. Another time they were on the opposite side of the ride away from where they were before near where were come off the bridge but they were about 150 yards away. A few weeks ago they ran across our path about 75 yards ahead of us...splashing through the slough as they went!!! We are usually riding in a group...anywhere from 2 to 6 of us so we are making plenty of noise. The hogs are moving away from us.

We did run up on some in Louisiana and they were going every which way literally exploding out from under our feet. They were trying to get away - scared some of the horses but Thank GOD Biscuit just flinched hard and went on....his selling price increased $5k right then!!! (lol and he isn't even for sale!)


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## AmazinCaucasian (Dec 10, 2010)

Here's a handy list of how to handle different wildlife you may encounter horseback:

Snake..........shoot it

Rabbit..........shoot it

Possums & ****........if your dog is with you, gut shoot it and let the dog play with it. it's fun for everyone (except the varmit)

Porcupine and Skunk.....shoot it but don't let your dog play with it 

Neighbor's dog that likes to chase your horse.........rope it and drag it down the road at least 1/2 mile. you don't want to alarm the owner that their dog's being trained. so go real fast to keep the rope tight and he'll be choking too much to yelp.............. additionally, you can let your dog chew on him during and after the strangulation period(this is optional)

Bear..............rope it. you won't have to worry about keeping the rope tight, you horse will take care of that.

Bigfoot...........make sure it's not a hillbilly, then shoot it.

Cougar............rope it, but be sure to get it on video. I don't wish for anyone to die, but if it happens, we all want to see it!!!


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

^****!!!!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## AmazinCaucasian (Dec 10, 2010)

Thanks, I do my best


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## Stan (Aug 25, 2011)

The only predator my horse has to worry about is the one sitting on her back.
No snakes ,lions, bears, or anything else that could hurt the horse but perhaps a dog. One of my friends was attacked by a dog while out riding her horse on the road. She became dislodged from the horse, it took off with the dog in hot persuit. The horse rounded the corner out of sight of my friend and promptly dealt to the dog. One predator less. The rider was unhurt, the horse held its head high, the dog, well its in doggy heaven if there is such a place. Moral, don't mess with a bush horse.
I live in New Zealand and we don't have predators as such. No crocks, aligators, or sharks well only the type that sell used cars and some of them ride horses which only goes to prove that not all sharks are bad.
I don't envy those that ride where there are large predators as horse and rider is dinner.


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## Robert Atwood (Apr 27, 2021)

furrera said:


> So I was wondering is anyone has any advice, other than don't run away from it, if you come across a cougar/mountain lion/other predator while trail riding. I live on 800+ acres and can ride just about anywhere. I haven't really gone back in the forest much because I have a nagging feeling that I'm going to run into something that will think me, or my horse, looks tasty. It's not so much of a problem when I'm riding with my aunt but, because she's so busy with my cousin and her catering business, I ride alone a lot.
> 
> I've heard that most predators are more afraid of you then you are of them, unless they're starving or you're around their young, but I still worry. I always ride with my cell phone but that won't really help much in the heat of the moment. My family own a lot of guns and we do a ton of target practice around my house but I don't think my horse would react too well if a pull out my 9mm.
> 
> Any advice would be extremely helpful to calm my nerves because I love the area back there and the views are AMAZING! Plus it's fun . Sorry for it being so wordy.


If you want to train your horse not to spook with gunfire it will require you to throw him on the ground with the proper casting harness and soft bedding area and lay across his neck just behind his ears so he can not get up and fire 6 rounds in the air over a 10 minute span. Let him up and fire one round, if he spooks put him back down and do over. Naturally you want to do this outside, with help from another person..


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## burntoast (12 mo ago)

Robert Atwood said:


> If you want to train your horse not to spook with gunfire it will require you to throw him on the ground with the proper casting harness and soft bedding area and lay across his neck just behind his ears so he can not get up and fire 6 rounds in the air over a 10 minute span. Let him up and fire one round, if he spooks put him back down and do over. Naturally you want to do this outside, with help from another person..


Don't do this.
You do not have to "throw a horse on the ground" and "pin it down" to get it sacked out to gunfire. This teaches learned helplessness by going into the freeze response through flooding.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

MOD NOTE

As this thread is over 10 years old and these users are no longer participating in the forums the thread is now closed.


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