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Could have been bad - but....

3K views 18 replies 16 participants last post by  jimmy 
#1 · (Edited)
So this past Sunday, my wife and I were on a TREC judged trail ride. She was on her paint and I was on my 2000lb Percheron.

All was going well until at about the 3hr mark, we came upon a downed tree. We were told to stay to the left but not to get off the trail too far as the ground was all swamp. Real swamp as in the swamp thing swamp...

Keep in mind this is all happening within seconds.

So anyway, we're at the downed tree (which is not completely down or we would have walked over it) and we stay to the left. My wife goes down off the trail down a slight embankment and I follow. Once we're down there, my wife cannot find a clear path back up to the trail and her horse is ever so slightly side stepping. Me and mine are so close to the rear of hers now that I could touch her horses butt with my left boot. I'm directly behind my wife and my horse is faced up the embankment which is about a 15/20° angle. I ask my horse to backup slightly and move to the right when all of the sudden, we sink! All the way up to just above her rear hocks (she's 17.1/17.2).

Now it's fight or flight for both of us. There are tons of tree stumps, logs, another horse (who could spook) and all kinds of things that could go very very badly for myself AND my big girl....

Naturally as she immediately starts to get upset and gearing up to start thrashing her way out. I instinctively let out a wooaaa girl... easy easy and reach down to stroke her neck....

---this is the part that gets me....

What does she do? She immediately folds her front legs up under her and lays down. I literally step up and out of the saddle, she stands back up as much as she can, I walk back in the direction we came, leading her and she hops out of the swamp with all 4 legs like some sort of rabbit.

God I love this horse.... she is the absolute best.

I realize that this may be trivial for most, but for me it was a HUGE deal as we've only been together a little over a year and she's the first horse I've ever owned or ridden. In retrospect, there were a lot of lessons learned.

So I had to come on here and brag to people who could at least understand the deep deep feelings that we establish with these beautiful creatures (big and small).

Thanks for taking the time to read my post... :)
 
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#3 ·
Gave me the chills-- So awesome!!

Aint it funny how some horses just know you mean calm down and just do it? What a good horse!!
 
#5 ·
that's the worst... I've actually buried horses to their shoulders in crap like that. My grandpa has had to build big tripods over them and use other horses to help get them out. Yukon quicksand, lol.

Your mare sounds like she took the mud in stride :) You get to recognize the ground that isn't really ground. Though it sounds like maybe yours was just mud.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Thanks guys (gals)...

This girl isn't going anywhere. I would take a bullet for her without even thinking about it. And I believe that she knows it...

We've been through a lot together over the past year. I remember the look of terror in her eyes when she threw a surprise foal last March. We were just getting to know each other at that point, but since then, our relationship has just grown to an extraordinary one now.

LOL, that above paragraph reminds me; she heard a noise when we first unloaded. She kept trying to jump in my pocket. (not in a dangerous way though, I would have had to correct her for that).

Don't know if I posted it or not, but here we are on a previous trail ride.

 
#15 ·
Nice looking girl. You look good on her.

Please do not be offended here but one safety tip...take some of the slack out of that back cinch. You don't want it so loose as to allow her to get a back foot caught if she were to kick up at her belly. You don't want it tight, just not hanging. Just a suggestion from a paranoid worry-wart. : )
 
#18 ·
You look good with her and she looks good with you! Awesome story as well! I've almost sunk a horse in a beaver swamp ('mud' that doesn't quit) and it was a big ordeal.
I love the fact that you told her to whoa and she settled right down. I had a situation when I walked a horse right into a downed barbed wire fence (it was in deep grass and a very old fence), and got him all tangled up. I told him 'steady, easy', and he let me lift his legs out one by one. Ever since then I have taught my horses what 'easy' or 'settle' means. It could mean life or death.
 
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