Horse Help

[StoneHeartFarm]

Okay guys,

I need advice on ponies that don't come under the hood, and I know we've got a lot of horse people here. I'm sure there is a proper way to proceed and I want to be considered polite, so I need you guys to give me some advice.

My furnace contractor was out at the new house yesterday and called me last night with some news. He said:

"We were eating lunch and we heard an awful noise outside. I looked out and that horse across the street was charging straight toward the house! So, I shut the door because I thought it was coming right in with us. Then, I heard the horse screaming and your neighbor screaming and I didn't know what to do."

To make a long story short, my neighbor was cleaning her barn and tied her horse to the swingset while she shoveled the stuff. Something spooked the horse and it took off with the swing set. It lost the swings when it jumped the fence, came down my circle drive and headed back toward the road. Unfortunately, it fell at the ditch and broke its leg (real bad) and they had to put it down.

We enjoyed watching this horse when it was pastured across the street and we're going to miss it. It was a part of moving to the farm we really looked forward to. We called the neighbor last night, asked what happened, and expressed our sympathy.

My question. Is there anything else I should do or be aware of? I know this sounds dumb, but the horse community is a whole lot different than the tractor community, and I'm sure there are polite little things that should be done. I don't want the neighbor to sue me because her horse got hurt and I don't want her to hate me because I didn't do the right things. I just don't know what the right things are. Kinda hoping Richard and some of you other horse folks can give me some horse sense here.

SHF

 

[cowboydoc]

SHF,
Not quite sure what your asking. Do you want to know about raising horses or what you should do with your neighbors horse? Give me a couple of specific questions. As far as to that horse getting away and running like that just stay the heck out of the way. I've seen well meaining people either get hurt themselves really bad or make the situation with the horse even worse. Legally or otherwise you have no responsibility there at all. If you don't have any horse experience it is seriously better to just stay out of the way.
The biggest thing that you have to remember about horses is that they are a prey animal. They are hunted by other animals in the wild. Their instinct whenever anything happens is to run and they don't care what the consequences are. They'll run through barb wire, over cliffs, you name it they'll do it if they are scared. I've seen the most friendly well trained horses spook at something and they are gone and heaven help anything in their way or anyone on their back. Now with that said you can train horses to not spook but they are very few and far between. Very rarely do you find a truly broke horse. Most people ride their horses 3-10 times a year at best and the rest of the time they are out in a pasture or a stall left to their own. It takes constant training and riding to get a safe horse. Anyway that's kind of what I thought you were asking. Let me know what else you need to know.

 

[ejb]

Not to be to grotesque, but if you happen to have a backhoe (and they don't) you might offer to dig a hole for them and move the body...not something you want to do by hand.

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

Thanks guys.

Basically this has sook the heck outta us. My wife dreamed about the horse all night long, and we weren't even there to see the accident. I guess what I'm asking is if there is a preferred gesture in the horse community. ie, sending a card? Just commiserating? I'm thinking that if I lost my dog, I wouldn't expect the neighbors to be too concerned about it. But... this is a big animal, the whole situation seems horrible and it happened right in front of my house. I guess I've just got that same helpless feeling I get when I watch the news about another school shooting. Nothing I can do there either, but it seems like there should be.

Also, do you guys think a coyote could have spooked that horse? There's a big one running around out there. I had a buddy hunting from a tree stand last year and the coyote chased a doe right under him. A few weeks ago we heard one of the other neighbors had a colt and mare chewed on. They think by a coyote.

Either way, it's too bad, this lady rode that horse just about every day.

SHF

PS

The neighbor DOES have a hoe. A mighty fine lookin yellow JD that I been eyeballin'.

 

[cowboydoc]

SHF,
Ok I see what you're saying now. There really isn't any horse etiquette or rules to speak of. If you wanted to send a sympathy card that would be nice but certainly isn't expected in any horse circles that I know of.

 

[RichZ]

SHF, as usual, I agree with Richard. Do what feels right.
As far as the horse being spooked by a coyote, Richard explained the flight instinct of a horse pretty well. When a horse is spooked, he will run. It's amazing what will spook a horse. It can be something that the horse just sees out of the corner of his eye. As Richard explained, a horse is a prey animal, and they're always wary of predators, even when none exist. I once saw our three horses chased throughout the pasture by a wild turkey!/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif They saw something running at them, and just didn't take any chances. What I'm trying to say, is almost anything may have spooked the horses, you'll probably never know what it was.
Rich

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

Thanks guys. That's what I wanted to know. We've already called and when we go out next weekend, we might stop and pass along our condolences again. I know it was a dumb question, but I just didn't know if there was an etiquette to be observed. (And couldn't remember how to even spell etiquette). I know these folks cared a lot for the horse (moved it daily to different pasture, etc).

Your advise about staying out of the way is also well heeded. I haven't been on a horse since I was a child, and they sure seem a lot bigger now than they did then. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Just seems an awful waste. They tell me it took an hour for the vet to arrive and animal control was right behind him. Don't like to see anything suffer like that. Vet science has'nt progressed enough to fix something like that?

SHF

 

[cowboydoc]

SHF,
You bet you can fix something like that but you're talking about alot of money and depending on if the break was really bad then the horse would probably be crippled. You've really got to love an animal to spend the kind of money it would have taken to have fixed the horses leg.

 

[Driver]

SHF,

I suppose you realize that the owner made quite a mistake securing their horse to a light weight swing set. I am sure they are kicking themselves over that right now.

Driver

 

[Hawgee]

Treat the gal as if she lost a family member. That is best. There are good and bad horse people. Like with any family loss, I pitch in if needed. The backhoe and labor part helps if she wants it. We can't legally bury on the place anymore. County says they go to the renderrer. (glue) We have bear and cougar in the back and because the growth and such, have kept the horses out of there. If and when I clear out the back, I'll still leave the animals access out of harms way. The owner has to be aware of the public access to these critters out front too. Ya just never know when they will spook and what for. We were horse poor several years ago when I said, "Out". Now we keep a fewer but cared for more bunch of kids.
If you see this gal tying her next one back up to the swing set, I'd say it was time to be concerned. For the horse.

"What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered."
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

Yeah, I'm gettin the idea that an animal that size shouldn't be hooked up to a swing set. The swings falling over probably just made the whole situation worse, if it didn't spook the horse in the first place. I think this might be a situation of trying to get the chores done in a hurry and just not thinking. Don't know exactly WHY she did tie up to the swings. I might ask, but I don't think this is quite the right time.

SHF

 

[tsh3]

"Ya just never know when they will spook and what for."

I don't have horses but was taking riding lessons a while back and always rode the teachers big Arab. This horse
would get spooked by what he couldn't see. In the indoor arena I could not make him go near the barn door if it was open and he would get real nervous if we even got close.. She said he was afraid of what might be around the corner of the door. One day I was riding and the barn door was closed, no problem til we were right next to it when the wind made it rattle and boom a bit. He took off right down the middle of the barn with me just trying to hang on.
Being the experienced rider that I am (not) I'm pulling on the reins and squeezing his sides with my legs, so now he starts to buck. After what seemed like forever I can hear the instructor yelling 'let go with your legs' and as soon as I did, he stopped and everything was fine, just like it never happened. Maybe 5 seconds to go from calm to sheer terror and back.

Steve

 

[radman]

StoneHeartFarm:
As cowboydoc and others expressed, horses are easily spooked. I am retired from veterinarian medicine but used to work on some horses. Broke my arm after my first horse ride at age 7. Horses have basically a "fright and flight" mentallity. If scared they take flight. After running for a while, they will later slow down and later think about what scared them. As cowboydoc said, unless you are familar with horses and horse mentality, it is best to just stay out of the way in these cases. I suspect something spooked the horse, and when it pulled back the swingset came loose and frightened it all the more. Expressing your sympathy and regrets was an excellent idea. If they plan to bury the horse on their property, the idea of using a backhoe is also good. I have euthanized (put asleep) horses in the past for various reasons and finding a way to bury them can be a problem. Some people have to hire a backhoe to dig the hole.

PS Cowboydoc: I see you live in Iowa. I live in Lincoln, NE and currently a MD (radiologist) Where do you live?

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

Believe me, after this the only ponies I'm interested in are under the hood and stop with a stomp on the brake and a click of the key! I'm starting to think the swingset itself may have precipitated this mess. (Horse pulling at it trying to get a stalk of grass. Swingset starts to tip. Horse see movement, jerks. Swingset falls. Horse runs.) Still seems sad, but at least I've calmed down.

Thanks
SHF

 

[cowboydoc]

Radman,
I'm in the Quad Cities. My best friend is a radiologist!