I knew someone that hit a ground nest. He galloped the horse down a short trail and right into the lake. Cleaning that Western saddle and conditioning and conditioning and conditioning it was not fun. But it kept the stings to a minimum
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Yikes! I had this happen a few summers ago. Was out for a ride on lease pony with a barn friend. We stopped for a grazing break in our usual break and horsey snack spot. So weâre very familiar with this area. Pony stuck her head in a thick patch of long grass. Next thing I know weâre up in the air and sheâs breaking in half before bolting across the field and into the woods. Took me several moments to get her calmed down. It all happened so fast I didnât know what went on until riding friend caught up. Poor pony got stung on her nose when she stuck it in the grass. which is why we were out of there so fast. Friend and her gelding were ok. Pony was fine too!
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HOLY COW! That IS a nightmare. So glad you guys survived. We had africanized bees at our place a couple years ago. They will hunt you. They say to just cover your head and run into the house as fast as you can. You arenât even supposed to jump into water because they will wait for you. I am not a fan of bees.
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That sounds like a nightmare!
I was riding with a friend years ago and we rode over a ground nest on a very narrow trail. She was in front, so escaped unscathed. My horse was getting stung, and stung, and stung. We got her to trot, but she wouldnât go any faster because she was afraid of the âfootingâ. Did I mention my horse was getting stung? Thankfully I was on my homebred gelding. If I had been on any other horse, I would have eaten dirt. He was a rock star and just kept kicking at his belly as we trotted. I really miss him.
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I used to regularly vet judge a September CTR followed by a 50 mile endurance ride on the same weekend.
There was almost always at least once incidence of a rider being nailed by yellowjackets.
Typically, it was after several horses had gone past/over the nest and riled the bees up (yellowjackets get particularly aggressive in early fall IME) and the next poor sod who rode by got the brunt of their anger.
The volunteers who marked the trails ahead of the rides would try to ID nest locations and nuke them, but frequently missed a few, since the one horse travelling by didnât eleicit the same anger as a large group.
