I know they are always some video clips circulating on Facebook. But does of anyone know of clinicians who give instruction on self-defense for trail riders? One of the most often circulated clips seems to lead to just dead
end.
I bet mounted archery would be effective 
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You basically stay out of arms reach, and if they try to grab a hold of you, run them over. Not kidding, it’s the only way to keep them from grabbing your reins. There is a police guy, Bill something, that does clinics.
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Scot Hansen did clinics - not sure he still does? https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Education/Scot-Hansens-HorseThink-281918638586658/
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I attended a mounted police training clinic for civilians in 2017. The last session was on mounted self defense. It was short but the basic point was that your horse was your first “weapon of choice” in you’re being threatened. If you can, run away. Your horse is faster than that your assailant and if the assailant comes up behind you might find out just how hard a horse can kick. But if a horse does that it’s a “bucking like” move and the rider has to be ready to sit it. The motion of the horse will be more horizontal than vertical but it will be there.
If you can’t run then face the threat. A horse can bite, strike, and butt. Again, the rider must be ready to sit these moves. Give the horse their head so they can use it as a weapon. This is where it pays off if you’ve taught your horse to work one handed and to respond to seat and leg. You grab the horn, “oh s**t strap” or the pommel and let the horse do the job. Push them forward with your seat if necessary. Ten run as soon as the threat has been neutralized.
Now call 911 and, if you can, stay in visual contact with the assailant until authorities arrive. Stay mounted so you can move further away if necessary. If at all possible be the first to speak to the police. Don’t lie or fudge anything. This gives you the best chance to wear the White Hat.
Weapons are problematical. My first choice is a pistol worn in chest rig. This will make it almost impossible for a miscreant to grab your weapon. A pistol carried at belt level is much more vulnerable. Assuming you’ve done the training for this for you and your horse here are some examples of chest holsters.
https://cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Untitled4.png
https://www.pinterest.com/ParadiseValleyLeather/chest-holsters/?lp=true
Or use the search phrase “chest holster for pistols.”
IMO the best weapon (most effective, least problem with the PC crowd) is that favored by TR, who might have said “ride softly, and carry a big stick”!!! 
Wooden, practice swordd are available. You can also make your own. These give you reach and the WILL “sting” an assailant if you use them correctly. If you choose this route you will, again, have to train yourself and your horse. Here are some sources:
https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Wooden-Sword
The last item looks kind of pricey, maybe, but in this you do want quality.
For training see if anyone around you offers basic fencing instruction. Learn the ground maneuvers and then practice them from horseback. Here is a book you can refer to: https://www.amazon.com/Saber-Exercise-Training-Manual-Swordsmanship/dp/1941656463
I would not want to try and use any sort of spray device while mounted. Way too much can go wrong. I’m not even sure I would carry one of these on the ground. And in the “nanny states” they are outlawed and get you in as much trouble as carrying something really effective, like a gun.
It says nothing good about our present society that we have to have these sorts of discussions. But underlying issues are for another day. The reality is that a single woman on a horse in a remote location might become a “target of opportunity” by a miscreant. Know what your local law will allow, equip yourself accordingly, and practice using what ever you decide to use. And don’t limit yourself to one means. This is not an “either/or” issue. If you carry a weapon of any kind be ready to use it. Do not worry about injuring your assailant or getting sued. Better to be tried by 12 than carried by six.
Here are two sources of training I’ve found:
https://louisville.edu/spi/about-spi/partners/mounted-police-training-academy
http://www.mountedpolicetrainingacademy.com/course_infoformation
If there is mounted unit in any local police force near you call them and ask them who might be available for training.
Carrying a weapon, any weapon, is a serious responsibility. And it’s got two parts: Train the user and train the horse. But for those of us who find it fun it’s worth the effort and you gain a valuable life skill.
At the risk of angering the PC gods, I’ll note that being a victim sucks. Righteously turning an assailant into a victim is good for you and sucks for the assailant. Do what’s right for you and f**k the health, safety, and welfare of the assailant.
G.
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Make sure you can do a quick turn on the forehand. A big horse butt swinging toward them makes almost anyone back away!
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can I pet your pretty horse ?
Wait, let me get Lots of Teeth my German Shepherd Dog under control first, she has been known to chew on people
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Bill Ritchey. I did one of his clinics. One of the #1 things I would tell you - make sure your horse responds to you IMMEDIATELY. If you tell your horse “we gotta move it NOW” - his feet better be going.
And everything else Palm Beach said.
I’ve told the story about the young woman who galloped horses for the trainer’s family being confronted by a serial flasher on a trail. She cracked him full force in the junk with her racing whip and galloped off. He was never seen flashing again.
I read about a BNT in some Western discipline who’d gone out to their truck tin the hotel parking lot to grab something and had a guy with a gun come up behind him. He was standing on the running boards of an International so his feet were basically at face height on the robber. He kicked back and rammed the guy in the face with his nasty spur with the sharp rawls on them. Put the would-be-robber in the hospital.
LSS: We riders tend to carry/wear a number of aids that double well as weapons. And use the horse. The police use them for crowd control because many people are intimidated by their size. The Airs Above Ground were intended to kill foot soldiers and keep them a distance so they couldn’t take control of your horse. Run them over, step on them, charge them. And as a female ammy MMA fighter I alway encourage women to take boxing, Muay Thai, etc. US society tends to condition women not to be physical. The first time I went to strike someone sparring it was very difficult for me to overcome that conditioning and hit the guy in the face. You want to get the motions of fighting back into your muscle memory so it becomes part of the reptilian cortex response in a real life-or-death situation.
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The number one defense and it is very important is to be aware of your surroundings ALL the time, on foot, in vehicles and horseback.
As a teenager I was guiding a group of other teenager from a school that took weekly lessons in our riding center.
We were walking on a mountain trail and came upon a flasher a little way up the trail, obviously waiting for us.
I was first, so turned and went down the mountail side, all others following me and not one of the girls saw him, too busy negotiating the steep slope.
I told the riding center when we got back, they called the police and we never had that happen again.
We can avoid trouble if we are thinking on what we are doing and don’t let things we should have noticed get to us.
I think those seminars are very clear on that first, then on ways to, if you are caught in the situation, what you may try to get out of it.
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Bear spray. Know the laws in your area. Works on aggressive dogs too.
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In the Bay Area Jerry Tindell teaches such a clinic. He trained police horses and will go through similar training with your horse. “Desensitizing”, working on prompt response to your aids, working right alongside another horse, things to look out for, etc. Similar to what Palm Beach said, basically don’t get anyone get close enough to you/your horse, make sure the horse is responsive to your aids, and use the tools you have. Remember, you are on a horse - a big, powerful, and FAST animal. You have the upper hand.
Yes, if your horse will move off your aids fast, you can knock down or outrun anyone on foot.
The big hurdle for girls and young women in self defence is learning not to be nice all the time. Girls will put up with a lot of harassment in public like on transit because they are embarassed to make a fuss.
Here are safety tips that apply to bears, people, and natural hazards on trails.
Don’t ride with headphones on.
Don’t space out and daydream.
Scan the environment at all times. Notice things. It’s interesting, doesn’t need to be done out of anxiety.
​​​​​Pay attention to your horses ears and what hes looking at.
Allow yourself to turn around and go the other way if you see something alarming like a bonfire full of drunk young men on the beach ahead.
Don’t stop to talk and interact with anyone that isn’t obviously totally safe
Don’t stop to interact with groups of mrn.
Don’t stop to interact with any man that is giving off vibes of being more interested in you than in the horse.
Make sure your horse will turn and trot or canter way from people.
I would be much more scared about someone harassing me in a motorized vehicle, ATV or truck or motorbike, than a person on foot.
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This is the guy who ran the class I was in. Good program.
G.
Recalling that for a short period of time, when I was 17 and 18, I wore contact lenses rather than glasses and was riding roads and mixed use trails on my home turf in cut off shorts and I believe skimpy tops with no bra (it was the 1970s).
That year guys walking and in cars hit on me more than ever before or since but nothing bad happened. I was not comfortable with strangers, had a strong sense of self preservation, and wasn’t used to sexualized attention and thought they were all dubious, either goofy or creepy
I always knew I could outrun anyone.
When I went to community college I started wearing glasses again, and the attention stopped
Anyhow, keeping on riding and not stopping to chat is probably the best thing.
However, I honestly don’t hear about too many attacks on mounted people by individuals on the ground.
Dogs, bears, ATV, for sure.
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This. 100%. It is hard to learn to be “mean”. It’s taken me 4 decades and having two daughters to get over that hurdle. I train in brazilian jiu jitsu, which is a grappling martial art similar to wrestling. Often, I’m the only woman or one of just a few in a class. Most of my male training partners are awesome. Occasionally, I come across one not so awesome who will deliberately try to hurt me or some other jerk behavior. In those cases, I am not nice and I do not fight clean. I will blade my knee into his neck, dig my bony elbow into his belly passing, etc. You lose the privilege of interacting with nice Wanderosa if you act like a donkey’s hind quarter’s. If you listen to men interact, they aren’t “nice” to each other and they don’t take it personally or worry about the other guy taking it personally.
With the farm I would often be the only woman interacting with a group of men. I don’t generally stop to talk. I make brief eye contact, and do the nod and half wave gesture that anyone who drives on narrow country roads is no doubt familiar with. And on the farm, I do carry a gun. When buyers would come to the farm to look at stock I made sure that they caught a glimpse of the 9mm tucked into the inside pocket of my work jacket when we shook hands. Never had anyone try to act up or make me feel uncomfortable. I realize that not everyone is able to or comfortable carrying a gun. But it is a significant deterrent for crime of opportunity type attackers.
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That was my first thought. Is this really a common problem?
The dog issue - yes I can understand that. Being attacked by a person on the ground? That would seem quite uncommon.
I believe it is uncommon, but not unheard of. Most of it applies to police who are doing crowd control, and in a crowd, people get braver and stupider, and will attempt to pull a police officer off the horse. If you are out trail riding, and it’s a narrow trail, the “hiker” will step off the trail as if allowing the rider to pass, then make a grab at the reins/arm of the rider and attempt to pull the rider off as the rider goes by. In more open areas, there is no need for the rider to get close enough to the hiker for the hiker to make a grab. Unless, of course, the rider falls for the “Can I pet your horse” line.
Bear spray, gun, heavy crop in the face, ride over them. BUT…if they grab your reins, then what?
BEST THING: pay attention, don’t go brain dead…don’t ride alone. Don’t ride listening to your iPod…don’t be embarrassed to stop, not respond to anyone and listen to your gut. You don’t owe anyone a response.
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A good friend of mine was trail riding alone in a local canyon and two guys approached and asked to pet her horse. She said no, but one lunged forward and tried to grab her leg. She spurred her horse and ran away. The guy screamed in pain; apparently her horse let out a kick as she accelerated away and nailed his leg with a back hoof.
She doesn’t ride alone anymore.
Her horse had run barrels in her youth, and while they hadn’t practiced the “zero-to-60” move, the mare remembered what to do.
