Excellent advice, this. Miscreants generally prefer easy victims to hard ones. Don’t make yourself an easy victim.
G.
*If a person is assaulting you by attempting to grab your horse’s reins then the generally accepted rules of self defense apply.
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I took one, years ago. My advice: do a non-mounted clinic. The information in the clinic was pretty good, but it was two+ hours of sitting on your horse, 90% just standing there watching the clinician talk. To trailer to the clinic, then sit through the hours of lecture just for the 15 minutes of actual practice, etc was not worth it and my horse, who knew that going on the trailer usually meant a fun couple hours exploring the trails, was like, “What?”
Take away messages:
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Do not let anyone approach your horse’s head. Do not worry, as others have said, about “being nice.”
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Your horse is a weapon. You can move your horse’s hindquarters toward and “over” the attacker, and the attacker will end up under your horse’s feet (where the attacker deserves to be).
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If the attacker grabs your leg or arm, let the arm/leg go floppy. If you go stiff, this gives the attacker a “lever” to propel you off your horse. If you are floppy, the attacker can’t do as much.
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If you were trying to fight the attacker off with a whip and the attacker grabs the whip, let it go immediately and run, as now he has a new weapon to either pull you off your horse, if you had the wrist-band on, or use against you or your horse.
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If the attacker tries to grab your hands, take your hand and force the attacker’s hands down onto your horse’s withers, hold them there while you have your horse gallop off. Our clinician called this, “going on a date” in a sarcastic way, as if to say, “Oh, you want to hold my hand? Go right ahead and let’s go for a nice walk together.” The attacker will not be able to keep their feet and will fall on the ground where, hopefully, they will be trampled.
I would rather run away than go through the above, but, I suppose one issue is that if the attacker is between you and your barn/trailer, you may still have to go back that way, or the attacker in theory could bushwack back to your trailer and be waiting for you there. I guess in that case, I would like to see that the scum is lying broken on the ground, tied up very painfully in a stirrup leather or whatever I had to hand, sniveling for their mommy and, if it is a guy, for his permanently damaged boy-parts. (No attacker should make the mistake of messing with me. I’m not having it.)
And then my poor horse, who wants to think everybody is a friend, will need therapy from having been exposed to Mom’s inner psychopath.
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I got no problem side passing my horse into people or just flat out running over them. If they turn out to be nice guys I can always go “Ooops, can’t control my horse - sorry.” Also got no problem whacking people with my whip and I have a really thin flippy dressage whip - ow. When I used to ride, I always wound up going alone but you learn not to daydream, always be aware of who and what is around you and where you are. It’s like driving - prepare for the worst, expect the best. Of course I was lucky that my first horse was a former mounted unit horse. 
These days i ride alone in a nice suburban park where the trails wind through wetlands. My mare thinks every walker wants to stop and pet her, even the ones cringing in terror in the ditch as we pass. Still we certainly do a fast march past anyone that looks sketchy. The actual park is too wet to camp in but there are certainly homeless people living elsewhere in the green belt nearby.
Still I think (or hope) that if I swung the reins and laid in with my heels, maresy would take off out of sheer surprise if we needed to move out.
I think our wet overgrown mountainous or swampy environment with narrow trails is probably less conducive to lurkers than wide open rangland or canyon back country with multiple entry and exit points for motor vehicles, lots of camping spots, way way off the grid. I think if I lived in true ranch country I might like to ride with a couple of good dogs.
By which I really mean, bad dogs
That is when you run them over. You push your horse into them, and they will let go. If you try to ride away, they will hang on.
For those who might want a big stick:
https://www.police-equipment-worldwide.com/catalog/mounted-police/batons.html
https://www.regulustlk.com/products/self-defense-telescopic-crowbar
G.
The “telescoping crowbar” is also called and ASP…in most jurisdictions you’ll be in trouble carrying one. But, better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
Might just want to bring an axe handle along…cheaper and they’ve got a nice edge to them.
A good can of bear spray (foaming and staining) is good. You don’t want to get close enough to hit somebody with a stick or ASP and a good spray has a 15-20’ range. It takes a pretty good “flick” of the wrist to open one and there is technique involved (I had to attend a 1 1/2 day course on how to really use one well). Bear spray is useful against dogs too (and their idiot owners)!
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I have a good sized crowbar under the seat that I use several times a day for all kinds of stuff.
Didn’t know those were illegal?
Of course, they would look out of place while riding, there is that.
In Canada it is illegal to carry any weapon with the intention of self defence against other people.
So you can carry bear spray for animals out in the bush. But you can’t carry bear spray around down town.
You can use a machete for clearing weeds but you can’t run down the sidewalk at midnight waving one (though some did in my old neighborhood).
Etc.
I figure you could carry just about anything (other than a handgun) riding back country though, and say it was for animals, etc.
The collapsible “concealed” ASP type of wand can get you into trouble…both the collapsing solid and spring types. They’re very effective…BUT, they are close range weapons…you want a stand off tool to hurt bad guys…you won’t have time to get it out to use…sprays give you distance and a big serving of “Whoopass!”. Plus, if you mistakenly hit someone with as ASP, you can kill them…pepper spray is temporary. EZ-OFF Oven Cleaner also works nicely and is pretty cheap…not a long range, but can blind.
