Danielle Torano

[MHM]

@MorganMaresVT

ALWAYS!!

When I was a kid, my mother and I used to go out trail riding on some state park land that was 20 or 30 miles from home. So we would put her horse and my pony on the trailer and drive down there and find a good spot to park with easy trail access.

This was long before the days of cell phones or GPS or any of those modern miracles. So we would go out with the paper map of the trail system in our pockets and hopefully end up an hour or two later back where we had left the truck and trailer parked. Lol.

I remember my mother always had a saddle bag with a few different odds and ends in it, including some baling twine. Each horse would also wear a halter over the bridle with a lead rope tied around its neck.

And my mother would always have a whistle and a jackknife in her pocket, just in case. We had tons of fun. Those were the days.

[Mcl1]

I was once shed hunting on my old QH (looking for antlers) through the woods and he just came to a dead stop and wouldn’t budge. I hopped off to find that there was a super old, partially laid down but very tight barbed wire fence strung across our path that he had gotten one foot over and it had wedged in between his front legs and clipped into the cinch/breast plate connection. I was able to get it unclipped but it was still wedged in his armpit/chest (and of course to add to my panic, he was a grey so the blood looked very dramatic). I had no service and no way to cut the wire. I decided to step back and try to find where the wire was coming from to see if I could get it loose and he somehow managed to jump out of it by himself and walked away with just a very small cut (I on the other hand think I lost at least 4 years of my life)…just another example that anything can happen with horses (and to add bolt cutters to your saddlebag!).

[BAC]

Your mother was a smart horsewoman, always prepared, just like a good boy scout.

[JBCool]

Yep! Grew up riding with Mom in Shenandoah National Park via fire road access near where she grew up. Halter over bridle, leads in Mom’s backpack (?). Remember seeing deer, bear, but the scariest thing (to the horses) was always a FISHERMAN. Scary, silent, not moving-but-don’t-belong-there fishermen.

One of the first times Mom let me ride independently, my pony decided he was tired and we were going back. I was too little to stop him, and I still remember bouncy trotting down the mountain and around the fire road post. The funniest part (once we got stopped and reunited) was that the trail is a loop and if he’d kept going forward, it was much shorter back to the trailer than the way he went back! Probably one of my earliest memories.

Mom kept going for years after I moved out and I told her she was only allowed to do it while she owned Dobbin bc I knew he’d always bring her home come he** or high water.

[MHM]

Very much so. Thanks.

[ParadoxFarm]

@MHM

Moral of the story: Always bring the baling twine!!! Lol.

And some duct tape!

[endlessclimb]

I’m gunna need a bigger saddle bag

[MorganMaresVT]

Ha! Same.

The suggestion on the wire cutters is actually a really good one. We live in the land of old stone walls, which are beautiful - but there is old barbed wire strung through and over the stone walls everywhere around us. I’ve had a dog get caught up in barbed wire I couldn’t even see until he was stuck and I had to untangle him (thank goodness for teflon coats on English Shepherds!).

Standard wire cutters seem like they’d take up a lot of precious space in a small saddle bag, but I’m going to look for a mini-pair. I will feel better having them and hoping I’ll never need them!

[Aussie_2020]

Too small and they won’t cut through 3-strand barb. The ones I used to carry were about 10" long. I carried them in a pouch that was attached to the right side of the pommel.

Phone, pockerknife, and whistle were in my pockets, everything else was on the horse.

[Ghazzu]

From the MFHA Foundation 's “Introduction to
Foxhunting”

“A wire cutter in a leather case attached to your saddle is encouraged.
Carrying a Leatherman or wire cutting tool on your person is even more
effective. If a horse goes down from getting into wire and you are thrown,
you won’t be able to reach wire cutters on your saddle safely. Having them
on your person is better.”

[jvanrens]

@ParadoxFarm

@MHM

Moral of the story: Always bring the baling twine!!! Lol.

And some duct tape!

Electrical tape is handy too! In some cases better than duct tape.

[Annie10]

I have a Leatherman super tool that will cut 4 strand barbed wire. The regular Leatherman you can buy at most stores isnt strong enough out there but other members of the family are. I had to order it .it also has two bottle openers a small saw pliers screwdrivers etc on it.
I wear on my belt whenever I’m around the horses, riding etc. it wasn’t cheap but money well spent.