Rider hurt on Tevis trail.....

[spook1]

Hi All,
Over on ride camp I learned the was a rider badly hurt while conditioning on the trail. It was a encounter with a mountain bike however does not seem he was the cause. I don’t know any details other to say be aware when on shared trails.

Today while riding a mountain biker just appreaed I did not hear him until he was about 10 feet from us. Fourtnutly my mare does not even blink a eye at a brightly colored bike riders she only spooks at slow moving turtles on the trail.:no:. This bike rider was very polite and he stopped and waited. And this is not the first time a biker has snuck up on us and though some don’t say anything to let you know they are there I have never had any of them be out right rude. All I have come across have always given us the right away.I Think some are simply not horse peeps and don’t understand that horses will spook.

I think we all bikes,hikers and horse peeps have a right to enjoy the trails just remember to be aware and courteous.

There is no point to this post I just have been thinking about that rider. That how easily it could happen to any of us.
I hope the rider recovers soon.

[katarine]

Spook, we encountered hikers with llamas riding into the Hilgard Basin in MT several years ago. There are stretches of that trail where such an encounter could have been really, really bad. Some of our horses didn’t notice, others were really weirded out. Thankfully, and intelligently, they had a hiker outfront alone, scouting for horses. If they hadn’t been that smart and kindly …well…On a bad stretch- someone could have fallen off a mountain.

They are choices we make and risks we take. It should make us think, to rethink are we being as safe as we can- and sometimes -often- we already are- but it is good to reflect on the risks.

[dacasodivine]

I’ve been following this on Ride Camp, too. Someone posted that they came upon the two ladies that were riding with the injured rider not long after it happened. They were on a dirt road, not a trail. The horse back riders knew the bike rider was there and indicated he could pass. At some point as he was passing or shortly after, his foot slipped off the pedal and he crashed. The rider that was hurt, when her horse spooked, one of his easy gloves came off or partially off and he further spooked. By the time it was all said and done, all his easyboot gloves were off. The other riders said the horse way over reacted, especially for a seasoned trail horse.

You know how horses are. Every now and then they melt down over the stupidest thing, even when it’s something they have seen a million times. It kind of sounds like that’s what happened here.

[candyappy]

I for one wish they had trails just for horses where bikers, hikers ( with Llamas!!) etc… were not to be found. I already know what my mare would do if we encountered these people and it would not be enjoyable for me. I never get out on the trails anyways, so it doesn’t really matter. We stay close to home. If your going to ride the threat of injury is always there, even if your just plunking around your arena for the 5,000,000,000th time.

It is nice to hear when people sharing the trails think ahead to what might happen if they encounter a horse.

[Pocket_Pony]

Just a couple weeks ago I was on the trail with DH and a friend and we were heading back to the staging area when all of a sudden . . . llamas! Actually, they might have been alpacas. Probably about 10 of them being led by people and the horses were all :eek:! My mustang was fine and my friend’s morgan was fine, but my TB, whom DH was riding, decided he better get out of there and soon!

Parts of the Tevis trail are pretty hairy and it could have been a lot worse if she were on a single-track section with a drop-off on one side. Hope she’s on the mend!

[SharonA]

Share the trails

“I for one wish they had trails just for horses where bikers, hikers ( with Llamas!!) etc… were not to be found.”

That would be known as “your own private land.”

Public open spaces would not exist with the broad support of users from multiple communities.

[Painted_Horse]

I welcome my horses being exposed to as many things as possible. If I see hikers with Llamas, we go approach them and let my horses figure them out. I frequetly ride in trails with bikers, hikers, dogs, it has become old hat to my horses.

I think the the thing that spooked my horse the most was a camel that somebody was riding in the mountains one day.

I frequently kick out deer, elk, and moose. The occassion Turkey or grouse suddenly taking flight. Or even me getting off and taking a shot at elk while hunting. It is ok for them to startle. But I expect them to spook in place and cope with it. Heck yesterday we ran across a several groups of cattle on the grazing permit. The cows on the mountain are pretty wild and go bouncing off. I have no control over them and the horses need to deal with it.

[JollyBadger]

[QUOTE=SharonA;6450181]
“I for one wish they had trails just for horses where bikers, hikers ( with Llamas!!) etc… were not to be found.”

That would be known as “your own private land.”

Public open spaces would not exist with the broad support of users from multiple communities.[/QUOTE]

I agree with this.

As riders, it’s up to us to prepare ourselves and our horses as much as we can. Yeah, sometimes we will still encounter things on the trail that we wouldn’t expect, and sometimes our horses balk at the weirdest things. But that’s trail riding. That’s why I prefer it to an arena. It’s an “anything can happen” situation, and there is no way to bubble-wrap yourself or your horse or control the environment.

[katarine]

That is just not possible to fund, trails for each separate entity. We all have to learn to get along.

[gaitedincali]

@candyappy;6449977

I for one wish they had trails just for horses where bikers, hikers ( with Llamas!!) etc… were not to be found.

I ride in some places where they have horses and hiker only trails…and the mountain bikers ride on 'em anyway. There’s no enforcement and the jerks know it.

The rude people that are the problem will go where they please rules be damned.

The polite people aren’t the problem and they’re the only one who will mind any signs.

[Simbalism]

One of the trails in the area that we like to go to has a huge lake. In quite a few places the trail comes out of the woods and goes along the lake. It is nothing to have a motor boat up in one of the coves idling with men slinging fishing poles. I just think my horse needs to get over herself and get used to it(which she has).