Scariest Thing You've Encountered Trail Riding

[sorrelfilly721]

Thought this thread might provide some humor to break up the day…

Mine was out riding in the desert. The winds here are usually blowing gale force, so our horses get very used to things blowing around and don’t react. My mare is new to trail riding and she tries hard to be brave. She has a trail buddy that she relies on to “cue” her to be calm. This particular day, the wind was fairly calm and we were strolling along with our trail buddy when I heard what sounded like gunshots behind us - CLOSE behind us. Mare startled just a bit, but then trail buddy startled, and she took off like she was shot out of a starting gate! Thank God in Heaven she does not know how to buck or I’d have been eating dirt. Finally got her stopped and turned around to figure out WTH was chasing us. Turns out, a dirt devil came up behind us (little mini-tornadoes that appear suddenly in the desert) and it swooped up a piece of aluminum 4’ x 8’. It was swirling around and banging in the vortex right behind us! I reassured my mare that I would have run like my tail was on fire too if it were me. :winkgrin:

[irish_horse]

Good thing you stayed on! I did not with my scariest thing: A Pterodactyl. Oh, wait, that was what my HORSE thought it was. It was a paraglider whose giant sail lifted off the trail right in front of us. My usually very brave horse ran for the hills. it was very scary. But now I know where i can do desensitizing training for parasails!

[Appsolute]

Scariest? Having a rank spoiled horse rear and spin…

and ALMOST fall off THIS TRAIL

Which would have meant falling off THIS CLIFF on to the highway below.

I have been riding all of my life, evented and fox hunted, have had some hairy moments - but I can tell you, THIS (almost going off that trail) was the scariest moment I have ever had on a horse!

Gave me a freaking heart attack.

[Donkaloosa]

Peacocks, emus, wild turkeys flying across the trail, and of course, the deer that suddenly come out of nowhere. Sometimes my horses have heart failure, sometimes I have had heart failure!

[Appsolute]

Oh yeah - forgot about freaking my mare out the other day - I spotted something in a shadow under a bush - humm… what is that? Ride a bit closer - OH! its a deer - and its laying down, trying to be very still hoping we do not notice her.

I ride a bit closer checking out the deer - not realizing my horse has not noticed the deer… We get VERY close (with in two feet) and suddenly BOOM the deer explodes up from under the bush and goes dashing off…

My mare spun and went to bolt off… I could FEEL her heart thumping, me, I was laughing at this point - aren’t horses supposed to be more observant than we are?

[Plainandtall]

You know when the roadrunner lures Wiley Coyote out on a cliff- and then the cliff breaks off? I was riding behind a friend when that happened to her horse- he rolled right over her- but thankfully her body fit in the eroded ditch (which had caused the destabilization of the trail in the first place) perfectly- so the horse rolled right over her and scrambled back on his feet with her still shaken- but in the saddle. After witnessing that I have a horrid fear or riding on any trail that has any sort of edge to it that I can’t see the entire underside.

[arabracer]

I’ve seen large gators,deers, turkeys. Last winter we were crossing through a large rain hole and mister cottonmouth was all coiled up and ready to strike! My friend jumped off her horse and proceeded to through large sticks at it until he moved. I was praying that she didn’t get bit, they are extremely aggressive.

[ryansgirl]

A poached deer… with the remains put into a giant Rubbermaid container. My poor guy was horribly scared of deer to start with then we come cross this - the sight and smell almost sent me flying. He was shaking so much. We managed to get by it then we all headed back to the barn (there were four of us out on a ride). We did call Fish & Game so they could take care of it :(.

[JLR1]

I have to preface this by saying I live in the desert. It was winter and was riding on a trail I hadn’t been on before. We came upon a rare sighting…a tree with leaves! Well, the minute my horse took one step on the dried, crunchy leaves he freaked. He scared the crap out of me because he has always been what I would call bombproof…can’t really say that anymore:lol:

[allpurpose]

Toddler in a snowsuit on a trail in the woods. My mare didn’t know what that miniature thing was that swished when it walked. Beat cleats back to the barn and left me in the dust to deal with the scary monster!

[LilyandBaron]

I laughed about the scary tree for the desert horses! I moved horses from TX and CA to Ohio. There is no such thing as fall out there. Nor are there trails through tunnels (trees with leaves). The scariest things are the things I had no idea were going to be that scary!

[paulaedwina]

A herd of big rumbly motorcycles at Gettysburg. They were very considerate and didn’t blast past us, but that meant they were just giant growly predators who were sneaking up on us to eat us :lol:

Fella about crapped himself but he didn’t buck or bolt. I think because my mental thoughts of, “Boy if you drop me I am going to KILL you right here in front of God and EVERYBODY” must have translated into my seat. :lol: My friend’s mule bolted, but not fast and not far.

Fella’s a good boy. He was s^*t yourself scared but he didn’t dump me.

Paula

[Hippolyta]

Scariest thing from my perspective was raving nutter with shotgun & ATV.

Two scariest things from horse perspective: owl ambush & attack forest barrel. Both caused bolts, I came off due to the owl (I vaguely remember thinking I should do emergency dismount, which was a dumb idea).

The forest barrel really scared horse (real things flying in her face don’t scare her, only barrels), and it was hairy b/c she was spinning & swooshing & there were rusty, holey culverts on either side of narrow trail.

[BigHorseLittleHorse]

Animals that come towards you instead of running away are always scary.

My nearly bombproof old trail horse was completely undone by a wild turkey flying out of the brush and hitting him in the face. Never could get him past that spot again without some serious discussion, but I couldn’t blame him!

My current horse loves a good spook and will sometimes throw one in just for fun if he thinks I’m not paying attention enough, but his worst one was from a groundhog protecting its burrow. Darn thing CHARGED us, making this horrible skittering noise. My poor guy turned tail and took off for the barn, popping me off when he squeezed through the gap in the fence at a dead gallop and cracked my knee on the fence post. Good times!

[tabula_rashah]

How bout a very large group of LARPers sword fighting in the middle of the woods? My horse and I were both like what the fruitbat???

[katarine]

Frosty the snowman mylar balloon, dying, hung in a tree at eye level in the deep woods.

Chip’s heart was like a cartoon.

[kasjordan]

Wasn’t scary to me but my horse about had a heart attack. Riding Gettysburg and there was a group of about 100 high school age kids doing some sort of silent formation…we were walking by about 30 yards away…all of a sudden the leader did some sort of spin and yelled out the order and the entire group turned as one and headed towards us…LMAO, my 1200lb big baby about pooped his pants.
Scariest thing to me- took my daughter to Benezette (Elk County) and her and I were heading out on a trail (she was about 9 years old and she can ride the hair off a horse, but that doesn’t mean I don’t worry!)…we turned a corner and all of a sudden, three horse and riders came galloping and hooting and hollering up the hill near us and sort of POPPED over the hill right in front of us, …her little Morgan took off like a batouttahell in the opposite direction. My daughter, very calmly, assumed the two point position and rode out the bolt. I, meanwhile, was trying to pull my heart out of my throat at the sight of her being carried off by a terrified horse.

[Beverley]

I suppose it depends on who you ask. For me, scariest is riding out on the range and you can ‘hear’ folks sighting in their rifles but can’t quite tell where they are. For the mare, it was the herd of galloping Alpacas (and she was actually okay with it til my friend’s horse turned inside out, happily she has since bonded with llamas). My gelding had a serious fear of rocks, cracks in the pavement, and road striping in his youth, and he still keeps his eyes on 'em. My now deceased gelding really did not care for being in close proximity to a mountain lion. Or a rattling rattlesnake. My warmblood was truly fine with all manner of things, including those wind tunnel thingies that go up and down at car dealers (as we galloped by in downtown Salt Lake on a Pony Express Re-Ride some years back). But he about had a heart attack one day when a pheasant jumped up out of a corn field and he held his breath when we went by there for a couple of years thereafter.

[oliverreed]

The Pterodactyl. Actually it was a great blue heron, scared the poo out of us both the first time it took off right in front of us. Now I look for it so I can draw Mondy’s attention to it before we get near it but haven’t seen it much lately. I do ask him “Where’s our big bird?”

[sorrelfilly721]

[QUOTE=tabula rashah;7063004]
How bout a very large group of LARPers sword fighting in the middle of the woods? My horse and I were both like what the fruitbat???[/QUOTE]

OK - what the heck is a LARPer???