What would you do in this situation? [Archive]

elevenelevenxo

03-26-2009, 01:08 PM

Wow, that is incredible. I don't know if I'm overly emotional or what, but that video brought tears to my eyes....

I'll have to watch it again when I go home (I'm at my parents' house right now and their screen is really dark), but I'm not sure what happened. The last horse to be out of control - that was a different horse from the initial one, correct? How did they get him down? Did he trip or did they tranq him? Is there a story on this somewhere?

This is a good reminder to all horse people that no matter how experienced you are or how trained your horse might be, accidents do happen and when it comes down to it, horses are very dangerous animals...

WP~Paint

03-26-2009, 01:10 PM

WOW! That was crazy! Was there 3 different horses loose in that video? I'm not sure what I would do in that situation.

Ariesgrl131

03-26-2009, 01:15 PM

OMG!!! Thats horrible I hope everyone and the horses were okay.

WashingtonBay

03-26-2009, 01:24 PM

There isn't a lot you CAN do. I guess I would have liked to have seen everyone just STOP trying to catch the horse for a minute. They're not going to stop while people are screaming and running at them.

I was almost in that situation BTW. In an Arab stallions driving class with my little Grey Arab. One of the stallions started freaking out... I think something on his cart broke and was clattering, but they managed to call HALT and STEWARDS and everyone got stopped and got headers on all the horses, including the one that was the problem, without anyone else getting seriously hurt. But before they got that far he actually tried to jump out of the arena with the cart still attached. I realized then that 'control' is fantasy at best with a horse - any time really, but particularly in carts.

I couldn't tell why they kept the last horse down... he seemed sound till he fell, but I couldn't tell what happened when he went down.

jeezitsjacki

03-26-2009, 01:25 PM

wow I was terrified just watching that video. I would feel so helpless if I were there just watching them be so scared but not being able to do anything

PaintedHearts

03-26-2009, 01:30 PM

That's just crazy....I'm like you eleven, it brought tears to my eye too. I hope everyone and all the horses are ok.

JennyandJosey

03-26-2009, 01:49 PM

Holy cow! That is insanity.

First, if I was one of the other participants I would have gotten out of my cart immediately and held onto my horse as best I could...maybe even unhooked it right away? I think they should have done what the announcer was trying to tell them...try to keep the out of control horse on the rail and let him run until he quit.

I hope that last horse was ok. It looked like they were trying to lasso him or something. Maybe he got hurt when the cart came off?

TheRedHayflinger

03-26-2009, 02:03 PM

this was posted on a horse color board I go to not long ago....it came from another forum..arabian forum I think...at any rate...none of the horses or people were seriously injured.
I think they did the best they could for it having caught them by surprise...

If at all possible...get out of cart and unhitch the horse....however, with a wild pony running around like that, it just may not be possible if your horse is acting up too much for you to do that.

I read somewhere that they now use this as a training video for what to do when something like that happens.

Crazy

FatSpottedAppy

03-26-2009, 02:04 PM

This video is so scary.. I am wondering what happened to the last horse..

TheRedHayflinger

03-26-2009, 02:22 PM

post # 69 here explains what all happened and the afterwards:
http://forums.ablackhorse.com/index.php?showtopic=23248&st=60

KittySawrus

03-26-2009, 02:25 PM

It looked to me like...when they flung the rope the cart was unhitched, the horse tripped over the reins or whatever the kit is called (I don't know driving), and before it could get back up the guys were over there holding it down. One had a rope around its neck. More guys came over to help restrain it, I think, and pull away bits of kit. And I dunno if maybe they tranqued it there, or whether the horse had just had enough and lay there, but I don't see anybody putting anything into the usual tranq areas.

I feel sorry for the bloke who got ran over by the first horse.

My un-horsey parents sat thru all of that, they were so shocked. Dad wasn't impressed by all the screaming. That wa sso insane, I was just...bewildered, I reckon is a good word.

I want to know what triggered it in the first place.

ETA - That's interesting - the insect sting theory. That'd make sense! And poor Roust (last horse), it was such a shame he was triggered off. So weird they were both from the same barn - I suppose friendly horses would pick up quicker on each other's feelings?
I have to say tho, it is a bit strange somebody would put that on Youtube, since it's so serious.
What happened to the guy who got ran over then?

EnglishGuy

03-26-2009, 02:36 PM

I tell you what, I would not be one of the idiots chasing the horses around. If they are freaking out like that, the last thing to do is to go sprinting after them waving your arms trying to corner them. I think a lot of that could have been avoided by either stopping everyone quicker and bringing them to the center or clearing the arena and letting them run. There is not much you can do when a horse is spooked like that and is dragging a huge cart behind them.

It did not have to be that bad, looks like too many people who had no clue what to do in too small of a space.

Horseaholic

03-26-2009, 02:39 PM

my somach is turning..does this really go on for 6 minutes?!

offgridgirl

03-26-2009, 02:44 PM

Horrible to watch and I hope that all horses/people recovered quickly!!

It is very hard to know where to go and what to do as you can't see what is happening from inside the ring. It was easier to see what was happening from the stands and maybe the announcer could have made suggestions quicker.

You want to concentrate on keeping your horse calm and if possible get out of the ring. I was surprised that no had a whip to keep the horse on the outside of the ring away from the other horses.

Annasmom

03-26-2009, 02:45 PM

that was really sad. wow. I think it would have been better if they would all chill and not everyone chase it around cause with everyone chasing each horse around well dugh there gonna keep running if you're running at it.

JustDreamin

03-26-2009, 02:53 PM

That is just horrible. I know even my horse would freak out if so many people were running around and shouting. I think they should have kept the horse away from the other horses instead of trying to catch it. And they should have had all the other people holding on to the other horses instead of running around. I'm sure the first loose horse would have slowed down if no one chased after him.

shewasmyshadow

03-26-2009, 02:57 PM

I was sobbing and emotional after just a few minutes of that. I'm going to read the whole story now, but WOW. I would be so scared. For myself, my own horse and for the spooked horse. Poor things didn't know what was going on and, of course, with an Arabian they can go ON AND ON AND ON... Running it out can take hours for a horse like that.

I also wanted to add that that is one of the reasons I taught my mare a come cue. We practiced that cue A LOT!! Come to me meant safety and love. Maybe that horse was beyond reason, but at the end you could see he was watching his trainer.

OffGridGuy

03-26-2009, 02:59 PM

First, if I was one of the other participants I would have gotten out of my cart immediately and held onto my horse as best I could...maybe even unhooked it right away?
I think they should have done what the announcer was trying to tell them...try to keep the out of control horse on the rail and let him run until he quit.

Yep, I'm with you.. Out of the Cart, unhitch it if you can... Then;

Get to the center, get a STRONG hold on your horse and try and prevent the excited one from crossing thru/between any of the horses who ARE under control.

Instead of trying to brute force stop the horse, I think they should have encouraged it to stay to the outside and just let it run itself out of steam. They could have also pulled their shirts off and become a much bigger waiving flag which would have given them a better chance of being a blocking object. Again though, with that many horses in the arena, first priority is to keep all the others quiet and under control.

They lost focus of keeping the SITUATION under control by being sidetracked by a single horse. It's easy to do in a panic reaction (hence my mantra.. no F'ing Freaking).

root tootin' scoot

03-26-2009, 03:05 PM

Wow!
That went on forever... way too long
I hope the horses and people involved are ok!
That's enough destruction for one day....

Joey A

03-26-2009, 03:21 PM

Instead of trying to brute force stop the horse, I think they should have encouraged it to stay to the outside and just let it run itself out of steam. They could have also pulled their shirts off and become a much bigger waiving flag which would have given them a better chance of being a blocking object. Again though, with that many horses in the arena, first priority is to keep all the others quiet and under control.

Well it's complex problem as I see it. What I kept seeing is obviously scared horses, but scared horses trying to run to the other horses and people more for security, but they keep getting spooked. IOW, I think that trying to keep the horses away would have been futile, since they were coming in trying to re-establish the "herd" security.

What they really needed was a rodeo pick-up man. :p:D

pandorasmom

03-26-2009, 03:31 PM

If I would've been one of the other people in the carts when the first horse started acting up, I myself would've immediately went to the center and got out of the cart. Not set in it like the one lady mid way through the video did. She was just asking for something to happen to dump her out. I too think that people running around trying to stop it weren't helping matters much. I think the last horse that was laying down was almost out of oxygen. I may have been seeing things but it appeared there was some kind of oxygen thing one guy brought to the horse. So did each owner end up paying for their own messed up equipment, and did the horse ever get put back in driving shows again? So many questions...

JackieB

03-26-2009, 03:34 PM

The only thing I could think of to do for sure is not run after a scared horse. It's flight instincts are fully engaged, so that wouldn't help. But beyond that, I don't know that they could have done things much differently than they did.

pandorasmom

03-26-2009, 03:39 PM

Just looked at the link on page 2, nevermind about my questions. :)

Miracle Whip

03-26-2009, 03:39 PM

MontysGirl

03-26-2009, 03:41 PM

wow , that is a very scary situation. Im not sure what i would do but I would have deffaintly unhooked my cart and harness before one the horses were too hit it.

Im so glad all the horses and owners were ok, what happened to the guy who got trampeled?

jeezitsjacki

03-26-2009, 03:43 PM

After looking at the video more, I think my biggest thing that I would have done that was not done in the situation would have been to keep everyone as close to the center as possible, not hanging out on the ends. Also I would have kept the noise down, but in that type of situation where everyone is scared it is really hard to think about what you are doing

Toodlestoo

03-26-2009, 04:06 PM

OMG--I actually screamed a couple of times watching that! My hubby yelled at me to turn it off if it was upsetting me so much. I so glad you put the follow-up in Hayflinger. I was afraid the last horse broke a leg or something. That was intense!

Tiz

03-26-2009, 04:30 PM

I'm impressed by how many of the people in the ring seemed to think a horse wouldn't run over them. There must have been 20 near misses.

What a mess. I hope I would thought to get unhitched as quick as possible, but other then that what could you do except watch, and pray you didn't get hit?

Running around waving shirts and yelling fanned the flames, if you ask me. The horse was trying to come to the center, possibly for protection. It may have been a shorter lived disaster if everyone had just stopped trying to herd it away. I know if I were one of the people in the judge's area, I'd have skeedaddled out of there if I had the chance. Whew, scary.

JennyandJosey

03-26-2009, 04:33 PM

I don't know - I think I would have gotten all of the other carts OUT of the arena, hard to believe the horses kept running into other horses...I was thinking, man, they need to stop feeding these animals grain! UNREAL!

I also wondered if a good COWPONY would have helped any - could the loose horse have been roped? Maybe not if he was still attached to the cart, but what about the one with just a harness??

Getting the other horses out would be ideal, but how do you do that when you have an out of control horse pulling a cart passing between each exit every 20 seconds? I'm not sure it'd be possible.

Vegashorselady

03-26-2009, 04:36 PM

It would have been nice if everyone would have listened to the announcer and kept quiet instead of screaming like idiots. When a horse is scared and running loose with a cart chasing it around there isn't much you can do but keep out of it's way if you can and try not to scare it anymore until it's run itself out. There was only one horse and cart left standing at the end, I guess they win!

Beausgirl

03-26-2009, 04:36 PM

Well - that was very upsetting. I can't hink of another word. Brought tears to my eyes too. I can't imagine being the owner of ANY of those horses, let alone being involved personally - like IN the arena. However - that said - I think the smartest thing to do would be unhook your own horse and try to get out of there. In the heat of the moment - who knows what you would be thinking. The problem is -it's not just a horse running - it's a horse and cart. And the horse isn't thinking about making room or adjustments for the cart. I noticed as well that both of those horses were trying to get back into the "sanctuary" of the herd, but kept getting "shoo-ed" back out. What a horrible experience for every one and every horse involved.

vicklynn

03-26-2009, 04:41 PM

Ya, I saw that on another forum. Im glad the people are horses are ok. I was concerned about that last horse down, but told he was ok.

Kaitlyn

03-26-2009, 04:41 PM

I can't believe either that so many people would run TOWARDS! the horse. Insane, do they have inexperienced horse people there running it or something? That's not the first instinct that comes to most of our minds. I think the remaining horses should have had their carts detached where they were and have the owner and horse merge towards the center, absolutely nuts how many carts were taken out! I would have gotten out as soon as I saw the first horse bucking, because once one bucks, others are likely to follow. See bucking, get out, unhook, and go from there, IMHO.

gaited07

03-26-2009, 05:36 PM

First of all, when they realized (that would be when the horse first entered the arena) that horse was out of control, they should have started getting everyone out of the arena on both ends.
Those people who was sitting in the chair in the arena while a horse was racing radicially around in panic, I'm sorry, they should have had the common sense to get out of the chair and up in the fenced area (lot easier to move out of the way instead of sitting down.

As for chasing the horse around the arena to "stop it" made no sense. They needed that man power to keep those left in the center of the arena safe. And for the guy who thought he was going to stop a scared runaway horse, I think he learned that he is not a block wall or superman. (hope he is okay, but that was freaking stupid!)

sugarsgirl

03-26-2009, 07:32 PM

Oh my, I would have been panicking!
What a horrible thing to have happened.

carla

03-26-2009, 08:06 PM

I agree with Kzeiger (and whomever else may have shared her sentiment).. my first thought would be to get my horse UNhitched from the cart ASAP. That way if he did get involved in the running he wouldn't be dragging a death trap.

I'm sure that would be in an ideal situation, though. Wow. That was almost hard to watch!

Horseaholic

03-26-2009, 08:24 PM

If I would've been one of the other people in the carts when the first horse started acting up, I myself would've immediately went to the center and got out of the cart. Not set in it like the one lady mid way through the video did. She was just asking for something to happen to dump her out.

I was wondering why that woman was just sitting there in her cart but if you read the post from the other forum it states that she is partially paralyzed and thats why you see the man dragging her into the center after the horse dumps her.

zoel_222

03-26-2009, 08:37 PM

That's horrifying. What a disaster. I would've gotten the cart off MY horse before he or she decided to blow up too and gotten it the hell out of the arena. Then everybody just needed to stop chasing the loose horse and let him cool himself off.

valleyrider

03-26-2009, 08:40 PM

That defiantly was a scary situation. When things go wrong fast it is hard to react logically,, but waving shirts and chasing a spooked runaway thinking you are going to grab him and stop him is not logical.

SuperSTB

03-26-2009, 11:09 PM

It was posted on COTH a few times but the video was always disabled everytime I went to view it.

It's hard to say how you would react in such a situation, and hindsight is 20/20 so it's easy to watch it and say- oh this is what I'd do... I actually think everyone did pretty darn well in that video... they got to the center as soon as they could and those that could unhitch did. People tried to keep the loose horses on the rail and I heard mostly people trying to whoa and give voice commands.

I heard all horses and drivers recovered to show again...

TheBadLands

03-27-2009, 12:00 AM

I think that some of the people were INSANE to stay in their carts.... that one lady got reemed... holy moly...

I would rather be on a horse than drive one. That scares the beans out of me.

Maggiepie121493

03-27-2009, 05:56 AM

I'm not going to input anything only because if I were in that situation I think I would had just given up when the second horse got loose.

But, I do have a comment...

Those are some fit horses right there. I don't think my horse could run for that long. Lol

elevenelevenxo

03-27-2009, 06:49 AM

I agree that it's easy to sit at a computer watching a video of this happening....but if you were there in the situation as it was happening, hard telling what any of us would do. Your body would have been reacting on endorphins and instincts and fear....not so much logic, I bet. ;)

I WAS also surprised that so many of those people thought they could simply catch the horse as it blew past them, or that standing directly in front of it would stop it.....I mean logically I suppose getting in front of the horse's shoulder is supposed to slow them down, but obviously this was not a typical situation in the least.

Joey A

03-27-2009, 08:58 AM

I WAS also surprised that so many of those people thought they could simply catch the horse as it blew past them, or that standing directly in front of it would stop it.....I mean logically I suppose getting in front of the horse's shoulder is supposed to slow them down, but obviously this was not a typical situation in the least.

I pulled this off of horseshoes.com, evidently Rick Burten RMF was actually there. He said that guy that got plowed over was the show's EMT attending to the driver of the first horse. If you noticed the driver was on the cart, then came up to the camera out of sight, and when he came back into view the driver was gone.

He said, "[I was] One of the ones standing at the gate and staying the hell out of the way."

Here's what the farriers think about it...
http://horseshoes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9918

twofingers

03-27-2009, 10:01 AM

holy crap!

Beausgirl

03-27-2009, 10:19 AM

A couple of years ago I was ridng in our town's Rodeo Parade, and after the parade, a team of horses (who had been acting up the entire parade route) broke loose from where their driver/Owner had tied them (idiot!) - and pulling a buckboard style wagon, ran across the highway and straight towards where we were standing with our group of 4-H er's. Myself and the other leader told everyone to get off their off horses, as we felt they would be safer than on board as they could just let their own horses go, if necessary. (A couple of the kids were very young and not much for riding skill). But this team actually busted the wagon when they came flying up out of the ditch to cross the highway, then just dragging the front axle, just about ran down a young girl whose dad was putting her brother in their vehicle at the time - missed her by inches. They then carried on and almost ran over another lady walking along the median, it seemed like forever, but they finally stopped when they ran up to a building that was bordered by hedges. It was very scary because there were cars lining the highway as the route had been blocked for the parade and everyone was doing the "mad exodus" routine, and these horses were absolutely blind with fear. My husband and my son were in our truck on the highway, and my husband just told my son to "hold on" and brace for the possible impact because these guys were NOT stopping. They were a draft horse breed - not sure which, but a heavy horse, and they were seriously running blind. It was unbelieveably fortunate no one got run down or hurt by this team, and that the team was o.k. too. The thing that bothered me the most about that whole incident is that the guy who was handling this team was supposed to be an experienced guy - so why would he leave a team that's already hyped up and has been misbehaving and excited the entire morning, tied up - still in harness and hitched to the wagon? If it had been me - I'd have pulled the team from the parade to start with, but barring that, at least unhitched them immediately after getting back to the staging area and loaded 'em up or tied them with good halters and ropes to something sturdy. Makes you wonder what people are thinking sometimes. Or IF they're thinking at all.

Diane of Buck's Hollow

03-27-2009, 12:02 PM

WashingtonBay

03-27-2009, 12:05 PM

Diane, it was reported upthread that all the horses were OK - and most went on to compete in harness again.

Diane of Buck's Hollow

03-27-2009, 01:48 PM

Diane, it was reported upthread that all the horses were OK - and most went on to compete in harness again.

Oh..okay then. I didn't read thru all the post. I'm glad about that! geez!!!

carla

03-27-2009, 03:28 PM

I'm with Diane.. I would want my horse to just be tranq'd! :rant:

sarhound

03-27-2009, 06:05 PM

I've only had one good scare with Prince when some idiot at the Civil War reenactment camp shot a 50 caliber muzzleloader off when I was coming around the corner with a full load of passengers. Prince hates gunfire. He hit the end of the traces, broke the singletree of the carriage, and made it almost a full block at an extended trot (thank God he didn't break into a run.) I was standing up in the surrey by that time, hauling back on him and trying to talk him down. My second thanks to God was offered when he finally put an ear back and listened to my voice. I got him stopped. My stepdaughter was riding with me; she retrieved the chain tug, dumped it in the diaper, and we took it at a VERY slow walk all the way back to the carriage stand. Got my passengers safely unloaded, my boss drove up behind me with the wagonette, saw the damage, and asked me if I could get the carriage back to the barn. I told him "yes," and prayed all the way back that Prince would listen to my voice and stay calm. He did. That's why I love that boy so much. To top it off, I got a $20 tip from my passengers. I wasn't expecting it, and tried to refuse it. They wouldn't let me.

A few years earlier, my boss was driving Prince when the bridle slipped and came halfway off his head. He said Prince took off at a flat-out run with carriage and passengers. All my boss could do was to steer him as best he could; at least there isn't much traffic in that town, and Prince headed straight back to the barn. He stopped at the hitching rail. Everyone was fine on that episode.

I'm just glad my boss didn't tell me about his experience until after I had mine. I would have been seriously distressed if I thought I'd be repeating his trip.

I have a lot of respect for driving horses. It really is an illusion that you have complete control; you just have to hope that the training is good, and the rapport between horse and driver is also good. I can think of at least one of the Belgians and one Percheron that I probably could not have stopped that day. They would have blown me off completely.

John Boy

03-27-2009, 06:21 PM

The only point I'll make - It seemed like a lot of people in the arena. :nono:

prissy18

03-27-2009, 06:44 PM

This happens to have happen at Illinois State fair grounds. Its literally 5 mins from my house. I didnt see this show though. But it has happened before. Its a risk your take driving. I have seen hackneys flip carts and all in that arena. Its crazy. It happens. This is why im so afraid to drive. But i am hoping everyone was ok. At the arena and any show there we usually have a paramedic on site.

prissy18

03-27-2009, 06:47 PM

The only point I'll make - It seemed like a lot of people in the arena. :nono:

its actually alot bigger then it looks so it was safe for all to be there. Most the people were trainers or riders.(or so i think) Like i said hopefully everyone was ok

elevenelevenxo

03-27-2009, 07:20 PM

The only point I'll make - It seemed like a lot of people in the arena. :nono:

It DID seem like there were a ton of people in the arena, didn't it? :huh:

carla

03-27-2009, 08:19 PM

sarhound- wow, your story gave me chills! That is so scary, and I can only imagine how scary for non-horse people.. :( Great job on bringing him down! :clap:

Remali

03-27-2009, 08:22 PM

rocknK

03-27-2009, 10:05 PM

One cowboy with a rope woulda solved that problem quick.:cowboy:

farmers_wife

03-28-2009, 06:26 AM

That is totally crazy.

Joey A

03-28-2009, 08:50 AM

Unbelievable. Bad enough there was one loose horse....but three?! I used to go to the Arabian shows all the time (I still love Arabians, but I hate the way most are shown these days), I started going in the early 1970's to the all-Arabian shows. Then things changed at the shows in the 1980's and things just got worse, I had to stop going because it made me pretty sick what I saw. Not saying any of these horses had been abused or mishandled....but, well, I'll just say I am not at all shocked that this happened. I'm glad to hear the horses were all OK. And kudos to the trainer who roped the horse to get him under control.

I'm pretty sure these are ASB's. But either way, the horses are about the same. :eek:

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that a lot of these horses are "show shod" (pads etc are legal on a country pleasure class) and therefore kept stall bound with no turnout. They're a little "wound-up" (crazy:crazy::rant:) to begin with. Then you keep them in a stall, feed them rocket fuel, and strap a large object to them, it's no surprise they come unglued every so often. Get one scared and running into the others, I'd EXPECT them to all go running loose and crazy.

I still think that they could've used a pick-up man. :cowboy:

prissy18

03-28-2009, 08:59 AM

OMG. What happened to the horse that fell at the end. Is he okay? Dang. I was watching and was wondering if there ever could be a Vet at all these functions , just for such emergencies, that could shoot a tranquilizer? Could that work?

There is usally a vet on seen at shows like this. I know at Midwest charity we have a few vets out there.

WashingtonBay

03-28-2009, 09:20 AM

I'm pretty sure these are ASB's. But either way, the horses are about the same. :eek:

They're Arabs. And from what I gathered from that thread on the Arab board, this was a Regional Level Arab Show, not a local show. None of these horses were green, they're all winners from previous rated shows.

I would not expect any unusual shoeing packages on horses in Country Pleasure, but yes, they're hot horses regardless of what they're fed or what their home life is like. It doesn't take much to create the perfect storm this class became. Once it was set in motion, there isn't much you can do to stop it.