…evil entity!
http://www.riders4helmets.com/2014/01/why-wear-a-helmet-in-case-your-horse-scares-everyone/
Like some people, some equines just have that ‘I’m a badass, get the hell out of my way’ aura.
…evil entity!
http://www.riders4helmets.com/2014/01/why-wear-a-helmet-in-case-your-horse-scares-everyone/
Like some people, some equines just have that ‘I’m a badass, get the hell out of my way’ aura.
Hooves 
Good timing. Had a recent group trail ride with our guest of honor being a Gypsy gelding. One horse was so terrified that her owner had to hang back and miss the ride. Is it the hair? The color? Too funny!
On another site, a few commenters were suggesting that horses were wigged out by the pony’s fluffly forelock covering his face. Hilarious, anyway. I had a gelding who was unflappable in most respects but terrified of minis, so I empathize. I boarded him at a barn that rented the arena to a mini club one weekend a month for clinics, so you’d think my horse would have got used to the minis, but nope, as far as he was concerned, the barn was invaded by terrifying aliens showing up in small horse trailers the first weekend of every month.
On another note, can I please live somewhere with nice trails and that many other horse people?!
Ha! Just had a mini join the ranks here and the same mare terrified of the Gypsy was terrified of him too! They are now fast friends but the first few days she was a wreck. He also has a fluffy forelock and mane….
Feel free to join us! I’m very lucky to know a great group of mid-lifers who want to compete AND trail ride. And cook. We ride, we eat, we ride harder to work it off then eat because we’re hungry from all the exercise! They left me with half a chocolate truffle cake Friday night….they are evil.
You should consider putting together some Competitive Trail events in your area. Great combination of competing and trail riding with an emphasis on conditioning and horsemanship.
I would LOVE to do competitive trail, I showed in a Versatility class last year and like the idea of the course but would like something out of the ring. If I had the time, I’d be all over it.
Sounds great. I actually have a great group of adult ladies that I ride with, but we live in a part of the world where those “polar vortex” temperatures that had everyone freaking out, are just called “normal winter”. We spend a solid six months of the year trying not to go stir-crazy in a heated indoor arena. Currently, it’s not even that cold, but warmer temperatures just let the snow melt enough that it can re-freeze into solid ice. I’d need to fit my horse with ice-skates to try the trails. So while I was laughing at horses freaking at that pony, I was also feeling jealous of people out for a ride through the countryside, meeting up with others (sigh).
Funny. Right after I read your post, I loaded one of my horses in the trailer so I could go ride in an indoor! We’re in another melting stage – ring ices up at night, mud bog during the day. Diving into the single digits at night for the next week.
That was my first thought…that wild forelock. Made him look like a very different creature.
I’ve told this story before, but some may not have heard it:
Many, many, many eons ago….there was a grey Stbd stallion, who’d turned quite ‘white’. (As many may know, grey/roan Stbds are quite rare and certainly even rarer are ones that go very white.) Anyway, this stallion was stabled at a big JC track.
Every fall the track would be full of yearlings starting their training. Since this was a large track, at any given time you might have 5/6 dozen yearlings going around, some with extra handlers, all very green and learning how to pull a jogger in a ‘somewhat’ straight line.
And without fail, the owner/trainer of this white stallion would wait until the track was full of babies and then come roaring onto the track to do a training mile (opposite direction).
It was like watching Moses part the Red Sea. Yearlings would see this white ‘thing’ coming toward them down on the rail and scatter in all directions.
The funniest thing, though, was to hear all the other people screaming and cursing at the owner, while he drove by cackling.
YES!!! I want to know as well where this great riding trail place is. Such a great trail and soooooooo many other people riding. What a treat!
These trails are in the Campbell Valley Park in Langley, B.C. just east of Vancouver . There are multi-purpose trails, including about 8-10 miles of horse trails. There are cross country areas, riding ring and many horse properties in the area. Many people trailer in for the day. The park is under regional park authority, but there is a group that works to maintain the equestrian aspect – Campbell Valley Equestrian Society. And with this area of Canada’s moderate climate the trails are available year round.
https://scontent-a-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/544053_547477665285856_1065028234_n.jpg This is a little waterfall we ride to. We can go out the back of my property, through 15 minutes of woods, down a quiet road 1/4 mile, another road 1/4 mile or so and then turns to dirt. University property so hopeful it never gets developed. It’s an hour and a half loop, perfect ride in the winter after a snow fall. We can also go another 2 miles of road to another 500 acres of University property, climb an old ski lift trail and run up the hayfields then back into the woods and home. These aren’t groomed trails though. They can be hilly and rocky and require a horse to pay attention to where the feet go – but then again, they’re ‘trails’ not dirt roads. They will put a butt on anything!
“Wigged out”? 🙂 I agree the pony has a fright wig on his head. Thinning it out might calm the other horses down. What a funny video.
Hehe! Good description: wigged out.
Not to brag, but I live in one of the best trail riding areas that a city dweller could ask for. The only natural river left, and heavily protected. Only hikers and equestrians allowed. Thanks to municipal water sources, water runs year round. You can ride from the ocean to the Pacific Crest Trail. On weekends, you can see many fine andalusian and fresians that the local charro riders prefer. Weekdays, you can pretty well ride by yourself. Down in the river bottom surrounded by trees and bushes, you can’t see any civilization much of the time. Combine that with the mediteranian climate, and you can see why I don’t go stark raving mad living in the city.
Ah, I *thought* that looked like the Pacific Northwest.
Campbell Valley Park is also the site of the Spirit of the Horse Garden – full of memorials and tributes to individual horses. It is also under the Regional Park Authority, but is maintained by the Langley Horse Federation. Langley calls itself the Horse Capital of BC, and Campbell Valley is basically at its heart …
Thank you! I have visited Langley to show at Thunderbird, and have heard of Campbell Valley Park but never ridden there so I didn’t recognize it in the video. Lovely area to be a horseperson. Hmmm, maybe I can manage a day-trip to Campbell Valley to trail-ride on a non-showing day the next time I do T-Bird.
Funny video! I’ve got a small Welsh pony that is forever being bugged by other horses, who all want to be her best friend (for some unfathomable reason)! Unfortunately, she hates all animals that haven’t been slooooowly introduced over the course of several weeks, and thinks nothing of charging anything that gets in her way…
Wish I had places to hack out like that; over here everything’s just full of water and roads are the only places you can go.