On 10/16/07, IceDog <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I think one difference... many of the riders in Iceland grow up on the back > of the horse and a bolting horse doesn't cause the rider fear that it does > in the case of the typical adult beginner here. >
there sure are a lot of riders here who grew up on the back of a horse, and myself, personally, was set on the back of a horse when I was five years old and it bolted and I was too young to be afraid. It ran forever it seemed, in the dark winter night, in the dense woods, I remember clearly the limbs and leaves stinging my face, the wind so strong it made my eyes water. He only ran about two miles and oddly, stopped when he felt me start to fall and was completely halted by the time I hit the ground. I also used to climb into strange pastures and get on horses in the field and ride them and drop down out of trees onto our plow horses back and she would bite my knees. I would also stand on her hocks and hold her tail like a water skier while she ran across the pasture. And I would not describe myself as "growing up on the backs of horses" but as simply a farm kid. I rode a bolted horse again as a teenager and it was not as much fun. I could feel her veering out of control in total panic headed for a wooden fence and it was sorta like helplessly watching my life flash before my eyes til another rider overtook us and blocked her way and got her under control. I guess what I am trying to say is : 1. probably hundreds of thousands more americans grew up on the backs of horses than icelanders, its a simple matter of numbers and; 2. I dont care how good you are, a bolted horse is scarey. I know two men right now who bailed off a bolting horse just before they hit a tree and the horses knocked themselves out. And one of the horses broke their neck and died. Both men are what I would describe as men who gerw up on the backs of horses. I know another man who rode a bolted horse and it went fast around a turn and slid down on him and he lay under him knowing when he started to get up he was gonna kick him in the head most likely and he had to wiggle his legs out from under the thrashing horse. If there are no trees in iceland, a horse can still slide down on loose rock, or like in my area, deep sand. When I ride with people who want to ride fast in deep sand I get so mad cause my horses always want to go with the other horses, all but jaspar, and in deep sand I know they can fall or pull a tendon and fall and be forever lame.... anyway. Janice -- yipie tie yie yo
