Yep, I agree having someone ride a bike next to or with a horse works great. So does the "chatting" with the biking folks, and the treats too! I've done two out of three. Now I'll try the treats too!
Anyway I've got a good story about "trail" stuff and spooking! Just happened yesterday to my neighbor. My neighbor and his wife were riding in our neighborhood and were working their way up a slight grade by some PGE grids. The trail works its way around it. Well low and behold, a turkey vulture apparently landed on a wire and somehow got zapped badly, lit on fire and landed on the ground. It made a huge boom! My neighbor and wife were right there! One of the horses was a 3.5 year old and still very green. He said it was rodeo time. Spinning, rearing, leaping, scared horses! Talk about a spook.
I knew what he was talking about cause at that same time I was one the phone with a neighbor and the power went out, then back on. I called him back and he said his horses were looking in a certain direction. He went out and followed their line of sight and also saw another neighbor riding her horse down the trail past his yard. She told him she also heard the "boom" and saw flames and sparks from the tower. Little did we know Irv and Rita had been riding right there when it occured!!! Irv said his horse Sugar was shaking all the rest of the way home. Poor thing, but she did try to control her emotions. And considering she was so young, and he was experienced, they were okay and very lucky. His wife and her horse Kozak were okay. He danced a bit too, but she's a real good rider. He's an arab, and Sugar is arab/qtr. Said it scared them pretty badly too as they didn't know what happened until they got things in control. Then they saw the smoke and stuff.
We had to call CDS and PGE to make sure there was no fire. Luckily, the BBq'ed bird landed on dirt and rocks instead of the manzanita (thank God!) and his friends, the other buzzards had an early BBQ lunch!
