Ah yes the "gator encounter." They either dive into water making a
huge splash which gets most horses fired up. They have been know to
turn and hiss to buy themselves time to slither off. A hissing gator
will do wonders for the demeanor of a horse. Now the hogs they see are
not so bad, it's the ones that run out of the brush between their
legs! Had that happen a few times.
For cougars or more precisely the FL panther, I've seen tracks. I've
had my horse acting like "something was out there" then as saw the tail
of a big cat running in the brush.
I don't even bother to count deer any longer. It is pretty normal to
"race a few deer" during a early morning training ride. For bear, I've
seen one in CO and my horse just stood and watched as she and her two
cubs crossed the trail in front of us. But I am sure given the brush in
FL a FL black bear would provide a little more surprise. I've seen what
I think may have been one running in the brush - but I can't be sure. I
was either a bear or some very harry hunter without clothes ;-).
Truman
Amber B Fort wrote:
The Alligator: entering the cane field on an overgrown rode and
riding bareback. A 12 footer launches into the canal, the horse does
an about turn on his hind legs, 1/2 rearing, me clutching mane and
saying..... well use your imagination!
Hogs and deer are almost mundane compared to the otter and the
gator, however they usually get the biggest reaction from the horse. I
think because we are usually almost on top of them and surprises are
handed out all around.
My current mount, Jerry, has seen so many wild hogs coming and
going that usually he just snorts and keeps going as they run off.
I have actually seen black bear tracks, just hope we never come
across one. I think that covers it for wildlife encounters via
horseback.
-- “Fragile as reason is and limited as law is as the
institutionalised
medium of reason, that's all we have between us and the t
“Fragile as reason is and limited as law is as the
institutionalised medium of reason, that's all we have between us and
the
tyranny of mere will and the cruelty of unbridled, undisciplined
feelings.”Felix Frankfurter
