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[RC] Just like I read on Ridecamp - newbie reflections - Mel Cochran

I have been lurking and sometimes posting here on ridecamp for a year or so. I really enjoy reading the stories, reflecting on advice that has been given and even the lively debates that sometimes occur.

I just have to say that last weekend at my first ride, I had one of those ridecamp discussions come true for me.

It seems like tales of electric corrals and loose horses are posted fairly frequently here on ridecamp. All of these tales made me decide to go out and purchase a picket line kit instead of the electric corral kit. Well, you can imagine my suprise when I pulled into the ridecamp and Hahira and saw electric corrals everywhere. From all that I had read here, I didn't imagine that very many people used them. I was also amazed that people's horses would stay in such a minimal enclosure. Some step in posts and one strand of tape and the critters were content to stay in! I had started to doubt my decision on purchasing the picket line. My guys have some electric tape fence at home and respect it. Granted, there are 3 strands of it, but still. They know that it will zap them.

So, back to camp...
I had gotten all cozy and comfy on Saturday night after the ride. I was tent camping so I could hear everything that was going on. I was looking forward to getting some sleep since my horse had kept me up the night before with bucket rattling and whinnying almost every hour. She was tuckered out Saturday night so I figured that sleeping would be much easier. I think it was around 1:15 am when I heard a couple of horses whinny and the picketline horses were wiggling around. I laid still a moment and heard galloping hoofbeats. I popped out of the tent and went to fetch halters and a little bucket of feed. Another lady was up too and so we coordinated our effort. Thankfully, the horses settled down fairly quickly (realized that two leggers with food were there). They had their halters on so that made them easier to capture. It never dawned on me that there might be an issue with what to do with the horses once they were captured. There were only two of us up at that point and searching for empty corrals in the dark was out of the question. We ended up sticking them in a roundpen. Once they were secured we headed back to our campsites. One other lady had gotten up and was ready to help at that point. I was amazed that in a camp of over a hundred people, only 3 people woke up! It was windy so I guess if you weren't in a tent or already up, you would never have known. Thankfully the rest of the night was uneventful. I got up early in the morning to make sure that someone knew the location of the escapees and could tell the owner when they woke up.


I think the lesson learned with this one is to keep halters on your horses if you use an electric corral. It will help the insomniacs catch them when they are loose in the middle of the night ;-)

It was pretty interesting to take part in one of the scenarios that I read about here on ridecamp fairly often. I wonder what will happen at the next ride I attend...

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