Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Yesterday was pretty exciting, but not something I ever want to go through again!  I had gone up to Oklahoma to pick up my mare, Honey, who had been in training with Amber Burton for the summer (fantastic job!!!).  Amber had made a comment that Honey could almost be considered "bombproof."  Well, I certainly don't have any doubts that she's got that potential.  We headed out of Dallas around 1 or so, and were merrily trucking down the freeway when the truck suddenly dived left with a loud noise (left front tire blew).  I fought to straighten it out and stop without flipping the trailer (2 horse BP) and we crashed into the cable divider between the northbound and southbound lanes.  We skidded along that for about 50 feet and finally stopped.  My door was wedged shut, but I managed to kick it open and ran to check Honey - who was standing with her head low and feet braced and only a small scrape on her hip.  I couldn't believe after all that, she wasn't hurt more or freaking out or anything!  The truck was totally dented and scraped all along the left side and the trailer had the wheels and fenders ripped off completely on the left side.  There was about 3 inches clearence on the right side, so we were lucky that no one hit us as they zoomed on by.  I called US Rider and they called the State Troopers to help with traffic and sent us two flatbed tow trucks.  My next call was to every friend I could think of that might know someone in the area that could come with a trailer so we could get Honey off the freeway.  Apparently, everyone was out riding, so I finally got ahold of a friend at home and she found a training stables in Richland and the barn manager was more than happy to come pick us up!  (I love horse people!)  With all the traffic, the troopers decided it was not safe to unload Honey on the freeway, but to lift the trailer with her in it, on the tow truck and haul her to a Shell station on the side.  They asked me if she would panic when the trailer was lifted at the steep angle to get it up on the flatbed.  How do you really answer a question like that?  It's not something you can really train for, but she was doing so well, I said that we could attempt it and see how she handled it.  Since there were no wheels on the left side, the trailer went up on the tow truck at an angle and if Honey had moved much at all, it would have pitched the entire trailer off the tow truck!  Honey didn't move an inch!  The tow truck guy deflated the right side tires so that the trailer would sit a little closer to level and tied it down good, then we hauled her off the freeway, backwards down the entrance ramp and into the town of Richland, where they then lowered the flatbed and got her out of the trailer.  Honey came out, looked around nervously, then just stood there calmly while we waited for her ride.  I was soooo impressed with this girl!  She's only 5 and her trip up to Firedance Farms was her first time to leave home and she only had a couple trailer rides under her belt.

 

  US Rider was great.  They kept calling back and kept tabs on the situation the whole time.  Definitely a better experience with them than with Triple A.

 

 

Rae

Tall C Arabians - Central