Re: [RC] Descanso Almost A Disaster - Lynelle Robertson
What an incredible story. It does make one pause how very quickly the tables can turn and how calmness and quick thinking can turn a diaster into a great save.
--- On Tue, 6/17/08, Don Huston <donhuston@xxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Don Huston <donhuston@xxxxxxx> Subject: [RC] Descanso Almost A Disaster To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 9:20 PM
The ride started at 6am and everybody was moving along smoothly until
just past the photographer at 7am. We were on a single track, windy,
rocky, technical trail that crossed a creek several times. At the
first creek crossing Doug and I came upon a horse tied to a tree, a
woman sans helmet, soaking wet, covered in mud, appeared hurt, very
upset, saying her horse was down, couldn't get up, very scarry stuff,
disaster #1 has struck. I asked where was the horse and she pointed
to a man standing in the bushes holding a rein that disappeared into
a hole. I got closer and could see one hind hoof waving up in the
air, not a good sign. The bushes were 6 feet high, very dense
stickery things like a briar patch and I could not see anything of
the horse. I started stomping bushes and moving forward. The guy with
the rope said I was almost stepping on the horse's head but I saw
nothing. I brushed my foot sideways crushing the small dense plants
and there was the horse's nose, all cut and bloody sticking up even
with my boot at the edge of a narrow deep gully. The horse made a
feeble attempt to wiggle free then laid back breathing fast, didn't
look good but I had seen worse and tried to assure the woman that we
would get her horse out. I reached down and started removing tack,
bit, hooked the rein to the halter, martingale, breastcollar, the
horse didn't move and was breathing fast and quivering. The guy with
the rein was at the rear and above the horse in a good place to keep
the horse from kicking me by keeping the rein against the rear hoof
so I got down in the gully next to the horse's shoulder. The saddle
was mostly out of sight jammed down in the mud and water. The horse
was sort of on his left side against a nearly vertical dirt bank,
front lower than the rear, all 4 hooves in the air with his back and
right side tight against a big 4-5ft dia smooth rock. I could see all
of 3 legs and part of a 4th and they looked okay so I figured once
the saddle was unhooked the horse would be able to thrash itself free
assuming his back was not hurt from hitting that big rock. There was
only one place for the horse to go and that was toward the rock and
me so I released the offside billet and scrambled out of the gully.
The horse didn't move. We poked him a little and slapped him with the
rein and he made a feeble attempt then laid back. The lady was really
scared now but I told her that her horse just didn't know that he was
free yet just wait. Less than a minute later the horse made a move
rolling toward the rock and really came alive, thrashing to get his
hooves under him and struggled up the bank stopping next to us. We
all cheered and the lady's tears changed from worry to joy. I asked
the other fella to help me pull out the saddle and it took both of us
pulling really hard to get it up out of the mud. It appears that the
saddle was what was holding the horse in the gully. My GPS showed
that I was there for 26 minutes but it seemed longer. During all this
time my buddy Doug rode back a half mile to the highway to find help.
He flagged down a crew vehicle going to vet#1 and they got word out
and sent a rescue trailer back. We loaded the tack on the horse and
the lady walked back to the highway, trailered to the vets and the
horse was found to be only bruised and sore.
I'm sorry that I did not get any names (see photos below) but I did
get some info on how this wreck came about. Lady #1, the one we
helped, was riding with lady #2. Lady #2 was in the lead and her
horse made a wild jump over the creek and up into the trees at which
point lady #2 bailed off and her horse went crashing cross country
with her chasing it on foot. Lady #1's horse got spooked at all the
commotion and spun around in the narrow creek crossing, lost its
footing, fell in the creek at which point lady #1 comes off getting
wet and muddy. Her horse tries to run off but keeps falling into the
narrow deep gully that is hidden with bushes, keeps thrashing around
and finally drops out of sight with a squeal, her words, not a good
sound that squeal. The guy with the rein was already helping when
Doug and I got there 2-3 minutes after the wreck and you know the
rest. Lady #2 returned to check on her friend just in time to see the
horse get out of the gully.
Lady #2
http://annielibbyphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/5163986_4wGAe#313447191_v7EXy
Lady #1
http://annielibbyphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/5163986_4wGAe#313447617_ZzEKs
Guy with rein
http://annielibbyphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/5163986_4wGAe#312999286_46zLb
Doug rode for help
http://annielibbyphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/5163986_4wGAe#312999952_FCAq8
Me before disaster #2
http://annielibbyphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/5163986_4wGAe#313001030_qzja7
Well you might remember my new motto "To Eat Is To Win" and I'm
currently "Undefeated" for dinner but on this ride I came very close
to missing my first dinner since 1996. After lunch I was tailing up
Middle Peak Fire Road, a crooked, rocky, 2 mile long steady climb of
1100ft which is a 10% average grade. My horse was feeling good and
kept trying to trot but I was tired and kept pulling him back to a
walk. I should have got on but oh no, I needed the exercise. Probably
a half mile from the top during one of the many "horse yanks me into
a trot, I pull his head with the rope and say whoa, we continue
walking" he yanks me completely off my feet and my grip on his tail
turns out to be stronger than my right shoulder joint and disaster #2
has struck. After lots of yelling and ramming my shoulder into my
horse's chest my shoulder joint went back in. That could have been a
semi-happy ending because I was still able to trot some and we were
making good enough time to still finish the ride but of course
disaster #3 was coming....I had to pee. I had been riding for about
an hour after the initial injury and had taken 2 Alleve and the
shoulder was just a deep dull ache so I got off just fine using one
arm. I'm right-handed and managed the zipper and other things and was
feeling not too bad. I started to get back on, got some mane and
reins in the left, reached up and grabbed the cantle with the right,
pulled and all hell broke loose. My shoulder popped out in front and
looked like it was coming out of my shirt pocket. I was yelling and
ramming my shoulder into my horse again but it wasn't working. I
don't know what made me try it but I arched my back, looked at the
sky, pulled both elbows toward my back and the shoulder went back in
the socket. Not only did the pain lessen a lot but all that yelling
stopped and my ears quit ringing. Lucky for me my horse and riding
buddy Doug did not spook and run off so I found a really big stump,
Doug held my horse and I just stepped on. Trotting was not fun
anymore and another rider, Ron, whose horse was just not right agreed
to walk the last 4 miles into vet3 with me so Doug could continue on.
We made the 3:45pm cutoff and of course my horse vetted thru perfect
so we got a ROS, S for stupid or shoulder, whatever.
End results, no injured horses, no broken bones, no ambulance ride,
I'm still undefeated for dinner even left handed and my Marquis
Performance Glueon boots were perfect.
Don Huston
donhuston @ cox .net
SanDiego, Calif
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