Right of way (was) RE: [at-l] Good trail movies

[askowronek@mindspring.com (Amy)]

I'm not Jan, but I have horses, and I've been a wrangler (read
riding camp counselor) among other things.  My horses have not
tended to spook in a particular direction (i.e. uphill or
downhill.)  More likely they spook forward or back - in which
case you just want to be out of the way.

If anything I'd think a horse would take the path of least
resistance away from anything scary (i.e. downhill) but
then, they still surprise me.  :)

Horses are all different, and I don't think you're going
to find a hard and fast rule for where one is likely to go
whilst spooking.  Playboy might spook back and to the side.
Murphy goes forward in high gear.  Rollin (bless his soul)
would spook in place, but get very close to the ground.
Classy refused to spook at all, but would plow through whatever
or whoever was in her way.  I think it just depends
on the horse (and rider.)

Sorry not to be of more definitive assistance,

Amy


Ron Martino wrote:



> 	One thing I can't figure out. I keep getting conflicting messages on
> whether to go uphill or down. Downhill sounds counter-intuitive - you
> don't want some huge animal freaking out and leaping down on top of you.
> But if horses tend to go upslope if startled, you don't want to be there
> when they do. And you probably don't want them to spook down a steep
> slope, where both horse and rider can get hurt. It would be easier to
> bring the animal back under control if it heads uphill.
> 
> 	I've done a bit of trail riding and packing years back, but I don't
> recall enough cases of the horses spooking to get a good feel for what
> the answer should be. Jan, could you help?