Hunting and Horses

October 22, 2007 by Capuce.

I’m sorry I haven’t written in a while but I’ll bore you with those details later.  Fall is here, the farmers are finally harvesting corn which means the trails behind my house are coming back to life!  There are some bad things that come along with fall riding that I would like to warn people about and how to protect yourselves against them.

1.     Hunting season

2.     Trapping season

3.     Lack of daylight

Hunting Season:  Yup it’s that time of year again when there’s gun toting camouflaged  men in the woods.  This is not all bad.  Hunters are great people who help keep the wildlife population in check and healthy and I have great respect for them.  Not to mention I love venison!  Anyway, as a rider we need to ensure the safety of those around us by training our horses about hunters.  1. Make sure your horse isn’t gun shy, the last thing you need is to be on a bolting horse when a hunter fires a round off.  2. Orange!  Yes, go all out, make sure they can see you even if you can’t see them.  Orange helmet covers, vets, and even saddle pads are the best.  3. Be heard, now’s the time to practice for American Idol.  Talk, sign, whistle the whole time.  If you’re not much of a signer you can do what I do.  Sleigh bells! They never take a break from jingling and trust me, you can be heard from a really far distance away.  So can the deer and they run away from you!

Trapping Season:  Not many of you have to worry about traps but it is something I have to be cautious of.  I have a rather large coyote pack near my house and the farmers do trap them. I highly advise that if you ride along farmers fields make sure you ask if they trap.  Traps are normally placed along hedge rows so traveling through the field might not be an issue but to take a short cut through a hedge row might get you in some trouble.

Daylight:  Oh why did the government have to mess with daylight savings time?  They pushed it back by another 2 weeks so I’m stuck doing all of my morning chores by flashlight.  Lack of light doesn’t stop me riding though.  I only get to ride 1-2 horses before work in the morning which leaves 1 ride after dark when I get home.  No problem!  My riding helmet is outfitted in reflective red/white tape, my breast collar has a white flashing bike light on the front and tied to my horses tail is a red bike flashing light.  I also wear my trusty reflective orange vest to top off the ensemble.  I’m an equine disco ball riding down the road often under a full moon to help me see better. If you’ve never ridden at night I highly recommend it.  There’s a whole new trust relationship between you and your horse.

Well now that you and your horse are decked as a reflective orange disco ball may you have many happy trails in your hunting season future.

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