Rampaging Animal - Scenario

D

Duxman

New member
True story: Just happened to my friends in an equistrian event in Leesburg, VA:

You are enjoying a beautiful Sunday morning in Leesburg Virginia watching an equistrian jumping event. You are tailgating with your family, kids, and 2 more couples.

Suddenly a jocky falls off his horse, and the huge animal goes out of control and starts running uncontrollably towards your family endangering the lives of 3 toddlers, wives, and 2 puppies. The horse is exactly 40 feet and charging straight for you and your family. The fallen jockey is not exactly behind the animal but there could be civilians (unknown at this time) on the backside of the rampaging horse.

You have your CC weapon on you, plus if you carry a car gun, its in your vehicle.

My friend was unarmed, so he started waiving his arms and shouting to distract the horse. It broke through the protective wall, stepped on his ankle but he was able to divert it enough that it did not charge the kids and wives plus the puppies were safe. :p

IF I were the person present, I probably would have drawn my CC weapon and emptied the magazine (8 rounds of .40 S&W) into the animal at point bank range (at a downward angle) and then dived out of the way. :eek:

Gentlemen your thoughts?
 
no way... far too many people around, and that horse is worth more than i have.

there has to be a better answer... throw chairs, duck and cover etc. pick the kids up so they cant get trampled and hope for the best.

besides, anyone gets hurt, and you would now own a new horse
 
Thats subjective, was there cover around? Maybe you could get into your car, especially since they were tailgating. I think the easiest thing to do would be to get into your car. I will save you from legal trouble. I don't think the owner of that horse would be too happy if you killed their horse.
 
I don't think a 40 ,unless you get a very lucky shot would do much to stop a rampaging horse. Remember that the military picked a 500 gr 45-70 load to stop indians' horses !! The best thing to do would be to get out of the way.
 
You guys are correct. Rethinking my potential acions, I would probably help get the kids out of the way and into cover. Thanks for the input. :)
 
Shooting at a downward angle?

You can't shoot a rampaging horse at a downward angle if your on the same ground level it's on. If a horse is just running scared, it will do a fair job of avoiding obsticles. Any damage will be in passing and though very frightening, hopefully not tremendously serious. The best thing to do is get out of the way, or do what your friend did to protect others.

The seriously dangerous horse is an angry horse. You can tell this by his trying to paw or kick. He can only kick you if you're too close behind him and ususally will only try once or so. If he's really ticked he'll face you and paw at you with the front feet. This is DANGEROUS. If he raises up on his hind legs to paw you with the front feet, this is REAL DANGEROUS and it's time to shoot, not just once. This time, however the angle of choice is upward. I'd go for the neck, just below the skull, through the throat. If you have enough gun, this ought to work. (If you have enough gun).
 
Well, as a life long horseman, I can only say you'd have to shoot me too, 'cause gentlemen, there'd be smoke & fire coming from my nostrals. OK, this is just a scenerio, so calm down Charlie. I understand that a lot of people don't know horses, so here's the reader's digest version. Except for among themselves, horses are among the most benign animals going. They are almost always flight, not fight animals (at least with people). The only times horses become aggressive with people is when a mare is protecting her foal, and a stud protecting his mares. There are other rare cases, but these usually involve neurological problems. Some with spirit learn to hate people if they've been abused. I wrangle horses (on the side) for a 4200 acre ranch with over 200 horses, including studs. The studs have never bothered me, and only one mare has really tried to bite me, and I was handling her foal (imprinting). I've round-penned hundreds of horses and a lot of 'em rear and paw early on, but simply throwing my hat in his face has always been enough to back them down. This is almost always a fear reaction, not anger. A horse's body language is rich and complex, but the one easily recognizable sign of an angry horse is the ears pinned flat back. I'm not talking about just facing backwards, I mean pinned tight against his neck. There's others, but that's the easy one.

So much for equine behavior 101. In your scenerio, your kids are at risk. Thoroughbreds are a fiesty and high strung breed, and a lot of race horses are studs. I agree that no matter what, no matter who, no matter how, no matter why, family ALWAYS comes first! Step in front of your family, rip off your shirt, jacket, anything you can wave around, and wave it over your head and in front of you like a wild man. Unless the horse is blind or frightened beyond all reason, this WILL work! Besides, like somebody else said, unless it's a county fair race, registered Thoroughbreds from winning bloodlines START at 6 figures and sometimes go to 8. Payroll deduction for a thousand years, anyone? :eek:
 
Thanks, Capt Charlie ;)

I couldn't believe that anyone would think they would need to shoot a frightened horse, but I guess that's how far most people are from the country anymore. :(

I would probably try to calm the horse down instead of scaring it more ...
 
Just Curious

What would be the "calm down" method for a horse charging you & yours at 40mph with people screeming in all directions?
 
The headline would read: "Crazed Gunman Opens Fire at Family Event; Kills Valuable Horse and Causes Widespread Panic"
What Capt Charlie said is absolutly gospel.
 
Trip 20

The reason that the horse is going 40 mph is BECAUSE of those screaming, running people. It's going to take time and quiet to calm that horse. IF you could grab the reins (doubtful at that point), you could stop him... if you know what to do with the reins (grabbing & jerking them would just make the situation worse). Reins and bit control the head. Control the head & you have control over the whole horse. Horses respond to very subtle body language in people. If you're movements are quick and jerky, forget it. All but an old nag or experienced trail horse will shy and pull back every time. The trick with the reins is to go WITH the horse, applying only slight, intermittent pressure to slow him, and releasing the pressure when you gain compliance. It's called check and release. Believe me, you can't fight a thousand pounds of frightened, solid muscle, but a calm voice and gentle hands can do miracles with a frightened horse. A horse will almost always take the path of least resistance. He'll try for the most open path through the crowd he can find. In the mean time, track officials know this can happen occasionally, and will have people enroute to handle the situation. In any case, there's no way you can justify shooting that weapon in this situation.
 
I'm no horseman, but I know horses are prey animals (hunted by other animals) and their main defense is their speed. So they RUN! They don't want to trample you; you'll slow them down. They want to get away. Substitute the horse for a wild turkey and you'll get the picture. (Any turkey hunters out there?)

Now, how about a different story, only this time with an angry dog.
 
Or how about a scenario with Green Aliens from Pluto...running wild, trying to force feed fresh fruit and vegetables to all the humans they come into contact with....and you happen to be carrying your fully auto M-16 along with ten 30 round magazines!! Oh, and you happen to have in your backpack, a Titan Missile Launcher with a Nuclear warhead that can MIRV into 8.
 
For the horse situation:
If it's more trotting then running, i'd probably get ahead of the children 10 yards or so and try to grab the reins to stop it while talking to it in a soft, gentle voice which would help calm it down. But if it were full blown charging me, and i just knew that I, and my family too, were going to get trampled, i'd probably fire off 1 or 2 rounds into the air to try to re-direct its path. I dont think i could shoot a horse.

Dog situation:
Well, theres no way in hell your going to calm a pitbull, or any other dog bred to fight using a soft, gentle voice. The keyword in that sentence was, incase u missed it, bred to fight. And you aren't going to outrun one either. So i guess i would look for the nearest cover and make an attempt to get to that. If that failed and i found myself on my back, or if there was no cover, a warning shot over its head, and only if i absolutely HAD to, a shot in its chest. If my family or any kids were there, a shot over its head and then a kick in the head, then wait to see what it does after that.
 
Capt Charlie

Thanks for the lesson on horse behavior. You've no doubt forgotten more about horses than I'll ever know.

You had no need to convince me not to shoot the horse. That, for me, would always be the last resort for any animal.

I just thought the whole idea of "calming down" a horse in the scenerio which started this thread, was a tad humorous...

In this scenerio it's already too late to calm the horse down. It's already charging full speed, crazed out of it's mind - and like you stated - it's due to the ensuing chaos of people, kids, and madness (again this is something I would agree with using basic common sense).

To think you can stand idly still while it runs close enough so you can then gain mastery of the reins (again, in this scenerio) is something that is quite impossible (at least to the average-joe) and quite funny.

I'm not going to sit the horse down in front of an episode of Dr. Phil and ask it what the matter.

I'm going to get my kids scooped up, my wife in tow, and behind whatever obstacle I can find in close proximity.

I'm not pulling out my weapon until I know there's nothing left to do. Same as I would do in this scenerio with a dog, pig,...etc.
 
Trip 20

Reasonable, sensible, and true. Besides, I don't think the horse would fit on Dr. Phil's couch. :D There was actually a segment on one of those amazing video programs where this happened a while back, and someone did manage to grab the reins and stop the horse, but there's no doubt anyone trying it would be at considerable risk. I think that would have to be a split second and opportunity call.
 
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