The bite - flashback

I posted this on a forum and have pasted it here, because it's kinda part of the whole process.

9/24/2007 6:58:50 PM

I know this seems like a strange question. First off, I do have to say she bit our 4-year old daughter one day last week. Kiddo was standing at her head petting her, I was standing beside the horse's shoulder. It looked to me like the horse nosed her and kind of pushed her away. She said "she bit me!" I didn't see any place she'd been bitten but had seen the nose shove, so I held the lead up closer to her halter and took a step more towards her head. (I'd been brushing her.) Just as I did this, she bit my daughter's shoulder. I yelled "NO!" and popped her on the muzzle good with my hand.

I don't know if it was a jealousy thing "back away from my mom" or a herd thing "get back little foal." The bite wasn't bad, and very small so it was really just a nip. Not that I think that's at all acceptable. It's just not as bad as I expected on a 4-year old little shoulder. The horse was pissed at me a few days but didn't try to bite again and seemed to get over it. Obviously, that was not an accident - she meant to bite and I let her know that biting is NOT acceptable.

Today the farrier came for the first time since we've had her. She did really well. I was very proud of her. They gave her a 9+ out of 10 for behavior, especially with being only 3-years old. She didn't try to bite or kick, she did try pulling her leg away some but by the second foot was pretty much okay with it. She's not really great with having her back feet handled for very long yet, but will tolerate some and did much better than I expected her to do. Overall, I was really happy with how she did, and of course she gots lots of love afterward.

The vet came literally 10 minutes later for booster shots, she commented on how much more calm she seemed since they had been out last. She did say she was having some discharge and asked me if she was in heat. Turns out she is, and I didn't know. I haven't read anything about horsey cycles.

I told the vet about the bite, she said some mares will get more aggressive when in heat. I totally understand PMS! So she just just be really watchful especially when she's in heat. Again, she did really well and I was awfully proud of her. I spent a good hour or so with her this afternoon a few hours later and brushed her and groomed her and talked to her, etc. I didn't tie her, she just stood and let me do it.

Then tonight I go out to feed her. I had a gallon size plastic canister with her food in it to take out to her, the same drill as every other night. Our retriever started toward me from across the yard. Horse is standing at the back door. Dog is coming right at her, headed for me. The horse does NOT like the dog, and the dog really wants to like the horse. I do know the dog has growled and bit at her several times when the horse got a little too interested in sniffing her. Point being, I know they are still working out their own issues. I'd told the dog to go back because usually the horse will turn her butt and kick out at her and I didn't want her to get kicked. The dog kept coming.

The horse throws her head and bites the **** out of my thigh. I screamed - out of surprise and pain. I've never been bitten by a horse before. The dog turned and ran, the horse backed up, I dropped the feed container, grabbed my thigh and my husband came running. All in the period of about 2 seconds.

I really do *not* think she meant to bite *me.* I think she meant to bite at the dog who was coming at us and I just happened to be standing there in range. Not that it's any better, but I don't think it was intended for me per se.

My husband is livid. He's not at all a horse person. I went inside, sat and cried a few minutes, had my husband get the dog in and I went out and fed her without any problem from her. The bite is bad, the skin isn't broken but it sure looks like it should be. It's very very purple and bruised up almost immediately and hurts like crap. She meant business.

What am I missing? What am I not doing? What should I be doing? Was this just one of those "accidents happen" and hope that my piercing shriek scared her to death and she doesn't do it again? Is this because she had a bad day, is in heat and I was just standing in the wrong place?

I love her to pieces. Her ground manners are usually excellent. She will let me rub her ears, rub the top of her head, she stands for grooming, braiding, comes right to you, halters and accepts the lead rope without any problems. She's grown apparently and the beginning of last week I tried putting the same halter on her 4 times because I was sure I was doing something wrong or it was buckled wrong. I quit and tried another one, same thing - I just couldn't get it up over her ears. She just stood there and let me figure out the halters didn't fit anymore. So she really is very patient and calm most of the time. I just don't know if this is a problem beginning to surface or something else.

A postscript:

She hasn't bitten or even attempted to bite since that incident. I really think that it was just a combination of circumstances all at one time that threw her into a blind rage kind of thing and I happened to be within range.

I did a lot of searching for what horse bites look like, because I'd never had one. I had no idea if you were supposed to do anything for it or not. There was a severe shortage of pictures, which I think is a good thing. But just for the sake of adding one more to the very small number, I took a picture of my leg. This was taken a week after the bite. It is not for the squeamish. You have been warned. Horse bite

Standing in the pouring rain

We'd been out yesterday and it was raining and cold. When we came home, Anya was standing out there in the freezing rain. I have to shake my head because there's no reason for her to be standing in the rain. She has a perfectly nice barn that will keep her dry if she'd just go in it.

Then she had the nerve to look at me like it was my fault she was cold and wet! I know she's a horse, and horses are made to get wet and be in cold temperatures, but it just boggles my mind that she'd actually want to be cold and wet. She really didn't look very happy about it and was sure to shoot me a few dirty looks to make me feel guilty for something I didn't even do.

The smell of poop in the morning

Anya's blanket was crooked this morning and so I went out "just to fix it." Which turned into a good half hour's worth of time spent out with her. The sun was just starting to come up. The stars were beginning to fade. I stood with her a few minutes after fixing her blanket and just laid my head on her neck, smelling her. I wonder if it takes a certain love of horses to be able to just relish in that smell. Or if there are people out there who would think I was crazy for sniffing my horse. There's just something about that horsey smell that relaxes me.

I piddled around a little bit, checked on her water, gave her a cookie, and just stood and pet her. The sun started coming up over the horizon into the sky. There was a soft wind, cool but not too cold, and the smell of horse poop and horse lingered on the breeze. Maybe it's not so crazy to like the smell of a horse if you like the smell of horse poop, too.

For those few moments in time, the sun rising slowly, brilliantly into the sky, the smell of horse, and my horse standing at my side watching the sun with me... It's a moment like no other. Just a peaceful, quiet, beautiful start to the day. I briefly wondered what it would be like to be out on the plains, waking up like that every morning. It felt like we were the only two beings in the world, and the sun was rising just for us.

I have no idea what she was thinking. Probably something along the lines of "gee where's breakfast?" But maybe just for a minute as she nuzzled my arm she thought, "There's nothing like the smell of warm human in the morning."

Back!

I figured we'd work on backing a bit, to see how much she'd respond to. To my astonishment she backed a good 15 feet!

I held the lead rope under her neck towards her chest and just said "Back" and she took a step. So I took a step towards her, "back." She stepped again! I expected a few steps, nothing much. I was so surprised that she went so far. She didn't seem to be at all confused by what I was asking or bothered that I was making her go backwards. I let her stop a few feet from the fence and gave her lots of praise. Times like these, I have no doubt how smart she is, and how willing. Other times...I wonder.

The blankie

Anya actually let me put a blanket on her last night, without any fuss! It's amazing how such a little thing made me so excited. Granted, it's cold. But still!

I made a blanket for her Friday evening, it got really cold and we had 30+ mph winds from the hurricane that skirted the coast. Of course the single tack store we have only had a 70" blanket and I needed a 72" one for her. So I got a really soft microplush something or other blanket. It's like a towel, but silky. I have a robe made out of the same stuff and I love it. Anyway, got that and lined it with fleece. I cut off the velcro front from her 1/4 sheet that doesn't do what I thought it did. Used that for the front closure, and took another doubled piece of fleece and made a belly band that velcro's to the other side. That piece goes from the back of her front legs to the front of her back legs. That's one good thing about having a mare! Don't have to worry about extra parts there.

I had tried to put just the blanket on her originally, to see how it fit, what I'd have to do to it to make it into a horse blanket. She was not at all interested in getting anywhere near the horse eating monster. I held it balled up in my arms and let her sniff it a while. Still no go. I unfolded it, at which point she was sure it was going to eat her. I wrapped it around myself and just stood there a while. She finally came over and sniffed it. It was actually really warm! I took it off and draped it across my shoulder like a beach towel. Now the wind flapped it and she was not very happy. She did come over and taste it though. Woohoo progress! After a few minutes she wasn't quite as jumpy when the wind blew it, so I balled it up again and held it. Then I put a carrot on it and waited until she came to get it. While she was eating the carrot, I moved up next to her shoulder, blanket still balled against me, and leaned into her a little and draped the blanket across her shoulders. She startled a little, but was more interested in the carrot. I slowly rubbed her and spread it out across her back. It didn't stay on long because the wind flipped it and that scared her pretty good. I balled it back up and held it so she could see that it wasn't going to eat her. Gave her a few good pets, let her sniff it and went back inside.

A few hours later, we repeated the process and it went much better. She still wasn't too happy about it but wasn't quite as convinced that I was going to let the horse-eating blanket have her. She actually stood for a few minutes after I got the blanket on her. I think it was long enough for her to discover that it was cutting the wind and she wasn't as cold. Instant reward!

So I pet her all over, rubbing her through the blanket so she could see how it felt. After a few minutes, I bunched it up and took it off of her.

I made the blanket, which took longer than I thought it would. It came out okay I think, given the fact that I had no idea what I was doing and had makeshift parts.

I got it all finished but for the belly piece and took it out. I actually tied her and fed her and put it on her. She was a little not too happy, but that bucket of food kept her distracted enough for me to get it on her without too much fuss. It worked! I just needed to put it on her to see where the belly piece needed to go. She completely jumped when I undid the velcro on the front to take it off of her. She backed up as far as the rope would let her and gave me the look. I held the blanket and let her sniff it and made a note to undo the velcro before I put it back on her. I ran in and finished up the belly piece while she was eating. She was still working on dinner when I came back out. I got it on her with little problem. I wasn't sure how she'd do with the piece around her belly, but she didn't seem to care.

I think by that point she realized that it was keeping her warm and wasn't going to eat her in her sleep. She sniffed the side of it and finished eating. I untied her and she finished eating, and then took a little walk around. She didn't seem to care at all. Now the question was would she leave it on? Or would she rip it to pieces?

I checked on her a few times that night and she was still okay. The next morning she had it on still. It was dirty. I'd actually seen her one time out rolling in it. Everything must have that dirt smell. It had rained a little during the night, and either she went in the barn or the blanket did fine. The top layer was a little damp in places but when I put my hand underneath to feel her, she was completely warm and dry. I was so excited! I left it on her because it was still cold and windy, fed her, and we went to riding lessons.

When we came home, she didn't have it on. She'd managed to unvelcro the front and it was piled up by the door. Amazingly it didn't rip anywhere. I've never had to make anything for a 1000 lb creature before and had no idea if it would hold up. Needless to say, I was pretty happy.

Last night I washed it and dried it and took it outside about 9pm. It was supposed to get down into the 40s last night and was pretty cold already. I went out, no treats, just the blanket. I held it and she sniffed it a minute and just stood there. I thought "nuh uh...." and walked to her shoulder and put it on her. Not even a flinch. I put it around her shoulders, velcro'd the neck, pulled it across her back and reached under her to grab the belly piece. I had that up and was about to velcro it when she took a few steps. I think she thought she was done. I told her "whoa" and she stopped and kinda looked at me like "huh?" I finished putting it on her, gave her a rub and she took a few steps away and circled back. I think she was saying thank you. I rubbed her face and went back inside.

She still has it on this morning so I grabbed a couple pictures.

This, from the horse who was deathly afraid of a lead rope. It feels like a milestone.

After the fall...

I was in bed, almost asleep and my husband laid his hand on my thigh. He quickly moved it and said "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." I guess he could feel the swollen bruise. It didn't hurt all that much and I said "It's okay, it didn't hurt." He was quiet for a few minutes and said "you really could have gotten hurt. He could have broken your leg."

And I realized I had never considered that. I certainly could have had a broken leg from a 1200 lb horse stepping on me. It never occurred to me until he said that. It was kind of a sobering moment.

"Yeah, you're right," I said. The funny thing is, on the way to lessons that day, I'd thought about not wearing my helmet. I knew I'd be riding a well broke horse, my instructor's horse. She knew him, knew his quirks, it was a beautiful day, the helmet's all hot and cumbersome and I wasn't going to be doing anything but going around a ring like I always did.

I didn't say anything about it, and once we got there, I didn't even think about it anymore and just automatically put my helmet on once we started to the ring. I fell on the top left side of my head when I fell off. I'm sure it was bruised, because it hurts worse than my leg. As I was laying there thinking about falling off without a helmet on, the thought then occurred to me "what if he'd stepped on my head instead of my leg?"

This horse was a national winner. He's a show horse, he's used to the ring, he's used to being ridden, he knows his stuff. He's sixteen years old, not a young untrained horse. Jessi had shown him for years, he was her show horse. She knows him. We were just out for a lesson, nothing overly dangerous.

I'll never consider contemplating riding without a helmet again. Nor will my kids ever be allowed to ride without one. Even in a very controlled, predictable situation, accidents can happen.

The thought of my 4-year old sitting on her horse watching me fall, without a helmet and then being stepped on...turns my stomach. Thankfully I had it on, and wasn't seriously hurt, and she had a good laugh at my expense, and we learned first hand the importance of wearing the right gear. But it could have been a whole lot different.

Took a tumble

So, riding lessons today for the first time in what feels like ages! Yay! There's been horse show after horse show, and the state fair, and on and on.

There was a benefit show today, but thankfully not all the horses went. So I got to ride my instructor's horse - Spot. He's an appaloosa, and a big, brown, beautiful spotless appaloosa. She had me wear spurs, which I've never done before.

We warmed up and did some circles and walked around, and started to trot. Did that a few times and once, he just kept going faster and faster. I couldn't get him to slow down. He wasn't listening to "whoa" very well. Finally I got him to stop and Jessi walked over and said "I think you might have had the spurs in him." Crap. I'd totally forgotten about them. I couldn't feel them, I knew my heels weren't on him but I couldn't feel the spurs. Okay, mistake realized. She helped me figure out positioning of my foot so the spurs weren't on him and I was super conscious of them being there after that. We trotted some more and all went fine. Spurs remained safely off his belly and we were doing great.

We rode a while and Jessi looked at me and said "You want to canter?" Woohoo! She tells me what to do, and how to get him to do it. "Drive the outside spur into him and kiss, just keep the spur there till he gets going." Spur again. Okay. I can do this.

We get to the long stretch of the ring, I'm mentally ready, know exactly what to do. I give him the reigns, give him a good kick and hold, and kiss. All hell breaks loose. He didn't go into a canter, he went into some horribly bouncy lope/trot/run thing. Because I've never cantered and had no idea what it was supposed to feel like, I'm thinking "Why would anyone want to do this?!" and I hang on. Sitting the trot is one thing, this was like trying to sit an earthquake. Jessi starts saying "pull him in" and I'm thinking "oh noo... this is just what Doc did." I remember the spurs, make sure that my heels are out of him, actually lost the stirrups in trying to be sure my heels weren't in him. I was trying not to pull too hard on his face because I didn't want him to run through it (ala Doc) and "WHOA" just was not working. We make it most-way around the ring and Jessi says "Bring him in here." She was standing in the middle with my 4 year-old on the old little horse. Surely he's not going to run into them and he'll stop. I guess that's what Jessi was thinking too.

So I turn him into the middle, and he heads straight for Sam's butt. The horse my daughter is sitting on. By this point, my butt is airborne out of the saddle, I'm trying to hold on with my legs, stirrups dangling, we're headed at my child running at a trot/lope. Looking back, I know what happened.

He barely missed Sam's butt because I pulled him back the other way and Jessi had Sam move forward when she realized that Spot wasn't stopping. That moment that I realized that my child was in the path, I didn't care about staying in the saddle. I didn't care about anything but keeping Spot away from her. I'm pretty sure Sam slept through the whole thing.

Once we got past her, I'm not really sure what happened. I'd lost my balance, my butt was popping really high out of the saddle, and next thing I knew, I was on the ground. Head first. I was face down in the sand thinking "Well...okay." Jessi comes running and the first thing she says is "OH MY GOD I'M SO SORRY! Are you okay?!" And I'm laying, looking at the dirt thinking "I have no idea" and kind of taking a mental assessment of where all my parts are. She says "I think he stepped on you! Can you roll over? Are you okay?"

By this point, I've kinda pushed up on my arms and I think all that hurts is my head. Jessi's mom headed over when she saw my butt popping out of the saddle because she was pretty sure I was going down.

I think I'm okay and start to get up and her mom Dee yells "Are you okay? He stepped on you!" I get up and brush the sand off. My daughter is laughing. Dee has Spot now, Jessi's standing there like a deer in the headlights and I'm thinking "Well that was fun."

Dee said he stepped on me, and my leg kind of hurt, but I couldn't tell if it was from the bite Anya gave me, or if it was from falling, or if he had stepped on me. It wasn't nearly as bad as when I got bit, so I was pretty sure I was fine. I took my helmet off and kinda walked a minute and aside from my head hurting, I was good. Dee's holding Spot still and Jessi asked if I wanted to quit for the day. I was okay, I didn't see any reason to stop and said "No, I'm good." Dee said "You've got a kid watching, you have to get back on!" We all laughed and Dee said she'd fallen off a horse when Jessi was about 8. I think she said they were on a trail ride and Jessi was behind her, the horse spooked and she was bucked off and because Jessi was there watching, she had to get back on. It's one of those times you know whatever you do is going to make an impression on your kid.

Needless to say, we took the spurs off at that point. I've never had a problem making a horse go. It's the stopping that I have a hard time with.

Dee had also told me a story a few weeks before about when she backed one of their horses into an electric fence by accident. The horse got shocked, obviously, kicked, and threw Dee over his head. First she landed on the saddle horn, then she went over. He kind of hopped around her and stopped and looked back at her. She said he looked so sorry and was like "Oh gosh are you okay?" Turns out, that was Spot!

She said he kinda danced to try and side step over me when I was falling. My leg didn't hurt near as bad as I thought it should if a horse stepped on me. (Well, and compared to the bite it was nothing.) I wasn't even sure if he had stepped on me until I got home.

My husband had taken our son while we were at lessons, and thankfully he didn't see any of this. I thought maybe I just wouldn't say anything. He's not a fan of horses to begin with. I was okay, no big deal, right? He came back before we were finished and our daughter, in all her four year old glory yells "MOMMY FELL OFF THE HORSE!"

My husband looked at me, sitting up on the horse. Obviously I'm okay cause I'm up there.

He's like "She what?"

And so she yells it again, this time a little bit more enjoyment in her voice. "MOMMY FELL OFF THE HORSEY!" And she laughs! Full out laughs. Then my husband laughs.

I look at Jessi and say "Nothing is a secret in our house."

I trot past and my husband says, "You're going to have to give me the details later."

"There are no details," I said and kept on going. Which of course made him laugh more.

Once I got back on, we worked on "whoa" a lot. He'd been leased out over the summer and the people who had him apparently didn't enforce "whoa." Jessi said he would stop from a full run instantly before, legs splayed if he had to, but whoa meant whoa. We trotted and once I got him to a good stop from a trot, I really wanted to try to canter again. Yeah, I know.

My daughter was done by that point, at 4 years old, she only wants to do so much. I told Jessi I wanted to try it again, but I didn't want to have to worry about her and so Dee took her and Sam out of the ring.

We walked through it again. Heel drive, loose reigns, lean back, kiss. I can do this. Jessi said "If he starts doing that bouncy thing, pull him back in and make him stop." Right, we've got "whoa" again, we can do this.

We come to the corner, headed into the long stretch of the ring. I drive in my heel with a kiss and off he goes. This time, into a canter. Jessi's yelling "Just sit, just sit! Don't do anything, just sit it!" And I feel like I'm floating on air. It was awesome. I yelled "Oh my god!" He didn't do it long before he went back into that bouncy trot thing. (They call it his "trope.") I pulled him to a stop and was just grinning, completely on a high.

"Oh my god that was SO worth it!" I said to Jessi.

"It's awesome isn't it?"

"Oh my god, yes!" It was like a drug. I wanted more. "I want to do it again."

"Okay!" she said. I did it a few more times, each time he held the canter a little longer. The last time he held it nearly a full trip around. When he finally broke stride and started troping again, I pulled him and did a completely involuntary and very loud "WOOOHOOOOOO!!!" I was euphoric. Oh to be able to do that every day!

At that moment, it completely made sense to me why cowboys yell "Yeeehaw!" I walked Spot in, he got some apple and lots of petting and I smiled like an idiot all the way home.

My jeans were full of sand from sliding on my hip. I've never had that much sand anywhere without being at the beach. I looked at my leg and there was a bruise starting. Yep, probably got stepped on. Within a few hours, I had a perfect hoof print bruised into my thigh. Except Spot has front shoes. I think he stepped on me with a front hoof because there's a darker bruising where the shoe would be on his hoof.

I said to my husband in the car on the way home, "If I had to fall every time in order to do that, I think it'd be worth it." He just looked at me like I was crazy. I probably am. But I suspect anyone who has ever felt that feeling would say the same thing.