targetsmom said:
Kicking strap - who uses one? Under what circumstances?
drivin*me*buggy said:
But I just got a kicking strap from Iowa Valley the other day-I have read several times what a good piece of insurance it is.
Bluerocket said:
The Pacific has marathon shafts so the harness has quik release tugs and we added quik release snaps for the traces. Old fashion tie back straps for the breeching however. May change that to quik release as well.
I've got to tell you guys, I learned a few things from the accident I had at the National Drive this year. I brought my kickstrap from home and used it the first few times I drove the lovely VSE I was borrowing because she was green, I didn't know her and I thought it would be good insurance. She was awesome, never offered to buck or kick even though she was very forward and the two of us got along great. It poured rain all Thursday so when it finally cleared up around five o'clock I threw the harness on her in a hurry and took off with a friend, leaving the kick strap at the barn. I should have known this drive was ill-fated right from the start because as soon as we got out on the road she picked up a rock in her foot and of course I didn't have a hoofpick to remove it. One adventure with using another rock to remove the first one later, we were on our way again.
Long story short she was wonderful, slogging through creeks and mud pits with the other mini, going first or last, and perfectly happy to be out with the ridden Connemara. Then as we cantered ahead up a hill on the edges of the Horse Park by the freeway (separated by a white board fence) she exploded. No warning, no apparent cause, nothing, but suddenly she was bucking and kicking frantically and took off at a dead run. She acted like something had stung her on the right hind leg and was lashing out repeatedly as she ran. One of those kicks hit me in the shin and pushed my foot off the roadster stirrup, causing me to lose my balance and start slipping out of the cart. I realized I was about to get caught in the wheel and tried to shove myself over it but it didn't quite work and I ended up under the cart being dragged by the reins around my left wrist. My eyes were closed at that point but I could hear the cart wheel spinning on my raincoat and helmet and all I could think was how grateful I was that I'd been hitched to the Hyperbike instead of a heavy metal cart. I got free and the mare continued to run over the hill and out of sight. The other driver caught up and gave me a lift (I still had the whip in my hand, how funny is that?) and when we finally found her on the other side of this massive field she was stuck in a tree, completely invisible except for the shaking of the low branches.
The rider tied her horse to the fence and took control of the mare's head, calming her panic and keeping her from lunging and rearing as she had been. I dove into the thick bushes and found that the cart had become lodged between two tree trunks, one on the inside of each wheel, and the sudden halt at such speed had caused the singletree to break and come forward. The strain had been so great that after the singletree broke the stitching on the backstrap holding the hip straps in place broke, then she continued forward until the inside-out holdback straps finally stopped her. I was injured (tore something in my right shoulder and sprained my left wrist as it turned out later) so even through the adrenaline it hurt to have to pull on straps. I did have a knife in my pocket for just such a situation but realized gratefully I wouldn't have to use it. Instead of worrying about the entire mess of the breeching, holdbacks, and broken singletree I simply reached up and undid the buckle of her backstrap and let it all fall away behind her. That left only the traces and tugs and the tugs were easy to undo as she had open shaft loops so I could undo one buckle on my side and the shafts were free. The traces were a real problem with my injury and the only reason I was able to get them unbuckled (I couldn't reach the broken singletree) was because the header was able to get the mare to back up and release the incredible pressure she was putting on them. It still hurt enough I was gasping in pain before I was done and cutting the thick synthetic straps would have been just as difficult.
Once free we found the mare had a laceration on her hind pastern that was bleeding impressively and my right leg was throbbing worse with every minute. We didn't have a halter but the other driver had a leadline in her spares kit and we tried to make a tie ring on her cavesson with a heavy-duty zip tie, but that broke and let the mare loose to run again. Fast forward past another amusing chase scene, we had her back and tried to pony her from the Connemara. She took exception to the presence of a gelding and tried to kick him, the rider dropped the lead, away she went again. At this point I was feeling like I was playing lead in a comedy and was torn between laughing and crying as I limped across the field in pursuit. We got her (thank God I've done a lot of liberty work) and I ground-drove her the several miles back to the barn where the vet was called and I was hauled off to the ER for a rapidly swelling wrist.
Horse was fine, I was essentially fine, the cart and harness were even fixable.
Moral of the story? First of all, carry a hoofpick. Second, just because a horse hasn't kicked doesn't mean they won't someday. A kicking strap would have stopped this whole story in its tracks and the worse we would have had was a runaway in a big field, easily steered and eventually stopped without damage. Third, if you don't put a halter on the horse then at least carry one with you. Even a couple of strings of baling twine would have done in a pinch and I could have snapped the leadline to that just fine. Do carry a knife and a cell phone- I had both zipped into an inner pocket and was able to call her owner and could have called 911 for myself had I been alone or injured worse than I was. Take a buddy or at least tell someone where you're going and when you plan to be back so someone notices if you don't return. Put a dog tag on your horse's harness with that same cell number on it so someone who finds a runaway horse can contact you, the lost searcher, and reunite you right away instead of calling animal control. Quick release snap shackles on the trace ends would have helped, but I learned sometimes you can't reach those. I plan to call Janie at Chimacum Tack and see if she can get the quick release buckles for traces like the big horses have, so you can pull out the tab at the shoulder and the trace will spring free. I've never seen the need for quick-releases in my personal harness usage but now I can see exactly where and when I'd want them. I will DEFINITELY be using them for pairs or a tandem as if something goes wrong there you need to get them unhitched muy pronto. I want to be able to just pull three little strings (pole strap and two traces) and have my pair horse unhitched. I do not, however feel the need to add quick releases to my breeching as one little buckle already available quickly releases the whole assembly.
It's sort of like that trailer accident I had a year ago- you never realize what you'll need until it happens!
Leia
