One Lucky Horse
February 8th, 2010 by michelle
Liz posted this video today on her site, Equine Ink. The horse actually FELL OUT of a moving trailer and somehow managed to survive. A fellow driver caught the action and videotaped it. It is heartbreaking to watch them try to load the horse back onto a trailer to get medical care. It is like my worst nightmare come to life.
Have any of you had a bad hauling experience? Touch wood, I have been relatively fortunate given the amount of hauling that I’ve done. We’ve had a couple of close calls, but nothing like this ever before. I hope they do a follow up on this to determine exactly what caused this unfortunate incident.
Thanks to Liz for posting on this story!
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Arlene - February 8, 2010 at 2:14 pm
I’m glad the horse didn’t sustain any life threatening injuries in his fall and subsequent run down the highway. The poor thing was terrified to get back in that trailer and i don’t blame him. I can’t believe that #1. the trailer was doing 60 m.p.h. in the first place with a horse in the back and #2. to have him fall out and not even know it, well I would guess that ‘nephew’ is a sort of a jerk. I hope they don’t let him haul horses anymore.
Knock wood I haven’t had any bad experiences hauling and I did quite a bit. The again before every outing I thoroughly checked my trailer equipment and drove at reasonable speeds to ensure the horses’ safety in the trailer.
Katie - February 8, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Oh my god that just broke my heart! That poor horse. This is the exact reason why I am really particular about who trailers my horse and why I am usually in the cab of the truck or following behind in my car. A seasoned person who trailers would have felt the shift in weight when the horse came out and would have known something was wrong.
Laughing Orca Ranch - February 8, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Exactly! How could you not feel that immediate loss of weight back there. Wow! Poor horse. I would never blame that horse for having trailering issues in the future. It’s mind boggling what horses will do for us crazy humans. I think more people should take a long ride in the back of a trailer before they even consider towing a horse, don’t you?
~Lisa
Kristen - February 9, 2010 at 12:24 pm
omg…so hearthbreaking!!!!!!!!!! I can’t stand hardly watching two seconds of this video, just can’t handle it without thinking of my boy. For that exact reason, I’m so glad that I watch over my boy. Poor baby…I hope he lives a safe rest of his life and doesn’t have to be trailered again by his owners. How would you NOT know!? Ugh!
Arlene - February 9, 2010 at 6:12 pm
That was very difficult to watch. Heart wrenching. Hurt and scared, it looked cruel to watch with what force they loaded that poor horse back on that trailor. Very sad.
michelle - February 10, 2010 at 9:12 am
Arlene, I hate to judge anyone without knowing the full story of what happened, but I really think you’d have to NOT be paying attention to not feel the loss of a horse you’re hauling. We were once hauling a horse that partially kicked out the back door of our trailer and believe me, we felt it instantly. Within minutes we were able to get pulled off to a safe place and deal with the situation. In his defense though, I have read on forums that some people DO have trailers that they claim they can’t feel anything going on back there. Some people actually had cameras installed so they could keep watch because not feeling freaked them out. I still don’t really understand how no one flagged this guy down, even if he didn’t feel the horse fall out. How is that possible?!?!?
michelle - February 10, 2010 at 9:14 am
Katie, at least the story had a happy ending. I am always really paranoid about having my horse hauled anywhere, for so many reasons. I am much more comfortable behind the wheel of the rig than anywhere else.
michelle - February 10, 2010 at 9:16 am
It is pretty amazing in general, isn’t it Lisa? I’m not too sure I would willingly climb into a dark box to be bumped and rattled down the road for anyone! I always try to remember that horses do so many unnatural things for us, and take that into consideration all the time when dealing with them.
michelle - February 10, 2010 at 9:26 am
Kristen, this was so heartbreaking. I hated watching them trying to force him into the trailer – on one hand I was rooting for them to get him to a safe place as fast as possible before something else bad happened. On the other hand, he was so terrified and the fact that he even willingly got that close to a trailer again just made my heart hurt.
michelle - February 10, 2010 at 9:31 am
Arlene, it was so hard to watch that. And when he fell as they were trying to load him, my heart skipped. I was so afraid he’d break loose and take off running again. It was hard to watch them forcing him onto the trailer, but there wasn’t much else they could do. Poor thing had just had a traumatic experiene and was in a location that would have freaked most horses out on a good day. At least they seemed to be familiar with handling horses and hopefully they got him to a vet quickly to get treated.
Laughing Orca Ranch - February 10, 2010 at 5:23 pm
PS Guess what? I’ve tagged you! Come over to my blog and participate, or I’m going to send you some of our snow! hehe!
~Lisa
michelle - February 11, 2010 at 8:57 am
Hmmm….I’m intrigued, Lisa! On my way!
Lisa - February 18, 2010 at 10:28 am
Well my feelings were similar. How could not feel that he fell out? And I too tend to drive pretty slowly when I’m hauling (but then, I tend to drive pretty slowly anyway…). Thank goodness nothing happened to him, but what a very scary situation.