Posted on 07/18/2023 8:54:45 AM PDT by Red Badger
You have to ride a horse Indian style: bareback, no saddle no blanket, no reins, just grab his main and say “Go! Baby!” in his ear. He will always slide move under you so you don’t fall off. He knows you let him run free. You will be one with the horse. Just grab his neck and lean into the wind. Been doing it since I was 6 years old.
That’s how I learned to ride. I didn’t even have a saddle until I was old enough to buy my own. I rode this Appaloosa a lot bareback but not in wagon trains. I have been riding since I was a kid. I miss it. You learn your balance without a saddle.
Here is the thing. They know when you are scared, and a lot will take advantage of that. They can sense it. When I rode this one bareback on the farm, I could guide him with my knees and body language. They are extremely intuitive animals, but they have a huge flight instinct. That’s where people get in trouble. Horses don’t know they are as big as they are and have the instincts of a prey animal. Run first....figure it out later.
Wild animals are unpredictable. While there are many dumbarse tourists who foolishly approach animals, it is not at all unlikely that some Bison just might decide to go after someone 100 yards away for reasons only known to the Bison. Or Moose. Or Bear.....
I used to travel to Wyoming every November to hunt elk on horseback with a guide. He was a younger native and wise beyond his years. He told me that guys like me from the east need to be watched so we don't do anything stupid. I didn't live up to his expectations but apparently the Darwinian behavior is prevalent in east-coast humans. Stupid is as stupid does.
We were about 50 feet from one last month. We kept a fence and a SUV between us at all times.
They are huge. So many genes that should have been wiped out pass on nowadays…
“Imagine a herd of them.”
Especially when indians got close enough to spook them off a cliff, instead of using a bow & arrows to bring some down, for winter meat and hides.
Concur. USMC Base Camp Pendleton has a lot of bison. We never turned our backs on those beasts. They are extremely large, can move very fast and know that they can do about anything they want (not scared of humans). Additionally, if they are in the right environment, you cannot see them until they move.
Many stories and videos and photos and funny cartoons of stupid people at national parks.
Bison traps Yellowstone visitor in restroom ‘like a scene from a comedy,’ video shows
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article277289553.html
Google the video of three wrestlers pulling a 2” rope against a female lion. The lion hardly does anything while the guys are tugging with all their might.
Worked with a lady whose dad had about 20 bison. He built a pasture with welded pipe fencing and no corners so they couldn’t get bunched up & destroy the fence.
Thanks, I’ll check it out.
Imagine having to fight that thing off.
Cue Pvt Hudson from Aliens…
i was a caretaker for a bison ranch- small one, with 15 bison with young calves- the corals were wooden, and when it came time to feed them their grain along the fence line, it was always kinda nerve wracking knowing the bison could bust right through with no problem- the main male woudl always follow us as we grained the dozen bison, and always challenge us as we tried to throw the grain through the fence into the containers-
“I’m 200 lbs, and it doesn’t even phase a horse.”
I grew up working with farm horses. We plowed, disced, harrowed and tilled with a team of horses. Set a 10 inch plow on the ground, slap the reins and tip the plow point into the ground. Your job is to keep the furrow straight and level. At the end of the day you’re tired enough to pass out. The horses pulling the plow just got a good workout.
I also rode a bull…once.
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I did too!
Until it got too expensive to keep feeding quarters into the coin slot on the one at the supermarket.
I take your word for it as an expert on everything horse! All I know is what I read. 😃
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