my psycho gelding ripped me to pieces

So we thought that since I hadn't been to the barn to ride or even give lessons in two weeks, it would be a good idea to spend the day riding. This was a great idea in theory, if it hadn't been for the "You should ride outside" part. I've been dragged by Hawke before in similar situations when I lunged in the past, but never injured before. 
 My friend wanted me to ride outside because she had to stay in the car to do her work and its a barn rule that two people have to stay together. Whenever the weather changes, Hawke just goes NUTS i mean, NUTS, and today was a really gorgeous day even though it had been freezing for like the past two weeks. 
So Hawke was giving me a bunch of grief just tacking up and I'm thinking "This isnt gonna end well."  This random horse that just moved here bit Hawke on the butt and I think, "This really isn't gonna end well." Horses start neighing to him from the paddocks and I'm thinking, "This. Isn't. Going. To. End. Well." I think that knowing that it wasn't going to end well helped what happened next not hurt as much as it could've. 
Since i felt that the day was not going to end well, I figured that if it wasnt going to end well, Id rather not fall 5 feet to the ground when it didnt, so I decided to lunge until Hawke calmed down. Since in the past on days like these he took off when I made him canter outside, I took it easy on him, just making him trot for a while. He seemed to have forgotton how to lunge though and kept going the wrong way. We were moving a little too close to the fence and he was cutting off part of the circle when he trotted, so I moved him steadly closer to the middle, though not all the way because whoever had used the arena last left out all these poles and crap, (it bugs the snot out of me when they do that.) So everything was going pretty decent considering everything but he wasn't reacting the way he usually does after weve been lunging for a while (head lowered, licking lips, one ear towards me.) So I kept a tighter grip on the lead. 
Something must have happened, (honestly i am 99 percent sure that these two show horses spooked him. They've done it on purpose before. They were already bucking and neighing when we got out there.) and well, he took off like a bat out of hell, and he took me along with him. See if we had been inside and this had happened, which it probably would not have, I would have just let go and caught him when he calmed down, but the outdoor arena for some reason has this one hole in the fence where they TOOK OFF THE GATE. For crying out loud I have NO IDEA WHY. So he was headed straight for that gate so of course I'm holding on for dear life (my friend saw me from the car. she said it looked like i was water skiing XD) and he's just bucking and charging in circles dragging me with him. I stuck my leg out and was really slowing him down. He paused for a second and I thought I was in the clear, scraped knee, but non the worse for wear, when those two blasted horses in the next field took off again, neighing at him. I was using one of those poles for leverage to hold Hawke down, when he bucked and started charging AGAIN. This time the rope was ripped (all 15 feet of it) through my clenched fists, giving me THE WORST rope burn I've ever seen on anybody. Like no joke I no longer have finger prints on my left hand. They burned off. I would have kept holding on if i hadnt seen the chunk of my finger that got ripped off. I thought : i should probably let go now." so thats what I did. Fortunatly he didnt run into the road and stopped by the horses that started the whole thing. I lured him back with a carrot, had my friend untack him because i coulnt move my hand, made a big show of feeding his carrot to another horse, and put him in his stall instead of the paddock where had had been. 

Hawke is usually very good, spunky, but good. Nothing like this has ever happened before at least not to this degree. end of story, my friend drove me back to school and i had a hard time gathering my school books.

so that was fun

Last edited on 2017-12-09 at 21:35:45 by TheSessa of X-MasPresent

Dang that sucks, Id have let go of the rope, that is what I have always been taught. Even if that meant he got out and had to be caught later. Better than a bruised up broke kid! 

EEK. That sounds awful! Hope your hands feel better soon!

man, poor u! hopefully it gets better soon! I've been dragged some too, my Clyde cross mare has extreme issues and I was lunging her and she decided she'd rather take off back to my old mare (who's is an angel, especially compared to the Clyde) and I went with for a bit before I managed to stop her but swing the rope in front of her. at least it was soft as there's tons of snow and I was in my snowgear, lol. XD

Yeah. I would have let go of the rope as well. The one time I didn't I essentially didn't have the time to react quickly enough to let go. My mare spooked and bolted, yanked me up off my feet.. I flew and face planted into gravel and got a mouthful of it - my mare got a few lengths away, tripped on her lead and fell. -_- Doesn't really matter how big of a person you are - if a horse is trying to pull through your hands - you aren't gonna stop them. 

I got a horrible rope burn from a horse that I was loading in the trailer. All was fine and dandy then he decided he didn't want to go in anymore so he backed up so quickly, I wasn't able to let go quickly enough. Smother your hands in mustard, it calms the burning (minus is that it turns your hands a yellow tint for a day or two but it's worth it).

I got some bad rope burn and blisters when my guy acted up once. I ALWAYS wear gloves when I work with him now.

Also, try to squash down any negative thoughts and emotions that pop up before you work with your horse and if you can't, just put him away and try again another day. Your thoughts and emotions DO hugely contribute to what you receive and horses can sense things. You thinking that it wasn't going to go well was probably contributing to him not reacting as normal. This is a tried and true theory in my life. What you feel is what you get.

Last edited on 2017-11-30 at 00:18:56 by vōs♚

Wow that sucks. I remember being dragged by an enormous Percheron and getting bad rope burn too

Trust me guys. Next time, I'm letting go XD