Ack! Swarmed By Motorized Locusts!, ...and on Superbowl Sunday no less Options

[HorsingRound]

I thought men weren't allowed to do anything else today. I thought it was mandatory for all men to watch the Superbowl.

Unfortunately, a bunch of them decided to go motorcycle riding today instead--on Conservancy property--where they aren't supposed to be. Maybe that's why they were mostly well-behaved: They knew they weren't supposed to be there, and didn't want us complaining to the Conservancy.

View overlooking Agua Dulce:



My friend's horse is terrified of motorcycles, and he would rear and spin and tremble at the sight of them. He is on "red alert" in this photo--watching the next wad of motorized locusts buzzing down upon us at warp speed.



After today, I would hope that he is a little less afraid because he spent the day being ridden next to Super Trail Horse, who is not afraid of motorcycles. My horse thinks motorcycles are apple dispensing machines, so she is not bothered in the least. Actually, STH, below with me, belongs to my daughter. I hadn't ridden my daughter's horse in a couple of months, and figured she needed "tuning up." She proved she is a good, solid horse even with a couple of months "off" and only being ridden by a kid--and I realized that my kid must be turning into a better rider too (yay!).



During the entire ride, we were on a fire road with a steep drop off on one side, so we would trot from one wide spot to the next, trying to time it so we'd be at a wide spot when the bikes came roaring down the road, and hope that they'd see us and slow down (most did, some stopped, a couple went flying past us). We had over 30 bike riders pass us, in pods of about 3 to 6 at a time. My friend has kept her horse at the same place for 15 years, and she says she's never seen so many bikes, and indeed can't recall ever seeing any on that road before. She had just ridden it the weekend before, with a bunch of kids on horses, and was very thankful they weren't on today's ride.

I'm not against dirt bikes--in the right places, but today they weren't in the right place and it caught my friend off guard.

This is a view at the top, looking across the top of the ridge.



I usually ride up this ridge from the north side, and see the same views from the top. Today we rode up on the south side. The weather was splendid. I had a nice ride. My friend...not so much. She didn't notice it because she was a ball of nerves, but I think her horse relaxed a bit towards the end of the ride. I think her horse figured out that the dirt bikes were not going to eat him. Not today, anyway.

[HorsingRound]

This is a link showing where we rode: Sierra Pelona ridge from the Acton side

... in case you're ever in the neighborhood. :O)

[hansonmkusa]

How scarie that must of been for the horse see all this for the first time. Looks like you all had a great time...real pretty views.

Its been really wet here in the southern part of Texas, can't wait for some sunshine. Me and JR my horse needs the exercise.

[psychorabiddog]

Wow.I'm glad every one and every horse were ok.I'm like you.Dirt bikes,quads,etc are fine if they are where they belong.I'm on a crusade to get the county sheriff's office here to seize every one on a paved street.They won't touch them on a dirt road or out in the desert.I have the back number to 911 so i can use it to get them out here instead of tying up a 911 line.

My next goal is to get my big,huge handsome Mustang(just under 17hh and every ounce of 1400 lbs)to chase them.The sight of that huge head coming at them might discourage any disruption of my used-to-be quiet neighborhood.

That was nice pictures,by the way.Take care.Brian

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[jklucky2001]

Horsin sorry to hear the locusts scared your friends horse and disrupted your super bowl ride!

Sounds like her horse needs some desensitizing training. If you all want to come on out here to oregon we have some kids and motorcycles to ride in the 15 acre pasture with the horses to do some desnsitizing work for her. My horses like yours think motor cycles or quads are chow wagons so they love them.

We can also do some gun desensitzing here as well. We were just out in the pasture yesterday shooting 22's, the Glock and the big ol .357 revovler. Wow when that pistol fires you can feel to percussions! It is like a cannon!

Nice pictures you posted. Sure is nice to see some dry ground every once and a while so I know it is not time to start builing another ark!

Psycho your horse sure has a big rear end. I bet anyone who sees that is going to step out of the way! That looks like a power house.

[Sprite's Mom]

The BO has a quad, I have a motorcycle, which is how I get to the farm when the weather is good. So, Sprite isn't bothered at all by them, which is good. Her first real trail ride was at Gettysburg. There were a ton of motorcycles there that day, as well as mountain bikes, tour buses, other horses, people, and they were shooting off a cannon! And, we will see quads when out riding, even places where they're not supposed to be. But at least they normally slow down when they see the horses.

[Utahcowgirl]

I'm glad to hear you guys had a safe ride aside from the stress of your friends horse. You could definitely tell it was on red alert. Funny that so many guys were out riding instead of watching the game though

[eeyore4176]

I would have the conservancy number on my cell phone if there were motorcycles out on trails they aren't supposed to be on. If they don't get caught, they will just keep doing it.

I have no issues with people riding 4-wheelers and bikes where they are allowed and expected to be. One of our neighbors lets us ride on his 4-wheeler trails. A couple of the public places we ride are open to 4-wheelers and they have always been very polite in turning off their machine if they see any of the horses in our group having an issue.

My gelding use to have issues with the larger bikes (Harley's) who would pass us on the road. You about have to hit them with a 4-wheeler or dirt bike to get them to move out of the way since we already had those. The big bikes would slow down to pass us . . . no issues. However, as soon as they got past us they would get on it and poor Indigo would be ready to head for the barn. Wasn't a big fan of a Harley at full throttle. We've been fortunate to have some family members with the bigger bikes, so we did a fair amt of work getting use to them.

This post has been edited by eeyore4176: Feb 8 2010, 09:17 AM

[UtahTrailRider]

Years and years ago, when I first got a horse. I was up riding in the mountains and bunch of those old two cycle mortocycles came past. They stopped and let us ride past them, but started up and rev'd their engines just as soon as we got past their shoulders. My young colt at the time went bucking across a meadow. I went home and went to work on fixing that problem.

We put him in the arean and brought in a ATV that we used to drag the arena footing. We did a couple of laps around the arena with the horse chasing the ATV, then we had the atv follow the horse then we started playing tag of sorts. The ATV doing laps and the horse cutting back and forth thru the center. That horse got over the ATVs real quick.

I still make sure to drag the harrow behind the ATV in the pasture to break up the manure and expose the horses to ATVs. I also bring in my Skidloader to scoop out manure, disk up the soil, pick up big bales of hay etc. So they have all learned to deal with noisy machines.

[sallywhoa]

I'm not a fan of ATVs/motorcycles. I am sure there are responsible riders out there, but the "bad apples" seem to be more than just a few in the bucket. Seems like a whole crateload of bad apples.

Turn them in. Around this area, ATV riders have a lovely habit of trying to get you killed on horseback (esp. in areas where OHV use is ILLEGAL), instead of opening and shutting gates - just cutting the fence! A few beer bottles on the trail never hurt either... It's very hard to try to maintain a 'multiple use' attitude.

[siseley]

Sally;

I am with you.
I hate the noise and the crappy attitude that most in my area have. They will ride down my butte past my corrals, do donuts in my arena, and pretty much make a nusiance of them selves.
I rode all kinds of M/C's from the early 60's until just about 3 yrs ago, and have an appreciation for both sides of the question. BUT!! Here in this valley we seem to have the most obnoxious and confrontational riders, that I have started calling them just punks.

These are not all kids either, most are in their late 20's and thirties!! You would think they might have some semblence of brain cells left. Here they are much worse than the loose dogs, as at least one squirt from the ammonia squirt gun and the dogs go home.

Ok, off my soapbox and load the shotgun.....LOL!

Steve

[trails4me]

I just love the pictures you post!

Sorry about your friend's horse, makes for a long day.
We have a park we ride that also has dirtbike races. You literally ride right next to the racetrack to get on the main trail. Your horse either figures it out, or you have a miserable time starting out! Sounds like super loud bees buzzing, nothing like a "real" bike that we have going past our house.
Harley's dont sound anything like dirt bikes!!

[Spikes Dad]

Pretty place to ride! I wish it would quit raining here for a few weeks. I AM TIRED OF MUDDDD!
I think we have set a record for rainfall in Dec. Jan. and will in Feb. It even snowed Friday which is way weird down here. Since I ride a lot through town and on the beaches my horses aren't afraid of much of anything. Certainly not motorcycles or atv's I have had Spike next to a couple of dove fields when they were shooting and he didn't even move his ears! I am gonna try and ride in a Mardi Gras parade today with Spike , Speck and Lester. Lester will probably freak a little but he will get through it and hopefully learn something.