Horses kick, horses bite and yes, horses can kill us...

Horses kick, horses bite and yes, horses can kill us.  I have been asked to blog about a recent experience of mine that left me in a bit of a bad way, due to a good old double barrel to the pelvis.

I have worked with horses for over 30 years and in many cases I work with horses who are extremely aggressive towards people due to the treatment they have received from people in the past.  

On December 6th last year, I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time with a horse who had been beautifully raised from a foal by caring owners.  She was momentarily frustrated and confused and she made a poor choice.  I say she made a poor choice as she is only 3, I was half way through our work in backing her and she chose to do something that is natural for horses to do but definitely not safe.  She double barrelled me, as hard as she could right on my hip.  This destroyed half of my pelvis.

I had a 5 hour surgery, I now have close to 20 bolts, screws and pins holding me together, I walk a little funnier than before and I will never ride again.  But do I have ill feelings towards this horse?  Hell no!  

Now don’t get me wrong.  I am the first person to tell anyone that kicking or biting is a non negotiable, must remove, dangerous yet natural reaction that horses possess.  It is, after all, what has worked to keep them alive through 50 million years of evolution.  Part of my work with horses is always to teach them that they must never raise a foot to a human, another horse, a chicken, a cat, a dog or even a fence.  For their safety and ours this is a natural instinct that must be trained out of every single horse.  I have a zero tolerance policy on this.

However, on December the 6th last year, I did not dodge that massive bullet and yes it has changed my life.  

So why don’t I have any ill feelings towards that horse whatsoever?  Because it was my job to teach her another way to cope with what she was feeling and I didn’t do that in time.  

We are supposed to be the more intelligent species so we need to understand horses and work with them to help modify dangerous behaviours that are not only life threatening to us but also to them. 

The first horse I hobbled over to on crutches to see when I got out of hospital a couple of weeks later was the one who had changed my life forever.  I had built a remarkable bond with this young horse in the 5 weeks I had worked with her prior to the accident and she remembered me straight away, put her head low in to me, shut her eyes and snuggled in.  My wonderful staff, Harriet Dunmore, carried on where I had left off with this young horse, did a beautiful job and had her ready to return home to the owner who had lovingly bred and raised her.  

This big and beautiful young horse is today going from strength to strength with her owner, enjoying hacks over the farm and certainly not threatening to kick anyone.  I dropped the ball, she made a mistake and I gained one hell of a reminder on just how powerful these animals are!!

Written by Karen Teague