Such horrible stories from So California

[here to stay]

Being that southern California is full of movie stars, celebrities and money,  the news has been full of fire related stories.   Some regarding the many horse deaths are especially awful.

What makes it even worse are the extremely mean and ignorant comments posted about how awful the owners of these poor animals were.  They blamed the owners for the animals' deaths in ugly words, telling them what they ought to have done but clearly haven't a clue about just how difficult a frightened 1000 lb animal can be.  They can't be carried to safety if they refuse to go.  

One thing I think might have helped with a few at least is knowing an emergency loading technique with a horse refusing to get in.  It is not to be used routinely because to some extent it relies on surprise and could be dangerous to the horse.  But if the alternative is death, I would not hesitate to try it.  I have mentioned it before.

First a lunge line is attached to a halter.  The horse is then put facing the trailer, the lunge line run inside the trailer through a window or escape door outside the trailer and back behind the horse's rear just above the hocks.   You hold the lunge line and stand off to one side.   When the horse is asked to enter, his halter pulls back on the lunge line and his own weight tugs the line against his back legs.  You are not required to be able to hold him- he holds himself.  You just have to keep the line taught.

The usual reaction is the horse chooses to escape from the lines on his rear legs and follows the tug in the halter into the trailer.  As you can tell, routine use would allow a horse to learn how to circumvent or even ignore the line's pressure on the back legs but in a pinch it has never failed me.

[Deleted]

Old Schlitz was so used to that method he would never enter a trailer without knowing that line was in place about his bottom side. Of course after I quit hauling horses in the back of the pickup truck with cattle bodies on it, the other horse seemed like he preferred the trailer to the extent that loading was not much of a problem...Old Schlitz never got used to loading in any way shape or form.

What you said about this is true though. It is a go-to way to load a stubborn (for any reason) animal in a trailer and it works almost 100 percent of the time. Or it did in my experience.

[Deleted]

Has any stable names list come out?

[here to stay]

No list per se but every story seems to mention a different large stable of one kind or another.

[countrymom22]

I saw on the news where a training stable was just turning the horses loose, hoping they would make it to safety. No one would want to do this, but these fires are turning and changing dire3ction so often and so quickly that there just isn't time to evacuate all the animals, so this is their only chance for survival. Unfortunately, horses are creatures of habit and may not want to leave their stalls.

It's just so sad and devastating for everyone. My prayers go out to them all.

[aoconnor]

The saddest of stories, for sure. It breaks my heart thinking about the fear those animals endured, and then an agonizing death. The owners...so sad for them all.

My way of loading an unwilling horse is a little different. I have someone behind the horse with a carriage whip or long rope or lead rope, and I walk inside trailer with horse on a halter and lead, and then I pull and the other person connects a few sharp raps on the rump with the rope or whip, I’ve not had it fail yet to load a horse in a hurry. I have 37 horses, and not one of them fails to yield to the sting on their rump, and have never failed to load other people’s horses in this manner either.

I have also done the long line through the window and back behind the horses hocks, but have failed to load in that way several times.

[paquebot]

Saw one story of a stable with over 500 horses and I think that they lost 50. Workers and owners burned badly trying to save them. With some, unable to get at closed stalls. With that many horses, I can't imagine the logistics of trying to move them. Just open the doors and try to get them out. One often hears stories of horses running back into burning barns. I suspect that this has happened a few times here, too.

Martin

[ceresone]

i saw a picture of a horse with its hooves burned off--had its legs wrapped in bandages with blood pouring-- i actually cried. big arabian ranch in that area my daughter ordered a horse from--cant remember the name

[mollymckee]

Dec 11, 2017 1:50:02 GMT aoconnor said:

The saddest of stories, for sure. It breaks my heart thinking about the fear those animals endured, and then an agonizing death. The owners...so sad for them all.

My way of loading an unwilling horse is a little different. I have someone behind the horse with a carriage whip or long rope or lead rope, and I walk inside trailer with horse on a halter and lead, and then I pull and the other person connects a few sharp raps on the rump with the rope or whip, I’ve not had it fail yet to load a horse in a hurry. I have 37 horses, and not one of them fails to yield to the sting on their rump, and have never failed to load other people’s horses in this manner either.

I have also done the long line through the window and back behind the horses hocks, but have failed to load in that way several times.

I do what you do with a hard to load horse except I use a leaf rake. The older the rake the better, so it's good and floppy, but all parts are solid.  You use it on the rump or below the hock if the horse won't load. I haven't met the horse that won't go in pretty quickly, even a horse that hasn't been loaded often or at all. An old horse trader showed me this trick years ago, for some reason the horse moves away from the rake and worries more about the tines on the rake than the trailer.