Boots and Butsniffers

Good evening, horsehooligan here!  I want to be clear about the earlier post.  I did not use the word “Like” in the title.  That was bikehooligan.  Go ahead and make your assumptions. 

Bikehooligan is in love with gagets, and even more in love with shoes. Because of this, he requested that I remove Aurora’s metal shoes and try hoof boots.  The boots, which are called Renegades come in a variety of colors.  Because I have a tendency to lose things, I chose red to make them easier to find. 

The first week I used them, they were fantastic!  Then when I went to use them the second weekend, I tried to tighten them, but didn’t put the set screws in tight enough. 

Below are the photos of a boot set up properly, and how the boot comes apart if the set screw are not tightened enough. 

Long story short, the boots came apart in 3 pieces, in the woods, several miles from our trailer. The other big concern, the trail was called “Green Rock Trail.” Of course, I didn’t actually know the location of the other boot pieces, so spent quite a bit of time trying to locate them.  While I was looking, I came in contact with some bikers.  They tried to ease by my horse like she had rocket fuel under her butt and were impressed with my horse’s calm demeanor and my polite behavior. I rolled my eyes and told them that I get yelled at by the butsniffers as well.  The bikers were quite nice and helped me find the rest of my boots.  I had long since lost my horsey friends, so continued on the trail; riding where the terraine was soft, leading when the terrain got rocky.  We made it back to the trailer with feet in one piece.  The second day that weekend, I carried my own Allen Wrench and tightened the set screws as much as possible.  And as I had hoped, the boots performed quite well!!  The bikers who helped me ended up inviting me and bikehooligan to a trail build in a few weeks.  If I can make it, I plan on attending!

Before I sign off for the night, I want to comment on one more thing.

While people always need to respect horses, they don’t own the trail… and if those folks keep up their disrespectful behavior, we horse people will end up losing access to beautiful places like Greensfelder.  If you're afraid of your horse and need help, find a friend or a trainer who can help you learn and gain confidence. Don't blame everyone else!

Butsniffer=people who ride horses that they are afraid of.  They generally ride nose to tail.  If an unsuspecting horsehooligan, bike rider, or hiker encounters these people, be prepared to put in earplugs.  Expect to be bitched at.  Don’t worry, its not you.  They do that to everyone, especially other horse people who can actually ride their horses.

Run With The Pack...er...Herd

I cant say this blog is only going to be about the confluence of horse and bike culture, but while I'm on it, I found a couple examples of horses and bikes mixing like oil and water. These are two polar opposite worlds and mixing the two is more or less akin to dividing by zero as you can see here:



Hey, he is trying to run free with the herd! No fences for this cat (I mean horse). Too bad his free range buddies are more concerned with getting their musette and a panini. Our next horse friend, however, shows her absolute terror at the mere sight of a bicycle.



I think the videographer captured the terror quite well. If any of the zero readers of this blog happen to be horse riders, and you have had a good or bad experience with a cyclist on the trail, please share. Disagreements typically stem from misunderstanding. Discuss!

I'm confused...are there like two authors to this blog??

This blog will consist of two writers. One writer (horsehooligan) competes in equestrian endurance and jumps for fun (she gets a rash from the snobby English riding culture, but still loves the sport itself). She breaks and trains horses for her own use as well as some of her friends. She believes that rather than blame circumstances and every stimuli around them for horse caused problems, horseback riders need to understand that if they leave the comfort of their own backyard that anything can happen.. and to be prepared for it. We have shared-use trails and while we have right of way rules, the only things you can actually control is your own actions and possibly those of your horse. She is not callous about this fact, and is working on combining desensitization, behavioral and natural horsemanship training with simple and consistent rider techniques to enable this cultural shift. In addition, she also encourages those who purchase horses to put temperament above all else when making their equine choice.

At the same time, she spends just as much time getting yelled at as the bikers.. she gallops through the forest, long trots and jumps obstacles; earning the reputation as the local trail hooligan. While her roots are small town, she currently lives in a 5-story high rise in a posh part of the city, loves water and downhill skiing, as well as gallivanting around the city.

Writer number two (bike hooligan) is a bike lover and totally immersed in the bike culture. He owns 6? Bikes as well as probably enough various spare parts to build another. While not competitive, he enjoys yearly trips to northern Michigan and Moab and has been on trails all over the continental US. He grew up in the city and is now experiencing life in a small town. He has recently learned to horseback ride, so while he understands issues that beginners face he is also a bold trail rider. Horses are like bikes with brains....and they are softer... He doesn't see these two pursuits as conflicting, but rather complementary.

Both of us are ready for spring and the upcoming riding season!

It's in my teeth!

Mountain bikers and horse people naturally get off on the wrong foot relationship-wise. Why? Horses poop. They poop a lot, in fact. Summer before last, my primary place of riding was the Petersburg Battlefield in Petersburg, VA. Lots of poop. Keep in mind that VA is quite humid in the summer, so said poop is not dry. What it was, was plentiful, moist, and always piled right in the middle of the trail. The great part of this is that just as horses are so skilled at pooping, bike tires are equally perfect for flinging every bit of ground they touch up at the rider. I've had poop on my bike, poop on my feet, poop up my back, poop in my eyes, poop in my hair, poop in my teeth, and poop in my mouth. If you ever hear someone exclaim "that tastes like horse shit" and they sound like they know what they are talking about, they just might have biked these trails. What is my point? Horses shouldnt poop? Good luck with that one. Certainly not. But it does put a taste in a bikers mouth concerning horse people.

So there I am with a bad taste in my mouth about horse people, and I'm riding my bike of course, as fast as I can too 'cause what fun is riding slow. This is perfectly normal and accepted behaviour, in fact, I would say anyone who wants to plod along all willy-nilly on their bike might as well walk. So I'm pinning it around this sharp blind corner and there stands a horse (with rider). Horses have the right of way. Bikes yeild to horses. Bikes yeild to hikers. Horses yeild to hikers. These are the rules of the trail and it is no secret since most trailheads have signs posted stating such. The signs do not, however, explain the differential in time between the biker stopping, dismounting, and walking past the horse and the time it takes the horse rider to completely spaz out.

Apparantly it is common in the horse community to walk slowly down trails, quite the opposite of the bike community. Strange too, since even a lard butt horse could smoke most cyclists. And this rider, who was walking slow, in a blind corner, in the woods, and mounted on a naturally cammoflaged animal, was enraged that me and my friend (who also had poop in his mouth) didn't see her and yeild in a sufficiently appropriate time for her comfort level. As we attempted to yeild to someone going slower than us, she lectured us on spooking horses and what not. It would have been amusing had I not been in shock since she was the one who was spooked and her horse seemed completely oblivious that he was supposed to be terrified.

I must say my opinion of horse people was improved the next time I encountered riders. This couple yelled out to us not to dismount and to ride by them because it was good for their horses experience. They were quite friendly too. The taste in my mouth got a little less nutty. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to ride in Greensfelder Park in St. Louis, MO (this time on a horse myself). As a group of bikers approached, I rode up to them and happily talked bike stuff while they took a breather. My horse, kindly, did not go and trample small children at the mere sight of a bike. This isnt to say that horses dont spook, but gosh, those bad apples of riders could at least be friendly. After all, we all have the same goals of trail advocacy.

Butt Bubbles for Riders

The strangest thing about trail etiquette for horseback riders is that most of it is completely unspoken. Fearful equestrians expect brave horseback riders, bikers, dog walkers and everyone else to approach them at a snail’s pace and treat them as though they are sitting on a lit firecracker.  God forbid if someone were to exercise or at a quick pace, for that may scare their horse…

The part that they don’t realize is that the horse has extremely sensitive hearing and will hear someone approaching long before the rider is aware, which also means that if the horse were to spook from this stimuli, that it would have occurred at that time. 99% of the time that does not happen.  What really happens when a horse “spooks” at the sight of an offending party is that the rider gets startled and tenses by the stranger’s sudden approach.  The horse, who is quite in tune to the rider’s fear, reads the rider’s tension as “oh my God! There’s a monster!” The horse, ever a prey animal, then believes that the rider is cuing for him to flea the situation; which he generally obliges.  The fearful rider then blames his horse for “spooking.”

I am an endurance horseback rider and local hooligan.  I race through the woods and stop when I see horses.  If I come up behind them quickly, I get attacked by the offended party for scaring their horse; several ladies have begun to call me “the hooligan”, the namesake for this blog.  But I just smile, because I know the truth.