Just a Trailride! Dog attack; Riders Bucked Off; Horse Runaways (Not Tenor, Sonny, Susan or Sharon)

Just a day in the park trail ride and Missouri Fox Trotters rescued their fellow fox trotters.

Many hero’s appeared today during a drama at James A Reed Wild life Park in Lee’s Summit.Sonny will be nominated for Hall of Fame. Many hero humans were involved without their names being recorded.

Sonny, Sharon, Tenor and I went on a trail ride today  at James A. Reed Wildlife Park.  We rode a total distance of 1.3 miles.  Trail riders might sneer at this minuscule miles, but Hero Sonny was born and Missouri Fox Trotter drama is saved forever in this story.

Sharon and I pulled into the horse trailer parking lot today and we’re prepping Sonny and Tenor for a trail ride.  A car drove by and stopped to talk to Sharon.  The report was as follows:  Two horses were attacked by a dog or dogs.  Their riders fell off and the horses ran off.

Sharon told me and I immediately decided which trail was probably the furthest and safest trail to take to avoid dogs.  After we had warmed Sonny and Tenor up, another group of riders showed up.  We told them what was told to us and they immediately decided to try to find the horses and help.  As Sharon and I rode on the “safe” trail, I wondered about being brave or embracing caution.  My thought was to avoid being attacked, not help with rescue.

About a half mile on my “ safest” trail choice, we spotted two horses standing with no humans.  One horse had one rein on the ground with no other rein.  The other horse had a looped rein around a front leg.  Since there were no humans present, we decided these must be the runaway horses.  They were standing quietly.

I called 911 and was connected with the Lee’s Summit police.  I repeated the dog attack, bucked off riders and runaway horses story and reported that my friend and I had just discovered the run-away horses. I told the person we were on the south side trail in the park when I saw a car on a nearby road.  I told the emergency guy this was the south side paved road that goes around the park.  I was wrong, but it didn’t matter.

Sharon and I stayed where we were for a short time.  I yelled, “Help” several times, but no one responded.  We waited.  Here is where Hero Sonny emerged.  Tenor and Sonny were urged  to get closer to the runaway horses.  The runaway didn’t move.  We all waited. Hero Sonny decided he could leave the herd and get close to the road so Sharon could flag down some help.  Sonny left the runaway horses and his best friend Tenor.  It takes a brave horse to leave the herd.  (Sonny’s value is now $2 billion!)  Sadly, even though Tenor was with the run-away horses, he got upset.  His herdmate Sonny left him!  He made a deep distress cry and moved.  He moved backwards.  His amazing rider tried to turn him from left to right, but Tenor stayed anxious and moving.  The amazing rider, me, thought about the two women who had been bucked off and decided she didn’t want to be #3.  She rang a cry of distress to Sharon, “Come back!  I need you!”

Sonny headed back and with some urging from his rider (me), Tenor was able to move forward, leave the runaways and get close to Sonny.  Tenor’s anxiety subsided.  Sharon and I decided to get back to the road to get help.  The two horses slowly followed us.  Sharon dismounted and after some quiet patience, caught the bay one rein horse.  It took a few more minutes and she was able to get the palomino looped rein horse.   I was holding Sonny’s reins.

A few cars passed by without stopping for my emergency distress waving.  What the heck?  They waved back at me.  Finally a truck stopped and the driver and his son-in-law got out.  It took a while for them to understand Tenor and Sonny were not the problem.  The son-in-law took the bay one rein horse. Another car drove up and I was able to stop them.  The woman got out of the passenger seat and agreed to take the palomino looped rein horse.

I asked the pickup truck driver if he would drive Sharon to the trailer parking lot as she (nor I) can mount these tall horses from the ground.  Instead he boosted Sharon up on Sonny.  He boosted her wrong leg first, but Sharon got him to boost the offside leg, not the inside leg that needed to be in the stirrup.

Sharon and I were mounted.  We had two people leading two horses a half mile!  The palomino horse had blood running down a back leg.  How had that happened?    I noticed some anxiety with this horse and a few horse beats of a gaited horse.  I wondered if the palomino could be a fox trotter.

(Both runaway horses are fox trotters!  I told one woman that we had a local Fox Trotter club.)

Our hero’s and their vehicles made it back to the parking lot.  The one reined horse was tied to a wooden tie-out.  The other horse needed a tie rope so Sharon loaned Sonny’s lead rope.  I dug out a multitude of halters and lead roles from the trailer.  Sharon put one of those on Sonny and it fit better than the halter she was using.  Another set of horse people descended upon us.  They must have just arrived in the parking lot.  Explanations were given and suddenly the women owners of the horses showed up!  We probably all needed a Zanex calming pill by this time.  I remember taking my first calm breath much later when Sharon and I were driving back.

A fire truck and ambulance arrived.  Thank goodness they didn’t use the siren.  We heard sirens from afar, but assumed they were going somewhere else when we no longer heard them.  I did not notice them drive into the parking lot until they were right beside us.  My attention was fully on the horses and two women.

Gradually, the riders us the story.  It was a pit bull and Mastiff.  I also heard they were German Shepard and Mastiff. The dogs were running loose and far away from the owners.  The dogs had to run a distance to catch the horses.   They attacked the horses who fought and bucked and the two women went to the ground.   The women were both attacked and bitten.  Then they took off after the horses.  The first people who arrived to help the women were the dog owners.  When told her dogs had bitten the women, the owner said, oh it’s all right, the dogs are vaccinated.
The blood on the palomino’s back leg was from a dog bite.  (Good Lordy!)  Both women were bitten.  One had a blue medical  band around her lower thigh.  This was protecting her dog bite.  The dog chased one horse and then returned to attack the other horse.  (Good Lord!)

One of the women told the rescuers that her friend just had a recent knee replacement and falling off a horse was awful.  The medical responders told her she needed to go to her doctor, but she was walking around.  Both women went to a doctor.  The palomino ran up a $1000 vet bill his first day at the vet and had to stay overnight.

While we were both there, the owner of the dog called.  (The dog has no future.)

Both women hugged me and thanked me for getting the horses back to the parking lot.  We got Sonny’s rope back and decided we could leave.  Sonny and Tenor did their amazing loading job.  Oh, I forgot to mention that when we arrived at the parking lot, Tenor was peeing a 5 lb bucket of pee on the floor.  The trailer floor has some flakes, but nothing to withstand a 5 gallon pee bucket.  Sonny is loaded first which requires only Sharon to enter and exit the trailer.  I just send Tenor in and don’t tie him.  So Sharon’s boots suffered from about a half inch of pee during both loading/unloading sessions.  I need a deeper layer of flakes to cover the floor with some depth.

Sharon stated maybe we should only ride at the park on a weekday afternoon.  This was a Sunday afternoon.  Many horse and dog people work during the week.  Work keeps them out of the park!

What a day.  I decided a huge Margherita at out local Mexican restaurant was necessary for dinner tonight.  I might be sobered up now.  It was tough to ask Sharon if she wanted to ****.  My voice could not say the word trail ride.  But tomorrow is Monday and I don’t want to get James A Reed PTSD.  We are riding tomorrow!

Note:  If anyone knows these women, please let them know my name or tell me.  I want to pay for their membership in our local fox trotter club.