Another Close Call…

[jen judkins]

Not tryng to jump on this band wagon, but I had a hairy moment with JD yesterday. I’m on the couch today with a blown up knee, but no other injuries to human or horse, thank god!

JD is a percheron I have here in rehab for a shoulder injury. He has been looking really good lately and the footing was nice and soft yesterday, so I decided to use him for a small firewood project for a neighbor. I’ve never skid wood with him, but I’m sure he has been in the woods before, at least as part of a team, and he has been very reliable for me as a single in the past, pulling a stone boat and cart.

I drove him 1/2 mile to the neighbors woodlot. He was calm and responsive, ears forward and looked happy to be out in harness. The skid was a gradual uphill, from the woodlot edge, through a meadow…ground covered with a half foot of soft snow…to the landing. Maybe 2000 feet or so. We hooked on to a smallish cherry at the edge of the woods and successfully brought that up to the landing. He was great. I had no concerns at all about his performance and he handled the light load quite well. So we headed back down for a second load. This time I was working in a bit of a ditch and because of the position of the log, I was near the end of my reins. As JD pushed this log free from the snow, I tripped, lost my reins and as I scrambled forward up over the berm, the cherry (long and twisted) knocked me flat again as a knot punched my knee. A hollered a whoa (a few times), but JD was headed to the landing without me. Swearing like a sailor, I hauled myself up that hill as fast as I could drag myself, nearly giving myself a heart attack, only to find JD had cleared the landing and was off on the road heading for home….25 foot long twisted cherry in tow! My friend was right behind me and jumped into his car, picked me up and we headed after him. We caught up to him just before he hit the main road. He had slowed down quite abit, having missed the turn to our barnyard and whoa’d with a single request, then waited for me to collect him and check him over. He had stopped traffic in both directions, but no wreck, no damage to vehicles or horse. I took a moment to be grateful and slow my heart rate, then turned that train around and we hiked back up the hill back to the landing and then back out into the woods. We had no further episodes and I looked a lot more critically at my starting position and made some adjustments, to put me in a better and safer position. Always something to learn, though I wish it didn’t often have to be the hard way.

[Eli]

Ice,Advil, coffee and a good book and you will be good as new in no time. But Im no doctor just a frequent patient. Good luck with the knee and JD.

[dominiquer60]

I don’t know if it will make you feel any better, but I did the same thing last month while helping Sam clean up a sugarbush, but I was lucky that I just twisted my ankle and the wood missed me. I had already brought a few poles through but my foot found a hollow spot in the ground and I went down, the lines escaped my hands, the mare hesitated at my whoa, but when she felt the lines loose she just kept going, blazed her own exit trail behind the ice cream stand, safely crossed the state highway and stopped when she made it back to the barn. She is what we refer to as a union horse, when that end of the work day whistle blows in her head she is done with work, I am the 4th person she has done this to in some way or another.

Some one had unhitched her by the time I caught up with her and told me it was no use and that I would not “win.” But I had a job to finish, so I hitched back up and twitched a couple more sticks out of the sugar bush. Sam finished when my ankle said I was done and she tried to walk off on him, but failed when she hit the end of the lines tied to a sapling while he was bucking up a log. She is a good horse, but certainly thinks nothing of taking her own initiative now and then. I think that we ended up “winning” just because we got the job done in the end.

I am glad that you and JD are reasonably well after that incident, they certainly keep us on our toes don’t they. I hope that your knee heals fast and our “union horses” do better at following safety standards in the work place, even if the whistle blows 🙂

[Plowboy]

Don’t feel bad Jen we’ve all had our days and everyone has a few of these escapades or there harness never sees a horse! Heal fast so you can get back at it! Apparently JD thought he should take the second log home!

[Ronnie Tucker]

stuff happens. but why such a light load.you could have stopped to let him blow on the way to the landing.that is a big horse his load looks mighty light to my way of thinking.

[jen judkins]

I hear you, Ronnie. Two reasons….one, that’s the wood my neighbor wanted moved and two, JD is not fully sound. I was looking more for the hill work to condition his shoulder, not the load.

[mitchmaine]

hi jen,
sorry to hear about you bumps and bruises. i seem to remember that the third day out is or seems to be the worst.

thanks for telling your story. i have to go through the same dance here soon. i sold two really good twitch horses this past year, and now have to split up a strong young team of geldings that have teamed together their whole lives. if i want a single that is. i have been putting it off and twitching with them as a team. its overkill for sure, and a little clumsy but they go well together. its easy to forget what can happen when things go different out here, so thanks for the heads up, even if it wasn’t meant that way. hope you are on the mend and feel better soon. mitch

[near horse]

Mend quickly Jen. As many have said already, s**t happens even to the best prepared. Also, good horsemanship is often displayed not in the lack of incidents but in the fact that they are kept to “could have been worse” status. Way to cowboy up and run that sucker down after getting your knee whacked.

Even without snow, footing can be pretty dicey in the woods/brush while pulling out of an area where a tree was felled. In fact, IMO losing ones footing/falling is probably the most overlooked yet most likely way to get in trouble skidding wood. We’ve all been there and it is part of the risk/hazard —- Glad you and JD are alright.

[Carl Russell]

Sorry Jen, I know about sore knees too.

I offer this observation for what it’s worth.

I notice in one picture you hold the extra reins clasped in your hand in kind of a bundle, and I know you prefer to hold the reins in your fist, the live end coming out of the bottom.

I like to hold my lines between pointer and index finger. Then I can hold a coil of lines between thumb and pointer, so that I can uncoil them easily if the horse starts to move faster than I can, and let the lines slide through my hands.

I have found that positioning yourself so that your feet need to move as soon as the horse moves can be a problem. I also like to move myself up alongside the horse, and out of the way, and start the horse while standing still letting the lines slide through my hands, sometimes for as many as 10 feet.

It may be more than expected to change your preferred hold, but think about practicing letting the lines slide while standing still, especially starting the load. In some conditions it is the only way to keep from getting tangled up.

Slack-line whoa is a good way to assist in those situations where the lines drop. I have dropped the lines many times, but the slack being my signal for whoa has saved me almost :eek:every time.

But of course, as has been said, shit happens, to even the best prepared. I’m sorry you are in pain, but I’m glad you could recover the day, and your knee will recover too.

Carl

[jen judkins]

@Carl Russell 39029 wrote:

I have found that positioning yourself so that your feet need to move as soon as the horse moves can be a problem. I also like to move myself up alongside the horse, and out of the way, and start the horse while standing still letting the lines slide through my hands, sometimes for as many as 10 feet.

Thanks, Carl….in fact, that IS, exactly what this situation taught me. In stead of getting down in the ditch behind the log, I climbed up along side JD and could stand still for several strides as he did his thing and in most cases, by the time I needed to move my feet the log was free and we were ready to re-set the chain. AND I had much better control of that wild beast (kidding, he was happy to have me back on the lines, doing MY thing). There’s always something to learn in the woods, even when nothing exciting happens.

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