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Are you prepared to ride your horse instead of drive? I know I'm thinking about bringing some of my horses home from my workplace! Caring for horses makes for a great addition to any farm animals one might already have
Absolutely, if necessary.
We got her (our horse) partly for me to ride, but mainly because she is a gentle, peaceful lady who goes INSANE anytime anyone or anything threatens her "herd". She watches over our cows and calves as if they were her children. She is gentle and loving toward small shy children, though.
That said, I would probably only ride her off of the property if it were necessary - to go get supplies. Horses tend to spook at things they don't understand, and I'm not talking just about gunfire, but mobs or tanks or armored personnel carriers, or even trucks full of personnel. I would prefer NOT to be dragged across a field because we happen to be passed by a caravan of National Guardsmen that were on their way to quell something!
As for riding her to escape (we don't plan on escaping, tho, but you never know) I would probably lead her as a pack animal instead (she is very sturdy and only 13 hands, and amenable to a lead and packing). One, finding feed/water for horses in a SHTF situation could become problematic away from home. Two, she would make a rather large and obvious target and/or be easier to trail if someone were so inclined. It's really hard to be sneaky and try to get away or remain hidden with the regular thud-thud-thud of 1500-pound footfalls nearby.
But my only choice would be to leave her if we left the property, and I wouldn't do that unless it became the only choice. Horses are a great responsibility, and we consider all of our animals a Chinese responsibility - i.e., once you save their life, you are responsible for them ever after. I wouldn't do that to my girl!
My brother used to keep his horses and his horse trailer on property not too far from the city where he worked in California. He always said that if "The big one" hit, he and his wife knew to meet at the property. There they would either load the horses and hook up the trailer, or if roads were impassable, they could saddle up and ride out.
Guess it all depends on what sort of SHTF scenario occurs.
Absolutely, if necessary.
We got her (our horse) partly for me to ride, but mainly because she is a gentle, peaceful lady who goes INSANE anytime anyone or anything threatens her "herd". She watches over our cows and calves as if they were her children. She is gentle and loving toward small shy children, though.
That said, I would probably only ride her off of the property if it were necessary - to go get supplies. Horses tend to spook at things they don't understand, and I'm not talking just about gunfire, but mobs or tanks or armored personnel carriers, or even trucks full of personnel. I would prefer NOT to be dragged across a field because we happen to be passed by a caravan of National Guardsmen that were on their way to quell something!
As for riding her to escape (we don't plan on escaping, tho, but you never know) I would probably lead her as a pack animal instead (she is very sturdy and only 13 hands, and amenable to a lead and packing). One, finding feed/water for horses in a SHTF situation could become problematic away from home. Two, she would make a rather large and obvious target and/or be easier to trail if someone were so inclined. It's really hard to be sneaky and try to get away or remain hidden with the regular thud-thud-thud of 1500-pound footfalls nearby.
But my only choice would be to leave her if we left the property, and I wouldn't do that unless it became the only choice. Horses are a great responsibility, and we consider all of our animals a Chinese responsibility - i.e., once you save their life, you are responsible for them ever after. I wouldn't do that to my girl!
My brother used to keep his horses and his horse trailer on property not too far from the city where he worked in California. He always said that if "The big one" hit, he and his wife knew to meet at the property. There they would either load the horses and hook up the trailer, or if roads were impassable, they could saddle up and ride out.
Guess it all depends on what sort of SHTF scenario occurs.
If your horse is trained properly you can ride her/him anywhere. They are used in cities for police and have been used throughout human history in war or peace time. Horses are a great and efficient mode of transport and will take you where mechanized transport can't. I wish we could all go back to the time when horse transport was the only means of getting from A to B.
I don't have a horse at this time, but I still have my tack. I would ride in shtf anytime i wanted to get someplace if there were no gas.
The last horse I had was a std bred mare tattooed for the sulky track, and was a full blown idiot for trail and woods riding when I bought her.
I trained her to take gun fire little by little, and once I was done, she would stand next to a cannon set off and not bother to stop grazing on a ground tie.
(For those who don't know a ground tie is just a lead dropped on the ground, and not tied to anything.)
She was trained for flapping canvasses too.
I created the horse I wanted from her. I wanted a long distance cruiser of a horse and one that didn't spook at a empty potatoe chip bag blowing in the breeze, or one with a small branch of leaves caught in the tail to want to gather itself up and be ready to flee.
I rode that horse thru rivers over both of our heads, and went to friend houses crossing mountians on and off trails. The best of that was from Bartlett to Cannan Valley on the southern edge of the Ossipee's.
Twice I rode in enduro events and was disqualified for going 100 miles each time on the first day. I left dead last and passed everyone else not understanding the events were (2) 50 miles segments.
Both times I left in day light and set up camp in day light. I didn't have a matching truck and trailer or any help like everyone else did, and I was the only one who didn't sleep in my trailer, all set up like a house.
And the next day I had to ride that same 100 miles back to get my truck and trailer. LOL
On any of those rides where there was a bridge over a water crossing I took to the river. It cooled me and the horse off. Everything I needed got wet too, and I carried everything I needed.
I took her to many Rondee Voo's as well, where canvass, crowds, gun and cannon fire are common place, and even rode her from my place in Bartlett MH to Muster in the Montains at the autoroad on Mt Washington. I got busted once by the cops doing that, and the horse stood the police siren too.
SO sure if I had a horse in shtf I sure would ride it.
Care to elaborate a bit more please? For the purposes of this discussion, riding mules (gaited mules), as opposed to team mules. Given my age and lack of exposure to riding horses since I was a small child, my thought is that a mule might be more gentle, more safe. Would that be incorrect or will it, just as with horses, vary greatly animal to animal?
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Are you prepared to ride your horse instead of drive? I know I'm thinking about bringing some of my horses home from my workplace! Caring for horses makes for a great addition to any farm animals one might already have
