Thursday, November 13, 2008

A Big Problem


I was talking with a bunch of horse owners the other day, and the topic of injury on the trail came up. I’ve been on trail rides before where people have been injured by a fall or a kick or being stepped on. We’ve always found a way to pack someone out.

However, what we were talking about was when a horse gets injured by breaking a leg out in the back country. How do you get a horse out of the back country that had to be euthanized? If you are lucky you can employ a helicopter, but if you aren’t lucky you can follow BLM recommendations. It is said that the rules of the BLM is that one needs to either cut up and remove the horse in sections or the other method employs 30 sticks of dynamite to blow the horse up the way the whale was blown up On the Coast a few years back.

If you’ve never seen an exploding whale before, check out this video.
Exploding Whale

13 Comments:

Blogger Donna. W said...

That was some video. All I can say is "Ewwwwww"!

4:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good thing i can't watch youtubes, i don't want to see a whale being blown up.....
da loop

5:02 AM  
Blogger JustRex said...

What I don't understand is why can't you just leave a dead horse out in the woods? Does BLM go out and blow up every deer that drops dead? I can just visualize covert teams of BLM agents dressed in black and hucking bazookas stealthing through the underbrush immolating dead deer and arguing over how many sticks for each deceased chipmunk. Wouldn't a dead horse in one piece make less of an environmental impact than a thousand pieces of dead horse and a largeish crater? You can see what I mean when I say we don't have a clue how to "manage" the environment.

6:51 AM  
Blogger Uncle Walt said...

I'm just looking at the picture, pondering what's going through the horse's mind.

"Okay. I broke a leg and it hurts like hell. But on the other hoof, now I can fly. How cool is that? Everything looks so much smaller from up here. Hey! I wonder if I can poo on that guy's head?"

12:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wonder who, at BLM would dare to look a person in the eye and tell them that they had to cut up their beloved horse and pack it out of the woods, or BLOW IT UP. Honest Q: What is their concern w/ a dead horse? That is a difficult situation to face. I would leave the horse. Sad as that would be. Not to mention, does BLM do the same for the wild horses? My guess is, NO. I'm thinking, whoever made up that policy...didn't have a horse.

1:25 PM  
Blogger Uncle Walt said...

Is the policy only for horses? Or would it go for any pack animal? Or perhaps any domestic animal brought with you? And why not "Uncle Earl", if he dies on the trail?

Wait! I just realized ...

This means that the BLM views explosives as a legitimate item for first-aid kits.

I wonder if that goes for ALL federal lands, or just those under BLM control?

I guess their agency acronym should be pronounched "Blam".

3:07 PM  
Blogger JustRex said...

And who just randomly carries 30 sticks of dynamite out in the woods with them? Well.... ok, I can think of a few people who would.

3:53 AM  
Blogger The Guy Who Writes This said...

Donna, the best part was the people and cars getting pelted with blubber.

Loopy, you would have enjoyed it...really.

Darev, I don't know how set in stone the law really is, I was talking to horse owners that may tend to be on the tale telling side.

Walt, there is a good chance since they relieve them selves every half hour. As for policy, I don't have any more information than what the people in this group were saying. I don't ride BLM land, so I'm not in the big loop.

Ginger, where have you been? I've been worried sick. If it were me I'd pack the saddle out and call it good.

5:48 AM  
Blogger dalia said...

co-sign donna. ewwww!

i think there'd be quite the public outcry, though, if someone took the TNT to a horse.

6:03 AM  
Blogger Jaggy said...

Uncle Walt's first comment about made my waffles come out my nose, holy cow! "I can fly!" Can you imagine being shat on by a flying horse? That would be a story for the breakroom!

"What stinks?"
"Oh don't mind him, he had a horse 'accident' this morning."
"Accident?"
"Yeah, a flying horse unloaded on his head."
"A... flying... horse... Bill, you gotta hear this!"

7:43 AM  
Blogger The Guy Who Writes This said...

Hey, I'm sure even Pegasus had to dump out while in the air every now and then.

9:16 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have been busy w/ dogs, ask Gwen. Rest assured, if you have an incident in my fire district...I have a back hoe and know how to use it...it could be used for the horse as well :) Knock on wood that doesn't happen!

1:48 PM  
Blogger Mike S said...

I'm another of the 'pack out the saddle' crowd. I know that if you leave even an animal the size of a horse in our woods it'll be 'disappeared' within 2-3 days, usually sooner.

Of course Pegasus did that, and OFTEN! How else can you explain those thousands of islands in the Mediterranean Sea???

4:37 PM  

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