Trying to ride feral horses

From BearWiki

Claim: Unless you're an expert, don't approach feral horses.

Let's ignore for now that this is a confirmed, staged scene. Feral horses (in this case, the American mustang) are strong, dangerous animals that take weeks for an expert to break. This was even recognized by the ancients, who relied on horses much more than we do now. Xenophon, student of Socrates, writes in On Horsemanship, "It seems far better for a young man to give heed to his own health of body and to horsemanship,or, if he already knows how to ride with skill, to practising manouvres, than that he should set up as a trainer of horses." ""[1] Yet, this is concerning a domesticated colt, not a full-grown, feral mustang. There are dozens of techniques now in use to break horses. How many do you think your average tourist knows how to do without risking serious bodily injury?

Monty Roberts, a horse trainer and showman, notes:[2]

"I believe that the mustang is a highly trainable animal that can serve many purposes within today's horse industry. There is no question that they can be trained to become trustworthy partners for horse people, providing years of service, entertainment and companionship. However, I am just as strong in my belief that, if poorly treated, they can become dangerous and destructive. Wild mustangs should never be taken for granted by ill-prepared people who do not understand the level of competence necessary for dealing with a wild animal. I believe that equus in general is an often-misunderstood species and is, sadly, treated by many human beings in an unfair manner. When you add the aspects of non-domestic and wild to this scenario, the level of misunderstanding seems to increase significantly"

Writing about feral horses in Audobon Magazine, Ted Williams observes[3]:

"Feral horses are big and dangerous. Arizona Audubon’s Tice Supplee has a friend who showed up looking like he’d been in a bar fight after his adopted mustang had knocked him around and eventually skewered itself on a fence stake. Now it’s in his freezer."

For an idea of what is involved in breaking a feral horse, read up further on the subject here.

The concept that an amateur is going to, in the short term, not get injured, tame the horse, and ride off into the sunset is simply not plausible. The benefit is low, the risk is high, the time needed is extensive, and this is the opposite of what you need on all fronts.

[edit] Analysis

While it can be supported that feral horses backed into a corner could, potentially, be dangerous, the discussion of this is completely beside the point. All of the above discussion refers to wild/feral horses in captivity.

First of all, the likelihood of a lost hiker even spotting a feral or wild horse is slim, because they will hear, smell or see you coming before you ever catch sight of them. And if you did see one, the chances of you being in danger are very low because the horse would not let you get within 100 feet of it. The wild horse is a flight or fight animal and it will choose flight first. It would walk, trot or run away from you before you ever got a chance to be in danger. The wild horse is way too smart to let you corner it to the point of it having to fight you. If you've ever encountered a wild deer in the woods it's pretty much the same story with horses - they might look at you out of curiosity for a moment, then leave.

Any experienced horse person who saw Bear walk up to the "feral" horse immediately knew that was a tame animal from the simple fact that it let him approach close enough to touch; and note that when Bear attempted to mount the animal, even the tame horse, loose and left to it's own devices, wandered away from him.