Dangers

Today I was reminded of just how dangerous working with animals can be, whether they are wild or domestic. Of course I am always well aware of the dangers involved with my job, however after many months of calm, it can be very easy to become... complacent . In a related note I also discovered today that horses are terrified apparently, of moose.

Let me paint the scene, it is a usual day the other volunteer and I are driving down to the fields to feed the horses. Everything is going fine, we managed to get Ibis and Raven, the yearling horses, on the halters, tie them to the gate and they are happily eating away at their food, all is well. Until that is, we hear the two dogs barking and yelping, clearly agitated by something. The other volunteer jumps on the quad and shoots off back to the farm to check on them, leaving me with the horses, again all is well. Until that is, I hear some rustling from the tree behind me and I see Baby and Belle the two baby moose we are raising here making their way through the trees. All the horses, the 30 or so in the field and the two girls, flip out when the moose appear. The horses in the field start running around, while the girls start pulling at their halters and kicking the gate. Raven slips and falls into the fence, Ibis is freaking out, and I am standing in a field full of spooked horses, honestly not knowing where is safer, in the field or out with the girls. All I can do at this point is scream for the other volunteer to come back. Trying to help Ibis or Raven was completely out of the question, with the way they were freaking out going anywhere near them was way too dangerous.

To make matters worse Jasper the dog, came running down barking at the moose, scaring the horses even more. Luckily the other volunteer heard my screams and came to help. We managed to somehow get the two girls back into the field, and luckily everyone, horses and human escaped the whole ordeal with no injuries.

I'm not going to lie, I was pretty terrified, I am relatively new to working with horses, and the power they have can be pretty scary, so being surrounded by freaked out horses was terrifying to say the least, and being unable to help Raven and Ibis when they were clearly scared was even worse. I felt so helpless, but it was for my own safety that I stayed back, and i'm glad I did as my first instinct was to rush forwards and help.

It was a complete accident, and nothing really could have been done to prevent it. Later when we went up feeding, the moose were back up on the hill, so hopefully this is all over now and it won't happen again, because honestly I don't know if my heart could take another day like this.