What is the craziest thing you have seen on the trail?

[whaat]

I bet some people have seen some crazy things! What is the craziest thing you have seen on the trail?

[mysaygrace]

A few friend and I were trail riding and came to a meadow that had a group of people meditating in a circle, they were all sitting indian style in a circle holding hands with their eyes closed humming. Unfortunately the trail head that we had to get too was right by their circle so we tried to as quietly as possibly ride by, but some of our horses were like WTF and we had to really prod them to move on, you could see some of the people slightly opening one eye to take a peek as to what was going by, it was too much like that one tic tac commerical, I thought I'd bust out laughing but I didn't want to be rude. I kept praying my horse wouldn't decided to poop right there or fart like she does when she's nervous sometimes!

[pines4equines]

I ride in this one park that has all these old cars and appliances on this one trail. The stuff is from the 30s and 40s when everyone used the great outdoors as their junk pile. There are old cars, washing machines, ovens and other things from that era. It is kinda interesting to see all those old things and we call that trail the Appliance Trail.

[Shadow14]

Two guys walking through the woods with big stuffed green garbage bags slung over their shoulders. I rode right through their patch and the girls with me loaded up their saddle bags.
I couldn't figure out why they wanted all those weeds:lol::lol::lol:

[Shadow14]

Forgot this one. A guy running buck naked after a hobbled horse that was running away hopping with both front feet strapped together. A stream stopped the horse and he caught the horse.. Wait a minute, that was me:lol::lol:

[SabalPalm]

A clown. In full dress/makeup. I almost fell off laughing because it was just too odd.

She was actually at the trailhead, looking for a party she was to appear at. We directed her down the highway a bit further to the main park entrance. We had ridden by the party site earlier so figured that's where she belonged.

[katarine]

That reminds me...riding in a quiet, heavily wooded area, on a seldom used trail...round a bend ....and SNORT. BLOW. HEAD BOB....

a Mylar balloon. A Frosty the Snowman Mylar balloon. White face, coal eyes, carrot nose. Smile. But no 'body' of course...just a floating white face, its string hung in a limb, so it floated about 5' off the ground. My horse turned to stone, LOL. the other two with me didn't really seem to notice, but Chip could NOT sort that face LOL

[daisyduke]

This story isn't that outrageous but here it goes....My sister and I and our respective families ride alot in the mountains. It seems everyone sees wildlife but us. Our husbands see moose, deer, elk, coyotes, etc. In all the times we have been riding, we've seen the hind end of a few deer. Our husbands tell us we never see wildlife because we never stop talking the whole time we ride. We need to enjoy and embrace the silence of the trees and forest. Gibberish!! We are there to talk, talk, talk. So one day we are riding and amazingly we notice this tiny little coyote curled under a tree taking a nap. We stopped talking and just watched the coyote. and watched and watched. It never moved. It was dead. Obviously just freshly dead as it was still intact. We thought as a joke, we should pack it on the back of one of our horses and taunt our husbands that not only do we see the wildlife, we can tame it. Of course neither one of us could muster up the courage to pick up a dead coyote but we sure had a good laugh over it.

[step aside sassy]

a porcupine in an apple tree. He was "hiding" - so he thought, and I thought for sure that my horse would take off for the hills. Apparently she saw him long before I did and didn't blink an eye.

[gabz]

There is a state park with horse trails in Hadley, MI. I was riding there with some friends and we came to the top of a hill and there was a BIG oak tree. It must have been either spring or fall or the tree is dead as there were few leaves, but there were bras hung on the tree. EVERYWHERE.

There must have been 50 - 75 bras. Leopard and tiger patterned ones, white, black, red, nude, prints, etc. etc. All sizes. On gi-normous one was "on" a large trunk section. These bras were closed (hooked closed) and hung with precision, not just tossed.

I guess that particular place is a favorite hang out for high school teens. There must be meaning behind the bras. But it was a great conversation piece. We did find another tree with a half-dozen tennis shoes in it it, but nothing like the Bra Tree.

[Ridinwyoming]

This isn't the craziest but is sorta funny is the antelope barking at us. Sounds just like a dog. I believe it's the male's warning system trying to defend his harem.

[SuperSTB]

Two guys in a very intimate scene... a little too intimate.

[SarahR]

We were mooned in the wilderness by a group of drunk young men while heading back from a pack trip.

[SuperSTB]

I thought of- not so much crazy- but fairly interesting. We trailered down to some trails. In the parking lot we were tacking up and getting to ride when a group returned from the trails. In tow was a nice looking cattle dog. So this group loads up and leaves just as we were mounting up. They did not take the dog. I thought- wow that's odd?

So we hit the trails- the dog sees us and follows. Actually he also led part of the way too. We passed other groups riding but he never left us. People asked if it was our dog- nope. We were out for about 2 hrs. We arrive back at the trailer and he sits in the parking lot watching us. They have a watering trough which he got a drink. I gave him a snack and he let us pet him but that was about it.

Another group was getting set to trail ride as we were packing up and loading horses. The dog 'hitched' a ride out with them once he saw we were leaving.

Pretty cool dog. Found out that the dog lives near the parking lot and does this almost every day :) Haven't riddent here in a while but hope he's still around.

[jeano]

My very first post on COTH was in reply to a similar thread, so here we go again:

Riding in the local state park, years ago when I lived in OH. Snowy winter day, and we're trotting through the woods and I look down and see a heart in the snow. A fresh, meaty, bleeding heart. No tracks, no clue as to how it got there. I kept right on going, because folks it was plenty big enough to belong to an animal roughly my size....Yes, I said to myself, deer heart, hunter dropped it packing it out, yessiree, deer not human yep yep yep...but I'm thinking in retrospect that deer season was like a week long at most and I wouldnt swear it was THAT week.....

[SarahR]

Now that is *really* wierd. Could an eagle have dropped it? I'm sure you've gone over every possibility in your head.


Sarah in Durango
www.fourcornerstrails.com

[CanterQueen]

A great big, green, horned Hercules beetle right at eye level (on horseback) on a branch as I rounded a corner. Biggest, uglies thing I've ever seen. Almost ran into that branch!! :eek: I've never seen one before (or again) outside of a museum.

[sublimequine]

Probably a mannequin someone had apparently dumped (?) into the forest preserve (that's where the trails were). Like a mannequin straight from a store, all limbs attached and everything. It was naked too. :lol:

The horses sure did give that the hairy eyeball as we tried to convince them to pass it. ;)

[baylady7]

Hmmmn
We were riding in the woods in Dover, MA about 17 years ago when we came around a bend in the trail and nearly ran over a nun, who was out their meditating. There was a nearby monastary and they must have been having a retreat with some folks from the convent. Not sure who was more frightened- the nun or my green young horse!!!

[Moonstruck Acres]

I saw a lady walking a goat and a baby carriage and also a Naked man meditaing.

[saddleup]

I'm sorry, I can't get past the bra tree. That's too funny. Wouldn't you love to know the story behind it?

[tabula rashah]

A bunch of guys dressed in medieval garb sword fighting in the middle of the woods... nuff said

[ChocoMare]

There is a state park with horse trails in Hadley, MI. I was riding there with some friends and we came to the top of a hill and there was a BIG oak tree. It must have been either spring or fall or the tree is dead as there were few leaves, but there were bras hung on the tree. EVERYWHERE.

There must have been 50 - 75 bras. Leopard and tiger patterned ones, white, black, red, nude, prints, etc. etc. All sizes. On gi-normous one was "on" a large trunk section. These bras were closed (hooked closed) and hung with precision, not just tossed.

I guess that particular place is a favorite hang out for high school teens. There must be meaning behind the bras. But it was a great conversation piece. We did find another tree with a half-dozen tennis shoes in it it, but nothing like the Bra Tree.

BWAHAHAHAHA :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


Two guys in a very intimate scene... a little too intimate.

Ewwwww :dead:

************************************************** **

Gee, I have boring trails! :D

---Oh wait... did have an Ewww of my own. Friend and I were out on The Silver Comet Trail. Decided to pop off the trail and up into a new subdivision being built to check it out. Came up to one of those HUMONGO concrete vertical sewer collection units....hole on top, hold on side.

Inside giant tube were two Yutes (young skulls full o'mush). Caught her pulling up her panties and watched as the two of them skulked off back into the woods. Couldn't have been more than 14. :no:

[BarbeyGirl]

I saw a lady walking a goat and a baby carriage and also a Naked man meditaing.

May I take comfort in the assumption that you did not see these things in the same place, at the same time?

:winkgrin:

[GotGait]

I saw a lady walking a goat and a baby carriage and also a Naked man meditaing.

The naked thing seems to be a lot more common than I thought. Ours was dubbed "Creepy Naked Guy". I haven't seen him in a long time. Perhaps he's moved to your area? :cool:

[gabz]

Ha ha ha... those people are nekkid because they are searching for the Bra & BVD trees !!! :D :lol: :winkgrin:

[whaat]

These are great! I don't have a good trail riding one to add but there was a show venue when I was growing up that had a streaker whenever there was a show.

[lizathenag]

I used to ride across Timothy Leary's property in the late 60s. There was lots of LSD art in those hills!

[wateryglen]

Sheeesh!!! And I always get excited when I see an albino deer!!! You guys got THAT beat for sure!

I have a number of crazy deerhunter stories but there's not enough room here......:winkgrin:

[Trakehners2000]

I will limit what I have seen to three (or four:winkgrin:)

#1 has to be the time a large buck in full velvet came up to my husband & his horse while we where riding, I swear this buck was a pet to someone because he let my husband pet him on the nose & then just faded back, like he just came up to say hi, and the horse just didn't mind the deer either, it was odd & cool.

#2 Would have to be last year when a friend of mine wanted to take her horse on it's first 'taste' ride, and we decided to take our draft cross to see if he could handle a stronger pace for 12 miles...it was a beautiful fun day. And we are trotting along on this absolutely perfect April day in WI, and I see stretched across my path a birch log with moss, we are just chatting and laughing & giggling & smiling and having a peach of a day when at the exact moment (we were riding side by side instride) we both saw this 'branch' lift it's white head. I SCREAMED. Big time, I don't know why - I was safely pirched on a 17 hand horse! We immediately fell into hysterics at my scream- some nice gals stopped behind us to get the snake off the trail before it got trampled.

#3 Not so much odd, but a man had two VERY large white dogs on the trail (he was walking) not leashed, and they kept chasing our horses, so I turned my horse and chased the dogs. A lady I know in passing was also riding that day and we crossed paths twice, on the way out I warned her about the dogs and on the way back she was laughing as the man told her how nice she was to not chase his poor dogs *like that other mean lady had!!!* LOL:cool: I figure any dog chasing me ~ and I have the right to face it and chase it back!!!!:eek: :yes:
Christina

[tpup]

About the bra tree.......when I was in college, we went to parties around the holidays and your "entrance ticket" to the party was to bring a piece of underwear (any kind) and hang it on the house's Xmas tree - how creative:D....maybe it was a college stunt??

[Dajuliz]

A guy who thought he was concealed in foliage following the call of nature along side of the trail. He was wearing a hi vis yellow shirt and acted like he was invisible. I know we surprised him. Unfortunately, he did not know that he was crouched in a bed of poison ivy. We tried to be really cool but one of my riding partners who is not know for her tact did tell him that he had put his butt in the poison ivy and told him to be sure not to wipe with the leaves around him.

[4whitefeet]

I have seen this twice in my life and I didn't get close enough to see if the animal and rider were the same both times, but to come across a guy riding a bull,:eek: complete with saddle and bridle is kinda strange. The first time was on a trail near the mountains of NC and the second time was two years later at the beach in NC.
WOW, that takes "bull riding" to a whole new level. :winkgrin:

[cloudyandcallie]

Well you guys have us beat on the trails, we've only seen stoves, toilets, old junked cars, wild hogs, deer, and alligators, big alligators.

But except for the animals, like the bulls and coyotes, in Atlanta I saw people doing all the acts mentioned supra, in broad daylight on the streets and in the parks. I guess there's more human "wildlife" in Atlanta than on our trails in SE GA.:lol:

[siseley]

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h84/siseley/steve-direts.jpgwe had a fellow ride by us when we were riding at Red Rock State Park with two, count them two, chihuahuas in his saddle bags!
It seems that he likes to have his dogs with him, but the jack rabbits and squirrels are bigger and scare the dogs! I just ROARED when he told us that, and those two dogs NEVER DID stop yapping and growling.

[crackerjack]

Not really crazy ..... more horrifying though.... as a 12 yr old a friend and I were riding down a dirt path. We came across a guy trying to kill himself by monoxide poisoning (his leather jacket around his car's exhaust pipe). We did a quick 180 and galloped to the nearest house to call the police. Surprisingly the incident never really affected us then. We did get a call from the police to make sure us kids were ok.

[pandorasboxx]

Forgot this one. A guy running buck naked after a hobbled horse that was running away hopping with both front feet strapped together. A stream stopped the horse and he caught the horse.. Wait a minute, that was me:lol::lol:

hahahahha! :eek:


Originally Posted by Moonstruck Acres View Post
I saw a lady walking a goat and a baby carriage and also a Naked man meditaing.


this sounds like the beginning of a joke..... :lol:

[MeerkatRI]

A huge Mako shark head was seen by my barn owner.....
yup....
apparently so the scavengers could eat it and the jaw would be left to mount.
Freetown State Forest....
lots of creepy stuff has gone on there... including cults... human sacrifice.... yeah....
When I've been on those trails I always feel "followed" during certain points... it's a Native American burial ground and sacred swamp in parts..... I was in there at dusk on foot one night.... never again!

[mandalea]

I have 2, with the 2nd one being horribly disgusting.

#1. Was riding across a paddock, and found a headless eel, about 600 m from the river, behind me.

#2. Was doing XC training at my old agistment centre, which was a public trail riding centre, and found several used sanitary pads in a particularly scrubby spot. Smelt DISGUSTING!:yes::eek:

[gypsymare]

Two teams of sled dogs staked out on either side of the trail and a third hitched up to a dog sled.... in Pennsylvania. It was pretty cool in retrospect. They had a sled with bicycle type tires and the trail there was very nice and wide enough for a car. What was not cool was meeting up with them on my first trail test-ride with my Saddlebred rescue, Lucian, and a friend who was not the greatest rider on my Paint, Roxy. Luckily Lu took the lead and with his eyeballs rolling around in his head walked quietly inbetween the howling dogs with Roxy's nose in his tail. I was so proud of the two of them!

[Beverley]

On a four hour trail ride in France, 1970 or 71, minding our own business walking on down a lovely trail in the woods, when on either side of us, up pop a few hundred camouflage/battle dressed French soldiers. I don't think we were part of their planned maneuvers scenario but they were kind enough to wait til we got well past to resume their battle!

[Renae]

Coming across some Japanese tourists, a man and his mother I think, in the middle of the woods quite far back in the park. They seemed very lost and confused and came up to me pointing at the parking lot on their map, so I dismounted and walked with them back to the parking lot. :) They were very happy and took lots of pictures with the horse.

Saddest thing I have ever seen is a poor mini out trail driving in a cheap harness, poorly balanced easy entry pipe cart, and with 2 people in the cart. The thing was a huffing, puffing hairy sweat ball. Poor thing :cry:

"A bunch of guys dressed in medieval garb sword fighting in the middle of the woods... nuff said" :lol: That is LARPing (Live Action Role Playing, like acting out Dungeons & Dragons or video games) look it up on youtube sometime when u need a laugh.

And about the goat walking, hehe I have always wanted a pack goat to take hiking with me.

[CanterQueen]

Not really wierd, but funny. In a state park, on the horse trail, cantering around a corner we came upon a man (we later learned they were visiting from Germany) crouched down with his back to us taking a picture of his family in the middle of the trail facing us. I'd love to see that picture as the kids saw us and scattered off the trail. Dad took a bit longer and was VERY surprised to see us (hello -- it's a HORSE trail). ;)

[CanterQueen]

Not really wierd, but funny. In a state park, on the horse trail, cantering around a corner we came upon a man (we later learned they were visiting from Germany) crouched down with his back to us taking a picture of his family in the middle of the trail (facing us). I'd love to see that picture as the kids saw us and scattered off the trail. Dad took a bit longer and was VERY surprised to see us (hello -- it's a HORSE trail). ;)

[Dajuliz]

My daughter and I took our horses out for a trail ride at one of our beautiful state parks. It was just a gorgeous fall day in late October and the woods was in full color. We were slowing down to enter the day parking area and there was a group of people with the guys wearing kilts and the women wearing homespun dresses with tartan sashes. They were carrying enormous banners. We parked and all around us were young people wearing costumes. They were playing a game based on the Lord of the Rings. I guess they play it on line and then monthly meet to play the game together. We learned that the good force were hobbits (furry hobbits wearing dark suits) and the evil force were trying to catch the hobbits. You knew they were evil because well they just looked evil. There was a wizard in a white sparkling robe in full makeup with white sparkling hair. There was an evil sinister being in a black cloak. There was a King and Queen typer costumes. In the middle of all this was the blue power ranger and the red power ranger with shining silver swords. The goal was for the group to race from one side of the 6000 acre park to the other side. They were have mock battles with theatrical sword play. The group was very polite and always gave way to the horses when you ran into them (Horses! Horses on the trail!). The guys in the tartans were spotters and strategist. They helped the hobbits and evil force manuever through the park. We lost track of them eventully and I don't know who won or lost. It was very colorful to watch. These young people took it all so seriously. We discovered a little battlefield romance with a kilt wearing warrior necking with a young wench wearing a tartan sash. The whole pagent was quite the sight. I did not quite get it though. Why do people run around in the woods wearing costumes chasing each other? But then I had to remember that I was riding my horse in kind of a costume also just enjoying the beautiful weather in a different way. Our horses never even spooked with all of these people racing through the woods. Although my horse really looked at the evil being with his sparkling black cloak. This game had to have about 75 participants. It was a big group of people all dressed up in costume.

[Painted Horse]

We were saddling our horses at a trail head. In pulls a a car pulling a very old travel trailer. A guy and gal get out of the car and come open the door of the trailer. Out pops 7 Llamas. They threw a pack on each Llama and headed downthe trail.

Apparently they had stripped the inside of the trailer out and used it as a Llama trailer because they couldn't afford to buy a horse trailer.

[LookinSouth]

A hang glider landing into an adjacent corn field as myself and a friend were on horseback just about to turn into said field for riding. There isn't a whole lot that bothers my horse these days but THAT was startling!! We decided to move on and ride in the woods instead.:yes:

[baylady7]

These are suchj fun to read, make me think of some others.

1. Prickly pear cactus (in Maryland- that is the weird part, at two different sites)

2. we rode through a paint ball fort/war a few times in New Jersey (cease fire cease fire, non-combatants coming thru)

3. when we were on Cape Cod, we were on a military base with armored personnel carriers quite close (no direct encounters but we could see and hear them no problem). Both there and on another military base my horse was right by the range (shooting) area so he generally does not care about weapons fire in the area (everything from small arms to 155 howitzers)

[JollyBadger]

I was out riding by myself at the local state park on a familiar trail. As I went down one of the larger hills, I could hear that there was a group up ahead of me. When I caught up to them, I saw that it was a group of four riders, two grown men and two boys. The boys were probably 12 or 13. All of them were riding without saddles. . .the men were riding bareback, but the boys were using those honeycomb/rubber square saddle pads as "bareback" pads. The problem is, that's all they had. . .nothing to actually keep the pad on the horse's back.

Just as I was getting to the bottom of the hill, the group was starting up the next hill so I held back and waited. The boy with the saddle pad was last in line, and his horse was not happy about possibly being left behind. He took a bit of a leap over a log as he was climbing the hill. . .the boy and his saddle pad slid right over the horse's rump and landed behind him. The horse ran a few steps up the hill to the rest of the group. The boy picked up the pad again, walked up the hill, put it on the horse's back, found a tree stump and re-mounted.

That lasted all of five seconds, because the others were already continuing up the switchback portion of the hill. . .the last boy's horse took a little jump-start, and once again the boy and his saddle pad slipped right off. Same thing. . .horse caught up to the others, they held his horse while he put the saddle pad on and re-mounted.

And, once again, the others continued on up the hill and the last boy's horse have a little heave-ho. This time, the boy stayed on by clinging to his horse's mane, but the saddle pad slipped out from under him and landed on the ground. So the boy had to get off his horse anyway, pick up the pad, and re-mount.

They were all good-natured about it and when they got to the top of the hill they stopped to let me pass. The whole event was so comical, it made me chuckle the rest of the way home.

Another time, I saw a nearly-naked man and woman wading in one of the streams. They didn't seem bothered by it, enjoying each other's company. They've since been nicknamed "Adam and Eve."

[JenniferTWfarm]

I am an employee at Fair Hill Stables and we offer guided trial rides through the park. A friend and co-work of mine was guiding a trail of seven girl scouts when they came down a hill and saw a young couple having sex in an open field! My friend let out one of her crazy, ear piercing whistles and the couple scrambled up and ran across the field trying their best to pull up their pants. I don't think the scouts saw anything but my friend and was still laughing when they got back to the barn. Wish I would have been there!:D

~ Jen