Safety comes first at D-M saddle club

  • Published
  • By Elena Ollivier
  • D Bar M Saddle Club secretary
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Recently we have had a lot of individuals coming to the stable to see the horses. A problem has arisen with this in regards to safety. A do not feed the horses sign is posted on the gate, but people continue to feed the horses. Earlier this week, such an activity resulted in a small child getting bitten by one of the younger horses at the stable. I would like for it to be better publicized that although the horses may be pretty to look at, not all of them are necessarily friendly.

Furthermore, feeding them can be very dangerous to the horse. We have found tobacco wrappers next to stalls recently. This is not a safe treat to feed horses. Also, one of our horses is over 30 years old. He is on a very special diet, and being fed the wrong thing could potentially kill him. Feeding any of the horses the wrong thing could result in such an incident. Colic causes a very expensive vet bill for the owners, and can often result in losing the horse.

Individuals have also been using the grounds for their own personal dirt bike, ATV, and car dirt track. Our parking lots are being torn up, and our horses are getting scared by such activities. Serious injuries can be acquired by a horse getting scared and entangled in a fence.

Also, we have had a lot of inquiries since the weather has improved about riding lessons for children, etc. We are not a horse rental facility. All of the horses on the base are privately owned. We have empty stalls and new members are welcome to bring their animals on base, but we do not rent, or offer lessons.

And lastly someone thought it was funny several months ago to release all of our horses late one evening. One of the horses was found next to the firing range. As if that isn't a dangerous enough spot for the horse, there is the added danger that he was in the road at some point in order to get there. There is a major liability issue if a car were to strike a horse. Then there is the added problem that these horses are not used to being out of their pens together, and not all of them get along. A serious injury could have resulted. We have been forced to padlock our horse pen gates now, which creates its own safety hazards in the event of an emergency.