wannabe yellowjackets
Jul. 18th, 2002 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
joflasherLast night Boy and I went up to the farm to go riding. Someone had run off with literally all of my gear for Majic and I was pissed. We only ride twice a week and getting up there after work with all the traffic and stuff is a mess. Its bad enough when I have to spend half time just looking for my gear. I had worked myself into a fine frenzy by the time I realized that saddle, bridle, girth and pad were all gone. And its not like I could make do either, since that is literally the only bridle at the farm that fits and riding Majic bareback outside of the ring would be a fine way to meet the ground on personal terms.
Anyways, Boy and I tacked up Joe and I went out into the meadow alone. Boy figured it would do me good to go work the anger out of my system and Joe good because he's been especially leg dead and lazy lately. Amusingly enough, after the first screaming fit at him for refusing to move, he was very cooperative. I keep telling Boy he needs to yell more.
We get to the meadow, get about 200 ft in on the trail and Joe starts weaving side to side off of the trail. Its one of his tricks to avoid going where you want him to go. Suddenly I had a swarm of little yellow flying things around Joe's front end and my head. I could feel them bouncing off my helmet and trying to land on my arms. They were landing on Joe and he was pretty upset about it.
First thought, Joe had stepped onto a ground nest of yellowjackets. It took very very little urging to get an all out runway gallop out of him to get away. We ran for about 1/4 of a mile around the meadow and up a hill, where I reined him in and turned to look back. Yep, there was a cload of the little bastards following us and they were catching up entirely to quickly. Some of them caught us before I got back down the hill (galloping down the hill is not a great idea) so I got a bit better look at them before we outran them again. Small, mostly fly shaped as opposed to wasp shaped and a dark yellowy orange color.
We finished the circle around the meadow (about a mile, total) as fast as Joe could go (I wasn't urging him, he was doing it himself) and I slowed him down to a canter when we went past the place they had first come at us. I didn't see any activity but I was pretty sure the swarm was still somewhere behind us. We got out of there and they didn't follow us back to home. At the farm, I cooled Joe down in the ring while I talked to the Boy about it. Joe got lots of pats for not going completely beserk while being swarmed. Even at the full gallop, he was still listening to me instead of just running blind. I also went over him head to tail and I couldn't find any swellings like he had gotten stung.
So now I'm wondering what the hell they were. Definitely not yellowjackets, they were too small. They were larger than any deer fly I had ever seen. I've also never seen flies swarm like that. I thought maybe honeybees but I think they might have been small for that too. Also, honeybees don't make ground nests. Maybe we managed to step into a hatching of biting flies or something, I don't know.
I just hope it doesn't happen again. Galloping like that is a great way to end up underneathe a fallen horse. This is experience talking and the idea of spending the rest of the year learning to walk for a third time just doesn't sound like fun. I don't bounce like I used to.
On a side note, I was very glad I was on Joe and not Majic when it happened. She can get pretty uncontrollable all by herself. I hate to think what she might have done with bugs all over her and me demanding an all out gallop.
Anyways, Boy and I tacked up Joe and I went out into the meadow alone. Boy figured it would do me good to go work the anger out of my system and Joe good because he's been especially leg dead and lazy lately. Amusingly enough, after the first screaming fit at him for refusing to move, he was very cooperative. I keep telling Boy he needs to yell more.
We get to the meadow, get about 200 ft in on the trail and Joe starts weaving side to side off of the trail. Its one of his tricks to avoid going where you want him to go. Suddenly I had a swarm of little yellow flying things around Joe's front end and my head. I could feel them bouncing off my helmet and trying to land on my arms. They were landing on Joe and he was pretty upset about it.
First thought, Joe had stepped onto a ground nest of yellowjackets. It took very very little urging to get an all out runway gallop out of him to get away. We ran for about 1/4 of a mile around the meadow and up a hill, where I reined him in and turned to look back. Yep, there was a cload of the little bastards following us and they were catching up entirely to quickly. Some of them caught us before I got back down the hill (galloping down the hill is not a great idea) so I got a bit better look at them before we outran them again. Small, mostly fly shaped as opposed to wasp shaped and a dark yellowy orange color.
We finished the circle around the meadow (about a mile, total) as fast as Joe could go (I wasn't urging him, he was doing it himself) and I slowed him down to a canter when we went past the place they had first come at us. I didn't see any activity but I was pretty sure the swarm was still somewhere behind us. We got out of there and they didn't follow us back to home. At the farm, I cooled Joe down in the ring while I talked to the Boy about it. Joe got lots of pats for not going completely beserk while being swarmed. Even at the full gallop, he was still listening to me instead of just running blind. I also went over him head to tail and I couldn't find any swellings like he had gotten stung.
So now I'm wondering what the hell they were. Definitely not yellowjackets, they were too small. They were larger than any deer fly I had ever seen. I've also never seen flies swarm like that. I thought maybe honeybees but I think they might have been small for that too. Also, honeybees don't make ground nests. Maybe we managed to step into a hatching of biting flies or something, I don't know.
I just hope it doesn't happen again. Galloping like that is a great way to end up underneathe a fallen horse. This is experience talking and the idea of spending the rest of the year learning to walk for a third time just doesn't sound like fun. I don't bounce like I used to.
On a side note, I was very glad I was on Joe and not Majic when it happened. She can get pretty uncontrollable all by herself. I hate to think what she might have done with bugs all over her and me demanding an all out gallop.
