Groom murdered at Gulfstream

[Merlinsky]

Originally Posted by disappearingdan_akaplaya

is anywhere really safe in today's world? as far as the racetrack goes just working with the horses themselves is dangerous. arlington has alotta open barns since obviously they run in the warmer months of the year and last year i was walking one who was recovering from a injury and hadnt been to the track in weeks. horses get spooked but this 1 was already high strung as is with not training and when he got spooked proceeded to bolt like a bat outta hell and got infronta me and i got kicked luckily in the thigh, i only say luckily cuz had he got me in the knee or in the midsection it woulda obviously been alot worse

Yikes. They can all just go from 0 to 60 in a split second can't they? Fight or flight comes at you out of nowhere sometimes. I knew this one mare that was hallucinating I'm pretty sure. Not just spooky, she actually saw things coming at her like boogie monsters. I mean we could joke because we were ready at a moment's notice to bail if she pulled her stunts. It kept you from getting too tense while riding her. They straightened her out finally and she went from being flashy to some slow lesson pony because the thrill was gone.

Yeah I know the very idea of working with horses is one that involves accepting high levels of risk but I generally don't equate job risks of working with the animals themselves with screwdrivers to the neck. Not unless someone slipped one to John Henry in his birthday cake this year.

I guess you could say that dorms are among the most dangerous places for the human element then when you're at a track. Honestly though where are the places where a person would be well-advised to watch out (you can factor in the betting element but I mean hands on horse employees)? What are policies generally about carrying around mace? or anything else for that matter...