I can't believe what happened at the fair last night! It was scary... easily could have ended in tragedy.
It was during the six-horse-hitch show. There were five teams in the arena, so there were a total of 30 horses (big horses, clydsdales and percherons), and each team pulls a wagon. They were doing a circut around they ring, showing off their stuff. One of the teams had a problem with their harness, so the judges stoped everyone while the fixed it.
Everytime their handler tried to leave, the two lead horses on this team tried to turn around and go back in the opposited direction (Note: for anyone who may not know, these horses are attached to a big wagon, so this is not a good thing, they can't just turn around, they have to go in a circle). Each time, the handler came back and caught them, pulling them forward. The last time, however, he wasn't quite fast enough, and the horses turned around, bringing the rest of the team with them. The horeses ended up right beside the wagon, facing the opposite directioin, and tried to keep goiong. They nearly tipped the wagon over. The guy in the wagon (the one that's not the driver) half fell/half jumped out.
The team in front of them spooked, and started to move. The guy barely managed to avoid getting trampled. At the same time, the team behind them also spooked, and the two lead horses somehow managed to pull free from the rest of the team, and ran loose around the ring, spooking the other two teams.
This all happened very fast, it really only took a minute. But I tell you... I think my heart stopped beating for that minute. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. They managed to calm all the horses down, and catch the two loose ones and hook them back up.
I'm also pleased to say that the team who's horses got loose wasn't penalized in any way. In fact, they took first place
But man, I can't believe how badly that could have ended.
