How comfortable is it..........................?

mikesack Wrote:

---

> For a Harness Driver to be sitting in the lead and
> have a horse behind him right up his backsides and
> literally breathing down his neck when taking the
> trail. Is it possible for the horse behind to
> attempt to savage the driver in front, maybe bite
> off his head??
>
> Wonder if Chippy can provide some answers here.

Stupid question indeed.....the driver wears a helmet no traction for a horses teeth to go for the head.....horses that attempt to savage (bite) normally go for shoulders, neck, arms and hands....in male horses it is normally a dominance or competitivness issue but also can be a result rambuctious affection....those gynie cart drivers are supposed to check their horses with the reign to prevent them from reaching out at any other horse or driver.....not a believer in this form of equine sport but those horses are severely schooled and chastised to do what they do......

Muhtiman you right about the bite off parts, just to show there can be attacks from behind though not frequent ;

NZ 14/07/2012

An Auckland harness racing driver is in a serious condition in hospital after being knocked unconscious during a race at Alexander Park while family members watched on.

Frank Cooney , who is in his 60's and has over 40 yrs industry experience was thrown from the sulky pulled behind the horse during the 1st race of the night about 6.30pm.

" I think Frank's horse has basically hit a cart in front of the horse and the horse has fallen onto the track and Frank's been catapulted from the sulky, hit by another horse then hit the track ", Park racing manager Kevin Smith told NZ Newswire.

" This kind of thing is very infrequent but I guess when your'e racing a horse this kind of thing can happen," said Smith.

An accident at 4 km's per hour cant be too serious

A mile rate under 2.00 min is considered very good in Aus so effectively these drivers go at about 48km/hr. You see the sectionals at times the commentator says first quarter in 29. or 30 odd seconds, etc.

The Arabian horses are known to savage competitors, human or animal, more often.

The Grand cost himself a race at Greyville this season when trying to savage the winner...

h

Even the big boys get naughty sometimes, Senor Santa gave Hear the Drums a big bite just to show he's the boss at Summerhill, according to Micky Goss posting on the site.