If I didn’t ride alone, I would hardly ride at all. While there are many aspects to staying safe while riding, this video deals with mounted self defense. I’m lucky in that I live in a very safe part of the country and ride trails that have very few people on them. It is very, very unusual for me to encounter someone unknown.
The gist of the advice is: If someone grabs your reins, turn into them and go forward as fast as possible. Keep spinning into the attacker until they release the reins. Then get the hell out of Dodge!
Good reason to practice those one rein stops and turns on the forehand. Of course, anyone who thought that Zelda might step on them would back off right quick. She could squish an attacker like a bug without even meaning to hurt them.
This is so useful. I hadn’t thought about why you would not want to back up. In my 20s I was riding alone on about 1,000 acres: came around a copse of trees in a gully, there were a bunch of guys, drunk with rifles and cans lined up on a dead log. One of them did grab my reins. I guess it was instinctive…turned my mare into him and told her to GO. We got out ok, knocking down a second guy who was coming up on the offside behind. Scare the bejesus out of me. I love the tip about a tighter throat latch. Will be doing THAT on the trail.
That must have been absolutely terrifying. Glad you got away safely.