Corrales riders ask for trail etiquette after incident injures one

CORRALES, N.M. (KRQE) – A group of horse riders is asking people to be more careful after one of their riders got badly injured when they said someone didn’t follow trail etiquette.

“They’re prey animals, and they get scared,” said Nancy Freshour, with Loving Thunder Therapeutic Riding.

Be respectful of horses that’s the message Loving Thunder Therapeutic Riders wants to share with the public.

This comes after last week when their executive director’s horse got spooked by a cyclist on a ride from the group’s facility to the Rio Grande along Paseo Cesar Chavez in Corrales.

“He did not signal. He did not slow down. He did not say passing on the left. He did not announce himself in any way,” said Freshour.

They said the cyclist’s behavior scared the horse and caused it to throw her off on the side of the road, leaving her with serious injuries

“She broke five ribs, possibly a sixth, bruising from her knee to her front here all the way to her back,” said Mike Raupp, founder of Loving Thunder Therapeutic Riders.

The group is trying to spread the word about the etiquette for using trails and roads around horses something this cyclist knows about.

“If you’re encountering a person on a horse, you ask them how to proceed,” said Will Rindom, a cyclist.

After getting permission from the rider to proceed, the groups ask that drivers, cyclists, or pedestrians pass slowly to avoid spooking the animal.

They’re calling on the village of Corrales to help as well.

“I would like to see more signage, so that we can be reminding people, even those really good ones, that there’s a right and wrong ways to do things, and we can take care of one another,” said Freshour.

Loving Thunder filed a police report, but the case has since been closed since the cyclist’s identity is unknown.

Corrales police said if that person is identified, they would still need to investigate whether they violated any traffic laws.

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