Is your farm trying to kill you?

Intellectually, I was aware that agricultural workers have some of the riskiest jobs in modern society. The CDC even has a program for farm injury and death prevention. Working here full-time drives the point home. This place could kill me if I'm not careful.

We live an hour's drive from the nearest hospital, an hour's helicopter ride to a trauma center. If an accident occurs, we are on our own for the first 20 minutes at best. I am here alone, a lot. Luckily the DH is almost OCD careful after decades of working with hazards in his laboratory. I am learning to slow down and minimize clumsiness. One of my goals for this winter is to upgrade our first-aid supplies/plans/skills.

Hopefully, we all are mitigating the risks by not spraying toxics all over the place and ourselves. But what about the basics? A first-aid kit for more than boo-boos and skills to use it? Refit your bought-on-a-shoestring tractor with a ROPS? [link to CDC article that says 71% of tractor rollover deaths could be prevented.] Appropriate gear for chainsaw operation? Do you have a communication system to get help fast?

Our Safety Rules, Goals, Kits, Systems
1) No operating the chain saw if no one else is at home. Same with the sickle bar mower. Stay out from under the cottonwoods during high winds. Safety glasses are hanging on the miter saw-use them.
2) I just bought this trauma kit to carry wherever the chain saw goes. I need to add some more heavy duty bandages and clotting agent, but it's $20 more better than we had. I will add duplicates to our vehicles.
3) I am signing up for a Red Cross full day first aid class in February. I have to go 200 miles to SLC to do it, so it needs advance planning.
4) We have a large outdoor bell recrafted from an old gas cylinder. It was art. Now it is one of our signals. Because the DH is partially hearing impaired, he sometimes can't hear his cellphone in his pocket. We have worked out a signal-three bangs on the bell means HELP! I had to use it when I was being attacked by hornets.
5) I'm asking my doc for another tetanus shot. We will discuss an epi-pen for the first-aid kit.
6) Extra caution around mice and droppings - we are on the edge of Hanta virus territory.
7) Remember to brief our visitors on safety, remind parents to watch their kids around livestock and canals.

What's your plan? What's in your first-aid kit? Got an hard-won experience on what not to do?

I don't care where you are, 20 minutes is an awesome response time in real life. You are your own first responder.

Eye wash, Clotting agent, TOURNIQUET, pretty much everything a combat medic would carry is available on the farm. And the knowledge to USE IT.

But it is the little stuff that usually kills you--that locust thorn or scratch that gets infected, allergic reactions, heat stroke, exhaustion, frostbite, etc.

The wasps are a very real concern here. They are grumpy and stingy and nest in anything the sun shines on. My husband and I are both allergic. . Last summer I was stung twice and the reactions were increasingly severe. The second time a wasp was stuck in my hair and I tried to run away from it! Aaaaaah! The answer to this seems to be to notice where the nests tend to be and put those things in shade. We did this with a small tractor and we plan to move a tool shed into the shade this spring. It will be much more useful without wasps in it!

Tick borne diseases can be deadly too.

The less we drive the tractor, the less tractor danger! Another benefit of no-till.

There is a mountain lion in the neighborhood. He would not bother an adult I think, but I worry about the children at dusk in their fur hats.

The city is deadly too in its way, and soul-deadening for me even when not being hit by a bus or getting shot in the cross fire. I grew up in cities and dense suburbs and I never want to live there again.

I do feel like I'm not extremely far from the hospital if need be. We take safety seriously. My husband grew up here and he has a much more relaxed idea of risk than I do.

I want to go outside to let the chickens out in the morning and smell the good morning smells. Days spent observing my farm, eating my own food, teaching my kids through hands on real work, all that good stuff, feel like living life. I visit the city.

Life will kill you, farm or no!

R Scott wrote:I don't care where you are, 20 minutes is an awesome response time in real life. You are your own first responder.

Eye wash, Clotting agent, TOURNIQUET, pretty much everything a combat medic would carry is available on the farm.

It does help that my next door neighbor is the chief of the VFD and we are kind of set up to deal with the tourism demand, at least in the summer.
Adding eye wash and tourniquet to the list, thanks!

My "near misses" have all involved livestock, not surprising since I grew up in the suburbs with a cat. Perhaps someone will remember one of these tales at the right moment...

Before a ram charges, he looks at you, his target, then looks down and starts running, never checking to see if you're still there. Someone told me this and I remembered at the right moment.

I was in the sheep paddock and there was 18" of snow so it was tough to move around. I saw a ewe with twine from a hay bale across her back. She turned away from me and started walking away and I went towards her with my arms outstretched to grab the twine. Hero, the ram, thought my intentions were... less than honorable and it he got a very intense look on his face. As a Jewish woman, my first inclination is always to argue my point, though animals are surprising unreceptive to this approach.

"Wait, Hero, you don't understand I was only..."

Hero put his head down and charged.

As I said, there was snow and was hard to move quickly but all I had to do was jump 2 feet to the right where there was a small tree. He missed me the first time because I had moved and then he backed up to try again, ramming the tree (instead of my knee caps) pretty hard. I wasn't sure how I was going to get out of the paddock but after hitting the tree twice he gave up and turned his back on me and I tip toed out of the paddock.

My second story also involves having an animal run towards me.

I'm a little hazy on the circumstances but perhaps the cows had escaped from their paddock. I had trained them to come to me when I shake a bucket filled with grain. So I called for them and shook the bucket. They came running and although they are minis, a 750 lbs cow could still squish me so I poured the grain on the ground and took a step back. Anna came running fast and a few seconds before getting to the grain it occurred to me that the ground was slick from rain and perhaps a cow wouldn't be able to stop on a dime.

This time, I choose not to argue the point and jumped several steps back and to the side.

Sure enough, Anna slid right past the grain to the spot I had been standing on moments earlier.

The PTO on many older tractors is not covered. This used to kill more children than any other farm implement. Get a cover for yours. Another very dangerous thing for children is going for a tractor ride with dad. The fall to the ground won't usually hurt a kid. Big tires and most importantly, harrows, disks, cultivators ... dragged behind the tractor are deadly.

When I was 3 my dad's helper Karl Bailey caught me climbing a giant pile of shelled corn. He showed me how it could slide over me and then he squished me just hard enough to demonstrate what an awful feeling suffocation causes. A very good lesson.

My third and final story involves a rooster who was being picked on by the other chickens.

He looked a little ill, his balance was off and so I moved him in with the sheep, away from the other chickens so he wouldn't get anyone else sick and amazingly he recovered. I never really paid any attention to him but one day I was cleaning up in the paddock and I bent over to pick up some trash and he flew right at me, with his feet aimed at my eyes! I swatted him away but he did scratch me a bit. I guess I was lucky he didn't take out my eye!

Dale Hodgins wrote:The PTO on many older tractors is not covered.

Oh yeah, one more thing.

This past spring I took a farm safety class with my daughter, who took it just to humor me. It was called Farm Safety for Young Female Farmers and Their Mentors.
They had several workshops including:

Tractor safety
Farm First Aid
Fire safety
Chain Saw safety
Animal safety
Personal safety

Vermont is pretty ag friendly but if you can get yourself on a few ag listserves keep your eyes peeled for this type of thing.

Occasionally there are grants offering to pay half the cost of retrofitting a tractor without a roll bar as Ann mentioned above.

Proper attire is often overlooked. In winter time, we know to dress accordingly, but how often do you say to yourself "I'll only be out there a few minutes."? An hour later, you are still dealing with the unexpected calamity that arose, and your extremities are getting numb.

Summer sun can be a killer as well. Long sleeves & a good shade hat do help protect you.

One of the biggest offenders that I often see is foot ware. Flip-flops and sandals might be great for relaxing around the pool or BBQ, but, IMHO, are not suitable for hoeing, chainsawing, etc. I have a friend who does his weed-whacking dressed in shorts & flip-flops despite the several minor accidents that he has had. It will probably take a major accident to make him change his ways.

Hearing protection is often overlooked. That chainsaw will harm your hearing forever, as will many other motorized tools. It is a gradual loss, that most of us will never notice until it is too late. Hearing loss is a one-way street - it will never get better.

Loose clothing around spinning/moving parts is an accident waiting to happen, especially after we have 'hill-billyized' that machine by removing all safety shields/guards. Properly maintained equipment greatly reduces failure and dangers. Walking around your equipment with a wrench before & after heavy use can save you a lot of expensive repairs, and even your life.

Excellent points have been made. First time farmers that didn't grow up on a farm are at high risk for accidents. So pointing things out here may save someone from serious injury, losing a hand, having their child killed. Things like this happen on farms where everyone is already aware of the dangers.

So why do accidents happen on experienced farms too? Sometimes we're too busy, in a hurry. Taking shortcuts is a real accident maker. I had a farming friend in NJ who had lost a hand when trying to clear a threshing machine. He hasn't shut it down first, just reached in to grab the clog. Had done it hundreds of times before with no problem. But that last time he did it he wasn't so lucky. Lost his hand.

A farmer down the street and around the corner killed his young son while brush hogging a field. When he turned to check on how the mowing was coming, his son slipped off the seat, went under the brush hog, killed. I felt so incredibly sorry for that guy. He wept in the field for hours, cradling his dead son, before he could bring himself to come out and notify authorities. The family abandoned the farm, moved away.

Next town down a fella got his sleeve caught in the belt moving hay into a barn loft. Instantly lost his arm. Almost lost his life.

A casual friend of mine took a horse kick to the head while trying to train his horse to pull in harness. Fractured his skull. Spent the rest of his life in a nursing home.

I tend to a cautious person most of the time, but I've had my share. i've taken a strong kick from a horse. I was lucky not to badly injured though I limped for 6 months until my leg healed. I've been charged and hit by rams and managed some really fancy footwork to avoid injury. I now carry a hot stick and the ram knows what it's capable of doing. I've fallen off of rooves I've been building. Had machinery buck back at me. Had chains and ropes break at bad times. Had a tractor rear up and almost flip over.

My accidents and almost disasters happened because of inexperience, ignorance. So far I've been a very lucky person. And I've avoided lots of accidents by trying to learn the ins and outs before I attempt something, but it's not always possible. I wasn't raised on a farm, so there's a lot of basics I haven't seen or learned.

The very first injury on my homestead in Hawaii was cutting my finger while using a hand sickle on my first attempt. Nasty cut. Lucky I didn't cut off the finger. Now I wear a metal mesh glove on my left hand whenever using a sickle. It's annoying, but it works. I still have all my fingers!

I like the topic. I think that every time I've done myself any serious damage, I was thinking, even for a moment, about something else. There is lots of time to let the mind wander when doing labor, worrying about other things I should be doing, feeling late, thinking about what is to come, the little things I am irritated about. I suspect that a little buddhism is really good for accident prevention... be in one place at a time...

Ann, maybe the local fire department or doctor would know of a closer first add class? Or they might be able to put one on ? Do you have any local industries? They usually have a safety department that does these classes. Might be good public outreach for them.

I quickly got into trouble on a slope with a backhoe. It was an old backhoe and the tires were folding over on the slope. It was an awful mess and near the pond, but the situation opened my eyes to how dangerous that size equipment can be. I'd rather do without it, or at least get safety rated newer equipment. Farm tragedies are often the worst imaginable.

I second the hearing protection and chainsaw protection. A comfortable set of ear guards is worth the price.

Chainsaws scare me. I opted for an electric model, as for some reason, it just seems safer in my head.
It's worked for everything I've needed. I've taken trees as well as used it for sizing firewood logs I collected.

I've also learned that circular saws and fingers don't mix. Luckily I found this out with a battery powered one, instead of a plugged-in one. I still have 10 fingers, and I credit the battery powered saw for leaving my finger in-tact. My old hand-me-down saw would have left me a few short, and required a much more urgent trip to the ER. I actually sat and watched most of a football game after I hit my finger with the battery powered saw, until the pain became too intense.

There's also a known mountain lion with cubs in the area. Bears too, occasionally. Not too paranoid about this, but the neighbors down the road don't walk about without a pistol. They had the lioness stalking them and hanging out in their trees and near their chimney in winter.

Johnny Niamert wrote:Not too paranoid about this, but the neighbors down the road don't walk about without a pistol.

Just a WAG, but I bet they carry their guns around for a lot deeper redneck reasons than their fear of wildlife. In the situation, I bet the gun is a lot more dangerous than the wild animals. But you know, some folks just cant feel safe without a gun. Not usually math-minded folks, considering what statistics say about gun accidents. 'Merica!

Miles Flansburg wrote:Ann, maybe the local fire department or doctor would know of a closer first add class? Or they might be able to put one on ? Do you have any local industries? They usually have a safety department that does these classes. Might be good public outreach for them.

Our county is spread over 100 miles with less than 3000 inhabitants. The largest year round private employer has less than a dozen workers. Probably I could get the business association to sponsor it if I organized it! I have enough community projects right now. Don't mean to say "yeah but" but in this case, it's easier to do the drive. It won't be wasted on just the class: I will pack in a Costco run, CSA meat delivery, Azure Standard delivery and maybe a dinner in a sit-down restaurant. We rent a grad student type apt for DH in town. When I go, I do everything I can in one trip. With most of the businesses shut down here until April, it's good to get off the farm for a day once or twice a winter anyway. Finding critter care is the hardest part.

I forgot about fire extinguishers. How noxious are these things? I've never fired one off, probably during a fire would be the worst time to test that recoil if there is any. But is it something I want to spray around? Monammonium phosphate is what the label says on mine. My soil isn't so rich in phosphate, what would it hurt to get a cheap one and empty it out in the field?

Adam Klaus wrote:Just a WAG, but I bet they carry their guns around for a lot deeper redneck reasons than their fear of wildlife. In the situation, I bet the gun is a lot more dangerous than the wild animals. But you know, some folks just cant feel safe without a gun. Not usually math-minded folks, considering what statistics say about gun accidents. 'Merica!

Sounds like you know the area.

I will say about 5 years ago I was stalked at dusk while doing some hiking for quite some time. I didn't have my dogs with me on this trip, so I knew it was me it was considering. It's definitely not a good feeling knowing that something is sizing you up for a possible meal. But maybe it's good to be outside the comfort zone. Keeps it real.

Paul Cereghino wrote:I like the topic. I think that every time I've done myself any serious damage, I was thinking, even for a moment, about something else. There is lots of time to let the mind wander when doing labor, worrying about other things I should be doing, feeling late, thinking about what is to come, the little things I am irritated about. I suspect that a little buddhism is really good for accident prevention... be in one place at a time...

I agree with this 100%.

I have been lucky with a few very close near misses, and in hindsight, the mind was elsewhere.

Something a bit left field with safety that helps is physical strength. A strong body is more likely to maintain control. Perhaps pulling something, like a broken branch that is stuck, if you watch somebody do this who is not strong they put all their effort in. Perhaps the brach then breaks and the person goes flying.

So be very careful with any task where you feel you are putting in all of your bodies strength. When I see somebody exerting too much strength I hear warning bells go off. Chances are it isn't going to end well. It is like a sliding scale of the more exhaustion of the body, the less self control, the body starts to get sloppy, and mistakes will happen. It doesn't matter the task e.g. hands getting tired after chainsawing all day is going to mean a looser grip, or accuracy chopping the wood is going to decrease etc etc.

Better to get where you are going late, then not at all.

Be safe everyone.

I was serious about the combat medic part, and should have included training. The Boston marathon pictures? Those were less gruesome than PTO injuries I have seen. You might not agree with war (I don't) but you need to be able to function when you see that level of trauma.

Rob is right that problems happen when you are too close to your edge physically or mentally--you just don't have the reserve capacity to deal with the unexpected.

My all-time favorite rules, taught to me as a child, which helped keep me and my cousins safe:

Rules
------
1. When walking around a horse, make sure you give the hind end a wide enough berth to not be kicked. Even horses you know. It may not be you who spooks them, and they may kick out, regardless.
The exceptions are if you have to "do their feet", in which case, both you and the horse must be trained.
2. Before walking around a horse, make sure they know you are there.
3. Similar rules for cows, but harder to follow, if you are the one who has to milk. Just always, always be aware of the potential.
4. Assume that all full-grown horses and cows do not like, are skittish of, and jumpy around children and small animals. You may find out differently, after you live with them for months or years, but start out with this assumption.
5. Do not sit on a empty hay wagon, while it's being pulled, and dangle your legs or feet off the front side of the wagon towards the tractor. Sit on one of the sides, hang on, and then watch out for your limbs, going around any corner or obstacle. Your limbs are your responsibility, not the tractor driver's. So learn to be alert, look ahead, and anticipate. Don't let yourself be distracted by other people with you. Especially do not put your feet on the tongue of the wagon.
6. No bare feet. Period. (I know some of you will howl at this one, but the injuries are just so frequent!)
7. Young children, most middle schoolers, and no untrained children, teens or adults should ever be around when you are using the PTO (tractor's power take-off)
8. As mentioned, no loose clothing
9. When working in the sun all day, full body cover. You'll get used to it.
10. Stay hydrated.

I was going to share some of my near misses, but I noticed that I started to bounce my leg, shudder, and feel like I wanted to go lay down. So you are spared.

Just please look around all the time.
Think ahead.
And teach your children the difference between the clutch and the brake!

Mariamne

R Scott wrote:I was serious about the combat medic part, and should have included training. The Boston marathon pictures? Those were less gruesome than PTO injuries I have seen. You might not agree with war (I don't) but you need to be able to function when you see that level of trauma.

Rob is right that problems happen when you are too close to your edge physically or mentally--you just don't have the reserve capacity to deal with the unexpected.

I absolutely agree. I believe a good TCCC class is worth it's weight in gold. Tactical Combat Casualty Care is what our military learns for in the field injuries. A good TCCC first aid kit is about the size of a small water bottle and will help with many life threatening injuries. Clotting gauze in case of a deep cut, chest seals for a lung puncture, trauma shears to cut stuff away, CAT tourniquet for arterial bleeding, nasal airway tube, and some bandages. I have several types but like the Dark Angel Medical kit the best. I took the class in case of injury while hunting but now my wife and I carry a kit with us everywhere we go and keep another in each car.

Casey Scogin wrote: I believe a good TCCC class is worth it's weight in gold. Tactical Combat Casualty Care is what our military learns for in the field injuries. A good TCCC first aid kit is about the size of a small water bottle and will help with many life threatening injuries. Clotting gauze in case of a deep cut, chest seals for a lung puncture, trauma shears to cut stuff away, CAT tourniquet for arterial bleeding, nasal airway tube, and some bandages. I have several types but like the Dark Angel Medical kit the best. I took the class in case of injury while hunting but now my wife and I carry a kit with us everywhere we go and keep another in each car.

Where would one begin to look for such a class?

Hey Ann, I took the class from a guy here in Denver that was an army medic and then a SWAT medic and gives these classes at a couple local gun stores. It was mostly oriented around gunshot wounds, but a bleeding hole is a bleeding hole no matter how you got it.
Here is the military website that has the info on TCCC. http://www.health.mil/Education_And_Training/TCCC.aspx

These guys are in Utah and offer their TEMs 1 course that looks the same. http://www.strategictacticalgroup.com/train_schedule.html

Here is another one. Emergency Life Saver course. I would verify this one uses TCCC techniques firth though. http://ctiastore.combat-terror.com//index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65&products_id=191

Look around your local shooting ranges or gun stores to find others.

Su Ba wrote:
So why do accidents happen on experienced farms too? Sometimes we're too busy, in a hurry. Taking shortcuts is a real accident maker.

This has been my experience - that and deferred matenience. The truth about farming is that it's very on the fly sort of work. Many times you have an issue or an obstical and it has to be dealt with like NOW. I really do shudder at some of the work I've done while being payed pennies under the table (yay organics!).

A few that bear mention.

1)Tractors
*Heavy parts (generally PTO bits not properly lubricated/needing lots of force/two man job and one person sneezes
* CHANGING TRACTOR TIRES
* There is a position called a 'kicker' who really is supposed to be the eyes in the back of the skull for the driver. But when things get gnar your job is to kick the spinning death blades
* Using chains to pull shit get things unstuck
*Jerry rigging things to the bucked loader
* The bucket loader

I could go on...

2) Fences.

I use sharp fucking tools. I've NEVER injured myself with anything in my grip, but fences? FUCK FENCES. I have gotten the nastiest ripped flesh from all sorts of bent up janky ass jagged metal fences. The worst is gates. The gates always get beat up. Everyones moving through opening shit with knees and elbows. I've lost pints of blood over years of fence wounds.

3) Slippery shit! moving heavy bulky things in dark wet spaces! It's a blast!

The worst I've ever taken though was from moving too fast and not paying attention to what I was doing (which is easy when its the 300th time that week)

I was loading 60 pound bags of potatos onto a hand truck, but I hadn't noticed that the wheel had become wedged against the 6x6 barn beam. I was bent over as I tossed the third bag on. The truck popped loose and the thing became a giant fulcrum with 180 lbs behind it and cracked right into my forehead. For those who have lived life thus far without having an inch thick steel pipe swung at your forehead with a grown mans weight behind it. Avoid it. The sound inside your skull when that happens is pretty hard to duplicate in an imagination. I immediately "FUCK YOU'd" and stamped off with blood streaming down my face brow furrowing and nostril flairing. My co-worker, "My god! you are a scotsman!" Then he ran off to the first aid kid (too far away for my tastes) and got me patched up. He was a season construction worker and new how to handle it. It was a clean wound, like a cut almost. I could see my skull. I got off light though, that could have been a concussion for sure. As it was I took a 20 minute breather and got back to work (because on a farm you more or less have to), actually now that I think about it I've gotten way worse from fenses (jagged infected tears) but none with the same 'Oh shit, I just got clubbed in the head with a steel beam' sort of urgency to them.

Mariamne Ingalls wrote:
8. As mentioned, no loose clothing
9. When working in the sun all day, full body cover. You'll get used to it.
10. Stay hydrated.

Just please look around all the time.
Think ahead.


Mariamne

Double double double double thumbs on these. Add jewelry and long hair (hats and buns people!) to the loose clothing whenever your dealing with anything that moves or rotates.

I agree, fences are real accidents waiting to happen. They look innocent enough, but I know more people injured putting fencing in, taking it down, trying to repair it, or trying to sneak over/under it. I've had my own gate get me twice now. Boy, that hurts!

My next door neighbor knocked himself out pounding t-posts in. Ended up with a gash on the top of his head and a concussion. Lucky he didn't fracture his skull. Another neighbor came close to losing a finger with a post pounder. He was so sure that his finger had been ripped off that he searched around on the ground for it. He was truly surprised to see it still attached albeit partially defleshed.

Taking down old fencing has a whole list of victims around here. The past year lots of ranchers have been replacing fencing. So everybody has the marks to show for it. I was helping out on one ranch until I heard a shout, looked up and saw a wild loose ball of escaped rusted barbed wire hurling my direction. Well, it missed and I didn't go back the next day. Too close for comfort. I figure if I'm gonna get hurt with fencing, it aughta be my own.

Pinched fingers. Squashed hands. No matter how careful I think I'm being, I've been caught on rolls of fencing. Even just unloading them out of the truck I've managed to squash fingers. Keep in mind that these rolls of field fence are really, really heavy. When one gets moving, it's hard for me to stop it. And yes, I have an automatic string of profanities that gushes forth every time I hurt myself. GDMFSOB. I'm not noted for cussing.....except when it hurts.

Ann Torrence wrote:
I forgot about fire extinguishers. How noxious are these things? I've never fired one off, probably during a fire would be the worst time to test that recoil if there is any. But is it something I want to spray around? Monammonium phosphate is what the label says on mine. My soil isn't so rich in phosphate, what would it hurt to get a cheap one and empty it out in the field?

For the canned type of fire extinguishers the recoil isn't much more than a standard garden hose, depending on the type. Since the stuff in your extinguisher is also used in fertilisers I don't think it would do too much damage.

Also keep in mind that portable fire extinguishers are only good for putting out fires that just started, like a garbage can or something similar. If you fire them they will run out in mere seconds.
Don't forget about fire classes, not every fire extinguisher can be used on every type of fire. Think about what kind of fires could happen on your farm and get the corresponding extinguisher on the right place.

Want to practice with a extinghuiser? If you look on your local craigslist maybe you can find an old CO2 type that has failed inspection and try it out on a controlled fire or to cool your beer instantly.
Or even better contact your local fire department, a lot of them give first responder training at a price that doesn't break the bank.

Thank you for this. I got paranoid enough to download some first aid training videos.
Also, dont think I will keep any animal other than the bees.
Or buy me couple of rabbits... Anybody has a rabbit horror story ?

Well I derive my income from breeding horses . At one time my veterinarian was advised the insurance industry would not cover him because of his work handling breeding stallions , I guess he shared that with me for a laugh because that is what I did too. I have had friends die handling horses, more than a few brain injuries mostly due to momentary lapses of inattention answering a cell phone, engaging in some conversation while handling a horse ( in our cases very athletic big horses bred to be very reactive for showjumping ) , and a lack of judgement reading the behaviour or attempting to deal with an animal that is behaving dangerously . A couple died from riding accidents . Things you don't expect can happen, I had a young 16.2 colt trample me vacating the cross ties when a woofer out of my line of sight pulled an aerasol can of sun block out and sprayed her arm and I was very lucky but it took a year for some of the wounds to fill in with flesh.
I have a healthy fear/respect of tractors and chainsaws but more experience dealing with animals . As I age I no longer want to engage in handling horses or other big animals , other than my own stallions whom I have known a long time . Rabbits and chickens are more in my comfort zone and shovel , rake and wheelbarrow are more my speed than a tractor.