Equestrian roadside assistance

I'm not talking about one of the companies who do this for a fee, like US Rider. (Great company, by the way). I am speaking of the unwritten law in the horse community that we all seem to follow.

Traveling through the hinterlands of PA recently on our way to pick up a couple of horses, we broke down with a busted hose. We were on the side of the road next to a convenience store, when a smiling lady pulled up in a pick up truck, and asked if we needed help. She explained she also had horses, and a trailer if we needed to unload and put them somewhere while we repaired the truck.

It's a funny thing, once you have horses, if you see someone with a horse trailer, on the side of the road or in an accident, you have to stop. I have done this many times, a horse trailer pulled over on the hwy, stopping to see if they needed help. In the news, these trailer accidents where horses are involved, horse people seem to appear out of nowhere to assist with the horses.

Recently in Calgary Canada, a trailer bound for a feedlot overturned, and staff from Spruce Meadows came over to help. Here are people who daily handle 100k horses, coming out to help auction horses who went for 50 cents a pound. But they were still horses, and they needed help. That's all that mattered.

It's one thing that gives me hope for the horse community. While we may argue and sling mud at each other, malign each others chosen riding discipline and techniques, when it comes down to horses scattered across the hwy, we are of the same mind.

See you guys out on the road, I've got your back.