In which situations do you lose the accelerator pedal of your car?
This morning I received a very cute video via Discord of a Black Bear, a mother who had to help her young playful little ones cross a busy road. It wasn't easy for the mother yet, don't worry… it was hard work. And after watching the movie, I enjoyed the endearing images of the little bears. And thank goodness they all made it across safely. The cars all stopped neatly. We picked up our conversation again, and chat further about the super cute video. We talked about how very sweet it looks. But that such a thing can also lead to very dangerous situations. Because as sweet as Black Bears look, they are usually not that sweet when you meet them. We talked about the fact that we both would suddenly not be able to find the accelerator pedal of our cars in such situations. Not that I will ever end up in such a situation in the Netherlands. There are no Black Bears in the wild in this country, but that's another story.
But that I don't meet bears on the road in the Netherlands is one thing. It is not to say that nothing ever happened on the Dutch roads. And it is certainly not the case that you only encounter cars on the road in the Netherlands. My partner and I experienced this ourselves about seven years ago.
Trying to wake up on the way to work
It was early, as usual, much too early. And since I am certainly not the fastest in the morning, it has always been a thing for me to be on time for work. Since I moved in together, things went a bit better because my partner is really awake as soon as he gets out of bed. Where I really need an hour to wake up, and that certainly includes a cup of tea ... he is just immediately awake, and active. That was a strange sensation for both of us. He had to learn to give me my time in the morning, and I had to learn to accept that he is ready for action right away.
Anyway, the start of the day had gone just as usual on that summer day. I finished just in time, as usual… and then together in the car on my way to work. Yes, we both worked in the same company at the time. And that worked out well, because then my partner could drive, and I didn't have to focus immediately as soon as I got into the car. So that morning I was still a bit drowsy, as usual, until I suddenly jumped up in my chair and said … “What are we getting?”. And that wasn't so strange that I woke up instantly … because you don't see seven beautiful horses trotting along the highway every day.
Only the disturbing thing was, the animals had no halters on, no saddles on, and no owners to be seen. My partner immediately parked the car in the roadside, we flew out of the car and ran onto the road. The horses didn't quite know what to do with us, and wanted to run away from us. And we couldn't let that happen. So I stood back a bit, and my partner went around the horses with a wide arc. We tried to close them in while I tried to lure the horse closest to me. That was not so easy of course. Horses are herd animals, so we also knew we had to find the leader of the herd. But which horse was the leader? Of course we didn't know that...
Follow the Leader
After I had been able to take a closer look at the horses for about five minutes, I noticed something. Whenever a horse got a little curious about me, and wanted to get a little closer, there was a big stallion who would make a whinny every time. The other horse then immediately stepped back and distanced itself again.
From this I thought I could conclude that I had to convince the horse that made itself heard at those moments. I started to connect with that horse. Quietly talking to him and holding my hands open forward. A posture that indicated that he had nothing to fear from me and by staying calm and continuing to talk I managed to get to him. At first he was a bit startled when I petted him, but he soon agreed that I petted and grabbed him.
My partner was now doing a great job of stopping traffic… and yelling at me to hurry up and get those horses off the road. People started to get impatient and wanted to drive on. You always have people who have little to no understanding for extraordinary situations… and unfortunately there are also plenty of people who don't care much about animals.
So I tried to grab hold of the stallion, who by now let me pet him, and send him off the road. Unfortunately, he seemed to have some resistance again. He didn't want to walk towards the bike path, but seemed to want to turn around again and to hit the road. The other horses were also a bit more restless because of his behaviour.
What now?
In the meantime I noticed that all the motorists were getting really impatient. But very typical for the Netherlands, nobody got out to help! By now my partner had come up to me and asked me from a distance, "Can't you jump on his back and send him off the road?" Now I have to be honest, I have ridden a horse for a while, but never without reins or saddle. But at the time, it really seemed like the only solution, and I didn't even think about it. As I continued to talk quietly to the big stallion and tell him what I was going to do, and why I was going to do it… I climbed on his back. And in hindsight, I'm seriously lucky that he didn't throw me off.
At the time, it seemed to be absolutely right. The stallion allowed me on his back and also responded to my prodding. By pressing his neck with my hands, I let him know which way to go. And what we hoped for, it actually happened! The other horses followed their leader. By driving the stallion off the road onto the cycle path, the road was suddenly clear of horses again and all seven of them now walked on the cycle path that lies along the road.
Now my partner and I had some time to consider what we should do next. Because even if the horses were off the road, the traffic could move on again. There were still seven horses running loose that shouldn't have run loose. Surely there must be an owner somewhere? And where was I going to take the horses now?
Horseback riding without saddle
My partner said he knew an entrance to a large open pasture a mile back, and at least the horses would be a lot safer there than on the cycle track or on the road. While I was going to that pasture with the horses, my partner would drive to a house a little further down the road to ask if they knew where these horses belonged. And we finally had time to call the police. My partner would take all that on. So said, and done. I steered the stallion over the cycle path with hand and leg pressure and luckily the other horses followed us well.
When we arrived at the pasture I jumped off the back of the stallion again and stayed with the horses. Soon my partner arrived with the car, and another car I didn't know. And luckily that turned out to be the owner of the horses, who had already been busy searching for his horses that had escaped because someone had left the gate open by accident or intentionally. The horses had started clattering…and yes, given the ease and speed with which a horse can move, they could quickly be miles away from their stall.
Fortunately, because of our intervention, this story had a happy ending, no accidents happened, and secretly I also felt like a queen when I rode that big stallion over the cycle path with six other horses behind me. The owner of the horses was also very grateful to us and rewarded us for our help. The reward was initially refused by my partner, but the owner kept insisting and in the end my partner accepted.
No flat tire, no open bridge, but horses on the road
So when we finally went back to work after this adventure, it was late. And very late. Where we normally had to start at a quarter to eight, and so usually arrived at the company around a quarter past seven, it was now half past nine. This little adventure had taken some hours. And the company where my partner still works today, and where I also worked then, is not known for being compliant if it doesn't fit their way.
So we had to get to the office right away to explain why we were so late. And what was the reason for that.
Well, the reason was the above story and we thought it only logical to offer the help that was needed at that time. We certainly thought that was more important than arriving on time for work. Because let's be honest. Such a company does not miss us at all. For us 10 others. A company does not immediately come to a standstill if two people are not there for a while, if you consider that there are 4000 people working there. And at that company there are no deaths or injuries if we are not there for a while. But if we hadn't taken those horses off the road, it could have ended very badly. And that risk…