Merriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition wrote in his journal about one of their horses falling down a steep mountainside flipping flopping all the way down. He said the horse stood up and was fine. He said none of the men could believe a horse could survive a fall like that. (That is what I seem to recall from reading the book "Undaunted Courage".)
Here is an actual entry from Lewis:
"September 15, 1805
Several horses Sliped and roled down Steep hills which hurt them verry much the one which Carried my desk & Small trunk Turned over & roled down a mountain for 40 yards & lodged against a tree, broke the desk the horse escaped and appeared but little hurt Some others verry much hurt, ... when we arrived at the top As we Conceved, we could find no water and Concluded to Camp and make use of the Snow we found on the top to cook the remns. of our Colt & make our Supe, evening verry cold and cloudy. ... nothing killed to day except 2 Phests.
From this mountain I could observe high ruged mountains in every direction as far as I could see."
This link has several very interesting journal entries from Lewis:
http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/700
Quote:
Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage
It's amazing how a spill like that can result in no apparent serious injury to the horses involved...and yet fate would have Luck shut down because of dead horses and Aqueduct is now under the gun for the high number of fatalities over the inner-track this winter...I don't know what that just goes to show you, but it must go to show you something...
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