Texas Thunder Takes a Fall

Handlers of Texas Thunder, the Priefert Ranch Equipment exhibition team, sort out horses and harness during a mishap at the Midwest Horse Fair, 2008.

Check out some of the crowd reactions.

This occurred at the Midwest Horse Fair. Here' s how it happened. The driver was making a few finals rounds with the team going a gallop. For a draft horse, that's a very high motion, and they lift their forelegs up quite a bit. They were across the arena for me when it happened. The arena was full, and everyone was cheering like crazy, when all the sudden, kind of in slow motion, on of the horses in the middle got his front leg hooked over the harness in front of him. He crumpled to the ground, and took the horse next to him down also.

All 10,000 people in the arena gasped at the same time. Handlers ran out, and one of the drivers jumped off. The first pair was quickly unhooked and while the pair that was down was kept down. The announcer kept the crowd quiet while the untangled the first horse and he stood up. It seemed like minutes and minutes went by before they gave the second horse a chance to stand.

The crowd was very tense. The second horse, the one that got his leg caught, was still down. They let him up and he stood. The announcer stifled a roar from the crowd while they hooked the team back up again. The drivers got back on the wagon and trotted the horses around a few times, everyone was going wild.

It was insane. The Priefert team handled the whole thing so smoothly, it was amazing to watch. It was very emotional, because there were so many people in there and everyone was focused on what was happening in the ring, and it was scary! Props to the Priefert team.