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It was likely the surprise of them appearing unexpectedly.... Bounding carnivores tend to upset prey animals. Of course some horses make more out of a mere startle than others... and some riders make things worse by being startled themselves and goosing the horse...

As an aside... Let your mom know that if they hear horses coming on trail to please talk out loud.... say "hello" the horses won't be startled to see them round the corner that way and riders appreciate that. We especially appreciate it for the mountain bikers. Bay is an old guy who has been thousands of miles. He is usually the first to hear somebody coming, but still... it is nice to do.... we usually talk when we know we are coming up on other folk...

Until that happened, they were apparently having a great time! The horse people were apparently nice, and the trail was clearly marked to make way for horses.

When I move to Colorado, hiking and trailriding are high on the list of things I want to do. I will keep your advice in mind.