A Police Plea to Riders Hacking alone!

Harlequin Jazz said:
All excellent ideas, and to be honest, like many others I hadnt even thought of putting ID tags on tack. I'm putting ICE on my phone as we speak but do have ICE labels outside my horses stables in case anything happens to them when I'm not there as we are on a large yard and the YO is VERY OLD and cant seem to remember who I am despite having been there about 4 years, let alone my horse's vets!
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Whoa! Steady on there young'un. My memory is slipping a bit but I still seem to know more things than a lot of 'um on Uni Challenge!

As I hail from the dark ages before mobiles etc., I used to have a small plastic bag inside my hat ( always rode in one long before the safety police made it de rigeur) with all my details in it - medics will eventually get round to looking at it even one's head is on it's own somewhere! Anyone bothered about the cost of dog tags could get something similar done on an office laminating machine.

Luckily it was never needed - in fact the only times I ever became detached from my horses was following them falling - and I gave them a stiff talking to for their unforced errors. Funnily enough - the times that I did most of my riding it would have been at fat lot of good because it would have been hours before anyone else woke up.
 
firehead181 said:
hey alliersv1, where did you get your money barrel this sounds like a good idea!! also does everyone who has ICE in their phone put their next of kin as the contact? as im a student who has moved to glasgow and my family are elsewhere so would it be worthwhile contacting them if something happend to me, when they wouldnt be able to do anything but worry?
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Hi, sorry. Not been back to this thread since I posted.
The one I got was from a market stall which sold purses and nick nacky things, but it's basically one of these http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/keyrings-money-holder-stash-cash.html
I just have it attached to the D-ring of my saddle.
I have my partner as my ICE number. He's usually contactable and local to me, and can contact anyone else who would need to know. :)
 
Excellent - just ordered 6 x tags it came to £27.47.......brilliant....been meaning to do this for months......(will stop people nicking my tack too..!!) thanks for the idea..x
 
I have one of these on my saddle. Very visible and clear as to what they are there for!
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I never thought about putting details on my horse before - had a bit of a duh moment reading this!

Will be investing in tags asap. Thanks for raising this!
 
All very sensible suggestions. Horse and rider identification and means of communication are essenrtial.

One further plea - always wear hi-viz when hacking out.

If the rider is unfortunate to fall and become unconcious, those seraching on ground or in the air will have a much better chance of finding the rider more easily and quickly if the rider is wearing Hi-viz.

If the riderless horse with hi-viz strays onto a road, then again it will be seen far more easily.
 
just to say, this is a fantastic thread!

ive often seen lone hackers about here, and we have some very remote places, and thought 'what happens if something happens?' especially about one woman who never wears a hat. Only once have i witnessed a horse running free but it was closely followed by a very pee-d off looking rider luckily not near a road.

when i do start to go hacking i definitely be investing in these things, and some kind of legal pepper spray as weve had a lot of undesirables appearing on the estates with running dogs and stinky attitudes.

its definitely food for thought that is so easily forgotten, like checking your fire alarm.
 
I'm not sure if bumping an old thread is considered bad form in any way but I tripped over this one and it had so much helpful information in it that gave me some good ideas and food for thought so to speak... :)
 
I got separated from my pony the other day and after stepping on me she left me bolting towards a busy national speed limit road. I have to say at that point apart from being sick with fear I was glad that she was plastered head to tail in hi-viz. Fortunately she ran into a bush and got tangled up and brought herself down that way so I could catch her. I have to say it scares me how many people go out in just a tabard and think that's enough - if you part company, you will REALLY want your horse to be visible then.
 
I haven't hacked alone in a long time now due to Kelly's illness, but I used to go out for 4-5 hours at a time, alone.
I always wore high viz and Kelly has a dog tag on her saddle with 4 contact numbers and the farm name on. I always have my mobile with me too and ICE is in my phone book. Also, high viz on neds!!!!!! :)
It's so easy to put these measures in place and it could save your life.
K x
 
At my yard we are all registered with the british equestrian Id service. I am quite lucky as in the past when I have come off, my horse knows his way home! But handy just incase he or I are lost and found by someone else. They call the number on our tags and they have all the info they need on my allergies and where my horse lives!
We got our membership through someone in pony club, but I think anyone can sign up.
 
There was a woman came off her horse on the road down the road from my house last week, seen her hacking on her own a few times, her horse is nappy and has a good buck in the middle of the road and she obviously can't sit to it, yet she's out all the time alone with no hi-viz! Luckily she was only down the road from her yard and someone led her horse back, but it sounds like she was seriously injured.

Only hacked alone twice and on very very quiet country lanes, wouldn't do it again!
 
haven;t had time to read all the posts but as someone who has been very grateful for identification tags I would never hack out without.

I was unfortunate enough to loose my horse out hacking in an area I didn't know. She got away from me when i was holding her on the ground after getting involved in a kicking match.
I wasn't actually alone but my horse set off at gallop and it was about 2 hours before i heard of her whereabouts.

I TREC and we have to have tags on our horses.
She was found by a lady up on the hills with a herd of ponies. she found the tag and phoned back to say horse found.

everyone at her livery yard, where she kindly led my girl back to, was so impressed and said they would all now get one.
I wouldn't ride without something on saddle and bridle.
my everyday tags have my name and mobile number, home number and horses name.
 
Thanks guys, food for thought....I only wear a tabard, need to think again!!!! I live in the middle of nowhere and my biggest concern was the cattle grid! I was a member of the British id service but as it has run out i will be investing in new tags, thanks guys x
 
good thread.

I always try to tell someone where I am heading but as I keep my horses on my own yard there isn't always anyone around (yard at my parents place).

Always carry mobile and have now put ICE and ICE VET in phone. Will get some animal canister detail things as can fit more info on them. Think I have seem them for sale in supermarket in pet aisle.
 
ICE numbers on most mobile phones are pointless as most people have some form of security lock on their phones. How are the emergency services meant to guess how to access your phone?

I always wear a silicone wrist band on with my name, blood group, medical details (long term conditiom, consultant name, hospital number, medication and blood group).
 
i also have tags on my saddle and bridle and always carry a phone , something else we do on my yard is write on the notice board where we are going and what time we left we roughly know how long the rides take so if someone isn't back in that time frame we know to go and look for them , i have a friend who lives a few miles from me on her own land and she rings me to let me know she's going out and where and roughly how long and then texts when she returns ,if you have an accident and not found by others it's nice to know this is in place so at least someone will come
 
c2b said:
I have one of these on my saddle. Very visible and clear as to what they are there for!
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I have this! Inside there's a form with loads of sections to fill in everything under the sun from your details, medical conditions, your horses details, vets contact details, 3(?) relatives etc etc - it has instructions on what to do and how to handle the horse too incase an unhorsey person finds it - really, really good. They're called "Locata's" and you can get them off ebay. They make them for the horses (to attach to saddle D rings) and have just started doing a human version which goes on your arm.
I also always wear hi viz (jacket in winter, tabard in summer, with hat band), and put hi viz boots (at least) on the horse. In winter I put on a hi viz exercise sheet which is so bright you can see us coming from miles away! I recently bought a summer version (mesh) so will be using that this year.
 
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