A way to ask people clearly and politely to stop behaving like predators?

[Bernster]

Not so much at my current yard but last place people would regularly hide behind trees. Bless them, they think they’re doing the right thing! I do the same and ask them to make an appearance.

Tuesday’s hack was on bin day so that was interesting, with people dragging their bins over the gravel or coming out with them from behind their hedge!

 

[Smogul]

Riding along and we see a line worker at the top of a telegraph pole. Horse plants, turns into equine giraffe.
I shout
Hello
no reply
I shout
Say something please
Man says
What do you want me to say
I say
That’ll do, thank you

.

My bomb-proof ex-trekking pony jumped out of her skin when someone up a ladder spoke as we passed, trying to be helpful. Ladders were OK but talking ladders?????????????

 

[Sealine]

We get a lot of DofE teenagers with rucksacks. There's a couple of points where they unload their rucksacks and collapse on the grass in numbers which can be tricky.

I'm in Herts and have experienced this also. Ten people with backpacks, all with the same colour back pack cover, marching towards you in single file looks like a giant caterpillar like monster to my horse

 

[Polos Mum]

I think as horsey-people we often forget (or don't realise) that normal folks are often **** scared of horses, and will avoid getting close at all costs. This accounts for much of the hiding in bushes.

I ride around the local housing estate a lot, great for spook practice and traffic is better in built up area, lots of different circular routes we can do. There is one lady we pass who has told me (shouted from far away) that she is really really scared of horses. the first time we passed her she ran all the way up someone's drive to get away, I always make a point of taking a turning and going a different direction if I see her. It would be the same for me if I met someone out walking their 500kg giant pet spider !! No amount of telling me that he's really friendly would stop me freaking out !

 

[Fransurrey]

We had bike upside down with its wheels in the air while being fixed. Absolutely terrifying.

I had a bike phobic mare, so it was most unfortunate that when approaching him, he stopped trying to be helpful, but fell over. Bike clattering to ground, man on floor, pony completing swift 180 and multiple broncs. Managed to keep hold of her, which was something!

 

[Prancerpoos]

When I was a teenager I had an anglo Arab mare that would not go past anyone lying down. As she could see over hedges, and see what two people might be doing behind those hedges, it once left me having to ask the couple concerned to please stand up while I went bright red and desperately averted my eyes. I was on my way home and it was getting dark so it was my only option.

 

[Lacuna]

Riding along a bridleway when a man got up out of some very long grass to say hello to us. He turned out to be a walker who had been having a doze on the hillside.
Pony did a rapid 360 circle which ended up with me on the deck and man was then rather reluctantly recruited to help catch said pony (she had started eating once she realised it was a human and not a tiger) and then hold pony whilst I remounted.

 

[SEL]

My bomb-proof ex-trekking pony jumped out of her skin when someone up a ladder spoke as we passed, trying to be helpful. Ladders were OK but talking ladders?????????????

The gardeners who say hello from behind a hedge are my favourites - I'd say hello back if I wasn't disappearing down the lane at speed.

I'd just got baby cob used to wheelie bins when the guinea fowl started up in the garden behind No way in the world was he going past a wheelie bin which was making that kind of noise.

 

[GreyDot]

We hack along a river which is very popular for fishing. Nothing ruins an early morning hack more than horse spotting a fisherman arriving, carrying large glinty silver fishing pole. I shouted, "Please can you stop waving your rod about? It''s scaring my horse." Not a sentence I had expected to be saying first thing on a Sunday, but the man happily obliged and we both had a laugh

 

[scruffyponies]

I make a point of challenging ours to the point that there's nothing much scares them, but they'll still give someone lurking in a bush a sideways look.

 

[criso]

We hack along a river which is very popular for fishing. Nothing ruins an early morning hack more than horse spotting a fisherman arriving, carrying large glinty silver fishing pole. I shouted, "Please can you stop waving your rod about? It''s scaring my horse." Not a sentence I had expected to be saying first thing on a Sunday, but the man happily obliged and we both had a laugh

We had to be rescued by fishermen once.

Riding alongside a river, a swan standing in the shallows hissed at us and flapped its wings.

Tb was eventually coaxed past with 2 big burly fishermen in full gear walking alongside between him and the swan.

 

[Hollychops]

I had this approaching a man who was mending his bike
Man = ok
Man on bike = ok
Man crouching down next to bike = very much not ok

I had something similar with a guy crouching down in a field calming his 3 dogs who were just wagging their tails. Would Albert go past, absolutely not! Once i called to the guy to stand up, Albert shrugged his shoulders and walked past as if to say, Ahhhh, it was a human'!

Had to explain to the guy that Alberts brain doesnt match his height!

 

[Errin Paddywack]

We were once riding past the local junior school and one of the teachers had them outside, all the kids holding the sides of a large coloured sheet which they were waving up and down like a sail. Took quite a while to get through to them that we needed them to stop while we got past.

 

[Highmileagecob]

And just wait til you see the giant inflatable snowmen bobbing up and down on the lawn. Or the darling children dressed for trick or treat! Think I will miss that now the old boy is no longer ridden.

 

[Sealine]

Riding in the village when the annual scarecrow festival is on is interesting!

http://www.flamsteadscarecrowfestival.co.uk/2022-scarecrow-festival/

 

[oldie48]

The best piece of advice I've been given is to stop trying to control what's going on around my horse and to focus on having my horse under control. It has really changed the way I ride and I'm so grateful to have been told this. It's taken lot of practice and learning to understand what "control" means but I feel so much more confident about dealing with the unexpected and Mr D can be very spooky. I appreciate this comment might be annoying but perhaps it's worth thinking about?

 

[Winters100]

The best piece of advice I've been given is to stop trying to control what's going on around my horse and to focus on having my horse under control. It has really changed the way I ride and I'm so grateful to have been told this. It's taken lot of practice and learning to understand what "control" means but I feel so much more confident about dealing with the unexpected and Mr D can be very spooky. I appreciate this comment might be annoying but perhaps it's worth thinking about?

Actually I totally agree with this. I am very happy for them to see 'scary' things, it is up to me to control my horse. My problem last weekend was that I was not paying attention, so 100% my fault.

 

[Caol Ila]

The best piece of advice I've been given is to stop trying to control what's going on around my horse and to focus on having my horse under control. It has really changed the way I ride and I'm so grateful to have been told this. It's taken lot of practice and learning to understand what "control" means but I feel so much more confident about dealing with the unexpected and Mr D can be very spooky. I appreciate this comment might be annoying but perhaps it's worth thinking about?

I mean, that's the dream, isn't it?

The reality is.... a process.

 

[dogatemysalad]

When I meet people hiding behind bushes or those on bikes with flags that that look like go carts, I generally say hello and ask them to talk to me so that my horse understands that they are non threatening.

 

[Lois Lame]

I never realised that some people hide behind bushes or up in trees. It's been rather fun to read this thread.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

A memorable one was the small boy who helpfully hid behind a tree at the top of a bank then lost his balance and slid down it in front of the ponies. They fortunately had seen him but it was funny.

Similar thing happened to me during lock down was riding along and saw a couple walking towards me, they promptly ran from the track up the bank then they both just slid down infront of me, I kind of laughed and said there was no need to run and hide we don't bite, they didn't answer and just walked off sheepishly ?

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I'm in Herts and have experienced this also. Ten people with backpacks, all with the same colour back pack cover, marching towards you in single file looks like a giant caterpillar like monster to my horse

I'm in Herts as well and we get groups of back packers I often have to ask them to stand still one of my horses really doesn't like them coming towards him

 

[Widgeon]

When I meet people hiding behind bushes or those on bikes with flags that that look like go carts, I generally say hello and ask them to talk to me so that my horse understands that they are non threatening.

This is what I always try to do, when possible - they probably think I'm insane, shouting cheerfully at them about the weather, but as soon as they start to reply it settles my horse down. As a walker, it can be really tricky to get out of a horse's way *without* appearing to be hiding, particularly if the path is narrow and overgrown. I've been bawled at for this before while walking my dog - I was just trying to get the dog out of the path so he wasn't trodden on by a woman leading three horses, and ended up being screamed at "DON'T HIDE"! It definitely doesn't do anything to aid understanding and empathy from the public....

 

[lynz88]

I have this problem ALL the time!! I always shout out to come out and let my horse see them and that right now they are the equivalent to monster hiding under the bed to him. Then when I get closer I thank them and always say my horse isn't the sharpest tool in the shed at times.

What really really irks me are men/teenage boys that think it's funny to scare the shit out of my horse that is already eyeing them up. Particularly when you've asked them to stay still and you have partially passed...and then they start waving something (arms, bags, whatever).

 

[spotty_pony]

I usually just ask them to come out so they can be seen. This always happens to me - the person will be there and then think hiding in the bushes is the best way to avoid the horse ? or they will have a dog and bend down to hold onto it - that’s really scary too!

 

[Goldenstar]

I would say that we don’t have any right to ask people to move .
If they do that’s nice but we must proceed with expectations that we can manage the situation without others having to amend their actions.
Horses have to be trained to accept things if we are going to hack them in public .
I know that this attitude is not norm because I frequently buy horses who react to hidden people ,barking hedges ( lots of those round here ) children in buggies people using garden machinery that can’t see and hear you are there etc , the world is full stuff badly trained horses can react to but they don’t need to like that they can be trained with persistence determination and leadership .

 

[Esmae]

The gardeners who say hello from behind a hedge are my favourites - I'd say hello back if I wasn't disappearing down the lane at speed.

I'd just got baby cob used to wheelie bins when the guinea fowl started up in the garden behind No way in the world was he going past a wheelie bin which was making that kind of noise.

Tandems were the work of the devil for my old chap at any time, but when an unseen pair of donkeys started to bray their heads off at the exact moment a tandem came barrelling around a corner, that did it. 180 spin and hightailed it down the lane with nostrils like bin lids and his eyes on stalks!! Don't even get us started on the bloke who has one of those lying down bikes with a flag at the back of it!!! It's all far too random!!!

 

[lynz88]

I do generally agree GS though I think it's really important for people to be made aware regardless, that hiding behind trees and bushes is NOT what you do when a horse is near and they shouldn't do it in general just in case they do come across a horse that is barely holding it together for whatever reason.

 

[soloequestrian]

The direct approach worked well today! A couple with a dog saw us coming and dived off into the bushes. I shouted 'could you come out' and they did. Horse totally relaxed and we stopped and had a nice chat - their dog was scared of horses having had a bad experience previously so it was good for it too

 

[Caol Ila]

he world is full stuff badly trained horses can react to but they don’t need to like that they can be trained with persistence determination and leadership .

Yes, I agree with you, but it's process, isn't it? I try my damnedst to reward my horses for ignoring the weird stuff around them (Hermosa, easy; Fin, not so easy). But it's a process. Sometimes, you feel your horse reacting to a thing and just think, "Oh, f*ck." They're not bikes. I'm always really happy when people on this forum who I think of as good trainers post about the sh*t they go through, not just the good stuff. It's always a process.