Am I paranoid? Feel kinda bad.

Caol Ila

Caol Ila

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Setting myself up for a good ol' HHO slating.

After schooling my horse today, I went on our usual cool-out hack through the little subdivision of houses near the yard. One of the houses was getting its roof done or windows cleaned or something (it involved a large ladder). The fella, who was probably a 50 or 60 year old guy, doing the roof/windows was leaning on the garden wall watching us amble along the road towards the house. As we got within a few meters of the house, he suddenly clambered over the garden wall, saying, "Hi, horsey! Hi, horsey! C'mere, horsey!" I was a bit shocked and spooked a little bit, with visions of him grabbing my horse's bridle, or me. I urged my horse on. He said, "Horsey doesn't want to talk to me?" Once I was about 10 or so meters away, I circled my horse around, saying something like, "Er...the horse is a bit grumpy today. It wouldn't be a good idea to stop." Which was complete and utter BS. Mostly. She is having one of her last raging heats of the summer, but had been pottering along in quite a happy mood. He answered. "Oh, ours get like that." I thought, He has horses? I said, "Yes, especially the mares." Then hurried on.

When we were back in site of the house, I put my horse in an outline and asked her to jog a little bit. Just to make sure she looked crazy.

I felt a little guilty nd he probably thought I was unfriendly or snobby or whatever, but I did get freaked out and went into flight mode a bit when an adult man came at me saying, "Hi, horsey!" like the wee kids do!
 
I would have assumed him to be a serial killer of some kind, tbh! But I assume that of everyone, as I feel it is safer that way.

<has watched too many horror films>
 
I know! If he had behaved in a slightly more normal manner, I don't think I would have had the immediate reaction of, "Eeep...get away!"
 
Oh lord! I would have done exactly the same. In fact I would probably have galloped off down the road dialling 999 on my mobile. (in my dreams - either one of those would see me straight out of the plate!) Do you have to go past him again tomorrow?! :)
 
If he feigned an Irish accent I'd just have assumed that he was repeating a line from the film "Garage". "Hi Horse!" Is a perfectly legitimate thing to say ( if you're in Ireland). ;P
 
Oh god, how weird:eek3: - yes I would have run away too, but then again if someone had scrambled over the wall as my horse walked past he would have a fairly comprehensive job of making himself look wild without my input :p
 
When I was 13 something similar happened to me, the village oddball came running at me and my mare, grabbed the bridle and my stirrup, all whilst shouting. I squealed and kicked him before disappearing from the scene at a disunited extended trot. Genuinely terrifying, I trotted flat out whenever I saw him after that. My friends thought it was hilarious.

In all honesty a lot of creepy people take full advantage of our wish not to make a scene or to think the worst of strangers; these days, if I feel uncomfortable I'm outta there and screw what they think.
 
OMG! I think I too would turn and gallop! We sometimes see dog walkers or joggers who'll nod hello and thats fine but that man you met sounds a bit all too creepy!
 
I met two crazy old guys on a hack the other day who ambled in front of us and insisted that I stopped while they fed deano mints... I didn't have much choice in the matter to be fair after deans had clocked the mints. They told me to pass on ttheir regards to the'dolly bird' who runs my yard... yo is lovely, fairly elderly and extremely Christian. Made me laugh. I enjoy a loonball tho. I'd probably have hung out with the wall creeper for a bit!
 
It doe sound like quite odd behaviour from this man. How high was the wall you're talking about though? If he actually had to scale a wall to get to you then find that very strange - if just a bit of a hop over a garden wall then less so but still a bit OTT of him. it's a tricky one, he could just be a very friendly (and tad eccentric) or e could have a bit of a thing about women on horses! Who knows, you can only react how you react at the time and, in my experience yur first instinct about things is normally correct!
 
You certainly didn't do any harm by keeping out of his way, I think I may have been tempted to do the same (although I'd have a hard job convincing anyone my mare is crazy and difficult to handle)! He may have just been a bit odd, friendly but odd, but if you can't tell then the best thing is to ensure you are safe.
 
Aye, I wondered later if he was just a nice, if odd, old guy who only wanted to pet the horse. But his behaviour was a 9 out of 10 on the weird-o-meter, and my first instinct was to make a quick exit.

My mare is also rather unconvincing at being a horse who is crazy and difficult to handle. "Look wild, Gypsum. Wild!"
 
DabDab said:
if someone had scrambled over the wall as my horse walked past he would have a fairly comprehensive job of making himself look wild without my input :p
Click to expand...

Haha! Mine too! There's no way the guy would have got anywhere near my gelding/dragon! But yeah, I probably would have hustled too had a weird guy climbed a wall and called my horse towards him like a dog ....
 
I would have legged it too better to be paranoid than dead. I probably would haw felt bad after as well though :-)
And my idiot gelding wouldn't have helped as he is extremely nosy and likes to say hi. He stuck his head in a pram once, the mother looked very affronted and pretty much legged it. Oops.
My mare on the other hand is likely to bite someone if they came too close and acted weird
 
No harm in getting out of there, paranoia is a good thing sometimes. Sure he might have been weird and disconcerting but completely harmless, but he also might not have been, why bother to hang around for the sake of politeness if something has spooked you.

I remember when I was a kid, I was riding my green broke horse over to friends to hack out with them, and a man out walking came over to chat with me and grabbed my bridle and held onto my horse. I remember being freaked about it and thinking I was going to get murdered :redface3: but for some reason I was still trying to be polite and inoffensive.
These days he wouldn't have had chance to grab my horse and if he had I wouldn't feel the need to be polite about it anymore, turns out I didn't get murdered after all but he would probably be mortified to know how frightening he was to a young girl and that I still remember it clearly years later.

Anyway, rambling, but what I'm saying is if you don't feel safe in a situation, get out of it and don't worry about hurting feelings. Go with your instincts.
 
There's no way some crazy would get near us with that behaviour! "Our horses" indeed, though owning horses isn't a precurser to knowing how to act around them.

Alphamare said:
And my idiot gelding wouldn't have helped as he is extremely nosy and likes to say hi. He stuck his head in a pram once, the mother looked very affronted and pretty much legged it.
Click to expand...

Mine almost pushed a poor old fella off his mobility scooter while investigating it. His helper had to push him back on.
 
Better to be careful than remorseful. Serial killers, rapists, robbers depend on people to be embarrassed and not wanting to "insult" them. It's a useful tool and makes the victim a lot easier to attack. Sort've like getting on the lift and a grubby guy gets on...too many women won't get off to take another one...and they suffer because of this. They'll get over it once they find another victim.

That guy was showing very odd behaviour and I sure would have not allowed him near me or my horse.
 
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