Ambulance... Worth complaining about?

[Auslander]

I wouldn't contact the service for this incident, seeing as the horse was safely contained in a trailer. If I was out hacking when it happened, I might well send a polite letter, and I have in fact emailed the air ambulance fairly recently for a similar thing. I was very polite, made it clear that I knew they had a job to do, and that I fully supported them, before mentioning that my horses had been spooked badly by them circling very low right over my small turnout paddock for several minutes before heading off into the distance. I wasn't angry, just wanted to mention it so that their pilots were aware that a dirty great helicopter just above a group of horses was a bit of a worry!
They rang me straight back, and explained that they had been called out for an incident on the motorway (about 2 miles away) and had been circling while discussions were had about whether they were needed - they weren't, so they returned to base. The pilot was aware that the horses were there, but hadn't registered that they were galloping round like idiots because of the helicopter. It was an amicable exchange, and he (new to the air ambulance service) learned something useful about low flying in a rural area.
If they came back and circled over my field spooking the horses again because they were trying to land in the next field to save someones life - that would be fine with me!

 

[pennyturner]

As an aside, I took a pony and carriage in the local festival a few years ago (think Notting Hill Carnival parade for all the local societies). As we lined up at the start, we realised we were between the Scouts on a pirate-ship truck, with cannons and pop music, and the local ambulance service.

The latter pulled alongside us and expressed regret because he was looking forward to giving the sirens a blast as part of the parade, but didn't want to do so behind the horse. I said better to try it where he was, right alongside the pony, before things got underway. Driver looked doubtful, but let rip with the full B&2's. Bobby turned to look at him, and if he'd been human, he'd have shrugged and shaken his head. Utterly 'not bovvered' - What a pony!

 

[popsdosh]

I must admit I have re read the original post and I have to say why would you contact them as you said he could have been upset but he wasnt!!!! .So what is there to gripe about. I think too often the owners of horses are more worried than the animal itself by these things.

 

[Annagain]

I'm always amazed by my OH's reactions on the road, which is clearly down to his advanced driver training. Even in the passenger seat after a few drinks (the only time I drive the two of us!) he spots hazards, even horses which I'm obviously tuned into noticing, way before I do. And I'm not a bad driver at all - he nags me a bit about resting my foot on the clutch and indicating when there's nobody to indicate to but he tells me I'm better than most, in particular at driving ahead. He spots clues like horse poo (and even if it's fresh or old!) to know what might be around the corner in the blink of an eye without ever appearing to do anything different from a normal driver. He works in a semi-rural areas with a mixture of motorway and twisty up and down country roads. His training was done all over the country. There were 3 of them doing the training and they would drive up 600 miles a day on all sorts of roads in all sorts of circumstances . Knowing the training they do and the conditions they work under I'm confident that they know what they're doing on rural roads even if they're from a city.

ETA - when 's he's had a few drinks - not me, obviously!

 

[EventingMum]

I can understand how it may appear to any driver that an emergency driver "could have/should have" done "x,y,z" in response to any given situation. However, you're not sat in that seat, taking in and processing the information that they are at that time so there may be reasons for their actions of which you are unaware. It is highly unlikely that it was a case of the driver "not thinking" - true enough they may not have considered the horse in transit specifically - or perhaps they had but saw the potential for something else occurring, which might be prevented by continued use of the sirens, of which you were unaware.

We are actually taught to use continuous audible warnings during training. After all, if involved in a collision the first question to us is "were you using lights AND audible warning systems?" and if the answer is no to sirens then you must be able to justify it until you are blue in the face, and often even that is not good enough! It is only once out on the job in real life that the more experienced staff will encourage more discerning use of sirens, to take into account time of day, level of traffic, livestock etc etc etc.

I should have said "not thinking about the posssibility of the horse panicking" and understand that the bigger picture needs to be considered. My point was I didn't consider reporting it as there are more important considerations for the emergency services. Having benefited from ambulances doing their job on several occassions I am very aware of the the marvellous job they do. I also must admit that I held my breath as I pulled over to let the ambulance through and waited to see if the horse reacted.