Beaters and shooters practically trying to kill us?!

The guns in the shoot we met were well within 50 feet of the carriageway, they were only just at the other side of the fence.
 
HashRouge said:
He didn't infer that any law had been broken (as far as I can see). Just that the actions of the shoot could have caused a serious accident and that if you use guns you ought to do so with the appropriate level of care (which I fully agree with). To be honest, I feel your attitude is far more likely to cause rifts - no-one is suggesting that guns for sporting purposes should be banned, just that their use requires care and consideration. I honestly don't see how anyone could have a problem with that, at all. I don't think the shoot in question *did* show the level of consideration that they should have done, regardless of whether or not they broke the law (which yes, I agree with you it sounds like they probably did not).
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I think suggesting you should go to the police to get there licences withdrawn suggests he was suggesting they had broken the law.

I do agree with you however that in an ideal world things may have been different .However in the spur of the moment things dont always go that way .I also am sure that none of this happened deliberately to cause offence. All I will say is that depending on the level of the shoot it maybe the beaters had no way of stopping the guns unless there is radio communication between the beaters and the guns. The guns themselves may not have noticed there was a problem
 
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popsdosh said:
I do agree with you that in an ideal world things may have been different .However in the spur of the moment things dont always go that way .I also am sure that none of this happened deliberately to cause offence. All I will say is that depending on the level of the shoot it maybe the beaters had no way of stopping the guns unless there is radio communication between the beaters and the guns. The guns themselves may not have noticed there was a problem
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My horses would not have cared two figs about the guns. But one of them would have gone berserk at a man behind a hedge waving a flag, and it was the flag waving that set off the OP's horse at first, not the guns. The flag waver could see the horses.

As Goldenstar points out, this may have been stage two of a beat, which would have been less effective if the flags had not been used when they were. And with customers paying, I'm told by people who do it, many hundreds of pounds each a day to shoot, it sounds like a commercial decision may have been made to endanger two riders rather than wait until they had moved further away.
 
ycbm said:
My horses would not have cared two figs about the guns. But one of them would have gone berserk at a man behind a hedge waving a flag, and it was the flag waving that set off the OP's horse at first, not the guns. The flag waver could see the horses.

As Goldenstar points out, this may have been stage two of a beat, which would have been less effective if the flags had not been used when they were. And with costumers paying, I'm told by people who do it, up to a thousand pounds a day to shoot, it sounds like a commercial decision may have been made to endanger two riders rather than wait until they had moved further away.
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I promise you it can be a lot more than1K
 
Unlikely to have been a large shoot where they are paying that sort of money.
Shooting over/near a road isn't a great drive as you hit the birds any injured and not hitting the floor dead would keep going and therefore not get picked and so not making a good bag at the end of the day. although obviously every shoot runs differently.
You will need to speak to the land owner to find out who runs the shoot and speak to them, the local firearms officer won't be of use as it wasn't actually anyone with a gun causing the issue and they didn't break the law and nor will basc except for info on the right and wrong. You need the game keeper if there is one(won't be an official one if it's a small shoot)
Glad you are ok OP and hope yours and friends horses aren't affected by it.
 
It is quite true that as farmers cast round for more income, many are making their shoots far more commercial and are charging big money for the guns. The guns in turn want their money's worth and don't like anything to get in their way.

There is a bridlepath through a local wood where I ride and there is a notice on the gate which states that there may be shooting during the winter. I was annoyed about that, as it seemed designed to frighten people off. How about a list of dates, or at least a contact number to get a list of dates, and what about Sundays when game shooting isn't allowed.
 
Orangehorse said:
It is quite true that as farmers cast round for more income, many are making their shoots far more commercial and are charging big money for the guns. The guns in turn want their money's worth and don't like anything to get in their way.

There is a bridlepath through a local wood where I ride and there is a notice on the gate which states that there may be shooting during the winter. I was annoyed about that, as it seemed designed to frighten people off. How about a list of dates, or at least a contact number to get a list of dates, and what about Sundays when game shooting isn't allowed.
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would be nice but in truth they are not obliged to put up anything.To be honest there are very valid reasons not to put up a list of dates on public display as LACS do not just interfere with hunting. Just try to remember you are actually on their property ! using a right of way which nobody pays for. I will have to duck now to avoid the bullets . There should be give and take on both sides.
Well who is stopping you using the bridleway on a sunday!
 
We have a footpath that runs through one of our drives. We put a notice up on the morning concerned saying shooting in progress, and tell the lady who normally walks her dog what dates it happens. You can't please all the people but there does need to be an effort made.
 
At our yard , there is a list of dates when the shoots are, usually about 3/4 times a week at the moment. I try and avoid hacking on these days for fear of meeting them. However last week, they kindly told us the day before which way they were going so we were able to plan a hack avoiding where they would be BUT then changed their minds in the morning and we ended up hacking right alongside the field they were shooting in. We asked if they would hold fire while we got out the way but they didn't and started shooting. Luckily no harm done, just a very bouncy huge WB to cope with. I was particularly annoyed as we had made all the necessary plans to avoid this happening. So I sympathise with the OP.
 
popsdosh said:
…….. . Just try to remember you are actually on their property ! using a right of way which nobody pays for. …….. !
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And as a guest, perhaps we should be grateful for what's offered, freely, and accept that through the generosity of those landowners over who's property we ride, so making further demands may be seen as a bit rich!

I also wonder what we'd say if those same landowners turned up and wandered about in our property and without being invited, and if we would be quite so welcoming. Bridleways accepted, most of our off-right riding is by the grace and favour of our hosts. Whilst being grateful for such generosity, we may care to consider that the landowner also has rights which may include his free-usage of his own property. Just a thought.

Alec.
 
I think the OP has made it clear she was on a road, and not on any sort of right of way when the incident happened.

I hope your horses haven't been too badly spooked OP, and you can have a nice hack again very soon.

Fiona
 
Had a stupid moron with a gun upset me and daughters horse's on the road, guy dressed in the usual camo gear 3 jack russels, he saw us on the bridge with traffic passing us and still fired his shotgun before we were a sensible distance, I don't know the law on distance from a road/cycle track/ public right of way which this is, but I'm sure he was too close, I couldn't stop to take a picture or get details as I was too engrossed trying to get away from the bangs, I'm sure these people own a great noisy gun to make up for having a small todger. NOA
 
While riding a few years ago I came across a shoot, had no idea they would be there and I had not passed anyone or any signs warning me they were in the area. I popped up on a bridleway at the end of the line of guns who all had to wait while we trotted past them (in front of them as they were to one side of the bridleway. I had kept to bridleways for my ride, these are also used by cyclists and walkers. Guns did look peed off but I smiled and said hello as me, horse and collie dog passed. Did think it odd they were where they were!
 
Pedantic said:
Had a stupid moron with a gun upset me and daughters horse's on the road, guy dressed in the usual camo gear 3 jack russels, he saw us on the bridge with traffic passing us and still fired his shotgun before we were a sensible distance, I don't know the law on distance from a road/cycle track/ public right of way which this is, but I'm sure he was too close, I couldn't stop to take a picture or get details as I was too engrossed trying to get away from the bangs, I'm sure these people own a great noisy gun to make up for having a small todger. NOA
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Pedantic, old son!! You're back!! :)

You've been missed, and you are most welcome!

Alec.
 
As always the onus is on us to train our horses.

There's a shoot at the bottom of my field. The horses look, because it's unusual to see people there, they will even walk down for a closer look, but they don't care about the noise.

Generally speaking if you think your horse will be terrified, it will be.
 
FfionWinnie said:
As always the onus is on us to train our horses.

There's a shoot at the bottom of my field. The horses look, because it's unusual to see people there, they will even walk down for a closer look, but they don't care about the noise.

Generally speaking if you think your horse will be terrified, it will be.
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Generally speaking, Yea, maybe I should go and buy a dozen shotguns and walk round blasting them off in my horse's ear until he gets used to it, but then my todger wasn't that small last time I looked, so I probably wouldn't get a licence...
 
Tiddlypom said:
True.
That's handy, for training purposes :). Not all of us are as fortunate/unfortunate as to have access to a tame shoot so that we can train our horses to get used to random sounds of gunfire.
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I don't think you have to train them particularly to gun fire just to know you will protect them from things they find terrible. Like, getting them away as fast as possible. Well that's not actually training them to be calm, its training them to think running away is an option.

My horses never have got used to it, it never bothered them from the moment they arrived to live here and as they have come from a variety of backgrounds I think it's unlikely they all came gun proof as standard.

With my welsh D, if I get wound up about something, say a car comes flying past us, that's enough for her to start being an idiot about cars flying past us, yet if I don't react at all she is fine. If I see a tractor I "know" I will be far less worried than if it's one I don't know and would you believe, she walked past a massive sprayer tractor by herself no problem, purely because I knew the driver would wait until we had passed and wouldn't do anything to make his tractor "more frightening".

As riders it's up to us to train for life. I once had the firebrigade follow us with sirens and lights on, to show them where there was a fire. Had I trained my horse for that scenario, no, did my horse act unreasonably, no, was my horse at the time a sensible cob, no, it was a recently broken TB colt ;)

I suppose my point really was if the op wants to worry about it and warn all other riders, it won't really make her life easier. Ultimately horses have to get used to things they don't like. There are many things my Welshies would like to be unable to cope with. If I agreed with them all we wouldn't leave the yard.
 
I keep my horse around a well known estate & have to say they are fantastic. I always yell hello when approaching if I happen to be out where they are shooting across a local woodland lane. One of them radios the others not to shoot etc & I always thank everyone & wave. Horse snorts, goes sideways & I laugh at him! One of the organisers did ask me that time if my horse was the local head hunt master's horse & assumed I was his groom! We took it as a compliment!!!
 
I always try to go for an evening ride on November 5th. To check in with my horse.

"We all right with fireworks?"

"Yup."

I'm far from perfect. Still can't go past curious cows who run up to the fenceline without histrionics. That's my fault. I gotta own that one. I could do more to work with the horse on that, but instead I just avoid riding past herds of young cows.
 
There is no-one in the world who is a good enough rider to prevent every horse in the world from spooking. Any shoot needs to allow for less than perfect horses and less than prefect riders. They are the majority.
 
Mine is actually used to the guns and tolerates them. What he didn't like was having to go past a beater waving what looked like a large bag on a stick up and down next to the road and blowing a hooter, making a hell of a noise. This was after we had turned round to go away from the guns.
 
FfionWinnie said:
As always the onus is on us to train our horses.

There's a shoot at the bottom of my field. The horses look, because it's unusual to see people there, they will even walk down for a closer look, but they don't care about the noise.

Generally speaking if you think your horse will be terrified, it will be.
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Well its a shame my horse is now dead otherwise I would have invited you out to work your magic powers on her, since in my 18 years of ownership I never managed to cure her of all and anything that went bang. Clearly you are a vastly superior being, or you just think you are.
 
ycbm said:
There is no-one in the world who is a good enough rider to prevent every horse in the world from spooking. Any shoot needs to allow for less than perfect horses and less than prefect riders. They are the majority.
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I don't disagree with you but perhaps some shoots are as ignorant of horses as horse people seem to be of shoots? None of us were there so we don't know how far away anything was, or how long they waited for the OP to pass.
 
fatpiggy said:
Well its a shame my horse is now dead otherwise I would have invited you out to work your magic powers on her, since in my 18 years of ownership I never managed to cure her of all and anything that went bang. Clearly you are a vastly superior being, or you just think you are.
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Meoow!!!!
 
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