Bringing in after dark

Thank you all for sharing your own experiences and for the tips.
I’m glad to say all was fine. Got to the yard bit late at just gone 5pm. Walked along the track and my eyes had adjusted by the time I got to them. They were both right by the gate but standing patiently and were absolutely fine to bring in. Mine was quite keen but nothing major. Phew. Relieved.
Got to be better than standing in all day 👍
 
I always bring in/take out in the dark in winter-at one place I had a short stretch of road to tackle as well. mine are well used to head torches although it the moon is bright enough I don't bother. mine pretty much only see me in the dark in the week atm and I feed and check twice a day in the field and when its dry enough I tie up, brush and lunge/ride too. Afraid I expect horses to cope a bit without a cast iron routine-doest seem to bother them.
wear gloves and a hat to begin with at least, good rechargeable headtorch and decent boots and you're done.
 
Pc2003 said:
Thank you all for sharing your own experiences and for the tips.
I’m glad to say all was fine. Got to the yard bit late at just gone 5pm. Walked along the track and my eyes had adjusted by the time I got to them. They were both right by the gate but standing patiently and were absolutely fine to bring in. Mine was quite keen but nothing major. Phew. Relieved.
Got to be better than standing in all day 👍
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great news.
What a relief!

One of mine is a complete prat when she thinks I'm too late. She gets hungry and is then a bit wild. The others have all been fine to do at any time but she is almost too difficult to manage when I've got another in tow, so I try to keep to her sense of reasonable time! Mine are all used to head torches :) my stable lighting is so poor i often muck out around them with one on. I would have no issue turning out in the dark though, they are always keen to go out to the field, come what may :)
 
Mine used to be fine when I worked shifts, and didn't mind the dark at all. Neither do I, but a head torch can be tricky till they are used to it.
 
I always reckon that me and old cob are the scariest things in the woods so happy to go to and fro in the dark. Not needed so much though now he is retired.
 
I'm with Dave's Mam on this one! How do people see in the dark! The track to our field is pitch black. There's no way I could get them without a headtorch. Luckily it does not seem to worry them at all! Not even little Dolly who has only just arrived but has accepted her new routine happily.
 
I’m the same I found it easier without the torch as by the time I get to the field my eyes have adjusted :) I am very shortsighted without my glasses but I can still see better without a torch. I used to ride on the clear full moon nights in the field, it was like haveing a massive floodlight at times.

Mine used to come in anytime from 3-9pm just depending on what shift it was on, that’s if they came in at all. If it was cold and dry and I was long shift they just got feeds thrown in whenever I was passing on the way home.
 
I bring in in the dark. In summer he comes in at darkening and in winter, up to an hour after the sun goes down. If he’s brought in in broad daylight, he knows it’s for either work, the farrier or the vet!

I take a headtorch so I can see where I’m going. He isn’t remotely bothered by it (we used to ride in the dark, by headtorch too...).
 
I work full-time like many and with horses at home have to bring in in the dark every day. I leave out late at the weekends as well until 6-7pm so they have as much turn out as possible = less mucking out before work! Head torch makes them flighty as they can see really well in the dark.
 
I did bringing in after dark for years at a few different yards. Once used to the torchlight I can't say I had any major issues & on one yard the field was near the bottom of their driveway so we'd sometimes have cars coming up & down with headlights on as well.

Last couple of years at my previous yard I swapped to overnight turnout but that was because I got fed up of trying to find the horse in a 60 odd acre field (including woods that used to just get pitch black in darkness) in the dark and figured that fetching him in on a morning in daylight was much easier! Most yards won't accommodate such weirdness though! (helped that the yard manager used to do him on an evening for me quite a bit so it was her life that was being made easier mostly plus their own tended to live out anyway)
 
My horses live out currently but i work until 1630-1800 depending on what shift i am on so it is dark when i go up to feed at night. I have around a 10 minute walk through muddy fields that have been newly planted with trees in the pitch black each way.

I had a little spooking at the start of winter when it was getting darker, i suspect caused by shadows as a result of my head torch but for the most part both are ok now.

I could feed at the gate, but if i'm honest it's easier to bring them in, feed and then take them back out as opposed to carry 2 buckets to the field.

I've been tempted to go for a torch lit hack but i'm not sure i'm that brave...
 
I'm on DIY, have a spooky horse and lead out/in in the dark. I can see in the field by moonlight but the track to the field is slippy and muddy and pitch black so I need my headtorch. Mine flips down so I don't shine it in his eyes much, but he is generally fine. Only startled a bit when the torch picked up the hi vis stripes on another horse's rug in the adjoining field, or when the beggars wait in line along that fence so all you see are green shiny eyes!! I don't have a regime so he gets bored of waiting by the gate when the night time horses go out and goes back to eating the hay/grass in the field with them.
 
I always bring in when it's dark, one of my horses stresses in his stable if there's activity on the yard so I like to have mine last in.
All the horses have paddocks taped off within a large field, and the main gateway can be very slippy, so another benefit of me bringing in last is not having to turn them round to shut the gate and risk any of us slipping over, especially as it's next to a beck!
I use my head torch angled down to catch and go down a pitch black track to the road, it's about 300 yards to the yard along a dead end road with streetlights.
I find my boys much spookier in the twilight than full dark (and they're Welshies).
 
My current companion goes off to his new home this weekend and my new yearling arrives so hoping he will be okay with being left out till it’s dark too!
 
one of the big ones, would leap around and get very wound up, i would catch him and make him stand then say walk on, he learned to change in about three seconds from a dangerous exploding idiot when loose to walking up the path quietly , thank god!
 
I have noticed with the nightblind horse that she can see high viz yellow after dark. Spent an hour last winter following OH around like a lost puppy in the field when he was fixing fencing in his big work coat. Unfortunately her sense of personal space was a bit lacking and she kept crashing into him. I'm not entirely sure she realised it was him - just an interesting big yellow blob moving around :p

Does mean if I have the hassle of bringing her in when its dark now I wear my high viz on the basis she can at least see where I am as well as sticking her nose up my armpit to smell her way in :rolleyes:
 
The only time I tried to catch in the dark I got to the field and heard galloping hooves, but couldn't see anything. It's a massive area of 4 fields with the gates between them left open and a herd of about 30. I bottled it and decided my horse didn't need to be ridden that night! :D
 
Dave's Mam said:
I am very envious of all you Night Visioned Wonders.
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Don't be; driving in the dark is a nightmare especially now headlights are so bright. I have real difficulty driving at night because I'm constantly dazzled. On the other hand I can see perfectly well to do the horse at night without a torch.
 
Mine are usually out in the night and brought in in the morning. I have no problem catching with a head torch providing I can find them. As I have to lead down the lane I also have a small white LED light on the side piece of the headcollar and a small red LED attached to the back of my hat. Neither or the horses who wear the headcollar with the light on seem to be bothered by it.
 
I have put mine in out and at all sorts of wacky times due to my shifts. They came in at midnight the other day. Hardest part is finding them lol once I can see 'glowy eyes' I know they have spotted me and are on their way over! Headtorch is a must.
 
I turn out in the dark, bring in in the dark and ride in the dark. I think it’s easier having complete dark than lights in odd places that kill your night vision. If the weather is particularly miserable and they are all looking lairy I tend to bump a bit of the strip fence so they can have a couple of minutes eating to chill them out a bit.

My biggest issue is riding in the pitch black on a pitch black horse, it can be really disconcerting floating around with absolutely nothing to look at in front of you!
 
Nudibranch said:
If you use a head torch just make sure it is pointing at the ground and not in their eyes - never had a horse with an issue with them as a result.
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This. I bring in in the dark and though the horses can see well, I can't!

I put my headtorch round my neck so it is pointing at the ground and it doesn't point at them while I am doing their head collars etc.
 
Headtorches are a life saver! I use mine every evening when I check on my retired pony- his yard has no proper lighting. He is a spooky flighty welsh thing but has adapted to the torch without issue. I wear it to groom him, muck out, give him hay etc, I just point it towards the ground. I also find that having turnout rugs with a reflective strip makes life a lot easier spotting ponies in the dark!
 
Mine hates a head torch, I have tried to train him out of it but it is not something he seems to ever be able to accept. He hates it and panics when he sees other people with them on so it's not worth stressing him out at his age. I was getting him recently at 5:20pm as that is the earliest I can get there. It wasn't a problem, he is fine in the dark however he was beginning to get stressed out that the others were in and he wasn't. So I pay a lady the princeley sum of £1 a day to get him in while it is light and before the rest of them come in. She is a far cheaper than I imagined she'd be but does a few others on the yard so it probably does work out for her, I had expected to pay between £2 and £5 for getting in.
 
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