Do you feel vunerable doing your horses?

animal

animal

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Especially if it is in the country/quiet place.

To cut it short, durring the holidays i go and see my loan more often, durring the day.

I don't want to nag dad for lifts all the time, sometimes he is busy anyway.
So i get the train, then cycle up 2 ruralish roads. Eg some houses, then fields, with a few livery yards close together. It's basically a village, but is spread out and many people are obviously at work durring the day.

Especially after that r.black case, of him taking some poor girl cycling to her friends, i am aware of how bloody easily someone could "take" me if they really wanted to.
The field is near a public footpath, but there are a few houses about, and i know the people there.
Always carry phone.
So, as horses are often kept in isolated places, and especially if you do horses alone, your own place etc, do you worry about people watching you creepy stuff like that.
Sorry if this seems really bad taste, but just wondering whether anyone feels a bit like me.
 
i must admit i tootle around completely oblivious most of the time. i actually feel safer being isolated than in city centres though, and i find that i pay less attention to my surroundings.

BUT i survived living in Toxteth surrounded by supposedly aggressive Somalians whilst I dressed as a goth with no issues so maybe i just don't look for danger lol.

It probably helps that my parents have lived in isolated houses for a fair bit of my youth as well, and even now I spend a while alone on their stud house- sitting for them :) granted there were people on the estate, and who pass through the yard, but it's pretty darned quiet :) it's awesome haha
 
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No i have never felt vunerable, but then i am in my late forties, and probably scare more people than the other way around. :D
Mind you i dont really think about it, just go about my business in my own little world!
 
I HATE doing my horse on my own, mainly because I'm scared of the dark & ghosts, and as lots of spooky stuff happens at my yard I try to avoid it. But we have random men come in from time to time asking which horses are for sale and if they can have any, they always ask where the tack room is. I never tell them and I have reported them but still, they only ever show up when I'm alone though! :(
 
Am lucky to have my field in the centre of a quiet vialliage which is surrounded by a few houses. Its very over looked which is really handy if anything happens down the field theres someone there to spot it and call me, really handy that the lady opposite has horses too as does the place next to me so lots of eyes about :)

However - my mum keeps her horses in a busier place, not rural as such but a few fields on the edge of some big towns and we have seen our fair share of dodgy charachters hanging about.
My mum even had a tramp living in her feed shed one year, although he/she used to make themself scarce when my mum was down there she could tell someone had been sleeping in there and making fires :eek::eek: needless to say she bought a padlock and has kept it locked up since.
 
Naw, I walk me dug in the dark, wander round the yard in the middle of the night by myself, I love it. I'm not scared because it's quiet and I can hear people a mile off. I'm more jumpy in city centres, don't like people, can't trust 'em.
 
Hey animal, I know exactly what you mean and when I was younger I used to do exactly the same. Its not very nice to feel vulnerable in the middle of the nowhere. I am up and out with the dog at 6am every morning and over the last few weeks it's started to get really dark, I walk down by a river and there are lots of trees and no houses and I manage to scare myself every morning anyway OH is getting me a microlight tourch as I get so scared and make myself jump! I am sure you will be fine the only thing I can think of to reassure u is to make arrangements to call or text someone every hour whilst you are out.
 
I feel safer bang in the middle of London than walking through woods in suburbs or beyond...Fine on a horse, though
 
Im okay, darkness doesn't bother me. Being on the yard doesn't bother me, there's a house right next to it. However, the thought of hacking alone petrifies me. Not because of the horse, not because of my road riding, just the thought of going down a path in the woods, on my own, scares me. Despite being a giant, and probably more scarier looking than most people..

Eta. For those that are really worried, invest in a rape alarm they've very handy. Failing that a whistle is very good too!
 
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Cadfael&Coffee said:
i must admit i tootle around completely oblivious most of the time. i actually feel safer being isolated than in city centres though, and i find that i pay less attention to my surroundings.

BUT i survived living in Toxteth surrounded by supposedly aggressive Somalians whilst I dressed as a goth with no issues so maybe i just don't look for danger lol.
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Hahaha i used to live in Toxteth too...it was never as bad as people said it was!


Back to the question at hand- yes i do sometimes feel vulnerable, my yard is rural, but very very open and near to foot paths etc... Im usually up there late at night and either on my own or with another woman- i never really thought about it until the other woman told me a random man had approached her on the yard and started asking strange questions. He said he was hitch-hiking up the country:confused: luckily she told him to check in with the game keeper and he scarperd pretty sharpish- but it did make me very aware that anyone could appear at anytime and im very vulnerable up there on my own.....but im moving yards on sat and to be honest i did consider it when moving- my new yard has double gates, hidden fields and cctv.
 
It is scary, especially now that it gets dark so soon. I'm at the yard when it's pitch black... but thankfully, OH is there 75% of the time, and there are others, too, coming late.

Are there no other people at the yard?
 
I try not to think about it as I am very remote with only a few neighbours. Most have horses. One of the horseless neighbours is a weirdo 'tho and watches me. If he came near me ( which is unlikely as my dog doesn't like him either) I would impale him with my pitchfork..mainly 'cos he would have upset my routine of mucking out and getting organised and that would seriously hack me off..lol.
I always feel if I have my dog then I am safe. He is huge.
OP..you sound dedicated to get to your horse. Just keep your phone charged up and take no risks.xx
 
No I dont and am mostly on my own family further down the road, very dark at times on about 100 acres in all.


I have however convinced myself in the dark a yellow labrador was in the field staring at me as I got closer and closer I was wondering why it didnt move, I soon realised it was a thistle plant.

Another time I was driving down road spotted what I thought was a lop eared rabbit at side of road was disgusted someone had dumped it so got out to rescue it, it was a leather sectioned football with two sections sticking out they were its ears :o so maybe I need glasses in the dark but not really scared.

I have pooped my pants after watching horror movies but am expecting a monster to jump out.:eek:
 
Animal, try not to let the Robert Black case scare you, it was 30 years ago and those girls were very young and much less aware of 'stranger danger' than we are now.
I can't think of any girls being taken or abducted or attacked on their way to or from, or dealing with, horses, in recent years, statistically it is highly unlikely, make sure people know your whereabouts, keep phone on you and charged, light yourself up like a Christmas tree, keep a personal alarm if you have to...and get a dog :p
 
No. Because my horse has got me out of tricky situations more then once.

The other week he managed to scare a chav off who was getting angry that we were on the road. we've got away quickly when a man followed us, and he stood on a man's foot who wanted to make sexual comments.
 
sitch said:
No. Because my horse has got me out of tricky situations more then once.

The other week he managed to scare a chav off who was getting angry that we were on the road. we've got away quickly when a man followed us, and he stood on a man's foot who wanted to make sexual comments.
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My Arab doesnt even like my OH to get between him and me, he pulls camel faces and puts his ears back.
Not sure i can rely on him to come to my defence in a tricky situation though.

CC, very good advice!!
 
I get the Jeepers creepers si my poor boyfriend gets dragged up in the evenings with me! Crazy but I just get to nervous as in the middle of nowhere and across the river wehave four people that live in the woods whoseem harmless by day but make strange sounds by night! Freaks me out!
 
"cob&onion

My mum even had a tramp living in her feed shed one year, although he/she used to make themself scarce when my mum was down there she could tell someone had been sleeping in there and making fires ?? needless to say she bought a padlock and has kept it locked up since."


We had a similar situtation, a tramp living in the trees at the back of our field, we never noticed but he'd been there so long he had tarpaulin up a generator, made a bench out of logs!! It was amazing! Lol was shocking :O
 
on own alot at yard - only one other yard down dark lane with no houses - the girls at other yard go in daylight I go in dark at night - never bothers me as I have the dog with me, on the odd occasion I dont have the dog I must admit I have been anxious - the dog will warn me if anyone is around but when you are on your own you get a bit paranoid.

ps idea of rape alarm is good but no-one would hear it from my yard ! also ..... not sure if out riding you should set it off haha
 
I do!

Where we are no one would hear you scream / rape alarm etc! I think my husband and I are the only people who work full time at our yard so we are usually the only ones there in the dark. He normally comes with me but there are times when he can't and I hate it!

Every noise makes me jump and we have security lights that can be set off by the wind so every time they come on I'm convinced there is someone nasty lurking!

I looked into getting some pepper spray / mace but it's illegal here.... That would make me feel safer though, because if someone nasty was lurking at least you'd have chance to get away!

I do take my dog but he is a small terrier and v friendly so he wouldn't scare anyone off!
 
Not really, I know all the farmers nearby, and a developer has just converted the unused offices (that were previously a garden nursery place) into two houses. The guy who has bought on of the houses is putting in cctv across their entrance, which will also cover ours. This makes ours much safer from the theives that come round every so often.

Its always pretty quiet nears ours in the dark, although we can sometimes hear people in the two nearby yards schooling and having lessons at night - I'm not jealous at all that they have arenas and we don't :p

Plus, I'm like well 'ard and our storage container is full of lots of nice weapons, a scythe, sycle (sp?!) and lots of hammers and poky things :D (and at the moment, about 100 onions :eek: )
 
When I was younger, from about age 14-20 I kept my pony at a very isolated yard, at the end of a mile long farm track with fields on either side and the farm house was right at the end by the road so a long way from the stable yard. I also had to cycle 2 miles along a rural road with no street lights to get there. I was on my own most of the time as both my parents worked and I used to go after school. Nothing ever happened and only occasionally did I get spooked. I was knocked off my bike on the road once but not seriously hurt.

Now, at almost 30, I am a right wuss! I think the fact I take my 8 year old with me to do her pony too which makes it worse. One yard I was a t for a while was very spooky, the YOs ex partner was a nut case and for a time he was threatening her and her horses so that was a worry, also it was broken into a few times and it was clear someone had been watching us which also freaked me out. I hated being there after dark, there were so many dark corners that I always felt someone was watching.
Now I rent grazing now, only been up there a few times in the dark so far as we moved here in the spring so we'll see how spooked I am this year!!
 
leah_x said:
I HATE doing my horse on my own, mainly because I'm scared of the dark & ghosts, and as lots of spooky stuff happens at my yard I try to avoid it. But we have random men come in from time to time asking which horses are for sale and if they can have any, they always ask where the tack room is. I never tell them and I have reported them but still, they only ever show up when I'm alone though! :(
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Move !
 
Our stables back onto woods, in general it doesn't bother me but I have learned to listen to the birds in there, I know when someone or something is moving nearby because of their alarm calls and they are always right whether it is a Roe buck/dog/fox or human being. It is handy to use them as a warning and allows me to keep my head down in the feed store.
 
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