Do you feel vunerable doing your horses?

I worked on a yard literally in the middle of nowhere and everyone was going away leaving me in my wee flat on the yard to do night checks etc. The day before they left the owner came down and said there had been a couple of dodgey looking guys stop their van at the top of the road and walk down and were looking around the yard, when he went over he said theyw ere window cleaners and did he want them doing, owner said no. so they went off. While the owner was saying this i was thinking s*it!He said if I see anyone just call the police don't try and confront them and then he just walked off and said he would see me in a few days, the girls on the yard looked at me really concerned and were like,nope we are not staying with you before you ask, too freaky. So I was up pretty much all night worried then teh dogs started barking,I shat myself but had to see what was up, dont know what it was just my luck though. I felt very vulnerable then.
 
not really related, but this brings to mind an incident which my mum has never forgiven my dad for...


stupid o'clock in the morning, pitch black outside... the dogs start howling and going crazy.

mm tries to wake dad up. dad says sleepily that theyll stop in a minute and it's nothing....


mum gets up to investigate. could have been burglers or anything...
















finds a wretched hedgehog wandering around the back yard completely oblivious to the chaos!!!!! Haha i don't think she'll EVER let dad forget how lucky it was that it was a hedgehog and not some burly bloke ilmao :D:D:D
 
nice one C&C :D

My mother sometimes used to come up to my previous yard in the evenings and she would take my wheelbarrow to empty it while I got on with the mucking out (she's great like that, she loves my old boy and likes to take him out for little hacks when the weather's good). It was a bit of a walk to the muck heap on that yard, round the back of two barns and after seeing the penultimate Harry Potter movie, she became convinced that Voldemort was lurking round there to get her :p

I'm evil and therefore have always found this hilarious :D
 
Actually I do a bit sometimes. I think its mainly at the start of winter (ie now....) when its suddenly dark after work and I am there on my own. Also, I have to park in a lane next to the field, then walk on a small bit of road to the gate. I worry sometimes about people seeing me go in, and maybe deciding to follow - the place is in darkness when I get there so am obviously the only one there!! I soon get used to going in the dark after work, and bizarrely, the dark BEFORE work doesn't bother me!

I also have a small can of flea spray - hand sized, that I carry in my coat pocket - I figure that sprayed into someones eyes it would stop them being able to see!!

Paranoid??? :o
 
If you are going to carry a spray etc, make sure it's something you have a legit reason to have on you. Otherwise (and sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) I think you can get into trouble for carrying a weapon. Hairspray should be ok I think, ditto flea spray as it's something you could easily have with you anyway for non-defensive reasons. A good loud attack alarm is a good idea - best idea is a dog with a good big bark on them though!

I tend to be fine as long as I don't let my imagination run wild, which takes a bit of self-discipline at times!
 
Im moving to a new yard next week which means walking down a country road with no lights or footpath for a good 10 mins which is ok on the weekends but after work especially with the dark nights approaching im scared i will get ran over or fall in a ditch!
 
No but would if I was in your situation and if I was younger like yourself, although you don't often think about it when your young so it's good that you at least have your whits about you.
 
Seconding a guard dog, here - my lad is a total softie, more likely to lick you to death, but when he's riled up and excited (not hard to do :p) there seem to be teeth everywhere and in the darkness he seems a lot bigger than he really is :D A nice loud bark (on command) is also an advantage :D

And yes, you could be arrested for carrying anything with the potential to cause harm, if you don't have a legitimate reason for having it, as I understand things (I could be mistaken :p). I carry a penknife for cutting twine / slicing apples, carrots etc., but I don't think I'd risk using it as a defensive weapon anyway... I can see a justification for carrying hair spray or deodorant around with you, but I wonder if flea spray they might question why you have it on a yard around horses?
 
I'm a member of the 'If I hear a noise I assume I'm going to get muredered' clan :D
My yard is uber secure, CCTV, guard dogs, owners live on site etc but I HATE being last one on the yard in the dark! Then again, I also hate being home alone, I shut all of the curtains and keep something sharp within easy reach and I can never get to sleep. The field with 2 of my horses and all of the polo ponies I take care of is right next to another field where the owner got car-jacked so you know people are watching.
When I last had a horsey job I lived in a caravan onsite and I used to sleep with an axe by my bed.

Paranoid.... Much :D :D :p
 
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I hate doing mine on my own in the dark, i like there to be other liveries/friends around etc, even if there are people in the house or my mates in the caravans (i live on site) it creeps me out :)
 
I'm fine sorting my horse out - owners live on site and there is lights covering everywhere :)

However what I struggle with is the fact I'm happy to ride to the woods by my self, or ride on the common. There is no way I'd walk in those places by myself... Might walk the dogs there by my self but wouldn't want to be there on my own. So for me it would seem being with my pony makes me brave!! haha No idea why!!
 
I used to hate being up the yard on my own and the only way I could stop my imagination running wild wa to have a mp3 on whilst I mucked out etc.. One time I had it on very loud so couldn't hear anything was mucking out completely in my own world pitch black outside when suddenl something tapped me on the shoulder jumped about 3 ft in the air and screamed turned around and a shcoked looking guy was stood there. turns out he had broken down on the lane and we were closest place he could see (yard lights and security lights were on). I gave him direction the the yard owners house for a phone and after he went I was cacking my pants haha never mucked out and finished off so quickly!

I now have my own land and have to feed the boys then walk about and acre and a half to the mares field... always get scared walking back up towards the tree's and hate putting my head in the feed bins amost have to dare myself to take it out and turn around to the feed buckets! I almost convince myself someones stood behind me :p
 
OMG - It is good to see that I am not the only one that has this fear of being on my own (mainly in the dark) at the yard. My yard is in a country park next to (what is called a castle more like a rather big house) and members of the public are always walking dogs there. We have had reports in the past of people chaining themselves to the main gates completed starkers before in protests over random things and you often see people driving down the track to the stables very late at night no doubt looking for a quiet place to have naughty times lol.

We do have night security but they (no offense) are Polish and their english isn't good let alone the weight they carry (I mean fat yes) so it would probably take them half a century to run to me if I was screaming.

In order to get to the horses fields you have to walk through a small wood area and there are always rabbits rustling in the bush or birds flapping my mind goes awol and starts turning these rabbits in to man eatting dragons and birds that have razor sharp beaks and want to eat me..

I often call someone while walking through the dark in hope that should anything ever happen to me the person on the other end of the phone realises I am in a struggle and gets to me quite quickly.

With regards to spooky things we quite often have random things happening on our yard, lights turning on and off, the feeling that someone is stood behind you or other weird things so that sends your mind in to overdrive as well. Doesn't help that all the other girls think we have a resident ghost and we wind each other up with spooky stories.

I once walked up to the field in the pitch black to go get my mare and my friends horse in and I completely forgot to take my torch with me, my battery on my phone was dying and I was completely on my own. As I was walking up to the field I heard footsteps behind me I quickened my pace and tried to block it out even forcing myself to sing a little song. In the end the footsteps were so loud I turned around and shouted leave me alone and raised my fist in an atempt to protect myself. As I turned around I saw a tiny little polish man with security on his vest top burst in to tears clearly our secruity is great (NOT)...

Well best of luck to all you that have the same fear as me the dark lol.. my only tip I can think of is carry a torch (not that you really want to see whats coming to get you ;-) but it works well as something to clobber the person with) and carry a whistle. I have a dog who now comes with me and I always keep her dog whistle around my neck just in case I ever do get stuck.

Adios... x
 
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Our yard has no electricity and is quite remote but I have three dogs, one of whom does the best "alien face" (where she curls her lip back so far to show her teeth that you can nearly see her skull) so always feel OK. However, wouldn't want to be there without the dogs and my friend was so spooked last time she was there on her own she rang me and stayed on the line right until she got back in her car. Getting scared is a basic self-preservation instinct and I wouldn't blame anyone for being wary
 
I wasn't worried until a few weeks ago I was bringing my horse in from the field and a man walked up to me, dropped his trousers and started playing with himself. Before then, I had no worries. Now the nights are dark, I am very worried going to the field on my own (no lights and pretty isolated)
 
i livery on a farm which is very dark in the winter but i'm more worried about being trampled by cows than some loon coming to molest me:eek:
how about a can of deep heat in your pocket for all those who feel they need a 'weapon' thats got to be more affective than pepper spray!!!! especially if someone flashes at you:eek: quick squirt of deep heat and they'll soon bugger off, or be rolling on the floor in agony so you can stand on their head:D
 
My current yard not at all, apart from if im first up or last that I get abit spooked when unlocking the gate as I cant shut my car door as it likes to lock itself and always think someone is going to climb in the back seat without me noticing. I also check my car all over when I get in if its dark and lock the doors straight away. I still imagine that I can see someone in my rear view though.
Hate being at work late at night with a passion. The house is 1850's and stables are also very old. We have been told we have ghosts and im sure we do as i hear certain things. I try to do everything quickly and try not to think about it all
 
Super_Kat said:
I'm a member of the 'If I hear a noise I assume I'm going to get muredered' clan :D
My yard is uber secure, CCTV, guard dogs, owners live on site etc but I HATE being last one on the yard in the dark! Then again, I also hate being home alone, I shut all of the curtains and keep something sharp within easy reach and I can never get to sleep. The field with 2 of my horses and all of the polo ponies I take care of is right next to another field where the owner got car-jacked so you know people are watching.
When I last had a horsey job I lived in a caravan onsite and I used to sleep with an axe by my bed.

Paranoid.... Much :D :D :p
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Ha, love it! Not just me then. I used to live in the wing of a large house and if the owners were away, I'd drag my mattress in to the bathroom (had a lock on the door) and sleep in there, with a mobile on one side of me and an air rifle on the other side! Still couldn't sleep! Am a serious scaredy cat! I HATE being on the yard by myself and get so scared that I make myself jump at anything 'cos I'm so tense and coiled up.
 
MiCsarah said:
My current yard not at all, apart from if im first up or last that I get abit spooked when unlocking the gate as I cant shut my car door as it likes to lock itself and always think someone is going to climb in the back seat without me noticing. I also check my car all over when I get in if its dark and lock the doors straight away. I still imagine that I can see someone in my rear view though.
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Ditto! I do the same as you describe, yet my imagination still takes over and I get properly creeped out at the thought of turning round and seeing someone there. Aaaarrrrgghhhh!! Too many horror films as a kid I think!
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JFTD said:
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.
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this is me totally. this spring when we had the lunar moon that was huge i was out walking the dog in the fields at midnight cos it was so beautiful..

people were saying 'are you MAD?'

actually, i probably should give more thought to my safety than i do. Its not just in the city you can get raped and murdered.

I think being aware and not putting yourself in unnecessary risk (like i do) while not curtailing the things you want to do through fear is probably the best idea.
 
Loulabelle007 said:
I wasn't worried until a few weeks ago I was bringing my horse in from the field and a man walked up to me, dropped his trousers and started playing with himself. Before then, I had no worries. Now the nights are dark, I am very worried going to the field on my own (no lights and pretty isolated)
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Really? That's horrendous. Have you reported it? Am sure you're aware already that acts like this typically descend in to the person becoming increasingly more extreme in their actions. Flashing is generally just the 'warm up', so to speak.
 
this has kept me entertained for quite a while because i can relate to all of it!!! i hate the dark - i dont even leave my house in the dark unless its to get in the car, before i could drive i wouldnt even walk to the shop at the end of our road if it ment i had to walk in the dark - not even with our dog!!

at my current yard not at all because its just a small little yard at my friends house the yard is just behind the house and the fields wrap around the house so always withing shouting distance plus their are propertys all around the yard so i always feel safe although one of the neighbours is a nudest so suprises are generally more so in summer!!

however i just finished a stint as a live in groom on a big show yard and the owners went away and left me alone in a caravan which i didn't mind because i just locked my self in but whilst they were away i had to do late night checks it made me feel sick just thinking about having to go out in the dark! i must admit of the 5 days the owners were away i only made it out to do checks 3 times - i felt so bad but i COULDNT do it! one of the times i couldn't go out i'd passed the evening reading all the trashy real life mags -_- bad move! i couldnt even look out the window with out feeling violently ill, the only other night i couldn't do it, it was blowing a hooley and poring with rain and i kept hearing the same noise like a train even though there was no train line as we were in the middle of no where, this time i'd remembered to leave all the lights on leading to the yard but each time i went out to do the checks something made me jump and i'd run back to the caravan!! i realised the train noise i'd heard was just the new boiler when i heard it again in the morning -_- i have a compleetly over reactive imagination and am convinced some one is watching me/following me at ALL times, already having nightmares about my new job - working pupil on an event yard, thankfully atm im sharing with other grooms whos boss is also based on the yard but next month they are moving and i'll be the only one left overnight, this is not going to go well . . .
 
Never been worried in any of my yards...I feel quite comfortable in the dark so dont consider it a worry to be in it.
Actually would rather be at the yard in the dark then in a city centre at night tbh...safer if you ask me.
if in doubt i would be straight in the back of my horses box, everyone says it would be the safest place for me as she would not letanyone threaten me!! My horse can be a demon in her own way!!
 
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