Do you have any concerns hacking on your own?

silvershadow81

silvershadow81

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This is bit of an odd one, but here goes...

I went out last week and was in the middle of nowhere and spotted a man lying on his belly in the middle of a field!

I was on my own and got really tense, as I got closer I noticed he had a huge gun (one that goes over his shoulder) though he was lying totally still and didnt make any noise.

It really unnerved me and I called the police to check it out.

He may have been an innocent rabbit hunter, but I just thought it was really odd that he didnt move to indicate he was even alive.

My fiend since said that she has seen a smashed car parked in a field with 'people' hanging out the windows. When she reported it (after her being scared stiff) the farmer said it was his new version of a bird scarer! (I think he should have at least made a sign that told people this- the birds wouldnt have read it!)

It just made me wonder if anyone has come accross other odd things out riding which has made them feel uncomfortable?

or do you only hack out in company, not for the horses sake, but your own??
 
I hack out on my own most mornings and i have never seen anything as sick as the car thing! That is totally horrible! Your friend must be lying no-one would do that it is sick! I also cycle and I think I feel more of a target on a bike because on the horse i know I could move if i needed to but on the bike you are stuck not going very fast in my case. I hack out where there are people and I always have my phone.

A few years ago i got a pedometer, it counts how many steps, calories, distance you have done and anyway it has also got an alarm on it! Not majorly practical ona jumpy horse but you could stick something like that in your pocket just to use in absolute emergancies!!!!
 
Once saw a man parked next to a canal. He looked as though he was fast asleep, but the engine was running. His face was a funny yellow colour, and seemed swollen and distorted.

I circled the car several times, and he didn't hear the horses hooves, but he looked too scary and I was frightened to knock on the window!

This was in the days before mobile 'phones, and there wasn't a 'phone box on the way back to the farm, which was about 4 miles away. When I got back, after sorting the horse out, I thought about ringing the police, but decided to back there myself first. I jumped in my car and went back to the canal, and the car had gone!

I think about it sometimes, as I'm sure there was something wrong with the man - or perhaps he'd just had a heavy night!
 
I have got nothing to hack at the moment, but was walking with my Mum yesterday on one of my favourite hacks...a lovely bridleway, isolated and woody...on our way back we passed a very odd looking man, far to many coats for the weather and he was messing around with his flies.

I held me breathe for ages!! All was ok but glad I wasn't out alone.
 
I know I am probably just kidding myself but I always think that if anything bad happened I could just gallop off, kind of in the style of International Velvet where she is being chased by that car and jumps the wall. I know in reality that if somebody jumped out me etc I may not have chance to do this, plus I have not got a fast ex-racehorse but a short, stumpy Welsh cob!
 
I hack out on my own and have never come across anything like that! The car thing is definitely sick. The worst I have had was Jack being startled by a motorbike on the road at the bottom of the field we were cantering up, he jumped, bucked and I went out the side door! Walked home asking people if they had seen a lone horse! He was waiting for me when I got there, it put me off hacking alone for a while but now I have moved into a little yard on my own, I have to go out alone or not at all.
 
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i have never seen anything as sick as the car thing! That is totally horrible! Your friend must be lying no-one would do that it is sick!

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Clapped out bangers left in fields as scarecrows are totally normal
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There are loads of them everywhere ... aren't there?

Are you sure the man lying down with the gun wasn't an inflatable bird scarer? When it's un-inflated it looks like it is lying down and then it pops up bolt upright! http://www.clarratts.com/Content/scareyman.asp
You can dress them in scarecrow clothes
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A bit scary though I agree.
 
I hack on my own and it does enter my head about weirdo's as they can hide in hedges and jump out enough to scare the horse and if you are not concentrating or thinking what to cook for dinner your'e out the 'side door' and they've got you! however, we would never go out if we felt threatened all the time so as long as you stay vigilant without your MP3 plugged in or on your mobile you should stay fairly safe!! I think your farmer friend sounds like a fruit loop and for that reason I would probably find a different hack to go on!!
 
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Are you sure the man lying down with the gun wasn't an inflatable bird scarer? When it's un-inflated it looks like it is lying down and then it pops up bolt upright! http://www.clarratts.com/Content/scareyman.asp
You can dress them in scarecrow clothes
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OMG!!!
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I thought farmers made scarecrows from sticks and charity clothes!

It was definatly more man shaped than that! He has jeans on to start with!

I will be staying away from that route for a while! It is so close to a motorway (we had just gone under the bridge) and im aware that anyone could stop at the side, stand in the field and drive off without being found.
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(ohh i have such a strong imagination!)
 
Once had 6 blokes in camo pop their heads out of brambles at the side of the bridlepath.............It was the TA doing practise and the cavalry (my horse) gave their location away (I had no idea they were there), but my horse would not go past where they were hidden!!!

Appart from that I have only ever surprised lorry drivers having a pee in the bushes (we used to ride through a lorry park) and couples!!!!
 
once me and my friend were riding along a really windy lane with forest on either side, we were on our way home and we were late, and it was pretty much dark. we were talking about Crime Watch and murderers (as you do) and suddenly we heard rustling, thought it must be deer or something, looked, and saw two or three dark human figures crouched down in the woods next to the road. we screamed our heads off!!!










turned out to be some people from our livery yard collecting firewood
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i'm sooo paranoid about that sort of thing! stupid really, but you do feel vulnerable alone.. i used to hack out a 12hh welshie by myself, as it was getting dark... i was always sooooo scared, but would do it because i love riding so much!
 
I grew up in the New Forest and as a child rode out alone with no problems often gone for most of the day !! However I dont think that I would allow my 2 girls to do the same now - sad but you just don't know who's out there .
 
"Do you not think riding in the dark or near dark is just asking for trouble? One way or the other?"

yep. thing is, with school, in the winter a rushed 30 minute hack can still go on into the dark. they need to be ridden, and i wish i could afford for them to be excersiced some nights, or better yet, not have to go to school
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wouldn't purposefully set out for a nighttime hack, but they do run over sometimes...
 
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Are you sure the man lying down with the gun wasn't an inflatable bird scarer? When it's un-inflated it looks like it is lying down and then it pops up bolt upright! http://www.clarratts.com/Content/scareyman.asp


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Holy crap, if one of those things popped up when i was riding, I think i'd have a heart attack ! My horse would probably end up in Inverness !
 
I was hacking though a bridleway in a wooded area in the summer, when I came across this slightly short, nicely rounded and almost completely naked man out for a walk! He was wearing a bright red g-string, which left very little to the imagination and carrying a back-pack. I gave him as much room as I could and was ready to kick the horse and go, but to be fair he smiled and said hello!
 
Not had anything like you guys.
But the other day the other groom at work and me were riding and leading and coming down to a junction when we heard a 'bbbbrrrup' noise. I thought it was the other groom and she thought it was me. Then it did it again and again. We were convinced it was someone in the hedge trying to upset the horses. My lead horse, who absolutely hates strange noises started to panic and we had to trot away from there PDQ. Luckily lead horse calms down if you whistle to him.
We think it must of been a bird.

I would of Sh*t myself if I had been alone.
 
sometimes i do but most of the time i enjoy it. the weirdest thing thats happened to me out on a hack was going by a car that looked like the driver was taking drugs but in fact he was hiding a lipstick!! when we walked back past the car about 30 mins later he had turned himself into a SHE!!! ha ha it was very amusing
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I never really feel uncomfortable or see anything really weird when out hacking by myself...but when I occasionally do I just get to the nearest "open" place as fast as possible so I have space to gallop away!
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I like hacking alone, but the YO really doesn't want me to. The woods in the surrounding area are beautiful, but dodgy. Apparently there are quite a few weirdos that lurk in there, and the area is very popular for dogging. Also the scientology HQs are very close by (hacked past it and I'm sure I saw Tom Cruise in there...
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) and people put that down to some weird going ons at night time, esp. in summer. I would still hack by myself, but YO always sets someone up to go with me so I can't go by myself! Mum and I went for a walk, and picked up quite a few photographs lying on the ground of people. It's straaange.
 
was out once on a track in middle of fields met a lady walking a dog then bit later met a chap on a bicycle who just looked wrong - wrong sort of bike, wrong clothes etc. Wasn't worried about myself on horse but was quite concerned about her. Most scary thing I had was doing a late check on a horse in very isolated yard when I had driven past someone walking down the road. Obviously on own at yard, very visible from the lane, open to lane with no gate..... did ring police as was near a country park where there had been some attacks and police with dog turned up just as I was leaving. Have also rung the police about a couple of odd cars particularly when I kept meeting the same one being driven slowly in same isolated area several days running. Paranoid, no not me.
 
Not scared hacking alone, in fact, prefer it.

Not seen anything weird, but once, was at a friends, back home, and we went out hacking on one of the trails...and came across a couple...ahem
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not sure who was more embaressed! We were only 12 or so haha
 
A few years ago when i lived in Cleethorpes I was in Weelsby Woods and I saw a flasher in the woods having a w**k dirty old get, i had 2 small ish kids with me on there little ponies from the livery yard and they must have been about 10yrs old, i told them to canter in front of me as i wanted to get them out of the way quick sharp.
 
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A few years ago when i lived in Cleethorpes I was in Weelsby Woods and I saw a flasher in the woods having a w**k dirty old get, i had 2 small ish kids with me on there little ponies from the livery yard and they must have been about 10yrs old, i told them to canter in front of me as i wanted to get them out of the way quick sharp.

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I know its disgusting but that set me off laughing!!
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Its so desolate up here, I'd be glad to meet someone for a change!

So few people around, and miles and miles of field tracks and woodlands, drover paths, and quiet farm tracks.
Sometime I think I might see a wolf or a wild boar in the dense dark woods, they remind me of the German Black Forest, and sometimes I imagine yellow slanty eyes looking out from them. So still get a bit scared even on the horse.
I got lost once during the winter in the woods (on foot walking the dog), when the sun was going down very fast, that was really scary, as you`d die of hypothermia in the winter and you would never find your way out unless you could read the stars.
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Oh I've seen lots of weird things over the years. Nothing bothers me though as I always have my dogs with me, and my horses would always get me out of any difficult situations.

The ONLY thing which has concerned me in the past was the wolf who decided to stalk my dogs and at one time I was concerned about coming across a bear when I spotted one in my woods. Nowadays I tend to chatter away when I am in the forest so that any wildlife around will have notice of me coming and will leave.
 
Haven't seen anything scary myself, thank god!!! I once had to walk really close by a car on a track that had a couple of teenagers shagging in it! That was funny!
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I did have a nasty experience with a bunch of teenagers who were smoking dope in the woods once though and they got a bit nasty. Fortunately the horse I was on was mental, promptly yelled his head off, stood up on his back legs and ran straight at them. It was all very Zorro! Incidentally they were all so stoned that the rearing must have been very paranoia inducing since they all ran off squealing. I always felt a lovely warm feeling for that horse after that (even though he was a real bastard otherwise!).
 
No had any nasty experiences/surprises no and used to disappear out hacking all day on Holly and Blue (obv not at the same time!) though haven't done so for a year or so now.... only place i worry about going is the only off road area we have within hacking distance as its some woods which last few times i've been there have had a travellers camp set up there so i'm a bit wary now of going in there on my own.
 
I was out hacking by myself when 4-5 motorbikers - the off road type - came towards me. My horse is not normally bothered by traffic but started to look suspicious when they all stopped. I stopped as well and waited to see what they were going to do. The lead biker told me to carry on past which i did, by this time, horses eyes were out on stalks. The situation did not improve when lead biker parked his bike on verge, got off and proceded to have a pee, leaving nothing to the imagination!! I didn't know where to look as for once we managed to trot up the road with a fair bit of impulsion.
 
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