Drones - is it only me (& my horses) that are worried?

C

canteron

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 October 2008
Messages
4,143
Location
Cloud Cockoo Land
Visit site
We had some filming done here the other day and they used a drone. Even to me it sounded like a massive swarm of bees, clearly the horses thought so too as they made a speedy exit to the opposite end of the field.

But if I was on a horse, I couldn't blame it if it decided to bolt. And every day on the news someone else is utilising drones - Amazon, the police, etc, etc.

Apart from always riding with a pistol to shoot the thing down, I can't think of any obvious solutions. I may be wrong, but they stopped using them for filming Races after Frankie Dettorie claimed they panicked his horse and he fell off. Now if it happens to Frankie, I don't have a hope!

Argh, the perils of modern life?
 
We had a drone come very close to us last summer, the horses weren't bothered but I was furious, I (used to) sunbathe topless on the roof of the field shelter or go for a wee behind the bushes as do the kids and whilst I was neither peeing nor sunbathing it did feel like a gross invasion of our privacy! I now don't feel comfortable doing as I please in my own field. I don't think anybody but the police should be able to use them over private land
 
my ponies dont mind them but I do object to the fact that someone flew one under the overhang of my stables for a good look inside, it scarpered when I picked up a broom!
 
ElleSkywalker said:
Wonder what the trespass laws etc are on drones, if one was snooping about on my property and I broke it on purpose who would be liable, them for trespass or me for criminal damage?!
Click to expand...

I did wonder this especially as the tack room was open also what happens if a horse gets injured because of one of these.
 
We shot 2 in the past month, couldn't believe the nerve flying over the yard..... honestly officer, thought they were pests....
No comeback as yet, private land and no access to officially fly them there.
They explode quite well with a shotgun :)
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
We shot 2 in the past month, couldn't believe the nerve flying over the yard..... honestly officer, thought they were pests....
No comeback as yet, private land and no access to officially fly them there.
They explode quite well with a shotgun :)
Click to expand...

That's amazing, surely there's no comeback as it's essentially snooping on private land.

I'd probably batter one out of the sky if it came low enough, no guns here! Although considering something else I need to spook bust the nags with...
 
We're surrounded by shooting country... they're unlikely to get close enough to us before someone mistakes them for stray clays and blows them out of the sky :)

Not worried about them spooking the horses either, after they took no notice of the air ambulance landing in their paddock.
 
Well they'd all be terrified of it, but if it landed I've no doubt they'd get the courage to kick the thing to bits. Under saddle would worry me though, not with mine as such, but if my daughter was riding she'd be quickly taken off.
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
We shot 2 in the past month, couldn't believe the nerve flying over the yard..... honestly officer, thought they were pests....
No comeback as yet, private land and no access to officially fly them there.
They explode quite well with a shotgun :)
Click to expand...

lol, sort of thing I'd be tempted to do too
It will only be a matter of time before someone invents/designs a drone that can go up and shoot down the drones that are trespassing on your land!
Be like battle of Britain all over again !
 
Had the priveldge of not coming across one yet thankfully. However I can't stand the things , too freely available for idiots to buy and to invade privacy .
 
I have had drones filming whilst I rode (part of my job); it didn't bother the horse until it was practically on top of her. I would imagine that horses would get used to it given time and exposure. If one came on my property univited I would shoot it.
 
One flew over me riding the other day - I thought "oh s***, here we go" but luckily my horse didn't notice. It did make me realise what could have happened though! A friend owns one, so I'm going to ask him to come and fly it in our field. Our horses are generally very sensible so I'm not expecting hysterics, I just think I should desensitise them as I have the opportunity.

However, I completely agree with everyone about the privacy issues - there's nothing to stop kids flying them alongside bedroom windows and I don't really want the yard examined in detail from the air. Sadly I don't own a shotgun so nothing I can do to stop one either.
 
Where l keep my horses there is a resident who lives at the top of another of our landlords fields and since Christmas they have been using a drone but more so in the past couple of weeks they don't bother my horses when it's flying high but when they start lowering it one of the ponies isn't keen on it. Thankfully l've not be riding at the time but l don't think people who have them realise that they could cause an accident if a horse spooks whether you're riding or grooming. lf l could l'd invest in a catapult. l agree with other comments about privacy you should be able to spend time with your horse with have annoying things like that to worry about regardless how innocent the users intentions are.
 
wench said:
Think you are only allowed to fly them on your own land, or where you have permission
Click to expand...

You are only allowed to take off from your own land or if you have permission to do so from the land owner. Once it's in the air you can do what you like really although not near airports or on flight paths and that sort of thing.

I have one. Never felt the need to fly it near the horses but would be surprised if they were bothered. It's not loud and they would get used to it quickly. I've taken some amazing photos with mine, of wiling subjects!
 
I was lunging Clover in the field one day when someone started flying one about. They quickly moved away when they saw how worried she was and I never got the chance to thank them. The police had to put in a no fly zone over a house that they are searching in our village. They had put up a solid fence as they were digging up the garden and obviously didn't want everyone to see what was going on. So one of the newspapers decided to fly a drone over the garden.
 
There's an airstrip and some model plane flying club near the yard... I very much doubt the horses would care about a drone. One rider did nearly get killed by a plane though. They were on the airstrip at the time. It's grassy and looks perfect for a canter.
 
A friend of mine has a drone that she flies regularly. However, she is extremely careful and only flies it where both the drone and others will be safe. She's coming to the yard to test my two on how they behave with it, as I'd love some shots of me riding!
 
My brother uses one for work but is very careful about it. I was hoping he might bring it up next time he visits though for bombproofing purposes.
 
West Yorkshire Police lost one of their horses in a field accident a while ago. It was thought the horse panicked and ran into fencing due to a drone flying over him. The incident was caught on cctv.
 
I love the post about shooting them down. I would love to do that!!!!! Where are you, can I come and have a go

As I don't have a shotgun thought I guess I'd have to just chuck rocks and sticks at any that came near my boy. If one flew into the stable though it would be downed with the broom - I wouldn't just wave it about.

Like anything, drones have their uses, but if someone is using one to snoop on other people's property and invade their privacy then in my view it's game on for downing it.
 
Not too worried. They will get used to anything tbh.

Horses always suprise me. We had a fighter jet fly only about 50 ft above us once whilst out hacking (we are near a place that does air displays) we absolutely crapped ourselves but the horses were suprisingly unfussed. I think it was just so completely beyond their comprehension that they didn't know what to do!!!
 
If you're having problems with people snooping with drones, you could get your own one and armour it to bring theirs down. Kind of like robot wars :p
 
For some reason noises - white speaker noise and electrical cable crackling- have always bothered my otherwise bombproof beast. We did come across a drone once next to the bridleway, pro group pretending to do a falcons eye view with it. He didn't like it but knows he isn't supposed to do anything super silly
 
canteron said:
We had some filming done here the other day and they used a drone. Even to me it sounded like a massive swarm of bees, clearly the horses thought so too as they made a speedy exit to the opposite end of the field.

But if I was on a horse, I couldn't blame it if it decided to bolt. And every day on the news someone else is utilising drones - Amazon, the police, etc, etc.

Apart from always riding with a pistol to shoot the thing down, I can't think of any obvious solutions. I may be wrong, but they stopped using them for filming Races after Frankie Dettorie claimed they panicked his horse and he fell off. Now if it happens to Frankie, I don't have a hope!

Argh, the perils of modern life?
Click to expand...
We had a drone over us to video the yard for our website, the horses went mad and their faces were a picture. It did sound like a swarm of wasps so understandable behaviour.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top