Gas Gun Bird Scarers

irishdraft said:
Run to Earth I would like to have the benefit of your experience in training my very noise sensititive mare to gas guns. Having had a horrible experience of being by a hedge out hunting, with a gas gun the other side which indeed went off 3 times my horse panicking big time, dumping me and taking off she is now very nervous when she hears these guns go off which is unfortunate as the farm I hack round does use them, what are your suggestions ?
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Ask a farmer nicely and put one in her field?
 
jrp204 said:
Clodagh, we grow forage rape which the pigeons absolutely love and will strip a field bare pretty quickly. The gas gun does keep them off, OH would love to have the time to sit in the ditch with the gun but that ole thing called work gets in the way and our tenancy doesn't allow other guns on the farm.
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Sorry, you misunderstood me, we are farmers and grow rape. Last year the pigeons stripped it but this year they haven't been so bad. I support the use of gas guns and no my husband doesn't have the time or inclination to shoot them either. (Although we get a good booze selection at Christmas from people that do want to!).
You must think the pigeons haven't been so bad this winter as last?
 
we have had quite a few round us and i dont have a major problem when they are next to the footpath or bridleway and they go off suddenly, its not pleasant though......HOWEVER i am very concerned that some locally to me have been very close to the road and we were very lucky that no traffic was coming as our 2 normally well behaved horses took off down the road at gallop!!!! we have asked the farmer of he can move them further into the field and he says he will look into it.....we have a pretty good relationship with the local farmers and hope he will be able to do something....i understand its their livelyhood but its my and my horses life i am concerned about...
 
irishdraft said:
Run to Earth I would like to have the benefit of your experience in training my very noise sensititive mare to gas guns. Having had a horrible experience of being by a hedge out hunting, with a gas gun the other side which indeed went off 3 times my horse panicking big time, dumping me and taking off she is now very nervous when she hears these guns go off which is unfortunate as the farm I hack round does use them, what are your suggestions ?
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Make friend with a farmer this summer and put one in your grazing field.

A lot of us have horses with various issues - the answer is usually to tackle the issue as opposed to petitioning for everything under the sun to be banned. We're a minority, alienating landowners isn't going to do us any favours.
 
splashgirl45 said:
we have had quite a few round us and i dont have a major problem when they are next to the footpath or bridleway and they go off suddenly, its not pleasant though......HOWEVER i am very concerned that some locally to me have been very close to the road and we were very lucky that no traffic was coming as our 2 normally well behaved horses took off down the road at gallop!!!! we have asked the farmer of he can move them further into the field and he says he will look into it.....we have a pretty good relationship with the local farmers and hope he will be able to do something....i understand its their livelyhood but its my and my horses life i am concerned about...
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We had one last year which was moved around the field it was in. For a couple of weeks, it was right on the edge of the bridle path, literally just a ditch between us and it. It went off when we were right on top of it, and I have to be honest, the bang was a lot less severe than it was when we were further away from it. I got the impression that the sound spread out as it left the gun. None of us, or the horses, even flinched.
 
Clodagh said:
Sorry, you misunderstood me, we are farmers and grow rape. Last year the pigeons stripped it but this year they haven't been so bad. I support the use of gas guns and no my husband doesn't have the time or inclination to shoot them either. (Although we get a good booze selection at Christmas from people that do want to!).
You must think the pigeons haven't been so bad this winter as last?
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Actually I did think you meant OSR given your location, we have very little down here, my brothers did grow some last year, not sure if they have planted any this year. We still have loads of pigeons though. Have also noticed an increase in starlings, hardly seen any for years now we're seeing some small groups.
 
RunToEarth said:
Make friend with a farmer this summer and put one in your grazing field.

A lot of us have horses with various issues - the answer is usually to tackle the issue as opposed to petitioning for everything under the sun to be banned. We're a minority, alienating landowners isn't going to do us any favours.[/QUOTE

I havent petitioned for anything to be banned I certainly do not want to alienate landowners as i ride around their land daily.
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Hmm the farmers round here must use witch craft because I've never heard a gas gun in a field out hacking and certainly not on a road side !
 
There is a gas gun in the hedgerow bordering our field. Makes me jump every time, horses don't even twitch an ear. One of my girls was a bit scared of it at first, but she doesn't notice it now.

There is one placed just down the drive from our house, and I don't notice that one at all unless someone points it out. I do have a neighbour who complains about it, but he complains about mud on the road and church bells ringing.....!
 
I accept that gas guns are a part of rural living, but wish that it was not on a dawn to dusk sensor. It was not so bad weeks ago, but now we are woken up at 6.15am, and it is getting earlier every day.

It would also seem like common sense not to put one at the edge of a field where it runs along a footpath, bridleway or road. I should think it would give unsuspecting walkers a shock as well.

BTW, a couple of years ago I did an event at an Ag College, and there was a shoot going on nearby. The dressage warmup was interesting for quite a few horses, whereas mine could hear the noise all right, but wondered what was so different about it.

I do avoid hacking for the first week the gas gun is out so he re-acclimatises to it and also so I know the approximate pattern.
 
I'm a livery on a huge farm where they have a lot of them. I have to admit, they are not helpful and I have often cursed them - last year we had one on the track out of the yard - we got very good at timing when it was going off and riding around it accordingly. However, they are not cheap, and I'm sure if a better, cheaper alternative was out there, they would use it. I have found communicating with the farmer has helped a lot, and his even moved them when we've asked him too - I don't think a petition is the way to go, particularly when relationships with farmers need to be built to build up the network of off road riding throughout the UK. Working against them with a petition is not the way forward in my view.
 
irishdraft said:
Hmmm she wouldnt be staying in any field with a gas gun in it !
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Have you tried it?

I hack around our margins that have come out of ELS, riding next to gas guns. If you are close to them you get fair warning as you can hear the chamber filling with gas - just a helpful tip invade you do hear a hissing noise from a hedge bottom.

Around here, if you have an issue with someone you go and find the person responsible for it, and negotiate a solution. Generally it gets a better result than online petitions.
 
I hate them they are noisy and make all my horses spook. (and make me jump) however - they are a necessary evil but I just wish they weren't...

Blitz
 
My horse hates them with a passion. He dumped me last year when one went off right next to us. I hate them too now!

I ended up timing them with my phone so I could make it round in on piece. There doesn't seem to be so many this year, and I have to get my timings figured out. Am I pregnant this time though, so will have to be extra careful, as my boy is a total saint, but gas guns are his achilles heel and I can't blame him really.
 
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