Hacking in the dark- absolute madness?

Twizzel

Twizzel

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So I'm sat here trying to revise, hear the sound of hooves and look out of the window- to see a horse & rider trotting past my house, at gone 9pm, with no lights or reflectives on.

Is it me, or is that just madness? It's pretty much pitch black here now... :(
 
it's madness to have no reflectives on yes, over the winter i hacked out every night in the dark just to keep taz skinny enough rather than looking like a giant elephant but i had a head torch and both of us were hi vissed out
 
I quite like hacking through the woods in the dark. Really makes you trust your horse when you can't see where you're going. That said I would never hack on the roads in the dark and always wear hi viz, even in the middle of the day. Aside from the moral arguments I can't see your insurance paying out if you caused an accident while riding in the dark.
 
Some people in my village hack their 2 horses at about 11pm.
They trot past my house with NO reflectives or lights. Our village is is pitch black with no street lights. I once came round a corner slowly and nearly hit them!

Death wish!
 
Thats crazy!! And very irresponsible imo.

You wouldnt get my two ponies out for a hack at this time, they are both tucked up fast asleep as soon as it gets dark!!
 
No problem with hacking in the dark, pitch black or not, do it myself in the winter, but I wear a flashing tabbard, Hi viz, and he has his headlight on, riders with no illumination at all must be re......... errrr stupid
 
I got caught out once and hated it. I put my camera flash on my phone and kept it on as it was the only thing I had :/ That included going through town and over a double A14 roundabout too! I've never gone round one that quick whilst pooing my pants (so to speak!) in my life.

Never done it again and always try and watch my timekeeping now.

I ride in the dark occasionally, I'll have the odd quick bareback ride out in our SJ paddock when it's a full moon at nights here....something poetic and nice about riding under moonlight!
 
I would never hack in the dark on roads - no matter how much how vis I was wearing - just a totally unnecessary risk imho. Maybe ok if its very suburban with street lights etc, but there's none of that near me.

Also drivers don't expect to see a rider on the roads at night, which is a further risk :(

I just heard a tawny owl outside my window though which made me :)
 
My ex, his brother and dad used to do that to some extent. they used to put the hunting horses in the box, bring them down to a very quiet road unload, ride, while someone drove behind with lights, to get them exercised after work. How crazy??? Now, they just pay a lad to ride them during the day, thank god!!!
 
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