Horses & Windfarms, thoughts needed for a study!

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jenz87

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Hi,
Im sorry if this is in the wrong place, ive also placed it in the soapbox forum, i need as much advice as possible!!

Im conducting a study for a piece of work, and i wondered what you all thought about horses and windfarms.
Im looking to ask a few questions to those who have had experience of stabling horses near windfarms, and riding near them etc.
I know this is a controversial topic, im not looking for an argument on the pros and cons of wind farms, im only looking to tak to a few who have experience of living / riding in close proximity to a wind farm.

Please PM me if you have a horse near a wind farm, or know of an experience, i need a few opinions for my study, from real people who arent involved with my study!!

Thank you!
 
I have no experience of this but understand why wind farms are a good source of power especially with the fossil fuels running out!

I have heard though that loads of sheep died near a wind farm somewhere as they wouldnt sleep then died of exhaustion?!

Yes the turbines may make a humming noise but would it be any different to being near a major road with that humming away?

Your finding would be interesting.
 
I don't have horses near wind turbines but a friend of mine does and I have ridden out racehorses for him alongside them. We hacked through them from the word go while they were being put up and have had no issues at all. The young horses will look at them at first but have had no issues with being turned out alongside them. These ones only make a similiar amount of noise to an electricity pylon so not that scary for them
 
I too would be interested in your findings! Personally I would just see it as another thing that they had to get used to when out hacking and approach it patiently to allow them to get used to it, I would imagine this would apply for grazing/stabling too.
 
Thank you!
All experiences, good or bad are greatfully recieved!!
Im especially interested in those located at 1mile or less from a wind farm or those that have hacking in very close proximity.

THANK YOU!
 
I used to hack at a place on the coast that had a huge onshore and an offshore windfarm that we went past on the beach. The horses weren't bothered at all. They were obviously very used to it!

Will see if I can find a pic tonight that shows how close they were, not sure if I have one but will look.:)
 
We have just recently gained a single, but quite large one about 2 fields over from us. (We have several farms in Cornwall, but no personal horsey experience of those) New turbine doesn't bother the horses in the slightest, though they enjoyed watching it go up (!), but my mare had a complete fit when she saw the sign telling people about it!
 
I've not had that much experience of these but one of the local BE events (Thornton Watlass) had a single turbine about 100 yards from the XC track - you came up a hill directly towards it then turned away.
I didn't see anyone have any problems directly related to it. It was in a field being ploughed and the horses seemed more bothered by the tractor and the rough ground.
I hope that helps a little.
 
BHS are about to launch a National survey about this.

I recently attended a BHS Scotland Access meeting at Whitelees windfarm, the local riding school use the tracks for hacks, riding literally underneath the turbines.
The scenery is not pretty but Scottish Power have made every effort to open the area and it seemed well used by dog walkers etc.

These are very modern turbines so perhaps not as creaky as older ones.

The day was not sunny, I would be interested to revisit in sun to see if constantly changing shadows made me feel ''ill''
 
We have some of the smaller turbines on our hacking routes which don't bother the horses at all, but no wind farms.
Incidentally, Denmark has a large horse population, more horses than people and large numbers of wind farms. Maybe try a Danish horse forum for more experiences ?
 
I sometimes go to a show venue they have wind turbines on there land quite near (less than 1/2mile) dosent seem to cause any problems and is very profitable to the landowner, its nice to subsidise these follys I love my electricity bill and seeing the landscape covered with these ....
 
I have had experience of wind farms from the early 70's in Mid Wales and more recently in other parts fo the country.

The issues regarding horses and winfarms are as follows:

During freezing weather sheet ice can form on the propellor blades and as they rotate they project the sheets of ice through the air which can hit passing horses.

They can create sudden shadows on the ground and in bright sunshine light is reflected from the blades and can temporarily blind passing horses and riders.

Some horses find the noise unsettling.

In the interest of rider and horse safety when a wind farm is proposed in my area (we have had three new proposals in the last year) I ask the planners to ensure that an alternative circular off road route for horse riders is established at a distance of no closer than 6 times the total height of the wind turbines from the wind farm so that horse riders do not have to be close to them. I ask that this route is placed on the ground prior to commencment of the development of the wind farm.

I also ask the planners to ensure that a safe off road route is priovided for horse riders during the construction phase so that they can avoid the large vehicles and contractors going to and from the site and that all contractors are made of the presence of horse riders.
 
Have a look at Stags Holt Windfarm and http://www.sovereignquarterhorses.com/

Here the wind turbines and horses live side by side. The venue is also a competition venue and stud.

My own horses live less than 1 mile away from a wind farm. When I first bought my mare she would stop and stare at them when hacking towards them if they caught the sun but the horses are all used to them now.

TBH I quite like them! Here in the fens they break up the flat landscape and when the sun is setting on them they can look quite nice.
 
our boy used to be close to one of the extra tall energy efficient ones (back when it was at trial stage) & we never had issues with ice, noise or flicker, the only issue we ever had was with my twit & the dog both chasing the shadows across the field & being so engrossed with it that they collided (luckily they are not too different in size :) )
 
I have always felt that local people who object to wind farms try to drag horses in to their argument. My concern is the carbon footprint of the loads of cement that are used and ice coming off the blade when they start turning and evidence is that these are large objects
 
There are plans to put in a single very large turbine near my yard. If it goes up they will close the only bridle way withing 6 miles.
Great. Added to that as it is a very large ne it will cause visual and audio interferance.
So I'm afraid to admit I'm a bit of a NIMBY on this one.

A few smaller ones that wouldn't mean closing the bridleway and wouldn't cause the visual/audio problems would be fine. But apprently they wouldn't be viably economic.
 
My dad has just erected a 15m turbine about 8m away from my stables and it is in the horses yard - I will happily answer any questions
 
Thanks for all your replies!!
Thank you Laura, youve just made a valuable point that i havent made, effects may vary by size, i am mostly looking at the effects of turbines of approx 100m or more and within a mile radius :)

Thank you
 
I'm pleased that so many people have had such a happy experience of riding near wind turbines but I've experienced the exact opposite. My mare ignored a small turbine way across the fields when she was following another horse but, when I took her alone along the same stretch of road alone,she bolted with me. It was a few months before I dared do the same ride alone again and fortunately she didn't bolt this time - she reared straight up and remained up for about 5 seconds before returning to the ground. Fotunately, some cyclists came along soon after and I was able to follow them safelyto the next village. I am particularly woried because we are currently facing the prospect of 6 x 127m turbines under 900m from my stables and they will be under 600m from where many of the 100 horses in my local area ride. There have been many objections and we should be hearing about the ruling in a week or two. If it is allowed to go ahead I don't believe it will ever be safe to ride my mare again.

PS If anyone connected to windfarms wants to ride my mare past a windfarm then let me know - subject to them having personal accident and 3rd party insurance and also cover for death and injury to my horse.
 
jenz87 said:
Thanks for all your replies!!
i am mostly looking at the effects of turbines of approx 100m or more and within a mile radius :)

Thank you
Click to expand...

I've answered this in the soapbox as I didn't see it in here...

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In the summer or sunny weather you do get shadow flicker but the horses i know don't bother about it. It's only in very high winds that the noise becomes a little unsettling when you are standing directly underneath them in our cases.

I stable less than a mile from the turbines and very rarely hear the humming but there are days when you do hear it, like a low level hum.
 
Prudencekitten, I'm really sorry you had such a scary reaction to the turbine, but I wonder if you could ride your horse beside a pylon with the power lines buzzing or along a bridlepath next to a helipad ? These are obstacles that riders face when hacking-not these specifically, but I'm sure most people have something that is initially a challenge. Horses become acclimatized to things that are familiar, unless the rider avoids them. In Germany, turbines are sometimes in fields where horses graze, the horses are quite used to them and will be seen standing underneath.
I wouldn't ride your horse past a turbine but I would ride any of mine.
 
prudencekitten said:
As for the blades were 'moving' - have a good look at the first photo - no blurringor signs of movement. Sorry - not sure 'moving':confused: is quite accurate!
Click to expand...

Maybe the photographer is a) good at their job and/or b) has a decent camera?

I'm sorry you have trouble with your horse/wind turbines, but please don't accuse people who claim that they don't have an issue of lying.
 
I have no personal experience of riding near turbines but I think that the smaller height older model domestic turbines may actually be more frightening for horses as the blades rotate faster and can be quite noisy (more of a clattering noise than the swoosh of commercial turbines) Also due to their smaller height the rotating turbine blades may actually be more in the field of vision of the horse, if that makes sense.
 
Ok my OH services and repairs turbines and there are many sites that they go to where horses are grazing the land the turbines are on with no ill effects. There are also lots of cattle and sheep grazing some of the other sites he works on.

Please feel free to PM me and I can answer more of your questions etc.

My horse yard is situated a couple miles away from 3 wind farms and there is no ill effects on any of the horses. Even the highly strung ones.

They make hardly any noise at all. Just a faint whistle when the blades are spinning through the air when the wind it strong.
 
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