How many of you deal with horses alone

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So yesterday was a typical rubbish Monday! First the car wouldn't start, then the cat was sick, then one of my hens escaped the lock down! And a couple of close calls regarding the horses. One almost knocked me over when he spooked leading him to the field, and the other got me in the corner of the stable and kicked 9 bales of whatsits out of me, luckily he's only 11.2 and no shoes but I'm still pretty bruised all the same! And it suddenly dawned on me, I'm on my own a fair bit at the moment. Hubby is at work, daughter at school, and both my neighbours are away and the other neighbours are half a mile up the road! Obviously I always make sure I'm as safe as possible and always have my phone on me, but working around horses is dangerous we all know that, but when your on your own, it brings a whole me level of risk factors!! Be safe all 😳
 
I am the same - OH and daughter at work, neighbours often not around, and I have our 4 horses to do on my own and I hack out on my own. The horses can be a bit fruity at times, and I often have falls or "incidents" due to my HMS so it does worry me a bit that I could have a nasty moment and only be noticed as missing when the family wonder why the house is dark and there is no supper ..... knowing my luck they would just head off down the pub!!!!! :p
 
what a seriously bad pony. hope hes not your daughters pony, can you imagine the damage he would do to a child. Glad you are ok, and even though hes only 11.2, you where very lucky.

I have 6 to do, sometimes on my own, but hubby runs his business from home, so if something happened id be found within a few hours at worst.
 
I'm the same. Horses at home, not really any neighbours, ride alone 99% of the time. I have to admit, while I always take my phone out riding I don't usually take it out just to do them....second thoughts now!
 
Now and again OH comes down but rarely more than once a month, my 3 are kept in a field not on a yard and the vast majority of the time I am on my own, there is a house over the road but they have no line of sight as there are trees in the way.
I have someone who shares the field but more often than not we are there at separate times.
 
You did have a rough day yesterday hope today is better! I am the same oh leaves at about 9am and I am on my own all day and do the horses by myself as they are at home, I often do think if something happened I wouldn't be discovered until about 6pm it is a bit scary.
 
All the time. i don't really dwell on it too much but I always have my phone and talk to OH most days at some point so he'd notice if I didn't answer.

I am on quite a busy road so if I was rendered unconscious in the field I'd be seen.

I like to think I'm quite sensible anyway with regard to personal safety.
 
I'm on my own. For that reason I carry my phone at all times, don't take any risks even if it means taking twice as long to do something. And I spend a lot of time and effort training all the equines here to respect my space and behave politely. But then I have had 55 years doing it mostly on my own, including breeding and bringing on big youngsters, If your pony kicked you for no good reason there is something seriously wrong with the relationship between you.
 
I work on my own with horses, although most of the time there are other people somewhere on the farm or walkers/riders coming past so if I was knocked over in field someone would see (has happened but I wasn't hurt), if I was in a stable no one would find me unless they came looking for me for some reason (not yet had any incidents in the stable). Same with riding as I ride out alone most of the time (have fallen off once on my own but was 5 mins from yard and walked back, horse bogged off!). Some days there is absolutely no one around all day and I usually don't ride on those days just in case.

I have been thinking of getting one of those apps on my phone that send your location to your contacts if you are still for any length of time. Trouble is I'm good at thinking about doing something but a bit rubbish at actually doing anything!

I think an easy safety measure is telling someone where you are and how long you will be, then if they can't get in touch with you after that time they know where to send the ambulance, although my OH never calls me even when I'm super late home!
 
much of the time. I am very happy handling them all alone they are all good and have never done anything that would remotely put me in danger but if i am getting on the youngster and no one is around i text my boyfriend when i get on and if he couldnt get hold of me after an hour he would be calling 999 as i always have my phone on me and charged.
 
the other weekend a friend of my OH's asked why I was wearing a riding hat to lead my two to the field, I said I didn't fancy chancing my head amongst eight feet if I slipped and fell in the mud. he seemed to think it was highly amusing. I would wear one anyway, but apart from on weekend mornings I too am on my own all day. I used to strap my son in his car seat in the car when he was a toddler but it did used to worry me that if anything happened, he'd potentially be there all day! seemed the safest place for him though.
 
interesting, now I don't have my mobile wih me when I do the ponies because its my quiet time and I don't like intrusion or the temptation to surf the net but I may have to think again and just put it on silent

A couple of years ago I did get accidently kicked in the head by a pony and did make it home (a couple of hundred yards away) but I did lose a bit of time and that was quite sobering, I was alone in the house and it was a chance text from a friend that made me focus and when she realised all was not well she got me to phone for an ambulance and drove straight over
 
My husband spends time abroad working. If anything happens to me, nobody would know for about 2 days. This was why I sold my previous horse. He was too much of a liability and I was never confident to push him on and work through his bolshiness, napping and tantrums. I always had at the back of my mind that I was going to get seriously hurt and nobody would know for days.
 
Very pertinent concerns. Brought into sharp focus very recently after an uber experienced acquaintance was flattened by the young horse she was leading out to the field. Luckily a family member arrived on the yard immediately afterwards, and called the emergency services. She could otherwise have been down for hours, though, in freezing temperatures.

I am quite often alone, but I always have my phone on me, which is of course no use if I'm unconscious. I have reminded OH that even if he finds me squashed in the stable or field, it would have been an accident as both mares are kind and well behaved, but even so stuff happens.
 
I often do mine last thing in the evening when both OH and daughter are asleep (daughter is 5 and OH works early hours). There are neighbours around but I do wonder sometimes if I was injured would anyone notice till morning. Mine are not very likely to "kick 9 bales of whatsits out of me", but there is a more realistic possibility of a dry stone wall falling on me when I'm patching it up. I suppose the dog might let someone know, he has been known to get bored and sneak off home and then bark to be let in.
 
Same, both with my own and a lot of time at work.
It did occur to my this morning actually when a youngster started pratting round as there was a new gate in front of the Walker and the wind was bad that I could come unstuck one day!!!
Generally don't think too much about it but my phone is always in my coat pocket so as long as I have a winter accident I'm fine 😂
 
This is feed for thought. Went out yesterday to field to feed. Field is isolated and nowone would go there. Slipped over trying to get out of the way of a Bargy horse. I don't take a phone with me and would not have been missed until the morning. Might start taking phone if it is charged but as someone said no good if you are unconscious. Probably would forget my glasses so would not see phone anyway
 
I do!! when my horse was about 2.5 he started getting really horrible, he was obsessed with the wheelbarrow and would stalk me around the field and then start rearing up at the wheelbarrow, he would try and box at me!! it was blimmin scary!! so I had to start moving him into a fenced off area while I poo picked!! luckily he calmed down after a while, but I did worry that if he caught me on the head and knocked me out, no one would probably find me for days!!
 
I'm by myself with mine, but I can tell you right now that if one of them cornered me in a stable and kicked the **** out of me it would be straight on a one way trip out of here.
 
I'm often on my own at the yard and have done the horses on my own since I was a little 'un. I keep my phone on me but I really don't think too much about it. I ride alone in the evenings and don't give it a second thought, but it's been nearly 30 years so I'm quite used to it.
 
Rowreach said:
I'm by myself with mine, but I can tell you right now that if one of them cornered me in a stable and kicked the **** out of me it would be straight on a one way trip out of here.
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Well, that crossed my mind too. : )

I'm also on my own but even if I wasn't I wouldn't have this kind of behaviour.
 
You would think I was relatively safe considering my yard is at my parents, however neither of them would hear a nuclear bomb if it were dropped outside. I would not worry about the horses, both are well behaved and well mannered but I did misstep out of my porta cabin and really did my ankle in. I laid there crying, in front of my parents kitchen window, for about ten minutes hoping to be rescued. They didn't notice , so then I got angry and once my dander was up I managed to stagger to my car and drive home on my burst of righteousness. My ankle was a mess for weeks , I do think I managed a small fracture in there somewhere. I kept on as normal and gave my Dad stick for not being my Hero. I don't think he worried much.
 
what message is the pony trying to give by kicking?
It's risky to punish a kicker. It requires the ability to read your horse's body language quickly and accurately and consistently mete out the appropriate punishment. Because of the precision and risks involved, get yourself a good BHS trainer to assess the situation.
If this is an aggressive horse who has kicked to get his way for years, it will take any punishment as a challenge and respond to it with a more forceful, more targeted kick. This is a fight you cannot win and one that puts you and other people in danger.

Personally, I will not own an aggressive kicker. It's not worth the risk.
 
Rowreach said:
I'm by myself with mine, but I can tell you right now that if one of them cornered me in a stable and kicked the **** out of me it would be straight on a one way trip out of here.
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^^^ Yep me too.

My horses are all impeccably mannered on the ground; I've made damn sure of that as manners are important IMO, both on the ground and in the saddle. They know not to barge and pull me around, bless 'em they wouldn't ever dream of doing it. Which makes me feel safe as houses around them.
 
In the days before mobile phones were common I fell when riding alone up a hill one winters afternoon. I injured my coccyx and couldn't walk. By the time I could army crawl it was pitch black and minus temperatures. Wasn't fun!
 
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