Nice people but could possibly cause spooking?

sandi_84

sandi_84

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Thread overload from me tonight ha ha! :p
Out on hacks I've noticed that lots of people especially those with dogs are very considerate and will stop to let us horsey peoples pass and usually put their dogs on leads and squidge over to the side of the path. I think this is lovely and considerate of them :D
The only thing is, I've noticed quite a few people think they should get right out of the way and tend to stick themselves off the path and into the bushes :confused: which makes them sort of half concealed. I always worry that one of the horses won't see them till too late and spook as I have had an experience like this before :o
Is it just me? Sorry this may have been a totally pointless post ha ha! Just a bit of out loud thinking really :D
 
well its possible ..... I have had that happen ;) We have been looking at other things then suddenly someone just "pops" into view right there. :rolleyes:

However have also had the situation where I have not seen someone that was hiding in a hedge on the right side of the path ( I was aware of his pal on the left) ....... but Taz knew he was there :D . I had wondered why she was paying so much attention looking at a hedge :)
 
one of life's little joys :D I've spooked at someone doing just that, though my horse was oddly unperturbed...
 
Oh yes! I know this phenomenon! "please come out of the bushes! My horse knows something is there. If he can see you, he'll be fine, but if you hide, he thinks you are going to get him when we pass. Thankyou very much" Doffs hat. Also, "no need to turn your engine off, just stay there cos if you turn it back on when we have just gone past the back end of your tanker, my horse will jump forward due to the sudden noise..Thankyou!!". etc.
 
I have that problem at times. Some people are so nice and stand in the hedges but this terrifies the daft hoss, I have to ask them to come out and explain.
 
JFTD said:
one of life's little joys :D I've spooked at someone doing just that, though my horse was oddly unperturbed...
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I've done that too in the past, although it was a pheasant that flew up and I jumped about 6ft in the air (well it felt like it ;) ). The horse plodded on, ignoring the stupid rider. :p


ETA. I once asked a blackberry picker to come out of the bushes so that my friend's horse could see that they weren't a tiger. :D
 
I once ended up on the deck when my horse discovered a considerate dog owner hiding behind a bush with a dog. My horse wasn't even that spooky but he got a shock as they appeared from nowhere and he spun round so quickly and unexpectedly that I was on the ground before I knew what was happening. I knew the dog owner was trying to be considerate so I couldn't go mad but I was seething inside as I had to run after my horse as he buggered off home!
When I see dog owners do this I chat on with them in a friendly manner and tell them that the horse has to be able see them.
 
Faracat said:
I've done that too in the past, although it was a pheasant that flew up and I jumped about 6ft in the air (well it felt like it ;) ). The horse plodded on, ignoring the stupid rider. :p


ETA. I once asked a blackberry picker to come out of the bushes so that my friend's horse could see that they weren't a tiger. :D
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Yup it was a blackberry picker experience I had which resulted in a high speed sideways spook into the path of an oncoming lorry :eek: which was far enough away for me to get ponio out of the way again but close enough to give me a mini heart attack! :rolleyes:

So glad it's not just me that worries about this ha ha! Glad the horses on our yard mainly compose of pretty much bombproof school ponies :D Think I'm just a worrywart, haven't come across a hedge lurker on my boy yet but may do the "could you come out so he can see you're not a horse eating tiger" thing when we do :D
 
Possibly the worst case of spooking I've had was coming down off a banked bridleway where the drop is quite wooded, from nowhere a rather large group of men dressed in medieval costumes came running out shouting and waving shields and swords. Bit of a Holy Grail moment as they stood there then ran back into the trees. Still to this day have no idea who the hell they were:confused:
 
cambrica said:
Possibly the worst case of spooking I've had was coming down off a banked bridleway where the drop is quite wooded, from nowhere a rather large group of men dressed in medieval costumes came running out shouting and waving shields and swords. Bit of a Holy Grail moment as they stood there then ran back into the trees. Still to this day have no idea who the hell they were:confused:
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Very strange! Would be quite funny in a monty python way if it weren't for the resultant spook :rolleyes: maybe they thought you were someone else?
 
The man next door to the field sometimes spooks the horses on the lane, they cant seem to understand the noise behind his big wall is just him, not a horse eating monster. We often have to ask him to talk to them so they know what he is, took some explaining the first time!
 
vabell said:
Its a personal pet hate of mine, bush lurkers... Lol!! I always politely ask them to come into view so both neddy & I can see them!
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Hee hee I was in the process of typing bush lurkers... then remembering: which forum I was posting on, what HHO-ers are like, button pushers and interceptions from TFC, I decided to amend to "hedge" :rolleyes::p
 
sandi_84 said:
Very strange! Would be quite funny in a monty python way if it weren't for the resultant spook :rolleyes: maybe they thought you were someone else?
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Twas very strange. I think we surprised them just as much. Could of understood if there were film camera's about as its opposite an old chalk quarry where quite alot of filming has taken place.
Must say they didn't have coconut shells though !!
 
I got decked when a bird watcher stuck his head, covered with ivy out of his camouflaged hide :eek:.
He heard some few choice words from me :o.

Bizarrely, I had been riding towards his hide wondering why all the birds on the ground weren't flying away as i approached. They were only wooden bloody decoys :D
 
Not pointless at all and I haven't read through all (i.e., any) of the replies so please forgive me if I'm repetitive.

Before I got Kal, I would have done exactly what you have described and stepped off the path completely to let horses past. Now, I simply make sure my two are leashed and sitting next to me at the side of the path but clearly visible to the approaching horses.

We actually experienced what you have described today . . . three of us out hacking (Kal and Sevi are fine with horses but Archie is absolutely terrified of them - all 18 hands of him) . . . a group of dog walkers saw us coming and stepped quite a way off the path with their 8 (yes, 8) dogs . . . one of which proceeded to snarl, bark and lunge at us as we went past. Thankfully, Sev and Kal are both fine with dogs (both have been hunting so are used to dogs), there are no leaves on the trees so all three horses could clearly see the dogs, and Archie took his cue from our two boys, but well-intentioned actions could have had disastrous consequences.

P
 
An incident that will stick in my mind forever is when I went to try a mare, and went on a little hack. We were on a bridleway, open ploughed field one side of the track, long grass the other. We saw a dog walker ahead, just standing staring in the middle of the track. We walked on, puzzled by this gawping woman. I turned to the girl with me and said something along the lines of "mental woman, what is she staring for", looked back ahead and woman had disappeared. Strange. Horses were not at all happy, snorty prancey, and I wondered what on earth was going on, until I saw the end of a black and white collies tail flick out onto the track then disappear again. The stupid woman had grabbed her dogs and crouched down to hide in the long grass! Why not just move over, standing up like a sane and normal human being?!
Needless to say both horses flipped out at the thought of the monsters rustling and hiding in the grass, and totally lost it, turning and bolting (and I mean BOLTING) for home!
It was too late though, I had already fallen in love with the mare and I took her home, where she remains to this day and has a home for life! I didn't blame her at all, I blame the divvy cow who decided the best thing to do in that situation was to crouch in the long grass like a tiger waiting to pounce and eat us. *facepalm*
 
This is quite a regular one for us too. Drives us mad! We have talked to all the people we see regularly with dogs and they don't hide anymore. The worst experience I had like this was a woman sitting behind a bush breastfeeding her baby, not just on a bridleway either, but on the route of a sponsored ride which was very well advertised and signed!! Madness, how they didn't get trampled I will never know. My horse did a wonderful spin and dash that day!
 
cambrica said:
Must say they didn't have coconut shells though !!
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:D:D

quirky said:
I got decked when a bird watcher stuck his head, covered with ivy out of his camouflaged hide :eek:.
He heard some few choice words from me :o.

Bizarrely, I had been riding towards his hide wondering why all the birds on the ground weren't flying away as i approached. They were only wooden bloody decoys :D
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Sorry this one gave me a bit of a giggle :o It's exactly what i'd do, "aw pretty birds... why are they not flying away:confused:" :rolleyes::D
 
cambrica said:
Possibly the worst case of spooking I've had was coming down off a banked bridleway where the drop is quite wooded, from nowhere a rather large group of men dressed in medieval costumes came running out shouting and waving shields and swords. Bit of a Holy Grail moment as they stood there then ran back into the trees. Still to this day have no idea who the hell they were:confused:
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Insane. Legendary.

I picture this as a sitcom / Monty Python esque scene. Utterly awesome...

Though I'm sure I wouldn't feel the same if I'd been riding at the time :cool:
 
Fine weather often brings out groups of elderly and brightly coloured ramblers where we ride. These tend to mean well but they seem to think that swarming in a large group towards a lone horse is a good plan. They spread to form a pincer movement, one group on one side of the road or track, one group on the other, flapping their OS maps and waving their walking poles, then they stand and wait for you to ride past them while they have a little chat, and they really DO NOT understand why the noble steed starts snorting and backing up and won't go through the death-tunnel of pensioners!!!

We often suffer the hedge-lurkers too - so many times now that horse is actually used to it to the point where he EXPECTS someone + dog to emerge from the hedges. I just ignore it. And I spook at pheasants, fast cars and lorries whereas he doesn't any more. I do love our hacks!!!!
 
cambrica said:
Possibly the worst case of spooking I've had was coming down off a banked bridleway where the drop is quite wooded, from nowhere a rather large group of men dressed in medieval costumes came running out shouting and waving shields and swords. Bit of a Holy Grail moment as they stood there then ran back into the trees. Still to this day have no idea who the hell they were:confused:
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Oh my god!!
 
The Hiding-Helpfuls are usually nice enough that you can call out.
I usually say something like ‘Don’t worry I’m not going to eat you” or something to that effect, or say “Lovely dogs thanks so much for putting them on the lead” anything at all to get a response as it’s only silent people rustling that cause freak outs for me anyway. Once they say something the nag usually thinks “Oh it’s only stupid humans” Bless him.

It’s cyclists creeping up and wizzing past without a “hello” that get to me. What happened to slowing down to pass? Honestly walkers are lovely, it’s cyclists I want to shoot somedays.
 
I generally find cyclists are ok - there are a lot where we are, particularly on the weekends, and as our area is very steep and hilly, both horse riders and cyclists have to be really careful as they are usually fast downhill whereas we are fast uphill! It's the dog owners who take about 5 seconds to think "ooh, a horse, on a bridlepath.... hmm.. perhaps I should get hold of my dog by the collar" by which time the dog has run towards us barking "Fido" (in a soft voice" "Fido, come here" in a pathetic voice ad infinitum. I usually say to them "Thanks for (trying) to get the dog. My horse is fine with dogs, but some horses aren't and your dog may get kicked in the head and killed. Thanks so much!!"
 
starryeyed said:
Oh my god!!
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In a similar vein, I was hacking on one of my usual routes last summer, that goes past a farm very occasionally used as a film set. As I approached that part of the ride, I could see a large marquee through the bushes, so I knew something was going on. I came round the bend in walk to see, in the field right beside the bridle path, with no hedge or fence in the way, a platoon of World War 1 soldiers with fixed bayonets, standing in formation with sound crew holding microphones and continuity people and other staff around! Just as I got exactly level with them, I heard a voice through a megaphone saying something like 'Action'. I couldn't stop myself from yelling 'Please wait till I've passed' and heard a girl shout 'Oh look, a horse.'

I must say, my boy as ever was absolutely not fazed by the sight. As we went round the next bend, out of sight of the film people, I heard all the shouting that presumably went with the bayonet charge. I was very glad I was on my boy and not my spooky mare. And I am waiting to see a WW1 film with me and my lovely boy in the background!
 
blackislegirl said:
In a similar vein, I was hacking on one of my usual routes last summer, that goes past a farm very occasionally used as a film set. As I approached that part of the ride, I could see a large marquee through the bushes, so I knew something was going on. I came round the bend in walk to see, in the field right beside the bridle path, with no hedge or fence in the way, a platoon of World War 1 soldiers with fixed bayonets, standing in formation with sound crew holding microphones and continuity people and other staff around! Just as I got exactly level with them, I heard a voice through a megaphone saying something like 'Action'. I couldn't stop myself from yelling 'Please wait till I've passed' and heard a girl shout 'Oh look, a horse.'

I must say, my boy as ever was absolutely not fazed by the sight. As we went round the next bend, out of sight of the film people, I heard all the shouting that presumably went with the bayonet charge. I was very glad I was on my boy and not my spooky mare. And I am waiting to see a WW1 film with me and my lovely boy in the background!
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Totally unrelated . . . but . . . your username intrigues me but your profile says you're from Suffolk . . . are you originally from the Black Isle up by the Moray Firth?

Just being nosey (I'm from Forres).

P
 
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