Riding alone at night

Chaptertwo

Chaptertwo

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I have been at the same yard (with a few months break at another place) for the past 5 and half years and have only had the courage to ride alone at night 3 times! The last time I did I scared myself silly!! (I am 27 in a few months time and it wasnt that long ago)!!

I was just wondering how many of you ride alone at night (either under arena lights or not) and don't think twice about doing it!

Not from a safety aspect (falling off and being alone) more for fear of the dark and who might be lurking :o yes I know pathetic!!!
 
I do it most nights.... It's my favourite time to ride :) the arena is quiet & my horse is chilled. I couldn't give a monkeys who's lurking tbh they would soon be trampled! :D
 
I hack out every morning in the dark in the winter and I must admit I've never really thought about it. However, you wouldn't catch me walking the dog in the dark down the tracks I ride on so I must just feel safer being on a horse!
 
I get up the yard at 5.30am to ride in a floodlit menage and don't really think about it. But, I have to say that in the past I have scared myself ;-)

Try to keep busy - think - why on earth would someone even bother to go out of their way to come up a muddy, smelly yard to get you.... ;-)
 
Our yard borders a woodland and there are some strange noises in there at night!

I dont ride at my current yard as there are no lights, but at my last yard my mare used to spook at her shadow under the floodlights. She looked at EVERYTHING, which then put me on edge! And I am 3 weeks away from being 29 :p
 
mcnaughty said:
I get up the yard at 5.30am to ride in a floodlit menage and don't really think about it. But, I have to say that in the past I have scared myself ;-)

Try to keep busy - think - why on earth would someone even bother to go out of their way to come up a muddy, smelly yard to get you.... ;-)
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LOL I shall try and remember this!!

I feel like a right wimp now the majority of those of have already replied have said they do ride at night alone lol!!! :o
 
used to when we had a school and when the lights are on outside the school was pitch black and that used to freak me out! especially when you would hear horses walking about but couldnt see them! but then im scared of the dark anyway ahahah
 
I don't consider myself brave but I walk my dog on tracks in the dark both morning and night! otherwise she'd not get a decent walk. I don't usually take a torch just wait for my eyes to adjust.

I don't mind riding in the dark either really and would always ride back to my friends yard before hacking home thorough the woods. but she wouldn't ride through them in the dark (all off road!)
 
Pilib said:
I don't consider myself brave but I walk my dog on tracks in the dark both morning and night! otherwise she'd not get a decent walk. I don't usually take a torch just wait for my eyes to adjust.

I don't mind riding in the dark either really and would always ride back to my friends yard before hacking home thorough the woods. but she wouldn't ride through them in the dark (all off road!)
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That would freak me out walking about in the dark without a torch :o
 
yes i ride in school and hack out alone.

I ride in the school at night alot, as i work till 6pm. most of the time everyone else is gone. i jump and school. i keep my phone in pocket and my mum tends to calls after an hour or so to check am ok.

Iv riden alone from an early age and actually enjoy being left to my own devises! Esp hacks, i perfer to go alone.
 
travelmad said:
I'm afraid of the dark (at 29!) and won't ride at night as I don't want to turn back out to the field in the dark by myself!!!
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just seen this... I am also scared of the dark!! ha ha. i cant even be in the house without lights on all time! but some some reason i feel safe when iv got the horse with me!
 
Another lone rider here who does the grave yard shift after work. Last yard was a long way from the YO house and backed onto woodland, with the manège set away from the stables. Couple of times on foggy nights I freaked myself out convinced there was someone/something around! But generally it doesn't bother me and I quite like the peace and quiet. New yard is very close to owner's house and all stables look onto arena, so much less spooky (for me - horse not bothered in the slightest at either yard!!).
 
wow that never occurred to me - I mean, I'm on a horse, I reckon I can take anyone who tries it from Fergs back ;)

I ride in school under flood lights, or on my field with no lighting, short off road hacks etc, happily. I like the dark. Dark for dark business :D
 
I would ride at night if we had a school :P

To much of a whimp to go out on a hack alone in the dark more incase anything was to happen it would be hard for others to find you/ catch your horse :)

Yes i am a huge wuss
 
JFTD said:
wow that never occurred to me - I mean, I'm on a horse, I reckon I can take anyone who tries it from Fergs back ;)

I ride in school under flood lights, or on my field with no lighting, short off road hacks etc, happily. I like the dark. Dark for dark business :D
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Wish I was brave haha!!
 
iv just remember a night when i did frighten myself silly!

I was in the school at night, working away, when maxi (my last horse) suddenly stopped dead, stood bolt upright looking into the hedges! im looking too, thinking what the hell has she seen! then i sore the YO black lab run down the hedges, panic over!
finished my ride, went back round to stables and was telling YO about my fright, he then told me 'henry' the black lab was in the house!!!
So what ever i sore wasnt the dog! haaa, scared me alot!
 
I love riding alone at night.
Despite everyone telling me ghost stories about our school I'll happily wait to be the last one to use it at night. That way I can ride in peace, no one but me cares if my circles are star-shaped, oblong or if I draw a bloody leprechaun with a pot of gold in the sand whist trying to get a decent leg yield.
The ghost just sits quietly on the window ledge (though, if you ask me he could make himself useful and shift poles for me, or at least spot me as his sitting place is right at the end of the 3/4 line, but hey ho.) and no ones dogs are scratching at the door or worse, shuffling under it and doing victory laps, no one sat in the school chatting, or messing about cracking lunge whips. (honestly, I love having the dogs about, but my horse isn't exactly choosy about where she puts her dainty little soup-plates)
The lights aren't the greatest but you can see enough, theyre a warm white fluorescent, so it feels quite cosy in there, and it's an awful lot better than some have got and my horse is gradually getting used to going in and out of the dark bits without doing dragon impressions.
 
i ride by myself upin the menage all the time in the dark. My rising 4 yr old works a lot better without the distractions and its very relaxing after a pants day at work. Our yard is on the edge of a mountain and the view is spectacular when the villages light up at night. We even spent firework night up the school and admiring the displays from 5 other villages
 
I get the willies just going into my horses field when it is dark, and we are not that remote! I worry about people lurking as well and erm, ghosts in the shed when I am making feed :-/ yes there are fellow wimps out there! I always feel alright when I get to one of the horses though, so maybe riding wouldn't be so bad!
 
Billy the kid said:
iv just remember a night when i did frighten myself silly!

I was in the school at night, working away, when maxi (my last horse) suddenly stopped dead, stood bolt upright looking into the hedges! im looking too, thinking what the hell has she seen! then i sore the YO black lab run down the hedges, panic over!
finished my ride, went back round to stables and was telling YO about my fright, he then told me 'henry' the black lab was in the house!!!
So what ever i sore wasnt the dog! haaa, scared me alot!
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Ooooooh yeah that would proper freak me out too....

Perhaps reading these stories isn't going to help my ride tonight lol!!!!!
 
mandwhy said:
I get the willies just going into my horses field when it is dark, and we are not that remote! I worry about people lurking as well and erm, ghosts in the shed when I am making feed :-/ yes there are fellow wimps out there! I always feel alright when I get to one of the horses though, so maybe riding wouldn't be so bad!
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We're not majorly remote either and I still get the same feeling when I go into the field in the dark!! I hate it lol!! I just don't like the dark......

I came out of my front door once to turn the interior light of my car off as I had left it on, got as far as the middle of the drive and heard a very creepy noise come from the other side of the street.....decided the light could stay on and I would get a jump start in the morning if it killed the battery!! Luckily the battery was fine and I turned the light out the next morning :):o
 
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