Riding at dawn

[kick_On]

I've put post in here cos normal people will reply

My life has changed and i need to be at my job much earlier than i used to, so i now need to exercise horses at dawn. So does anyone ride with lights on your hat or horse (so you can see/ride around fields)??

Er help???????????????????? (not going to change yard nor job)

 

[monkeybum13]

The old yard I was on had acres and acres of fields to hack around (so no roadwork) the YM and her daughter used to ride in the dark and they never had any problems

 

[Wilbur_Force]

If yard and job are going to stay as they are, then you just need to get on with it! Miners lamp or hat lamp thingy will do the trick. Friend used to ride her horse like this, the only problem that she really had was that horse used to not like being up out of bed so early!!

He was a little spooky to start with but mainly because she could never really see what he was looking at cos it was still too dark lol

 

[posie_honey]

i ride in the dark - far better to just let your eyes adjust - and horses can see fine
i keep her fit doing canter work (on tracks i know very well) over winter in the dark

 

[kick_On]

oooooooooo sounds promising, need to leave yard promptly at 8.30 so I'm riding at dawn at mo, it's just mid winter it will be dark!

Does anyone use cyclist lights?

 

[skint1]

My daughter rode this morn, she was going to hack but she decided to go for the floodlit school

 

[kick_On]

er........... can you build me one?

 

[WellyBaggins]

My boss rides in the dark too, gets on at 7 and does walk stretches until it is light enough to see.

 

[Tr0uble]

That's not early! when I'm in full work (been off sick with a broken knee all year) I have to do my two boys on DIY and I'm on the road for an hours commute by 6.15 am!

I ride in the evening, but do everything else in the morning.

You'll be fine, once you're in a routine it'll be easy.

 

[Ginn]

need to leave yard promptly at 8.30 so I'm riding at dawn at mo, it's just mid winter it will be dark!

8.30!! Lucky sod I have to be on the road by 7.15 (and no way am I getting up any earlier to ride before work, I likes me sleep )

 

[Jane_Lou]

I had to bring one back into work in the winter, straight lines only, so it was wait for spring or get out hacking in the dark! I invested in a couple of around flourescent competition exercise sheets, reflective strips to go over their boots and a couple of stirrup lites and started my fittening plan with a friend co-opted to hack out with me on my other horse. It is amazing how well your eyes adapt to the dark and the horses seemed to cope fine. We were only walking initially and we only went around the farm tracks that we and the horses knew well and baring in mind I was riding evenings in the pitch black you will be fine if you are riding at dawn. The lights and flourescents were so we could find the horses if we parted company!

 

[kick_On]

thx folks you cheered me up - this morning it was so dark and in pissing rain i sat at working thinking OMG what am i going to do. Evening are out for riding which is pain, so it all in the morning
I'm lucky as my boys are very used to early starts, so I'm off to look at different types of lighting.

 

[kick_On]

The lights and flourescents were so we could find the horses if we parted company!

lol how true................

 

[Mickeymoo]

I'm normally on for 6.45am even if its pitch black. Got flashing lights on my body, and one on each ankle. I have flourescent waistcoat under lights, flourescent on Micks martingale and off we go.

The horse can see ok in the dark. I have to do a mile on the road but if you go out at the same time the cars you see are people going to work at the same time daily, so they get used to you being there. They just think its that nutter again riding in the dark. lol.

It took a week for Mick to get used to headlights especially full beam from either way but he's ok now and have been hacking in the dark for about 7 years now.

Its amazing when you're on high ground on your horse and it starts getting light. The sky sometimes is magical.

 

[Molasses]

I ride in the dark. If you've an arena or somewhere you trust the footing then just ambient light is fine. If you don't then i would suggest a headtorch, but not a cheap one. Best place for recommendations are the crazy folk who mountain bike at night on trails (yes there are people even madder than horsey folk) i asked load for good torches, ideally with a low and high beam setting so when your fiddling with gloves and girths etc you can use a low beam to not blind your horse. But when you're doing faster work you can high beam. There are lots on the market. Just don't go for a cheap tesco torch that's like a candle in a paper bag
Search for a good torch with more than 150 lumens aimed at the biker/runner market. Mine lights up a 2 acre field no problem, and gets me through the winter. I live with it on my forehead

 

[Jane_Lou]

Just one thing about the head torch - one of mine (my older one typically) freaked out totally at a headtorch! I was wearing it on my youngster who didn't bat an eyelid, I even attached it to the headpiece of his bridle and he was unphased, old boy freaked at me or my youngster wearing it so I put it on my friends hat who was on him but the minute she turned it on he freaked - he really couldn't cope with the moving beam of light. So before you invest in fancy lights just check your horse it not a moving light beam numpty! He was fine with the flashing lights on the stirrups, it was just the beam of light that he couldn't cope with!

 

[kick_On]

mmmmmm me think my old boy could be silly, I have a plan as i think i have head torch when we loss electcity at yard for bit, Some testing required - thx

 

[Gamebird]

I wouldn't worry too much about the head torch - I ride out in the dark(ish) on a morning and rode home from a lesson last night at 8pm. The oddest thing is the feeling of motion sickness from looking down and not seeing the ground - a bit like looking down when you are walking through shallow waves on the beach.

I might carry a torch/lamp to flash at cars to let them know you're there, but I never meet any anyway.

 

[WeeBrown]

Just been told that the yard I am moving to (which I had been assured would have their menege lights fixed by my notice date) have still not got their lights fixed. Bit annoyed as I stressed that riding at night was my only option and I gave my notice in to correspond with them being done. So now, as my current yard have already filled my stables, I am looking at trying to ride three horses - one of which has been out of work for over a year - in the evening darkness. I was thinking car at the side of the menege but might get a headlamp for my hat now!

 

[Gamebird]

Just beware you don't find yourself in the same situation I was in a few years ago. Was hack cantering my hunter around a 30 acre flat grass field in the dark, but reasonable moonlight. I had done this every third night or so for the previous few weeks without incident. Unbeknownst to me my father-in-law had fenced half of the field off that day with electric sheep netting to put some ewes in. Luckily the horse saw the wire and pulled itself up. I didn't see it and wasn't very impressed by the unscheduled emergency stop!

 

[Festive_Felicitations]

I've ridden in the dark lots! Mainly in summer here trying to avoid the heat.... I generally find it easier to ride with no lights and just let my eyesight adapt particularly when there is a bit of moon light. Head torches are good as they let you see incoming branches!

Horses have far better night vision than us and I've had horse canter confidantly home at the end of a long day when its been so dark I couldn't see their ears (black horse)!
As someone mentioned it is a very strange feeling.