Riding in the dark

[emilylou]

With winter approaching and the nights drawing in, this is the first winter where I will be working full time. Having previously had the luxury of daylight hours to ride all year round I've never had to consider this before. Where I am we have lots of off-road riding, quiet lanes and fields to school in but unfortunately no floodlit arena!

So, do you ride in the dark? And if you do, how do you do it and make sure you stay safe?

 

[AmberThePony]

I've schooled in a field with no lights, it's actually quite fun as long as you know the ground well and the horse. Also I tend to stay away from hedges as the monsters are worse in the dark! You can use a powerful head torch on your helmet and that usually works fine. For hacking I wear head to toe hi viz with lots of reflective bits plus white lights on the bridle and red on the back of the reflective rug. Just lots of lights at different heights and you should be safe, I sewed a big reflective tailflap on the rug which you certainly can't miss.
ETA- I usually ride where there are street lights which helps a lot

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

How many lights can you attach to your horse?

At my old yard we went out hacking knowing we'd be coming back at dusk so would be covered in leds. (We had to do some of it on road). It's not ideal and I elected not to.

 

[Mule]

I rode in an arena in the dark last night. It wasn't pitch black but it was after dusk. I had started while it was still bright so I suppose both of our eyes had time to get used to it. Horse was fine, we could both see where we were going.

I think I will try a strong head torch later in the year. I don't fancy wasting diesal by leaving car lights on, which I've thought of as another alternative.

 

[SEL]

My horse can't see in the dark so riding in it would be a challenge. Last yard had some large plug in floodlights and we ran a long extension cable from the school to the nearest socket. Worked well for most liveries, but there were big shadows which caused a few issues for me

 

[ester]

yup, plenty as direct access to off road riding, mostly wore a headlight so that I knew when to duck for branches only did tracks that I knew very well as good/no holes etc. Schooling wise I'd rather it was just dark than have the head torch bobbing around.

I do have a significant number of lights for the horse too but mostly for dull days/accessing our 'summer' grazing that was a short road walk but under trees so could get very dark. For that I have a flashing breastplate in green (I think they do them with white lights now as I wanted to stick with the usual red to the rear thing). flashing cycling velcro leg bands, a couple of hook on flashing strips and my rear flashing bike lights attached either to the top of a tail guard or fluorescent quarter sheet.

 

[Molasses]

yes most week-day nights
but it's weather dependent, it's far easier to ride in the dark on nice still moonlit nights than wet and windy
it's amazing how much you can see when your eyes adjust.

i ride in the field so it's very weather/ground dependent though, so some weeks I get away with it every night, others i have to just suck it and do a quick rug check while scurrying back to the fireside. I do wear a headtorch but find I don't need it unless it's to check a piece of tack or figure out if that black thing is a dog or a muntjac

 

[lunginggirl]

I usually end up riding in my school in the dark. I have no electricity at my stables so most of the make shift lights I have made go in my stable.

I have never had an issue and usually my eyes do adjust quite well. I know that B&Q do portable floodlights that you can charge at home or in your car. They work out between £25-£30 depending on which ones you get. All the reviews are horsey people who have no electricity!

 

[hollyandivy123]

there always solar flood lights, which should give enough light for flat work but not jumping, you can set them up to see the edge of the arena

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

I ride in the dark in the mornings on the roads/woods - I use a fab headtorch (cost me nearly £80 a couple of years ago but its amazing and well worth the money). Hi viz Amigo exercise sheet on the horse and crack on.