Rook scarers and hi-viz joggers - too scary

coffeeandabagel

coffeeandabagel

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Was long reining the horse this afternoon and he was just a little bit antsy about going down the hill when just what I didnt need happened. First the rook scarers, all three of them went off in quick succession. He is used to them being at the far end of the field but think they have moved them closer to the track (houses complaining I imagine).
Then 2 pigeons flew up from the hedge - usually not a problem either,
then two runners, one in hi-viz came down the opposite side of the hill towards us.
That was just too much, horse spun, and off he went nothing, I could do about it all.
Apparently he arrived at a canter, through the farmyard, slid to a halt and was stood outside his stable!

Thank the lord I have a homing horse. Couldnt see any damage just a little nick on hind fetlock and count my self very lucky!
 
I hate those bird scarers! They always seem to go off just when you're passing them. I think there is a law which requires them to be a certain distance from roads/public rights of way, but I can't rememb er how far.

We have to cope with shooters nearly every day round here, makes bringing in the horses very exciting and riding is impossible. Roll on Spring!
 
I was hacking last week and a new one has appeared. It's right next to the road in a bush. You can't see it from the road and bang went off whilst I was next to it. Sounded like a bomb going off and some smoke actually came out the bush. Scared me lol and horse must have leapt 6 foot to the right!
 
yup

those rook scarers have been responsible for some very nearly wee inducing, hairy moments for me when hacking recently.

compounding my dislike for them, i have an extremely gun shy border collie who takes to bolting home with her tail between her legs if one so much as goes off in the far distance. :D
 
Shame you aren't closer to me. A couple of sessions of hacking out with my dog and it seems to bombproof the horses. They are on their toes to begin with but somehow once they know there is a small dog running around and in the trees, it has the wonderful knock on effect of making them really relaxed about noises/people/cyclists etc appearing from nowhere. My youngster was incredibly spooky to begin with but now doesn't bat an eyelid at anyone appearing out of nowhere.

A tree trunk, however, that is always on the same place, is a different matter!
 
We recently had an incident when a young horse was being ridden along a bridleway and a Gas Gun Bird Scarer went off 3 times in quick succession causing the horse to throw it's rider and the horse bolted off on to a main road where it was hit by a car. The horse sadly had to be destroyed. The horse rider did not know that the bird scarer was there.

It is absolutely essential that if you know of a Gas Gun Bird Scarer that is situated near to a public right of way, public highway or route used by horses that you report it to the Access Department of your local County Council so that they can contact the landowner concerned and ask them to take appropriate action to prevent an accident.

The NFU (National Farmers Union) have produced a leaflet Bird Scarers - Code of Practice which all landowners, farmers and their employees are asked to comply with so as to avoid any accidents.

http://www.nfuonline.com/News/Download-our-bird-scarer-guide/
 
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