Very happy, horses didn't kill us today!

[Booboos]

We were coming back from a nice, relaxed hack round the lanes today, when literally 30 yards from the yard gate we heard this deep, loud engine noise. We were looking behind us wondering what kind of huge tractor this was, when we heard a voice over the hedgerow, "Hold on to them horses tight!", before a HUGE cargo carrier came over flying really low down, followed closely by a second low-flying cargo carrier! My friend stuck the cob's nose in the hedgerow (poor lad he was spooked by the low-flying helicopters only a few months ago!) and Rusky luckily stood his ground. When we got off my legs were shaking and I was so glad the horses were so well behaved!

 

[flowerlady]

Are you or were you riding on their air route?

 

[Parkranger]

God how scary! Had a similar thing the other day when hacking Oscar and Ty out - passed under a railway bridge and just on the other side when the fast train passed behind us - both of them where cantering on the spot but luckily calmed....

Good thinking on your friends part though!

 

[Booboos]

[ QUOTE ]
Are you or were you riding on their air route?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well I called MoD last time who put me in charge with my local base. The guy I spoke to was very polite but useless. The upshot was: they fly everywhere, all the time, any time, they can't predict where they will be at any given time, nor let me know any dates when they are due to do exercises, nor avoid our area (which has horses everywhere!). We've lived here for two years and have seen a lot of helicopters which the horses are very used to (apart from the time they were suicidally low!) and once a weird black triangular aircraft that was doing all sorts of 'display' stuff, but other than that nothing like this!

 

[minerva]

[ QUOTE ]
a weird black triangular aircraft that was doing all sorts of 'display' stuff,

[/ QUOTE ]

cool

we only get the herks and helicopters, nothing original!
after a while the horses take them in their stride, but i get wound up by them and that doesnt help, panicy with new horse about them at the moment so can fully sympathise with you, sometimes they are so low they dont look like they are going to clear the hedges! its scarey stuff - brave horses

 

[slhamilton]

My pony used to live under the main Newcastle Airport flight path, they were very, very low and he just carried on as if they weren't there!! I was terrified though, I was trying him before we bought him, and to me a pretty much unbroken 4yr old and low flying aircraft would not be a good mixture!!!

Must say though, normal planes are a bit different to those cargo carriers, we had two fly over the yard a few months back and the horses didn't know what to do they just stood there!!

 

[Booboos]

That looks like it! What a weird thing! It was the first week we had moved into the house and this weird plane did all sorts of loops, dives, etc. right above my head and I thought OMG we have to move!! Haven't seen it again though

 

[Daffodil]

I'm not really on a flight path, although sometimes the planes from Southampton circle round quite high but we recently had a transport plane come over just above tree height straight over the field with our mares and babies in.
Not one of them looked up or showed any concern. Also had the Red Arrows follow me up the road one day a few years ago... that was a bit scarey as I was so busy trying to look round at them I nearly fell off! Horse was totally uninterested.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Isn't that black plane a Stealth Bomber???? You aren't building a nuclear deterrent in your stable are you Booboos? Seriously though, I'd have been terrified. But I've stood and watched the neds in our fields when cargo planes come over so low you can see the pilot's nasal hair. They don't even look up from grazing coz it probably happens loads of times when we aren't there to see it. And someone posted on the forum just a day or 2 ago that horses stopped associating things in the sky with danger when pterodactyls became extinct! But I betcha if I was on my ned's back when one (plane, not pterodactyl) came over he'd have palpitations! Why? Cos I would! And then ned is worried coz mum is. Ho hum. Wish I could turn it off like a tap!