Well that was an exciting morning!

tatty_v

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Having been thwarted by yesterday’s torrential rain, pony and I set off for a solo hack in the sunshine this morning. Having negotiated the enormous sprayer in the field, we had a glorious gallop all the way up the beautiful bridleway...straight into a half marathon at the other end! 🙈 I think we just set a record for mile 4-5...

I joked with one of the marshals that a little bit of warning would have been nice - apparently I should have deduced from the bright yellow arrow signs that had materialised overnight exactly what was going on, how many runners, the route, the timings etc. Thankfully pony was a legend and managed to keep a lid on things and we got back safely! Not bad for a pony called Spook 😁
 
Good pony.

that reminds me of a time that I inadvertently rode into the middle of a motor hill-climb. Had absolutely no idea it was going on - though the organisers were great, held the cars whilst we rode up the hill, they even made a bit of a joke of it and declared my horse the winner of a new 1 horse-power class - hoss thought it was great as he got made a great fuss of :)
 
We once found ourselves in the middle of a charity bed-push! The Clydesdale was quite disappointed when we got to junction and turned away from the clapping and cheering that she could hear but not see.

Thank goodness for well-behaved equines!
 
A friend and myself had a similar experience, came across a large group of runners taking part in a race down a rather narrow bridleway we had joined from a permissive track no signs what so ever, one guy evan had a pushchair and to be honest my lad was seriously unimpressed and how we didn't take someone out as we went sideways past them I'm not sure.
 
I managed to get on a lane being used by a vintage motorcycle rally the other week. That was interesting, must have been a hundred of them went past me.
 
Sounds like there are some saintly equines out there - I’m very relieved it was just runners for us and not some of these more exciting encounters!
 
We got mixed up in a Harley Davidson rally recently and pulled into the entrance of a nearby farm. There were about 100 bikers, all of whom were brilliant as they passed us, and then my horse had a meltdown, not because of 100 noisy motorbikes but because the horses at the farm came to the fence to see what was going on!
 
There was a cycle event that went past our yard and through the village, yesterday, so I had a constant stream of road cyclists going past. Only two morons out of probably 50 or 60, so not bad. Coblet is totally amazing with them and I got a couple of 'ooh what a lovely horse', which is quite normal for him. He seems to have quite a fan club!! Years ago I got caught up in the Leith Hill Half Marathon. Henry was fab with it all, but the organisers had a sense of humour bypass when he tried to help himself at the water station.
 
I once got caught up in a procession of vehicles leaving the local steam rally, they were obviously all going home to the same place and I had no way of knowing they would choose that route. Probably about a dozen steam rollers and big tractor things. Was riding my ex racer at the time, he didnt blink!!
 
I once got caught up in a procession of vehicles leaving the local steam rally, they were obviously all going home to the same place and I had no way of knowing they would choose that route. Probably about a dozen steam rollers and big tractor things. Was riding my ex racer at the time, he didnt blink!!

Wow!
what a fab horse - that would be a step too far for most of my ponies, even the bravest ones - we'd be gone!
'......but you said fire-breathing dragons didn't exist...........'
 
I've been caught up in a motorbike event, probably over 50 very loud bikes going past us!
Also been caught up in an endurance ride which I didn't realise was going on! Over a hundred horses cantering past us! Luckily my previous boy didn't batter an eyelid! I would dread to be caught up in something like that with my current boy, he would have freaked out and wanted to join the galloping! 😂
 
Always makes life interesting to be caught up in the unexpected! Whilst once hacking out alone on my young Connie, we came upon a "tractor pull" - various ages, sizes, noises - around 30 tractors. I froze and expected the worst - he just sauntered along! Got caught up in a pheasant shoot once on my very sharp and spooky Welsh X - had to ask the guns to hold fire whilst we passed and I genuinely thought my life would end that day. To his credit, although I could feel his heart rate pounding, he did manage to keep a lid on it but remains very suspicious of the woods still every time we pass!
 
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