What do you dread meeting when your out hacking??

Pedantic said:
Horse and cart or pony and trap whichever you want to call it.
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Yep, you are not alone there. It HAS to be the worlds worse horse-eating contraption known to horse-kind. Lets face it, if it makes your eyes pop out of their sockets to such an extent it hurts and the heart race so fast you don't think its beating, then you might as well die! You have no choice but to run, turn, stare, shake, quiver, snort (snort at it might make it go away!?) don't forget to put your tail up, then turn and RUN. Take no notice of what the human is doing, you have to live!!
Donkeys and cement mixers may have a similar reaction on occasions.
Bins, cows, blowing rubbish, cyclists, fast cars, tractors, dog walkers and even the hunt are a walk in the park.
 
Cows. He hates them. Oh, and sheep. Not that we don't see them, in the same fields on every hack! And going through the farmyard we cut through.

He's always hated them, always will, we just have to deal with it.

One of my others hates lambs. Sheep are ok, its just lambs that spring around unpredictably.
 
If im riding my old share Horse. Its a Horse and cart as shes petrified of them. If its my Horse, it would have to be a big noisy tractor overtaking on a narrow lane.
 
Those Recumbent bikes (the ones where the person is pratically laying down on it) with flags attached. My boy has a panic attack any time he spots one coming at him.
And, just my luck, there's a man that regularly rides one out around where we hack out :rolleyes:

Also, horses in a field that we're going past who come galloping to fence XD
 
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MuesliMoo said:
Actually, out hacking other Rose I used to dread meeting the racehorses on the gallops in the morning (our hacking is round Brighton racecourse annd in the morning there are teams of TB's galloping round! The last time I took her out I completely forgot it was before 11 so they could be out, and low and behold "what's that coming over the hill, is it a pack of racehorses?" There's me thinking oh **** I have no idea how she's going to react to this, so I jumped off, took her as far away from the gallops as I could and stood by her head. She was a little angel and just looked at them as they thundered past. Jumped back on, continued to head on my way, turned round at the bottom to find the same racehorses trotting back down the hill "Umm you aren't by any chance about to turn round and gallop back up again are you?" "Yes, do you want to join us?"
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i would have said hell yeah!! even though my pony would have not been able to keep up hehe
 
DONKEYS!! My mare is terrified and wont be convinced otherwise... she physically shakes but at least we can just about go pasy now... esp seeing as there are 4 down the road.
Incidentally we met the hunt on saturday!! Not only did we meet them we met a redcoat on a single track bridleway head on! There were 2 of us so he had to turn around and promptly galloped off in front of us to a gateway so we could pass... My mare was UP FOR IT!! She went bouncy boucncy bouncy like tiger all the way home. covered in white foam with excitement
If I had known that was gonna happen I would NEVERV have gone out, but we did it and actually was pretty fun!! Dont tell the dun that tho dont wanna her jogging and bouncing me around regular!!
 
Travellers racing their trotters.

Pony and trap.

Tractors and wagons that don't slow down.

Other horses coming up or behind at a pace.

The hunt.

Cows being moved.

God I love the country! lol
 
Nothing-knobberpony isn't bothered by anything on the road.The first time we hacked her out,we met the world's biggest combine,plus tractor towing the blades on a narrow bridge-bless her,she stood aside to let it go past and never batted an eyelid.

However,last week,with my 8 year old aboard,she spotted something on a path across the field and looked very alarmed-it was a mother and small child out for a walk.She didn't do anything,but it was funny that the buses and HGV's thundering past didn't merit any notice,but 2 people a field away did.:confused:
 
Mine is supremely unbothered by pretty much anything, but the general fear on our yard is the peacock! We have met him a few times but never when he's in full display mode!
 
The hunt purely cos the Master will ask why we aren't out and then Madam will have hissies all the way home cos we haven't joined them but training is training!!
 
Galloping herds of forest ponies or deer, especially if I'm on my own. With company we can cope with most things but last weekend about 20 ponies came at us full pelt, if we hadn't had a very calm pony with us we would definately have gone with them! Other thing is bog....walked into one accidentally about 5 years ago, terrifying. Most are easy to spot and I know where they are but sometimes when you go somewhere new you have to be so careful. Finally, in the summer, crab flies. Hate the things, pony goes mental when they tickle his bits! The only 3 downfalls of riding in the forest....fortunately the amazing riding makes up for it!
 
My mare has reacted to many of the hazards that people have mentioned and I think (hope!) she is getting better as she gets older, but one of the things she still hasn't got used to is these blokes we get in the Peak District who carry enormous rectangular mattresses on their backs. I think they are boulderers, that is they climb big rocks without ropes, and the mats are to give them a soft landing. Unfortunately, if I am unseated by my spooked mare there isn't a big square mat for me to land on.....
 
darkhorse123 said:
I have to do a lot of roadwork to get anywhere and i am DREADING the day I am seen my someone driving who I know but isnt horsey and will beep to get my attention - my worst nightmare that just has to happen one day :eek:
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like I met my farrier today and he peeped, lol, my boy just jumped a tiny bit!
I suppose farrier would have scraped al the messy bits off the road, and sorted it out for me!, I do owe him a tenner, do you think this was a reminder?
The local windfarm has Ginormous things arriving and are all lit up, about the size of a train carriage behind a tractor the size of a London Bus, but they move so slowly I can get out of the way.
 
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My pony is a nightmare! He chases combines, tries to get into tractors and has been known to lick vans as they go passed!

The best one was the giant inflateable singing carrot... we were cantering on a track next to a field of young rape and all of a sudden there was this 'SHOOOM' and some tinkly muzak and a giant carrot had inflated and was waving in the breeze singing at us. the pony looked at it was obviously running through his internal dictionary and before he got to 'G' for giant he must have got to 'C' for Carrot and decided that it was food shaped so safe!

He is such a dude!

hates dafodils though! Genuinely scared of them!
 
Other horses. My cob will hear them coming and stop in the road/ path and neigh and neigh until he sees them, then tries to rush forward to meet them (still neighing) and will then try to turn round to follow them. I am usually cursing at him/laughing but not many other riders seem to think it is funny!! I had two very fancy pants TB's and riders looking down their noses at me in disgust today. Poor Merlin...he just wants to be friends!!
 
MuesliMoo said:
Actually, out hacking other Rose I used to dread meeting the racehorses on the gallops in the morning (our hacking is round Brighton racecourse annd in the morning there are teams of TB's galloping round! The last time I took her out I completely forgot it was before 11 so they could be out, and low and behold "what's that coming over the hill, is it a pack of racehorses?" There's me thinking oh **** I have no idea how she's going to react to this, so I jumped off, took her as far away from the gallops as I could and stood by her head. She was a little angel and just looked at them as they thundered past. Jumped back on, continued to head on my way, turned round at the bottom to find the same racehorses trotting back down the hill "Umm you aren't by any chance about to turn round and gallop back up again are you?" "Yes, do you want to join us?" hehe I declined seeing as she's not my pony, turned her back in the other direction whilst they shot off, then put her back towards home and she didn't even quicken a step :D Managedd to have a very controlled canter not so far behind the racehorses too!
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wtdnh131 said:
i would have said hell yeah!! even though my pony would have not been able to keep up hehe
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Me too :eek: Can you imagine my little hairy cob / hairy highland pelting up at the back of a string of racehorses? I'd force someone to film it too :D
 
I'm dreading coming across the Sinclair c5 (battery powered car thingy from the 80's) that has been going around the lanes near our yard recently as they are so low to the ground i'm not sure what any horse would make of it. I think they look scary enough, certanly wouldn't want to go in one!

Another challenge we faced where we used to hack would be when we would meet a huge group of soldiers out running in all thier green clothing, from the horses point of view it must have looked like bushes and trees running at them, they all found that very scary.
 
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