What do you think about riding with an ipod?

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M'n'M

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Basically the title. Do you think its dangerous? A good idea? Helpful? Hindering?

Just interested in your thoughts :)

(I mean riding with the earphones, not on a speaker or radio)
 
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I like the idea of it BUT I wouldn't risk it! I do a lot of road work and listen for cars which are going fast, plus joggers and cyclists often shout out to let you know they are there or dogs up ahead which are barking.

I rely on all of my senses so I wouldn't like the distraction. I do put my music on and leave phone in pocket while trotting around the woods though and I would while schooling.

It depends on where you ride. If I was in the middle of nowhere with tons of off-road hacking then yes, I would.
 
Never out hacking - too dangerous.

I have got the Naf dressage tests loaded on mine, and found it difficult when riding because of a fidgety horse, reins and gloves.

Mine is a iPhone, and I can't work it when I'm wearing gloves.
 
I was once riding in a school with someone else who was listening to her iPod. My horse had a mad moment due to other horses in neighbouring fields galloping around, spooked her horse and she had a nasty fall. This was due to her not being able to hear the lead up to the moment to prepare herself.

After this i personally wouldn't!
 
No, not personally, not even while schooling - better to have a radio for music as you are more aware of the surroundings for the exact reason horses24-7 highlighted.
 
Nearly...but not quite....as bad as riding on the mobile. A horse is a very expensive hobby and you are supposed to enjoy it. If its boring you that much sell it give someone else the pleasure and save yourself loads of money.
 
I school on my own with one, never hacking and not that i ever do but i wouldn't school with other people with one either. I don't think it's about being bored though, i like to listen to music because i enjoy it not just because i'm bored

ETA Until you've bombed round a field with the black beauty theme tune in your ears you haven't lived lol
 
I have tried to whilst schooling but the damn things wont stay in my ears!!!

Wouldn't use one hacking. A friend had his in and was walking down a really quiet, practically deserted farm track, his horse walked sideways to go around a puddle and in the process nearly knocked one of our lecturers off his bike!!! He hadn't heard him and needless to say the lecturer was furious!
 
To school i'd have it through a speaker, you can pick them up cheaply enough, if you REALLY wanted it on whilst riding though i'd use the old fashioned head phones with the head band and a single wire to one side of it and just have it around my neck (1 wire = bit less chance of being strangled with it).

I have considered riding with the ear plugs in as the field is next to the motorway, but I like to be able to hear what's going on... Plus I'm a bu**er for singing along and I don't think anyone would be best impressed with my opera!
 
i used an ipod shuffle a few times when schooling alone but hated the earphones. now school with iPhone playing in my pocket (speakers, not earphones) and i love it... and it's remote enough that i can still hear everything else. sometimes i hack out with it on too, but the lanes around here are incredibly quiet (as in, 2 cars in an hour = rush hour), i wouldn't otherwise.
 
Nada.

For all the good reasons above, plus, I want to be thinking about the horse's rhythms, not some random music ones. I ride for fun and set myself (albeit small) targets for nearly every ride, including hacks, so I don't need the extra entertainment. :-)
 
Other than schooling to music or galloping to blackbeauty music............................................

Why on earth would anyone want to ride whilst listening to music?

I love to take in the countryside, yap to my horse and myself... I just don't get it?
 
I don't understand the need to have music playing constantly in your head. What is wrong with listening to the birds, and having some peace and quiet.

I know I am abnormal in this respect...
 
Very Very dangerous ! girl on my yard did/does it when she can be bothered to ride, same as cyclists doing it
 
BigRed said:
I don't understand the need to have music playing constantly in your head. What is wrong with listening to the birds, and having some peace and quiet.

I know I am abnormal in this respect...
Click to expand...

Nope you are the norm I would imagine! I don't get it either, where I ride through the woods my ears are on stalks listening for the slightest sound, we have red deer who aren't frightened of the horses I like nothing more than spotting them and seeing how close I can get! If I had music blasting in my hears I wouldnt notice a thing!
 
Where I ride the woods are used by lots of people, walkers with/without dogs, get the odd pushchair, cyclists, runners, I like to be able to hear them coming, my horse usually hears before me but at least you can prepare yourself, there are lots of blind bends, I nearly go run into by a cyclist only the other evening, came hurtling round the corner followed by another 3 and they nearly all piled up, he didn't shout to warn them so I did, bearing in mind we are literally covered from head to toe in hi viz pink ! doesn't help around a blind bend ! BUT I heard him coming and could at least stop which if I didn't he would have hit us as he stopped in line with my horses shoulders, that spooked my horse for the rest of the ride.

I also see regular dog walkers who I like to have a chat with pass the time of day etc,
 
I sometimes school with mine, it's a quiet yard with nothing surrounding the arena, the risks are pretty low and it actually helps me focus on rhythms and how my horse feels :)

I don't hack with it, even though my hackings off road, I need to hear for any dangers and I enjoy the countryside
 
BigRed said:
I don't understand the need to have music playing constantly in your head. What is wrong with listening to the birds, and having some peace and quiet.

I know I am abnormal in this respect...
Click to expand...

Ditto!

Besides then I wouldn't be able to hear myself singing and I wouldn't want to miss that joy! ;);)

Seriously though just this morning I was walking on a country lane about 200 yards from home and could hear the sound of a car coming too fast in background. We are talking narrow lane and at this point there is no verge so am right against hedge and not far from bend so the car wouldn't have been able to see me coming.

Because I could hear the car coming from behind, I stopped the car coming the other way, pulled myself as far into hedge as possible and waved my right hand up and down to catch the driver's attention as she came around corner. Car slowed down in time and all was well (although shouldn't have been driving that fast in the first place but hopefully sight of our big black and white butt looming around the corner will have scared her for future!).

Dread to think what would have happend if I hadn't be able to hear and therefore stop the car coming towards me.

Besides I am a noise intolerant old grump so give me peace and quiet any day!:D
 
I don't - I think it's too dangerous out hacking, and when schooling I find quiet helps me to focus. If I'm just having fun in the arena sometimes I play music from my iPhone in my pocket - some horses seem to enjoy it too.

This post reminded me, though, of a lady I used to know who always wore her iPod when schooling alone at night. The yard arena was not that well lit and rather spooky, and her horse was a sharp little arab mare. Anyway, when the rider put her earphones in and concentrated on the music, the horse would settle and stop spooking. Just shows how much horses are influenced by their riders' moods.
 
Nope its dangerous, seen too many joggers not hearing cars as the one I nearly ran over the other day as she was not listening. Cyclists are the worst ones.
 
Yes.
I ride with my iPod. I put one ear phone in my ear and the other out. I never have it too loud, ie I can always hear horses hoofbeats and anything else around me.

I do this because I am a polo groom and i ride up to 4 sets a day. This is to say, generally 40 mins - an hour per set of monotonous walk/trot/canter work. We generally work on a set track so a) no traffic b) enclosed space c) generally it's only me or one other person who I will go behind so i can see what the horses are doing.

If it weren't for listening to my iPod during sets I would be very bored, i admit. I challenge anyone who does this 4 or 5 days a week not to be bored!
 
I wouldn't. We live down a lane that's much used as a cycle/running/dog walk route. Quite often we play the 'I wonder how long before they notice we're behind them' game - follow runner/cyclist/dog walker at their own pace several lengths behind. Being we have a diesel car, you can quickly tell who has the ipod on full blast. One time we followed a runner over a mile and a quarter before they realised we were behind (plenty of passing places they/we could have used)
 
BigRed said:
I don't understand the need to have music playing constantly in your head. What is wrong with listening to the birds, and having some peace and quiet.

I know I am abnormal in this respect...
Click to expand...

no no - you are not - although i suspect that it is a bit of a generational thing - my teenage daughter & her friends seem to have a constant soundtrack to their life:)

I used to run [ which is truly boring] with headphones until the day a man jumped out of the bushes at me [ nothing bad happened - but it was scary] - had i been alert & listerning - i would have had some warning
 
I have to admit I do..
I like going for a trot around the village listening to my music, of course I have one ear in and the other out and never have it to loud so I can hear everything, just with an added background music ;)
 
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