What's the strangest thing you've had happen at your yard?

We recently had a guy asking to see the most senior person on the estate as there had beena dreadful misunderstanding...he wanted to tell him that the world was going to end! :eek: ;)
Another is one I didn't experience myself, thank god! YO had fed some youngsters in the field next to mine (before we moved to the yard) and after he'd got back in the house he noticed the horses were going mad so he went to investigate. went into the field and glanced up to see a bloke in a dairy farmers overcoat (we have a jersey farm next door). He said hello & asked if he could help etc but received no reply & his attention was drawn back to the horses - the next time he looked up teh man was gone and he thought no more of it than it was a bit of odd behaviour.
Long story short it turns out the bloke had worked there years before but had died a couple of years before the sighting!!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: It's lovely putting hay out in winter, on my own, in the pitch black, in the next door field!!!!!!
 
The oddest was one morning coming on to the yard to find almost every horse out of their stable. Luckily we did shut exterior access to the yard as well so nothing could have got on to a road, and we always shut and locked tackrooms and feedrooms etc - the hay store, not so much, so we came in to find tons of horses wandering around looking a bit confused, some gorging themselves on hay, and a few sweeties still lying in their (open) stables, probably wondering why all the others didn't know it was sleep time! We had a horse who could let himself out (kick bolt and all with his tongue, it was quite impressive to watch, but you had to hide, as he wouldn't do it if you were around!) and he could let others out too. Normally he had a clip on his door, but someone forgot, and he had a merry old time opening doors all night!

The most embarrassing, after a show at the yard, we were all having a party, fair bit of drinking etc. A few of the young teenage helpers were allowed to be there, and sleep over in the staff accommodation (for good behaviour) but no drinking (frankly, it meant we could send them out to do morning stables when we were too hungover the next day to function 100%!) They entertained themselves, as teenage girls do, and I barely noticed them all evening, until one of them came running over and said 'Miss (yes, really, I think she was in full on school teacher mode) there are funny noises coming from the stables, we think one of the horses might be hurt, but the lights aren't working so we can't check. So off I toddle, torch in hand, and came across one of the liveries in flagrante delicto in one of the horse's stables - with the horse still in there - and it wasn't even her own horse/stable! I had to think quick and sent my teenage entourage to 'run and get me some salt water and cotton wool' while I got rid of the two adults and then had to pretend to treat a fake wound!
 
Some of these are REALLY odd!
The strangest thing I've come across is my old neighbours place where the enclosed yard of 8 stables is about 50 yards from the hay barn. You have to go past the yard to get to the barn.
One morning their old lab was a bit unsettled, only to discover that 1 pony (all of 11hh and couldn't really look out over the door) was missing, yard was still closed, involving a set of slip rails and a locked double gate. Her stable door was closed, only bottom bolt was still fastened. Not only that, but there was a trail of hay from the barn, back through the yard and out towards their garden and it stopped by a tree.
The pony - Fudge, was found grazing happily by the stream a few hundred yards away, nothing wrong with her. The hay was cleaned up and nothing more strange happened til about 2 weeks later when lightening hit the tree bringing it down across the path, breaking the yard gates and barely missing Fudges stable door!!
Some might say thats freaky, I did when I heard about it. Then again it might just be one of those things.
 
something weird happened to me today, actually :) weird lol.

We got to the yard this morning and did the usual, feed and rug up my two horses then turn them out (its been raining here something awful so they have summer sheets on atm). Once they were out and happily munching away we got to sorting out the haynets. My dad goes in my lads stable and says ''oh, have you already taken his haynet?'' and i say ''no...why?? is it not there??!'' and after a couple of seconds he comes out of the stable looking shocked..the haynet was on the floor..not so weird i hear you say..well it was still tied, in the exact same way as i tied it the night before! we checked the tying ring and there are no marks or holes in it and theres no damage to the walls either o.O strange!

and once on another yard someone stabbed our wheelie tyres so we put it away and when we came back the next day with stuff to fix it, they were already fixed! we asked everyone on the yard and they all swear that they hadn't been anywhere near it and it was hidden by the horse walker anyways..very strange! :)

xxx
 
In fact I just remembered a ghostly experience we heard of on our yard
Where our yard is, its over a canal and well into the farmland with no houses around - there's a main yard which then leads onto a two aisled smaller yard (where Kelly is). The muck heap is behind that, down a little "alley" if you will. There is the muckheap, massive hay barn (which agreed is rather eerie at night, full of bats flying round and the odd strange noise) and nothing but fields. Our yard now shuts at 9pm but before this rule was in place some people didn't get down till gone 10pm after work and one day we went down and everyone seemed quiet, the horses were unsettled etc - our YO then told us that around 10:30 the night before, the dogs had been very restless and barking, growling etc, there was only 2 liveries down and when YO was doing final checks, she heard an almighty scream from near the muck heap - she rushed round there with one of the dogs and one of the liveries was on the floor in a heap with her wheelbarrow next to her, claiming she had just seen a little girl in a long white dress wandering towards her between the hay and straw barns! Apparently as soon as she screamed, she disappeared.
I've never forgotten being told this and when it's dark and I have to go to the muck heap now, I rush!!!
 
A few years ago, was up early(5.30) to go to a show, walked over to catch our horses, when I heard a girl calling the names of the (only)two horses in that field. There was absolutely noone else about, and besides a few friends, noone else knows our horses names.
I can see through our hedge onto the road, and not a soul was there, on my property or anywhere else... sure spooked me.:confused:
 
Some spooky ones!!!! Mine is a bit spooky too.

When I was about 10, my mum worked at a riding school, and my lesson used to be on a Weds night, 6 til 7, so you can imagine at certain times of the year it was dark before we started. We all used to help take the ponies to the field after.
The girls who worked on the yard left me behind in the field and walked back via the bridleway. I was too scared to catch them up in the dark so ran back to the yard via the road which was lit by the glare from other lights across a football pitch (we were attached to a Naval base).
As I was running up, I looked across the footy pitch to see a small grey pony grazing in the middle. I stopped after doing a double take, thinking it was an escapee. Pony looked up at me, and vanished.

I ran!!!!!!!

Years later when I was working there full time, the other girls told me about the time a particularly unfriendly grey pony got loose and into the back school. They ran to get food and brooms to herd him back, he looked up, turned and trotted right THROUGH the fence and bushes beyond without a sound. They found said unfriendly pony still locked in his stable behind his bars as usual. And I hadn't told anyone my story......
 
I came out of the house one morning, fed round then went to the barn to do haynets only to find all the drawstrings had been cut! Every single one, even some spares hanging up. Barn doors were still shut, not one of three dogs had barked during the night and the barn was thirty feet from the house. My OH worked nights at the time and I was a bit spooked the following night by myself!
 
Nothing so far! My tack all got moved around the tack room once, but i think that was people being greedy! with the nmber of saddles they have.

My horses yard is in the middle of know where, and her field backs on a very very quiet road, so dont have to worry about things like that!
 
A couple of years back one of the girls in the yard rode naked in the paddock on a video, it was the audition tape for Big Brother ~ she didn't get on the show !!

Kev
 
A friend and I found someone trying to commit suicide:(

We'd just finished riding and where walking the dogs along a pathway we wanted to see was suitable for riding, fairly late at night, not far from our field.

Parked up, a good 200yrsd off the road (along a very stone definiitly-not-for-cars track) was a red car, with it's engine running.

Walked past it joking that a couple were probably have a bit of fun and didn't really look twice. :o

But it was still there half hour later when we came back as it was starting to get dark, with the engine still running. Walked past it this time supiciously, and noticed a pipe running from the exhaust into the boot :eek:

After dithering for a while (two young girls in the semidark with a potenitally suicidal maniac!) we crept up and knocked on the window but couldn't really see anything as the windows had all fogged up.

So we kicked the exhaust pipe off and ran away to a safe distance to call the police and a farmer friend just down the road!

10mins later 2 police cars screeched up and farmer friend just behind on a quad bike. All the doors were locked but you could just see a shape on the back seat, not moving.

For some reason (can't remember why ) my tiny friend ended up climbing through the boot, over the guy and turning the engine off and unlocking the doors.

Poor guy was starting to come round as they pulled him out of the car and the saddest part was he was SOOOO apologetic he was taking up people's time :(

We got taken home but the police and the guy was taken away in a ambulance.

Sadly there was a report of a man who killed himself jumping off a bridge a couple of days later - we're pretty sure it was the same guy :(
 
tallyho! said:
That girl/whoever in your barn is such a wierdo! Who would DO that???

My strange story is stranger than fiction!!! I worked on a yard years ago and lived in a caravan over the summer there on my own opposite the fields where the horses were turned out. One night while I was reading my book in bed, I heard all the horses screaming and thought that maybe one had got stuck in the ditch. So I got up and threw on my wellies and coat while outside I heard the thundering hooves and imagined the worst.

I opened the door, it was mid summer about 10pm so the sky still had a purpley-blue glow to it and the hills were silhouetted black against the sky, and could see the horses, all tails and heads up, looking up to the sky. I was trying my hardest to see who was in the ditch. I walked to the fence about 20 yds away and then I looked up only to see three UFOs. All cylindrical in shape, quite loud, silvery black. One was travelling at great speed from the hills, another hovered above the fields not that far up, another was near the farmhouse moving really slowly. As they were waiting for the third to catch up. As soon as it was near, all three shoomed off. I was completely rooted to the spot with my mouth open.

I know I wasn't dreaming as the family in the farmhouse saw them too and then there were reports on the local radio the next day.

After they left the horses calmed down immediately as if nothing happened and I thought I would have trouble turning them out again but apart from a few glances up to the sky for a few days afterwards, they were none-the-worse for thier experience!!!
Click to expand...


Okay, that is totally strange! :eek:

The one and only time I saw a UFO was back in the 70's when I was out late at night with a bunch of friends and I was doing rather a lot of acid. :o

I still think I saw something but it's hard to convince anyone of it because of that. :p
 
Rache said:
The worst thing ive ever had happen to me down the yard, (not current one) was I turned up late one summers evening to wash down my horse as going to a show the next day.
I walked into the yard and heard alot of screaming, and shouting as if they were being beat up, so I called the YO husband as I thought he would deal with it better then me, being only 13 at the time. So down he came (livid on site) and he walked into the tack room to find his wife in there with the RI.
No I dont know what was worst; the sounds of the screaming before the husband found out, the screaming afterwards, both really haughted me for ages. Plus it was the first time id seen such things.
Mum quickly moved the horse after that
Click to expand...

Oh, my god! :eek::eek::eek:

That's hysterically funny but must have been really traumatic, too!
 
We did have a strange problem at my last yard with phantom ponies shitting in the school - or at least I assume they were phanton because when you asked people to clean up everyone swore it was nothing to do with them!
 
baymareb said:
Okay, that is totally strange! :eek:

The one and only time I saw a UFO was back in the 70's when I was out late at night with a bunch of friends and I was doing rather a lot of acid. :o

I still think I saw something but it's hard to convince anyone of it because of that. :p
Click to expand...

LOL! Do hope no one had spiked my hot chocolate and marshmallows :D:D

Lots of people said they saw orange lights, I didn't see the lights only the sounds and shape but according to reports there were lots of them even being spotted in Wales.

http://www.uk-ufo.co.uk/2009/06/weston-super-mare-13th-june-2009/

Never thought I'd be a spotter but I am the converted ;)
 
"We did have a strange problem at my last yard with phantom ponies shitting in the school - or at least I assume they were phanton because when you asked people to clean up everyone swore it was nothing to do with them!"

we have the same phantoms except they **** in the wash box.....................................and there are also the ghost farriers who randomly shoe peoples horse in front of my stable, leave all the nails etc and then these ponies float away as no one cleans up
 
Used to rent a field with a field shelter/stable and got up there one morning to find a polarid (sp) photo of a man for the waist down only wear a pair of football shorts.
Gave if to the local bobby who fair play to him asked around the local footie team to ask which team used them socks lol
 
These are great! Not at my yard but on a hack once.

I was riding down a long, straight country rode on my pony years ago, to this day I always look but there is nowhere you could go once on the road, hedges on either side etc.
I heard hoofbeat behind me and looked around to see if I knew who it was to see a girl of about 9 yrs riding a small roan pony fully cad in hunting gear. I thought it was odd to go for a hack like this but continued walking down the road. With that she began to trot, which I didn't give much thought to until she started getting quite close.
I turned around and smiled at her, trying to draw her attention to the fact that she was getting quite close to the back end of a horse she didn't know. She smiled back and I thought to myself 'oh well, looks like she's joining me then'. I could her her pony's hooves behind me and knew she was close enough to touch if I tried by now, and my pony started behaving quite oddly, shying and trying to plunge and get away so I turned around again to ask her to give us some space and she was gone.
There was nowhere for her to go. That I can promise, with thick ten foot high edges on either side with no gaps in them whatsoever.
Still gives me the creeps to think about it now!
 
Very weird but turned out to have a logical explanation -

I turned up at the yard at 6 one morning to do Dylan and my friend's horse before uni. When I got there, one of the livery horses was tied up outside her box; I was a bit confused because there were no other cars in the car park, but I know her owner does a lot of running so I figured she'd jogged up to the yard (which she sometimes does) and was in the feed room or something. So I got my two done, half an hour later when I was ready to leave she was still tied up outside and I'd still seen no sign of anyone else on the yard! I put her in her box, as I didn't want to leave her there with nobody about.

Asked about later, turned out the farrier (not my farrier, another one who does some of the horses at our yard) had been in and shod her the previous evening ... and as far as we can tell he must have left her tied up outside all night with no hay or water! :mad:
 
(not at the yard) A few years ago me and my friend went for a walk down the local woods. We always used to walk down there as there was a field there with a horse in we used to go feed grass to over the fence. we were then about to leave and said horse was very aggetated and not acting his usual self and starting galloping around the field then suddenly stopped down the bottom of his field and just starred at the trees along the side of his field (these were huge trees all really close together so you couldnt get through to the other side) We decided to go in and see what he was looking at. Got to the side where he was looking at and couldnt hear or see anything! Horse then started calling out! and running in circles and as he stopped we could hear the sound of thundering hooves behind the trees and it sounded like it was getting closer, it was so loud! sounded like 100s of horses then the noise just stopped! and then all the trees shook like there was a massive gust of wind (there was no wind) and only those tress shook. by this point we were pretty frightened and ran back to the gate. went to look around the other side of the trees which is another open field. nothing there! no hoof prints on the ground nothing! There wouldnt have been other horses grazing or people riding in there as it was left as water meadow. :-S
 
At my last yard several of us had a very unsettling experience. Apparently the yard was built over a saxon burial ground and every livery had experienced the hairs on the back of their neck rise when they walked passed one of the arenas, when the lights were off. However, several of us stayed behind one night in the managers office to have beer and chips. The only people who were on the yard were the 5 of us, all the american barn doors were locked and we were inside of it. Above the office was a large mezzanine area where we kept all our things which was accessed by a narrow stairway just down from the office. The stairway was metal and clanked when someone walked on it. The flooring onthe mezzanine was wooden and noisy. In a gap in the chat we all heard very loud, measured steps walking down the mezzanine towards the office area. They stopped above us for a few seconds and walked loudly away, returing a few seconds or so later. We sent one of the liveries (a man!) to go and look and he returned with a white face, refusing to talk, a few minutes or so later. To this day he wont talk about it, and god knows what was there.

We've also all seen a hand on the stair rails, and if you took photos in the tack room, which was below the mezzanine you quite often got lots of 'light anomalies' in it. Also, if you turned your horse out to a particular field in the dark, you would always have the feeling that someone or something was following you. It didnt bother the horses oddly enough, but every livery said the same thing. Havent been on that yard for 4 years or so, and it still makes me shiver. Oddly enough, during the day and at night when the lights were on and you were in company it was ok.
 
Got to say we must have ghosts at our yard.

I often do down to find that my horses head collars and lead ropes are missing then find them abandoned somewhere about the yard. Also my whips get moved and all her meadow herb treats amazingly vanish into thin air.

I have mentioned this to everyone but nobody seems to know who or what is doing this.

Spooky ;)
 
TheoryX1 said:
At my last yard several of us had a very unsettling experience. Apparently the yard was built over a saxon burial ground and every livery had experienced the hairs on the back of their neck rise when they walked passed one of the arenas, when the lights were off. However, several of us stayed behind one night in the managers office to have beer and chips. The only people who were on the yard were the 5 of us, all the american barn doors were locked and we were inside of it. Above the office was a large mezzanine area where we kept all our things which was accessed by a narrow stairway just down from the office. The stairway was metal and clanked when someone walked on it. The flooring onthe mezzanine was wooden and noisy. In a gap in the chat we all heard very loud, measured steps walking down the mezzanine towards the office area. They stopped above us for a few seconds and walked loudly away, returing a few seconds or so later. We sent one of the liveries (a man!) to go and look and he returned with a white face, refusing to talk, a few minutes or so later. To this day he wont talk about it, and god knows what was there.

We've also all seen a hand on the stair rails, and if you took photos in the tack room, which was below the mezzanine you quite often got lots of 'light anomalies' in it. Also, if you turned your horse out to a particular field in the dark, you would always have the feeling that someone or something was following you. It didnt bother the horses oddly enough, but every livery said the same thing. Havent been on that yard for 4 years or so, and it still makes me shiver. Oddly enough, during the day and at night when the lights were on and you were in company it was ok.
Click to expand...

:O!! That one sent a shiver down my spine!
 
QR

Footsteps, no people. Sometimes you could make out either a grey mist or a dark shape.

Hoofbeats, no horses (on hard grass, exercise track, and concrete).

Stable doors being opened (bolts sliding, kick bolts opening etc), but no loose horses or people around. People living there would often think there were thieves about and come running out to check, but no sign of any disturbance. One local farrier stayed there for a couple of nights and then left, refusing to spend another night there.

Running water/buckets being filled, no one there, no water running. Sometimes you could make out a dim shape near the tap (it was usually one particular one).

Brushing/mucking out sounds, no one else there.

Dust clouds on the exercise track, no horses out there, no wind to cause it.

Horses wouldn't settle in certain areas/stables, constant feeling of being watched and followed. Really eerie place. When I was first there, I was 15, and put it down to teenage-girl-spookiness. But when several other people said they'd seen/heard the same, I started to wonder. Then my Dad admitted he'd seen/heard stuff too, and I decided there was more to it.

I did a lot of digging into the history. Couldn't find out what was there before, but it was originally built as a racing stud and was very well known (they had one of the Derby winners standing there). Then in the 70's or 80's, there was a run of bad luck - the stallion died (and was buried on the yard, then dug up when the original owners left!), the owners husband and daughter died (within a month or so I think, completely separately), and the stud fell apart. When I was there, it was a polo yard, so deserted over the winter and madly busy over the summer. All of the spooky stuff happened year round though. There were also rumours of a suicide, but no further details.

I am SO glad I left that yard. I used to feel something following me all along the drive, around the yard, and it would watch me do the horses. Not so bad during daylight, but my 10pm late check often turned into a short drive to the yard (only 5 mins walk, but too spooky on my own!), leaving the car running just outside my stables while I threw an extra section of hay in for each horse. I hated it. Would love to know what's there though....
 
I remember once i went down the field on my own and went to do the feed, opened Ladys Feed bin and there was about 10 dead rats and mice piles on top of each other, some with legs missing, other were headless. luckily the feed bin was almost empty so my friends mum disposed of it all (including the dead creatures) as i felt so sick and scared i couldnt open the lid until i bought a new bin!! no idea how all the mice got in there as there were no holes in the bin or lid :confused:
 
when i was home (Scotland always be my home :D) where i was brought up was next to the beach fields were next to house so last night checks were easy (count the flashing eyes game with torch) went out and found 4 neds all huddled together in corner looking out onto field, which was weird as had 2 loners in field who would rather graze just away from rest but not far enough to be out with herd. so walked about 15 sec down road to gate fields surrounded by a burn on both sides bar bit where gate and house are, got into field and walked towards 4 neds faces keeping torch on them at all times in case they spook and bolt, talking to them the whole way so they knew it was me (middle of country no street lights) heard a noise behind me and swung round with torch and see flash of a man dressed in old style working gear so i bolted towards horses! after 10 mins my dad (fields in line with house) came out shouting i answered back saying i wasn't leaving horses safety until he came get me! he walked down to gate as i bolted to gate through field, dad thought i had been attacked by someone but when i explained he said "its willie" and explained to me the old distillery was bombed in war as Germans thought it was a military factory and all drink flooded the burns and animals were drunk for miles! turned out "willie" as my dad named him died in the bombings and has been see regularly and meant me no harm. still was scared for years after and last night checks were with dog/dad for a while!

1941 Bombed on August 16th during the Second World War
 
Last edited:
eee these are creepy but they're so interesting to read...
All that's happened on my yard is one of the girls (who has now left) used to go down to the stables and ride the ponies bareback in the field with one of her friends. Same girl stole something and was only let back with her social worker...
Also one of the ponies had her mane cut with scissors in the night.
Once we came down on a Saturday and the horses had swapped fields! Girls were in the boys and vice versa. Very odd, we were sure that we shut the gate separating them but it was wide open in the morning!
Nothing interesting has happened, though. The yard was just playing fields before the horses moved in... I'd be surprised to find the spirit of a boy who'd lost a football match :P
x
 
Eerie! Loads of ghostly happenings and I've goosebumps reading all the stories - I don't actually believe in them either but I certainly would not like to experience it for myself...

*shivers*
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top