Wildlife when out hacking

ycbm

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Why do horses like mine who see wild deer regularly still get so transfixed and/or overexcited by them?
 

Pinkvboots

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View attachment 33305

Can't find a picture of the hoppers from horseback, use your imaginations :p This is a big male who shared my paddocks for a while. I had a healthy respect for him, he was about as tall as I am! Apparently they are still to be regarded as suspicious by the horses even though they live with them :rolleyes::rolleyes:

I think my horses would have a breakdown having to share a field with kangaroos, would be interesting coming across them out hacking :rolleyes:
 

Sussexbythesea

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Nothing particularly exotic. Hares, rabbits, killer squirrels, killer pigeons, killer pheasants. Dangerous deer including a herd of white ones, my old guy chases them out of the field and if he sees one out he’s been known to try and chase it. Lots of buzzard and red kite plus kestrel. I’ve seen an owl a couple of times and two dead adders on the bridleway. We’ve got green and spotted woodpeckers in the fields around the yard and saw a fox in broad daylight. Riding back at dusk in the Autumn I’ve seen bats fly past.
 

CavaloBranco

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I've ridden with herds of giraffe,zebra,gazelle and once was riding solo along a river bank surrounded by big trees when I got an uneasy feeling, as did my horse. We took off back to the farm and I later mentioned the feeling to my relative. He replied "We have a leopard on that area of river!!" 😲
This was about 25 years ago, in Kenya.
 

Desert_rider

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White deer? How beautiful.
Love hearing about everyone's sightings. The kangaroos look great but not so sure I would like to come across a bear!
 

fidleyspromise

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A Heron flew over us the other day. A few years ago came upon a couple fox cubs playing and it took them a while to realise we were there and run off. Have come across deer and red squirrels recently.
 

Pearlsasinger

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I used to regularly, in the 1970s, see a lion on a hacking route in W. Yorks!

Not quite 'wildlife', as she was a pet, she used to sit on the flat roof of an integral garage, or in the living-room window and watch the world go by. she must have been very well fed, as she actually seemed to have no interest in my horse. He took absolutely no notice of her. On the same hack, we passed a pig farm, he used to tiptoe past as quickly and quietly as he could!
 

Northern

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I think my horses would have a breakdown having to share a field with kangaroos, would be interesting coming across them out hacking :rolleyes:

Sharing a field is perfectly acceptable apparently (unless a whole mob is spooked and takes out your entire fence post!). We still have breakdowns if they decide to crash down through the bush nearby out hacking. Dead kangaroos may as well be a death sentence though...
 

Fransurrey

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We get a lot of the usual deer (roe and muntjack), squirrels and foxes, plus adders, lizards, pheasants, partridges, skylarks, woodlarks, woodpeckers (green and lesser spotted), nightjars, red kites, common buzzards, goldfinches, herons, kestrels, tawny/brown/little/barn owls. Very occasionally I'll see a stoat or weasel, or water vole. I used to have toads in my shelter and currently have 3 pet pheasants who I feed every morning - Betty, Mavis and Harold. Betty follows me everywhere and my yard neighbour thinks my corner is like a tacky Disney movie, he he! I also have bird feeders on the shelter, so get a lot of chaffinches, blue tits, great tits and robins.
 

sunshinepony

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I see so much wildlife out hacking, I always think that the wildlife societies etc should ask horse riders whats in decline as we notice things more! :)

Sadly I have also recently noticed an increased amount of rubbish on the curbs etc, anyone else noticed more rubbish? saw a lampshade in the grass the other day :eek:
 

AnShanDan

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Yep, all the usual ones here to. Loads of roe deer, they are taking over round here, regularly see herds of 12-15, often see foxes in daylight too, the odd badger, all small mammals, lots of birds from herons downwards, there used to be ostriches on a next door farm but they've gone now :)
 

ElectricChampagne

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I went trail riding with wild Kangaroo in Oz, I loved every second of it and had managed to take a video which I can' find now.

I've seen buzzard kills, deer (who grazed up beside me one day) Curlew, lapwing, foxes and her cubs (not as exciting as wolves, egypt sounds amazing!) and some kingfishers that flew right over my head as I strolled down a river on horseback.

I wish I could find a way to bring my DSLR with me out hacking but the weight of the 600m lens and trying to control a horse at the same time is something I'm not willing to try!

The one thing I do love is on a summers day in a yard where I used to be the banks of the river come alive with Beautiful demoiselle dragonflies, there are just millions of them and the sound of their wings beating is amazing. I love them, they are so pretty and iridescent in the sun

Pic robbed from Google for reference..

maxresdefault.jpg
 

scats

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There’s a bridlepath that runs through chester zoo... I’ve never ridden it but I’m quite curious! Millie would have a nervous breakdown probably. According to some people I know who’ve ridden it, you can see several of the animal enclosures quite clearly from the path.
 

irishdraft

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Foxes, grey herons, great egret , buzzards and various hawks occasionally deer but it get really exciting when we see wild boar families have to hang on tight !
 

Keith_Beef

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Bluebottles, greenbottles, hoverflies, crane flies, occasionally dragonflies and damselflies. (Damsel flies, not damn selfies)

Oh, and the nasty, vicious horse-eating crows, magpies, turtle doves and wood pigeons.

The very occasional deer.
 

turkana

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The usual birds & deer - also bonking people (twice)
We used to have a local flasher - I never saw him
Many years ago when working with race horese had a herd of deer join us for a gallop - one of my happiest memories
 

GoldenWillow

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Red squirrels, roe deer, fox, badger, kestrels, sparrow hawks, buzzards, occasionally owls. Many sea birds including all sorts of geese and hooper swans. Summer months jellyfish!
 

Xanthoria

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Our local (California) wildlife is out to get us - according to my horse! We regularly see wild turkey, quail (extra spooky), coyotes, blue heron, bobcats, great horned owls, ravens, screech owls, deer, raccoons and rabbits. My old horse jumped over a skunk once, and my current horse jumped over a bobcat in a drainage ditch. The coyote and bobcats are often in the arena when you're riding, tho luckily not at the same time... There are opossums and foxes too, but not often witnessed.

The one animal we don't see, but wow do the horses know if there's one around, is mountain lions. Hope I never meet one on a ride: they do show up in people's gardens here, and the occasional deer carcass or leg is found in the horse pastures after a meal. Am also very glad we're a couple hours from bear country...
 

Bearsmum

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A couple who probably shouldn't have been together in the middle of a bridleway; she was checking the rear screen of a ford sierrra & he was looking over her shoulder, making sure she was doing it right, but why all their clothes had fallen off I don't know, they were however so absorbed in the task that they didn't notice me or my large 1/4 horse, so we bid a hasty retreat
 

Shavings

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Dont have foxes badgers or squirrels hereon the Isle of Man so tends to be rabbits, hares , and birds or pray that i never know which is which

how ever we do have a "wild life " park which is kinda like a zoo back in the 60's they brought wallabys over but they jumped out and have bred and bred, so we often see wallbys, was riding a friends mare a few year ago and hope came round of the trees, mare pooped her pants and spun, being honest though they dont really like traffic or humans so best way to see them is how back, there is a show field in the north of the island where they are often spotted hoping through wile classes go on, down side is they carry Limes so can be a pain in ass
 

poiuytrewq

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I used to regularly, in the 1970s, see a lion on a hacking route in W. Yorks!

Not quite 'wildlife', as she was a pet, she used to sit on the flat roof of an integral garage, or in the living-room window and watch the world go by. she must have been very well fed, as she actually seemed to have no interest in my horse. He took absolutely no notice of her. On the same hack, we passed a pig farm, he used to tiptoe past as quickly and quietly as he could!
What!!! I’m stunned no one else has questioned this reply 😂
A lion in the living room window?!!?
That’s the craziest thing ever, I’d absolutely have had to knock their door and found out how, why?
 

Sleipnir

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My best wildlife experience was when I was cantering through a sun-flooded field in autumn, so the grass was as golden as the sunset and suddenly...a herd of 15 or so bucks flew out of a ditch. They apparently had perceived that my horse cantering = a prey animal running from something and joined us. Luckily, my gelding is brave when it comes to wildlife and he didn't even flinch! So, as long as the field went, I was cantering amidst of a herd of bucks so close that I might had even touched one if I had stretched my arm out. At the end of the field they cut our run by turning very sharply into the nearby woods and we had to stop, as my gelding wanted to follow them over another ditch :D

Apart from all kind of small forest critters, like hedgehogs, snakes, a wide array of birds, hares etc., we may and sometimes also meet foxes, deer, wild hogs and moose. There was also recently an alert that a brown bear has been spotted in our area and I must say that I'm not unhappy we didn't meet one.
 

Ddraig_wen

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Foxes, badgers, hedgehogs if its pretty late in the day, herons, jays, short eared owls, barn owls, buzzard, kestrel, marsh harrier,lizards, stoats, snakes hares, rabbits, egrets, geese, various seabirds, ravens, choughs, seals a couple of times, jellyfish and various insects and butterflies.

We also see the usual pheasants, pigeons, partridge etc too. One of my favourite memories is cantering through a field on the estate the old yard was on. Cantering up the hill in the long grass must have been 50 or more pheasants. The whole lot took flight in a progressive wave and the big boy didn't bat an eyelid just carried on
 
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