Twilight
Well-Known Member
Does anyone keep their horses near a wind farm they are proposing to build 8x 125m turbines less than 1km from our field - just wondered if anyone had any experience with them.
Wind farms and horses
- Thread starter Twilight
- Start date
Weezy
Well-Known Member
Rosiie has turbines near her and they cause no probs.
jojo2305
Well-Known Member
We have a big wind farm right above the farm. Not been a problem at all really. Doesn't bother the horses at all in the field and we still ride all around the moorland they are on. They actually don't seem to notice that much!
clipertyplop
Well-Known Member
To be honest i think i would rather have a wind turbine than a cell phone transmiting arial..what with all the cancer scares
Cuffey
Well-Known Member
Horses who see them all the time will get used to them
If your home will only be 1km away you need to investigate this thoroughly
There are people who are unable to sleep at that that distance but it is a particular type of turbine which is noisier
Ask to be taken to another windfarm built by same developers
If your home will only be 1km away you need to investigate this thoroughly
There are people who are unable to sleep at that that distance but it is a particular type of turbine which is noisier
Ask to be taken to another windfarm built by same developers
YorksG
Over the hill and far awa
Amber can spook at the shadow of the blades of a single turbine positioned in the garden of a house we ride past. I think this is because the shadows 'move' on the road, she doesn't seem to mind the turbine itself.
Tierra
Well-Known Member
Well, they're all over in Denmark since the danes are rather environmentally friendly enthusiasts and mine never even noticed the ones near us when we moved.
While some complain about them being ugly, the fact is they're a clean source of energy so i dont mind them at all
While some complain about them being ugly, the fact is they're a clean source of energy so i dont mind them at all
pottamus
Well-Known Member
You will be fine with them, by the time they have been erected your horses will be well used to the sight of them and contrary to popular rumour...they are not big noisy things at all. It is not the turbine that makes the noise but the wind moving through the propellars that creates the noise. I went to a massive wind farm in Wales to see and 'have an opinion'. I was stood on a hill top surrounded by hundreds of them and stood directly underneath one and there was a slight mechanical noise and the whoosh of the wind but nothing unpleasant at all. And that was one of the original farms...they make them even quieter now!
Horses are clever creatures and so long as their riders do not give them reason to think there is a problem with something they are usually fine.
Horses are clever creatures and so long as their riders do not give them reason to think there is a problem with something they are usually fine.
grimaldy
New User
Hi Twilight
This H&H 2004 article www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/56230.html is about much smaller turbines, but the danger message is clear. You are talking about eight monster towers almost the same height as the London Eye. The flash and flicker is known to disturb many horses but even worse are the moving, constantly changing shadows that unsettle horses. And if turbines start unexpectedly when horses are near, it will obviously frighten at least some.
It only takes one horse in a group to take fright and bolt to set the rest off. There are enough pressures on our horses already without playing Russian Roulette with rider safety.
In any case, industrial wind generation is a con. They dont work most of the time and need proper power stations to keep the lights on. As David Bellamy said How do you boil your kettle if the wind isnt blowing?
But probably the biggest concern is over health for riders and their horses. Vibroacoustic disease (VAD) has been found to be a chronic, progressive, cumulative, systemic disease. In humans it is associated with cancer, brain damage, pulmonary problems (children are said to be at particular risk) epilepsy, mood swings, suicidal tendencies and more.
A May 2007 press release: Industrial Wind Turbines, Infrasound and VibroAcoustic Disease (VAD) said this:
Research into VAD has been ongoing since 1980, conducted by a multidisciplinary team of scientists led by pathologist Nuno Castelo Branco, MD.
These results irrefutably demonstrate that wind turbines in the proximity of residential areas produce acoustical environments that can lead to the development of VAD in nearby home-dwellers.
In order to protect Public Health, ILFN-producing devices must not be placed in locations that will contaminate residential areas with this agent of disease.
France will not allow turbines within 1.5 kilometres of dwelling because of health risks and has now banned installations in the countryside.
Wind developers have a strong financial interest in promoting wind farms which are subsidised by an expected £1 billion this year alone and rising. That money is added straight onto your electricity bill.
You are right to want to know the facts Twilight. Unfortunately, the truth is not as rosy as we are being led to believe. Use your own knowledge of how horses behave and your common sense. It only takes one serious accident to wreck the lives of you and your horse.
If you want accurate, independent information Country Guardian can help you.
This H&H 2004 article www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/56230.html is about much smaller turbines, but the danger message is clear. You are talking about eight monster towers almost the same height as the London Eye. The flash and flicker is known to disturb many horses but even worse are the moving, constantly changing shadows that unsettle horses. And if turbines start unexpectedly when horses are near, it will obviously frighten at least some.
It only takes one horse in a group to take fright and bolt to set the rest off. There are enough pressures on our horses already without playing Russian Roulette with rider safety.
In any case, industrial wind generation is a con. They dont work most of the time and need proper power stations to keep the lights on. As David Bellamy said How do you boil your kettle if the wind isnt blowing?
But probably the biggest concern is over health for riders and their horses. Vibroacoustic disease (VAD) has been found to be a chronic, progressive, cumulative, systemic disease. In humans it is associated with cancer, brain damage, pulmonary problems (children are said to be at particular risk) epilepsy, mood swings, suicidal tendencies and more.
A May 2007 press release: Industrial Wind Turbines, Infrasound and VibroAcoustic Disease (VAD) said this:
Research into VAD has been ongoing since 1980, conducted by a multidisciplinary team of scientists led by pathologist Nuno Castelo Branco, MD.
These results irrefutably demonstrate that wind turbines in the proximity of residential areas produce acoustical environments that can lead to the development of VAD in nearby home-dwellers.
In order to protect Public Health, ILFN-producing devices must not be placed in locations that will contaminate residential areas with this agent of disease.
France will not allow turbines within 1.5 kilometres of dwelling because of health risks and has now banned installations in the countryside.
Wind developers have a strong financial interest in promoting wind farms which are subsidised by an expected £1 billion this year alone and rising. That money is added straight onto your electricity bill.
You are right to want to know the facts Twilight. Unfortunately, the truth is not as rosy as we are being led to believe. Use your own knowledge of how horses behave and your common sense. It only takes one serious accident to wreck the lives of you and your horse.
If you want accurate, independent information Country Guardian can help you.
*hic*
village idiot :D
[ QUOTE ]
And if turbines start unexpectedly when horses are near, it will obviously frighten at least some.
If you want accurate, independent information Country Guardian can help you.
[/ QUOTE ]
Good grief - have you ever SEEN wind turbines starting up! It takes some time (minutes) to be able to work out if they are moving or not! Hardly a sudden start up likely to frighten horses.
I hope "Country Guardian" has more accurate information.
And if turbines start unexpectedly when horses are near, it will obviously frighten at least some.
If you want accurate, independent information Country Guardian can help you.
[/ QUOTE ]
Good grief - have you ever SEEN wind turbines starting up! It takes some time (minutes) to be able to work out if they are moving or not! Hardly a sudden start up likely to frighten horses.
I hope "Country Guardian" has more accurate information.
clipclop
Well-Known Member
We have them near here. They don't cause any problems at all.
grimaldy
New User
jemima_too, if you have horses that dont react to any movement, flicker, or shifting shadows from eight nearby industrial scale structures 125 metres high, so well and good. That doesnt apply to everyone.
Twilight asked a reasonable question and I gave an answer intended to be constructive. I respect your right to hold whatever opinion you choose. Please return the courtesy.
Twilight asked a reasonable question and I gave an answer intended to be constructive. I respect your right to hold whatever opinion you choose. Please return the courtesy.
PeterNatt
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately some horses are scared by them.
Apart from the shadows and noise the rotating turbines also propel ice from the rotating blades in freezing weather.
In my experience horses that are scared of wind turbines never get used to them.
Apart from the shadows and noise the rotating turbines also propel ice from the rotating blades in freezing weather.
In my experience horses that are scared of wind turbines never get used to them.
horseguard
New User
FYI
[Translated from original copy of German article]
ST.GEORG Magazine JANUARY 2002
AGAINST WIND POWER
Olympic and World Champions have got together:
they demand that wind power stations be built away from riding stables.
Riders, friends of the riding community and owners of equestrian and breeding businesses are anxiously watching the encroachment of wind power installations over the landscape both in the Lander and throughout the country as a whole - chief among them Judith and Klaus Balkenhol. They want to prevent wind power stations from creeping even closer to riding stables.
The signatories to the Memorandum are particularly concerned that equestrian businesses which will be affected are not consulted during the application process. The construction of wind power stations close to such establishments puts into jeopardy the livelihoods of numerous businesses and endangers many jobs. Constructions in the open countryside threaten not only trekking but also recreational riding. Noise and flicker from the turbines do considerable harm to horse and rider and endanger them equally. It is not for nothing that a statutory separation was made compulsory over 200 years ago between windmills and open roads, otherwise horses are spooked.
The effect of breeding means that there is now a considerably greater number of highly sensitive horses.
(Quote from the Memorandum).
The riding community demand a separation of 2,500 - 3,000 metres [2.5 - 3.0 kilometres] between horses and windfarms.
The fight against windmills
Every rational person is in favour of alternative sources of energy. But when environmentally friendly but unsightly wind turbines start springing up like mushrooms outside your own front door you tend to view the whole situation somewhat differently. They are particularly unpopular with horse lovers because horses are spooked by the noises made by the turbines at different times and with varying intensity. This is particularly true of more highly-strung animals such as dressage horses. Klaus Balkenhol, former trainer of the German National Squad and now trainer of the US equestrian team, has recently found this out for himself.
The wind turbine that revolves some 1000 metres from his riding stables in Rosendahl, Münsterland, often irritates the horses being trained there to such an extent that it is impossible to work with them, let alone enjoy a relaxing ride out in the area around the windmill. Now a further six wind turbines are being planned, a fact that Balkenhol only discovered by chance. The Americans are not prepared to train under these conditions, says Balkenhols wife, Judith. The Association has made that clear to us. Selling the facility in the shadow of the windmill
would only bring in, at most, half of what we have invested in it.
A petition, signed by numerous top German riders and 17 stud farms, has been organised to try to alert the authorities to the danger and disturbance to the equine industry caused by wind turbines.
It is not just competition riders who are affected: leisure riders also dislike riding out under these whirligigs.
Yet Münsterland promotes itself with the fact that it offers perfect conditions for riding tourism, says Judith Balkenhol.
Wind turbines: A horror for horses.
[Translated from original copy of German article]
ST.GEORG Magazine JANUARY 2002
AGAINST WIND POWER
Olympic and World Champions have got together:
they demand that wind power stations be built away from riding stables.
Riders, friends of the riding community and owners of equestrian and breeding businesses are anxiously watching the encroachment of wind power installations over the landscape both in the Lander and throughout the country as a whole - chief among them Judith and Klaus Balkenhol. They want to prevent wind power stations from creeping even closer to riding stables.
The signatories to the Memorandum are particularly concerned that equestrian businesses which will be affected are not consulted during the application process. The construction of wind power stations close to such establishments puts into jeopardy the livelihoods of numerous businesses and endangers many jobs. Constructions in the open countryside threaten not only trekking but also recreational riding. Noise and flicker from the turbines do considerable harm to horse and rider and endanger them equally. It is not for nothing that a statutory separation was made compulsory over 200 years ago between windmills and open roads, otherwise horses are spooked.
The effect of breeding means that there is now a considerably greater number of highly sensitive horses.
(Quote from the Memorandum).
The riding community demand a separation of 2,500 - 3,000 metres [2.5 - 3.0 kilometres] between horses and windfarms.
The fight against windmills
Every rational person is in favour of alternative sources of energy. But when environmentally friendly but unsightly wind turbines start springing up like mushrooms outside your own front door you tend to view the whole situation somewhat differently. They are particularly unpopular with horse lovers because horses are spooked by the noises made by the turbines at different times and with varying intensity. This is particularly true of more highly-strung animals such as dressage horses. Klaus Balkenhol, former trainer of the German National Squad and now trainer of the US equestrian team, has recently found this out for himself.
The wind turbine that revolves some 1000 metres from his riding stables in Rosendahl, Münsterland, often irritates the horses being trained there to such an extent that it is impossible to work with them, let alone enjoy a relaxing ride out in the area around the windmill. Now a further six wind turbines are being planned, a fact that Balkenhol only discovered by chance. The Americans are not prepared to train under these conditions, says Balkenhols wife, Judith. The Association has made that clear to us. Selling the facility in the shadow of the windmill
would only bring in, at most, half of what we have invested in it.
A petition, signed by numerous top German riders and 17 stud farms, has been organised to try to alert the authorities to the danger and disturbance to the equine industry caused by wind turbines.
It is not just competition riders who are affected: leisure riders also dislike riding out under these whirligigs.
Yet Münsterland promotes itself with the fact that it offers perfect conditions for riding tourism, says Judith Balkenhol.
Wind turbines: A horror for horses.
clipclop
Well-Known Member
Quick reply,
This does all sound very dramatic.
We are surrounded by wind turbines down here. I do not know of anyone who has a problem with them.
I thought I may have problems but mine didn't even notice them, they were just part of the scenery so to speak.
Monsters in the hedgerows though,,,now that is serious stuff and they need to be exterminated. The problems those monsters cause me.
This does all sound very dramatic.
We are surrounded by wind turbines down here. I do not know of anyone who has a problem with them.
I thought I may have problems but mine didn't even notice them, they were just part of the scenery so to speak.
Monsters in the hedgerows though,,,now that is serious stuff and they need to be exterminated. The problems those monsters cause me.
grimaldy
New User
Shark infested puddles are serious too Bonzabean!
The "reach" of the new generation turbines will be much greater than existing installations. So far as I know, nothing as big as 125m tall (90metre Turbine diameter) has been built onshore so far.
Some of our horses are normally "bomb proof", but others are anything but. Generalisations don't help. But why build turbines anyway? They are unreliable and need backup - which means duplication and no worthwhile CO2 savings. So what's the point?
The "reach" of the new generation turbines will be much greater than existing installations. So far as I know, nothing as big as 125m tall (90metre Turbine diameter) has been built onshore so far.
Some of our horses are normally "bomb proof", but others are anything but. Generalisations don't help. But why build turbines anyway? They are unreliable and need backup - which means duplication and no worthwhile CO2 savings. So what's the point?