You think you’ve seen everything out hacking and then...

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I think you might well mean THE Naked Rambler, Stephen Gough. He was very well known until a few years ago, spent a lot of time in prison for insisting he had a right to walk naked.

He's the one I came across, and my horse was transfixed by the wobbly bits he'd never seen before. He wouldn't take his eyes off them. It was hilarious.
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My OH got his picture in the paper with him as he walked through the village. The local paper thought the nice sleepy village would make a good story then 5 racehorses turn up to join the party ??
 

Sussexbythesea

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I think you might well mean THE Naked Rambler, Stephen Gough. He was very well known until a few years ago, spent a lot of time in prison for insisting he had a right to walk naked.

He's the one I came across, and my horse was transfixed by the wobbly bits he'd never seen before. He wouldn't take his eyes off them. It was hilarious.
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Does he travel south? we have a naked rambler too although thankfully I’ve not personally come across him.
 

BeckyFlowers

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Once when my cousin and I were riding (same area as the people pretending not to have sex) we went into one of the fields and there was a tent pitched. Horses had their eyes out on stalks and as we were going past (snorting, stamping and generally acting like a pair of wallies) the bloke inside unzipped and poked his head out to see what was going on! Unbelievably the horses just stood there staring at him - and he stared at them. He then zipped himself back in and we went on with our day.
 

clairefeekerry1

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a few years ago I was hacking thru some woods and felt I was being watched. I looked up to a big branch and the biggest bird of prey I have ever seen in my life was perching on it. It had a massive hooked beak and huge claws. It was honestly massive. I had to ride under it and it just sat there and eyeballed me the whole way and spread it’s wings. Not sure what it was but it was insanely intimidating
 

Melody Grey

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Walking out in hand today (vet demand, not my choice!), passed a load of dumped rubbish cue snorting and stamping. just got past it, thought we'd managed it and then M clocked a loaf of bread on the road, burst open and slices falling out of the bag as funny angles completely lost his sh*t over it ?‍♀️ I have never been so worried about finding bread again!!
 

JFTDWS

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I've had a fair few of these - flashers, bouncy castles, parked up cars contains couples in flagrante delicto, people playing loud musical instruments in peculiarly rural locations (my favourite was a jazz trio), and a few times I've come across couples having picnics right on the middle of a bridleway, complete with blankets spread across the width of the track and wicker hampers. Inflatables, steam engines and hot air balloons have all been commonplace at various yards I've been on.

The weirdest was probably the time I was walking my mare along the road and an elderly couple were driving slowly towards me in an old estate car. Then, as if in slow motion, the front wheel on the nearside of the car completely detatched and rolled down the road towards me, falling on its side practically at my mare's feet. She looked at it, slightly baffled. The old chap got out of his car and walked over, picked it up and rolled it back, as if this happened all the time :eek:
 

Shooting Star

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A clown complete with the giant shoes and huge bunch of helium balloons, strangely enough the reaction of my horse wasn’t too bad ... but when we met a man doing press-ups on the pavement there was a full on meltdown?

Also used to have a fair bit of drama when we used to come across a lady running with a giant tyre for resistance training being dragged along behind her!
 

Caol Ila

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Gosh. On my hacks at my old yard, we regularly encountered Highland bagpipes, junkies, twelve-year olds drinking Buckfast, burnt-out cars, abandoned sofas, and once, a couple having sex in a car. But it all seems so boring compared to your stories.

That said, there was the time we rode past a falconer carrying his hawk on his wrist. Horse wasn't fazed at all, but the hawk lost its sh**t when it saw us and was flapping frantically on its handler's arm, throwing itself against the tresses. That part of S. Lanarkshire is really not where I'd expect to see falconry. I wouldn't have minded a better look at the bird, because it was pretty damn cool, but I got the sense that its owner wanted us to not be there as quickly as possible.
 
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SEL

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Dead body.
always been my nightmare when I used to ride over Cannock Chase. We were often notified of missing people and they would purposely have vanished into the depths of the Chase to end their lives. Terribly sad but I would always pray it wouldn't be me finding them - never was thankfully.
 

ponyparty

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A white-haired old gentleman playing a huge Swiss alphorn under a motorway bridge (I presume to replicate the echoing off the mountainsides). Always very polite and stops playing while we pass - horses bizarrely not bothered by it though, even my numpty horse who’s scared of everything!
 

HashRouge

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Does he travel south? we have a naked rambler too although thankfully I’ve not personally come across him.
He's walked all over the UK, I remember reading an article about him in the Guardian. I think he was talking about trying to walk from Lands End to John O'Groats and said he kept getting arrested as soon as he entered Scotland. England was apparently more tolerant!
 

Floofball

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An old farmer in his very old tractor with his jersey cow tied to the back, moving VERY slowly ? Apparently he was struggling to exercise her in hand anymore!

A suspicious acting animal in the distance bobbing up and down in a field = hidden tiger snorting dragon episode. Was a Teletubby helium balloon on its last legs ?
 
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