Do you ever worry about your safety?

MrA

MrA

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Feb 8, 2012
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When you are down the yard alone?

I never really give it a second thought but I'm often down the yard late alone after work. I do ride occasionally but I make sure I text someone when I get on and when I get off.

Tonight for the second time in a couple of months I got a bump on the head at the yard. First time ale headbutted me and today as I bent down he lifted his leg to get a fly off his knee and wholloped me. Although I'm fine I got knocked off balance and it got me wondering wether perhaps I should wear a hat when I'm alone down there in the evenings?

But then its very unlikely him headbutting me or similar would be bad enough to knock me out or anything and I trust him not to kick me (touch wood)

Anyone else down the yard alone what do you do??
 
Riding and handling horses is high risk and I have been knocked out when leading a young horse who spooked and knocked me over then trampled me. But I don't really worry about it tbh.! I hack out alone. I also run alone and could turn an ankle. Or come off my bike in a quiet country lane. Life is dangerous! But I do check in and out when riding or running alone so if I didn't reappear someone would come looking.
 
Working alone is an unavoidable part of my job and has been for years so I don't really think about it to be honest. I don't worry, just go about my business and take the same precautions I always take. And I always have my phone in my pocket when I'm around the horses or out hacking. But accidents happen, they're horses - and yes sometimes you will be alone when you get hurt, but as KP says, that's life, it's dangerous!
 
I've never really thought about it to be honest. The old yard I was on I was nearly always alone, early morning and late at night but it never worried me, as long as you use a bit of common sense there isn't much more you can do.
 
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I wear a hat at all times when handling horses, so does my grand daughter. This is regarded as an eccentricity but my great aunt was killed by a blow to the head when on the ground with her horse. Richard Maxwell, the trainer, is another one who suffered a severe head injury when leading a horse. So it happens even to the best of us.
 
This plays on my mind sometimes, I am always at the yard alone (YO in the house but can't hear a thing and is bed ridden and her daughter stays by her side 24/7), I also live alone so if something happened on Friday night there is a fair chance I wouldn't be noticed as missing until Monday morning when I didn't show up to work.
I am crap at letting people know when I'm riding and given I go out all day often I'm not sure how much it would help if something happened as they would be used to it being hours before I got back. I did try out that SOS app that text's your nominated number if you become immobile for a set length of time, but digging in my pocket for my phone to pause it when the alarm went off because I was stopped for a picnic or something, perhaps it would work for you though when cycling and on the yard as well as riding?
 
I never give it a second thought either. I quite often ride with nobody around, and am at the yard at night with nobody around. Mind you my family would notice pretty quickly if I didn't come back when I said I was going to!
 
As I live on my own I have got far less 'brave' as I have got older. I will do stabled horses but hate fetching in from fields or turning out on my own. We have had a few escapee incidents last year when I was called out in the middle of the night, I cope in an emergency but reluctantly , so much so we are going to build a house for daughter here rather than her being 20 minutes away. I always have phone with me as I have an irrational fear of falling over my own feet ( most likely being tripped up by dog!!)
 
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Yes maybe I will look into one of those SOS apps, I go cycling in the woods and I've almost come off on a few occasions. Its mainly being knocked out that worries me, I have my phone, not sure wether or not I would get signal all over the forest but I do down the yard so could ring someone if I hurtmyself, but if I was unconscious then what....
 
I live alone and am mostly out riding/ running alone. I used to call my parents before and after a ride when I was having Flipo issues and we were going through a rocky first couple of years but now I dont.
Incidentally, I went for a run yesterday afternoon and knew 80% of my route, but there was a bit I had only tracked on a map and when I was running along it, I had the fear that I was getting more lost as the trail narrowed, didn't seem to be heading the direction I wanted to go and I had no signal to check if I was going the right way!
I guess the only saving grace would be that my mate would notice I hadn't checked the horses the following morning (I always do nights). But what she would or could do about it, I don't know!
We take chances in life, hopefully the majority are well calculated. If we lived our lives in fear of everything, we'd never do anything and remain very unhappy people.
 
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I occassionally feel a bit vulnerable when riding and there's no one at the yard, but I always make sure I have my phone in me with charge. I don't really think about it when I'm just doing him though.

I hated being up at the old yard alone at night after the mutulation incident. Being alone, surrounded by darkness and knowing there was a nutter running around with a knife was unsettling to say the least! It made me furious that this person had ruined my lovely little sanctuary where I would happily pop up for late night cuddles on my own.
 
Laura_107 said:
I occassionally feel a bit vulnerable when riding and there's no one at the yard, but I always make sure I have my phone in me with charge. I don't really think about it when I'm just doing him though.

I hated being up at the old yard alone at night after the mutulation incident. Being alone, surrounded by darkness and knowing there was a nutter running around with a knife was unsettling to say the least! It made me furious that this person had ruined my lovely little sanctuary where I would happily pop up for late night cuddles on my own.
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That must have been awful. How very scary for you. Did they catch the person?
 
My old YO came off once in the indoor school, her mum was in the house and others were on the yard and no one knew anything until YO stumbled out of the school with horse in tow later, they worked out she'd been unconscious for about an hour and a half, so even people around doesn't nec mean they can help.
 
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