Deer?

[FirenLady]

Anyone have any trouble with thier horse with them?

Round here bracken is 6ft tall, grass 3ft etc etc and everywhere I go there are two beady black eyes staring at us. The ones round here seem to have a lovely habbit of waiting until you pull up level with them and then springing high into the air and running off, and its really not helpful

Fire is very solid with them. They'll occassionaly spook him, not often though and he doesn't go far. Took Trav for a solo hack on Tues, he'd been such a superstar (apart from nibbling trees). Got to the bottom corner about 15m away a stag just leaps out of the long grass right in front of us. He spins round takes two canter strides then stops, to have a look at what it was. Bless him, I think that one would have scared Fire. It doesn't half make you feel jumpy though. There were 2 more at the top of the field and cos he could see these he didn't mind just watched them as they jumped into the wood and back out again. Then one of them darted across the field we was riding along the edge of and back again! he was very good with that

It doesn't make hacking much fun though when they randomly jump out in front of us, its the second time they've done it. I feel like I'm always scanning for them in the grass/barley/undergrowth. This morning saw 7 within 500m!

Hopefully he'll get used to seeing them and expecting them to pop out. They don't give you any warning.

[brigadier]

Oh deer! sorry couldnt resist that. The ones round us never let us get that close but one in a ditch startled us the other day- me more than the horse!

[haffyfan]

We don't see them that often....there are some at back end of wood and they often come out of estate 'play chicken' across the road into the crops next to the boys field....but mine don't seem overly bothered if we do happen across them...usually they dash infront of us at speed and vanish as quickly as they came....maybe the fact they do come onto the fields next to us means they see them from time to time and realise they aren't a threat of any sort?

[florence]

Ours totally freak on the odd occasions that we come across them out hacking. They are around quite a lot but thankfully they usually keep their distance. My friend's horse bolted home and it took him ages to calm down from the fright. Funny, as they will graze in their fields sometimes so you'd think they wouldn't be a problem.

[scattymare]

We get quite a few round here but we never really get close to them and they are mostly Munkjacks so tiny. Eds not fussed by them - interestingly as donkeys and cows are satans spawn clearly!! A couple of weeks ago we saw a fairly large stag pottering through the woods. He ignored us totally and Ed didn't even look at him. Would probably be a different story if they were jumping out in front of us though.

[solomon]

Ours are too scared to get close, didn't see any tonight. Normally would on a late hack. Pete not bothered. Donkeys however were sent from the bad place. We went past a field with four of them tonight!!! One was rolling, how dare it!

[fimacg]

ours tend to lurk on the other side of 3m high -2m wide beech hedges and rustle, intially they all found it terrifying now they just jog past sideways, if they are obvious on the road or in the fields the heads come up and the horses watch but are pretty good with them now

[FirenLady]

Ug.. They are stupidly tame here. Was hacking out Fire other day and the stag was in the same place where he spooked Trav. He took one look at fire and just continued to graze, Fire took one look at him and continued to graze. Its just annoying when they jump out so close. I'm sure trav will have me off before the end of the Summer cos of it hes done 5 spooks so far and 2 of them have been about deer. Monkey deer aren't too bad, they are pretty shy, Fallows we don't see too often although they are more noisy than a herd of elephants, Reds have only seen 4 times, its the roes that cause the problems.

I'm wondering if now the time would be right for him to start going out with Fire, too learn the tricks of the trade?

[hazelin]

We have the stupidly tame ones too they dont take any notice of the horses then spring off at the last minute. If I think they are about I shout or sing or whistle very loudly so they hopefully disappear before we get up to them. Its funny how they just merge into the undergrowth though and you dont see them within seconds of them going

[spotti]

You're lucky that you have deer - all we have are cars, buses, lorries and...wait for it...random cats that jump out and try to scare Faith! (Funny thing is though that Faith just puts her ears back and charges anything that jumps out at her! It's hilarious to see...espeically when its the yard geese who come up too close . I'd love to see her response to deer!!!)

[FirenLady]

True, dunno what Fire would thing of a bus jumping out of the bushes! Doesn't mind motorbikes though. Had a very hairy moment with trav on Fri, he was being very good out hacking. Went to itch his knee and I saw a flash of brown out of the corner of my eye in the barley field, he shot left into random track in the woods, for about 5 strides. Luckily there was only little braches smacking me in the face, made me feel really shakey though. Then he stopped we turned around and went out of the woods and I think it was the same stag as last time was just standing there looking at us as if too say, "I'm not scared of you"... Me n Trav just turned away as if nothing happened and was good as gold for the resto of the hack. We saw, a rabbit, noisy squriells n a pheasent too and he didn;t mind any of them.

Fire likes chasing deer sometimes too ;D Trav chases the chickens, cat and guinea fowl, I think it makes him feel powerful and big, chasing the little animals.

[duckles]

Trav sounds a total pet. Like Spotti, we don't have deer but plenty of cars, tractors, etc.

[FirenLady]

He is a good boy, they just startle him. Makes me feel a bit nervous, and then a bit shaken when they spook him. His spooks aren't in the same leage as Fires but hes pretty althletic for a big boy!

[rainbow]

that just made me think of bambi lol with the stag just stareing down at you

[mossh]

The only place we get deer around here is bradgate park and sometimes beacon hill. Its a fair hack or lorry drive away so we don't get there often and the park has limited times you can ride as well!