Night Riding

Anyone else ride at night? I got permission from my great grandmother to ride my horses at night as long as I’m back by 9. I just got back from a ride, actually... (I just got permission this afternoon after begging for about ten minutes). Normally, I’m allowed to ride at night as long as I’m with an older family member, but I think my grandma is beginning to see that I’m more responsible than my other family members are when it comes to the horses. I mean, normally when I ride at night with a family member, I’m the one keeping their horse out of the way in cars because whoever I’m usually riding with gets too drunk to notice and/or passes out atop the horse... So yeah, I really think that my grandma is beginning to understand that I’m more responsible and that I’m not a little kid who needs to be protected and sheltered so much anymore. She’s beginning to understand that I can be allowed to do things and won’t take a mile when she only gives a few feet.

I personally love to ride at night... I love riding in darkness along the sides of the road and I love the way I have to trust my horse to keep me safe in places where I can’t see three feet in front of me. Cantering at night is my favorite thing to do...

Does anyone else like riding when it’s dark? What normal precautions do you take? I outfit my mare in her usual bright red halter under her bridle and bright red SMB’s (though I didn’t use the boots tonight... I forgot them...). I also wear a white shirt and, once I find my orange reflective hunting vest-thing that a friend gave me last year, I’ll start wearing it as well (I just gotta find it first... it’s somewhere in my room, lol). I am planning on getting some sort of reflective tape to put on my horses bridles and legs to help let people in cars see us since my horses are bays.

The only time I've ridden at night was at a comp once, and they had floodlights lol sounds fun though!

Lol.
It was loads of fun. I'm going to start training my 3 year old gelding to ride at night here in a few days or so. I'm pretty sure he'll be fine, but I don't want to just jump on him and go because he's never ridden at night and he's never been caught in the headlights of a car and I don't want him to freak out.. so I'm going to lead him at night for about a week before getting on him and taking him on a short ride, and slowly lengthen his rides at night.

I ride in the dark all the time and where my trails are at, there are either very wide ditches or virtually no traffic after dark. If you are riding on a busy roadway, you may want to invest in a reflective halter, leg wraps, and tail wrap for your horse and a reflective jacket for you just to ensure that you are as visible as possible. I never ride unfamiliar places after dark; I know the horse can see, but I can't and I get nervous worrying about stray wire or a hidden hole, thus making the horse nervous.

ETA: Sorry, my bad. I just got off work and am really tired. I just saw that you already posted most of what I mentioned. Oops *blushes* LOL.

Lol.
Out here, there's not many cars during the day or night. Last night with my mare, we only passed 3 cars, and I was gone for 2 hours.

I love riding in the dark...I don't ride in pitch blackness, though, I save my night rides for the nights when the moon is atleast half full... Snowy winter nights will always be my favorite though; it's so beautiful and peaceful and the snow itself gives plenty of light.

I rarely ride on the road in the dark, but I've also been blessed with riding areas in which I never have had to. I have lots of acreage now, too, which makes me even more excited for the moon to come back

My family still thinks I'm nuts, but oh well! All the more fun for me...tehehe

I used to ride bareback in the paddock with Pumpkin in the full (or close to) moon. I was soo bright. In the end I told my mum and wasn't allowed to again. (my sister was with me and I ran through wot to do if anything happened) I wish it would happen again. I love the brightness of the moons!!

I love riding at night. But we have an arena with lights. :)

I want to ride at night but Chinga is still a bit to clumbsy for that!

I know what you mean. We will have to work on co-ordination before we go night riding!