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Horse hooves in the night

48 replies

Theblackdogagain · 23/09/2021 00:56

I've just woken up to the sound of horse hooves, can't tell if they were on the main road at front or the flat estate at the back. Who rides their horse at midnight?
Death? Ghost?

OP posts:
Bloodybridget · 23/09/2021 03:24

Seriously, could it be a horse being stolen?

beccahamlet · 23/09/2021 05:25

If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street;
Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!

The Smugglers Song
Rudyard Kipling

beccahamlet · 23/09/2021 05:26

allpoetry.com/A-Smuggler's-Song

garlictwist · 23/09/2021 05:30

The police quite often go up our street on horses. Which is weird as we are in a city and there are no riots going on. They just sort of trot about.

BlurpBlorp · 23/09/2021 05:35

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar

Perhaps it’s just a man with two coconut halves.
This comment has made my day already GrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrin
Margotshypotheticaldog · 23/09/2021 05:39

Brave sir Robin?
m.youtube.com/watch?v=BZwuTo7zKM8

AtlasPine · 23/09/2021 05:45

Coconut halves comment has me laughing away!

Maybe it’s deer? Are you near parkland or in the countryside?

traumatisednoodle · 23/09/2021 05:58

Are you in the West Country ?

*IF you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by.

Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark -
Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk.
Laces for a lady; letters for a spy,
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by!

Running round the woodlump if you chance to find
Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy-wine,
Don't you shout to come and look, nor use 'em for your play.
Put the brishwood back again - and they'll be gone next day !

If you see the stable-door setting open wide;
If you see a tired horse lying down inside;
If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore;
If the lining's wet and warm - don't you ask no more !

If you meet King George's men, dressed in blue and red,
You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said.
If they call you " pretty maid," and chuck you 'neath the chin,
Don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been !

Knocks and footsteps round the house - whistles after dark -
You've no call for running out till the house-dogs bark.
Trusty'shere, andPincher'shere, and see how dumb they lie
Theydon't fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by !

'If You do as you've been told, 'likely there's a chance,
You'll be give a dainty doll, all the way from France,
With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood -
A present from the Gentlemen, along 'o being good !

Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark -
Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk.
Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie -
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by !*

Ihaventgottimeforthis · 23/09/2021 06:07

Is the swallow laden or unladen?

ItRainedForever · 23/09/2021 06:24

Misread the title as 'horse hoovers in the night'. Now that would be weird.

JamieFrasersBigSwingingKilt · 23/09/2021 06:28

Thanks to those who've posted poems this evening/morning. Spookily, they're my three favourite poems ever.

As a side note, the 'man with coconuts' comment made me smile!

sashh · 23/09/2021 06:46

Is the swallow laden or unladen?

Is it in Mercia?

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 23/09/2021 06:48

Loving this thread - it reminded me of my favourite poetic parody enclosed below. (With apologies to Robert Browning)

I sprang to the rollocks and Jorrocks and me,
And I galloped, you galloped, we galloped all three.
Not a word to each other: we kept changing place,
Neck to neck, back to front, ear to ear, face to face:
And we yelled once or twice, when we heard a clock chime,
“Would you kindly oblige us, is that the right time?”
As I galloped, you galloped, he galloped, we galloped, ye galloped, they two shall have galloped: let us trot.

I unsaddled the saddle, unbuckled the bit,
Unshackled the bridle (the thing didn’t fit)
And ungalloped, ungalloped, ungalloped, ungalloped a bit.
Then I cast off my buff coat, let my bowler hat fall,
Took off both my boots and my trousers and all –
Drank off my stirrup-cup, felt a bit tight,
And unbridled the saddle: it still wasn’t right.
Then all I remember is, things reeling round,
As I sat with my head ‘twixt my ears on the ground For imagine my shame when they asked what I meant
And I had to confess that I’d been, gone and went
And forgotten the news I was bringing to Ghent,
Though I’d galloped and galloped and galloped and galloped and galloped and galloped and galloped and galloped. (Had I not would have been galloped?)

ENVOI
So I sprang to a taxi and shouted “To Aix!”
And he blew on his horn and he threw off his brakes.
And all the way back till my money was spent
We rattled and rattled and rattled and rattled and rattled and rattled and rattled –
And eventually sent a telegram.

ilovebagpuss · 23/09/2021 07:51

Could be exploding head syndrome but if you’re sure you were fully awake, as you were and back to the lovely poetry Grin

blobby10 · 23/09/2021 08:23

Theres a country lane near here which is apparently on the route that the soldiers would have taken to get to the Battle of Bosworth - Apparently every so often in the dead of night (isn't it always!) you hear the sound of lots of horses on the tarmac (even though it wasn't tarmac in those days) as the soldiers ride past. I've only known one person who claims to have witnessed it and she said everything just went really cold and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she was terrified!

SaskiaRembrandt · 23/09/2021 09:52

This thread reminds of a creepy short story I read as a child. Something about a man who kept hearing horse hooves at night, and when he finally looked out of the window to see what it was saw a horse drawn hearse led by an undertaker who turned and pointed at him. The next day he died! I might have got some bits wrong, but it was bloody creepy!

AliceWo · 23/09/2021 12:48

Whenever I thought I've heard hooves it has been someone wheeling a suitcase over uneven pavement, or dragging a wheelie bin. Not quite as romantic as a horse!

chickenandchipsinabasket · 23/09/2021 20:44

@Thecomfortador

Whenever the moon and stars are set, whenever the wind is high, all night long in the dark and wet, a man goes riding by. Late in the night when the fires are out, why does he gallop and gallop about?

Robert Louis Stevenson had the same question.

I immediately thought of this poem!

Also DuMaurier's Jamaica Inn

groundcontroltomontydon · 23/09/2021 21:20

can't tell if they were on the main road at front
Would that be the main road, Sleepy Hollow?

dogmandu · 23/09/2021 22:17

many years ago there was a field and a wood at the end of our road.
At certain times of year some gypsies would arrive with their caravans and horses. Occasionly some of the horses would escape from the field and we would hear the sound of their galloping hooves on the road

chickenandchipsinabasket · 23/09/2021 22:56

@dogmandu

many years ago there was a field and a wood at the end of our road. At certain times of year some gypsies would arrive with their caravans and horses. Occasionly some of the horses would escape from the field and we would hear the sound of their galloping hooves on the road
You don't see so many proper Romany caravans these days. except at Appleby every summer. Shame that. I love to see them.
HideousKinky · 25/09/2021 17:54

Listen to Schubert's song "The Erl King"

CimCardashian · 25/09/2021 17:55

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar

Perhaps it’s just a man with two coconut halves.
🤣🤣 this made me chuckle
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