Horses are tilting towards wind turbines

Now we all know exotic animals like giraffes and lemurs are massive fans of wind turbines - and here are the photos to prove it.

But what about the common or garden horse? The literature is frustratingly scant on details. Nowhere in Black Beauty is the old boy startled by a sudden swoosh of a blade as the wind picks up, while films National Velvet and Seabiscuit are equally unilluminating on the topic, instead concentrating on all or nothing races against terrible odds. Like that's a new angle.

Fortunately, people have thought about this crucial issue, because it turns out wind farms are great places to go for a gallop if you're into that kind of thing. And own a horse; or can at least get a loan of one from a friendly newspaper editor.

Whitelee wind farm, Europe's largest, apparently offers 90 kilometres of tracks for riding, cycling, or walking for anyone happy to put up with Scotland's intermittent bouts of driving rain and clouds of voracious midgies.

"Wind farm projects like Whitelee have opened up hundreds of kilometres of tracks for equestrians that may never have been accessible before the projects were constructed," Simon Christian, UK MD of ScottishPower Renewables, murmured into the ear of a frightened young colt, causing housewives across the country to glance at their husbands and wonder why they'd settled for this when they could have found a real man - one who knew the land, with bronzed skin of the softest leather, and arms like solid English oak.

With a piercing glance of his blue eyes, Christian removed the straw from his mouth and added: "We have seen first-hand that with appropriate training and familiarisation some horses and riders can safely use wind farm tracks for hacking and we welcome the British Horse Society's efforts to highlight the great resources that renewable energy projects have made available to riders."

ScottishPower has even released a little video about familiarising your horse with the turbines, and to the Tank's astonishment the process doesn't involve charging at them in any form. Now, that gives us an idea for a novel...

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• Topics
• Wind
• Wind Farms
• Wind Turbines
• Scottish Power