Question for horsey people...

[DebDonkee]

I absolutely promise I'm not being goady, but am just watching a report on the news on an increase in incidents where drivers are passing too close and too fast on roads.

I would NEVER do the above - I love animals too much to ever want to scare or distress an animal, but my genuine question is: when there are so many dickhead drivers on our roads, why is there a general need for horses to be ridden on roads at all? (Not withstanding working animals and genuine animal transit requirements)

Appreciate it's not always going to be avoidable, but if you're riding for leisure and exercise for you and/or the horse, why not stick to purpose-built bridleways and other suitable environments?

I genuinely don't understand, so please educate me, and take this in the spirit it's meant. Some of the horses in the report (caught on riders' cams) were so frightened - why take the risk?

I haven’t ridden in years and only ever rode in lessons. Generally we only went on the road for a short distance to get from the stables to the field or track we were doing most of our ride on.

Because the chance of every house / stables / yard having non-road access to a bridle way is impossible.

I used to ride at a yard with a bridle way just across the road but that still meant crossing a fast country lane to get there. And if you didn’t want to do the same ride every time (it was only about 15 mins before you met a road again) you were forced onto the lanes.

Because there aren't bridleways or tracks that connect together everywhere all across the country, and often there is no alternative but to ride on the road to get from one bridleway to another.

unfortunately there just isn’t the bridleway network in place to allow riders to stay off road completely. I live very rurally but have to ride half a mile on a single track lane to get to a bridlepath. i can do a circular ride, but I have to go on the roads at several points.

We used to have a local landowner who would allow riders on his land, there were lots of stony tracks and he insisted we rode on the tracks and not on the grass verges, which was fine, it kept us off the roads, however, too may abused his generosity and rode on the grass verges, and on the crops and now he has banned all horse riders. Such a shame a fe spoilt it for the rest.

There aren't purpose built bridleways by every stable / horse owner.

Roads are for transport, horses are a form of transport.

It's like saying why do bicycles ride on the road when there's cycle lanes - because cycle lanes don't go everywhere, aren't always available and aren't always safe.

when there are so many dickhead drivers on our roads, why is there a general need for horses to be ridden on roads at all?

You could ask the same of any other vehicle; or pedestrian though. People exist. It's shit that risks happen but not being able to enjoy your horse juts in case you encounter a shit driver is ridiculous. You only see the bad ones as well, you never see the thousands of people hacking out daily using roads with no issue.

That all makes sense - thank you for the replies, and for not thinking i was trying to horse-troll! X

How do you propose we get to said bridleways? Fly? 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Why don't you ask a similar question of cyclists? Why don't they just stay on the cycle paths instead of putting themselves in danger on the roads?

Or pedestrians? Why don't they just stay on the pavement all the time instead of trying to cross the road?

I spoke too soon! 😂

Why do the cars & lorries need to go on the country roads when there is a perfectly good motorway network for them to drive on?

I think you’ve had some very rude responses OP (and some not!!)
So I’ll just second what the above have said, which is that a lot of our bridleways are only accessible off the roads. There aren’t many that have yards backing straight onto them. So we would go onto the road, follow it down and then turn onto the bridleway. There’s not often somewhere to park a wagon up either, so we can’t easily box them down.

The other reason is sometimes when we are rehabbing orthopaedic injuries, the horses need to avoid repeated circling (straight line work) - so taking them in the school isn’t an option. Walking down the road avoids that circling.

Honestly, OP, the driving standards have dropped significantly - I say that as a rider, a driver and a pedestrian. So I try to avoid it as much as I can.

Also, it’ll be an unpopular opinion here, but I think some riders are extremely rude and do not thank enough drivers for kind and respectful driving. All it takes is a nod of the head, or lifting a hand. It means the driver is more likely to do the same next time. Seen it time and time again; sat far back, given them plenty of space and time and they don’t even look- even worse! They are on their phone with their headphones in and haven’t even noticed I’m there 🤦‍♀️

So thank you for your considerate driving. It is appreciated.

We were driving down the road and a girl was on a horse on public path in built up area. We stopped at a zebra to let some one cross. Went to go and the horse and girl just turned suddenly to cross the zebra. Slammed on brakes as nearly hit them. She did sort of apologise but we were lucky.

I live semi rural area, whilst there aren't many cycle paths there are some. However there is no bridle paths. even horses want a change of scenery and variety at times.

Why don't you ask a similar question of cyclists? Why don't they just stay on the cycle paths instead of putting themselves in danger on the roads?

Because a cyclist bike isn't going to get spooked and become potentially unpredictable?

I live in a rural area, and there is one, very short bridlepath in riding distance. There are places off road to go to but it means loading up in the Horsebox- we do it fairly often but don't always have time. So we pick our routes as best we can.

I have heard some riders are stupid enough to be on their phone whilst riding on the road and they clearly need to change their behaviour.
However I would say that lifting a hand is not a responsible thing to do when riding a half ton prey animal in traffic.
I was lucky with my horses in that I live in the New Forest and had direct forest access so never ventured on to the roads at all but for friends who have no alternative they increasingly take their and their horse’s life in their hands with the way so many drivers (and cyclists) behave towards riders.
One friend was actually knocked into the ditch with his horse and this prompted him to move so he never needed to risk his poor horse in that position ever again. The driver didn’t even stop.

Because there are hardly any bridleways.

I have to ride on the roads for over an hour to get to a bridleway and of the two that I can get to in under two hours one is about 300m of overgrown narrow path leading from one road to the next. The other is a national trail rammed full of families on hired bikes and dogs on extendable leads.

So I ride on the roads.

Please join the campaign for better off road access. If we could ride on footpaths, canal towpaths, on forestry commission land and national trust land it would vastly reduce the number of horses on the roads.

As a rider I would love a link to this campaign please! 🙏🏻

Riding on roads has become so dangerous that a lot of riders I know have stopped hacking out. We are really lucky in that we have direct access to bridleways from our yard. I wouldn't ride on the road though as a lot of drivers just don't slow down or give you any space. It's terrifying.

I always remind people that most roads were actually built for horses not cars or even people. Still, I think most riders find it a necessity not a pleasure. I also find that riders are the most considerate road users. Always move over if they can, thank you for passing safely and wave you round as they can see much further from the height. A camera to record incidents is sadly a must have these days.

Agree with the above.

But also, when new build estates are built, councils usually mandate that existing footpaths are kept. This rarely happens for bridlepaths, so horse riders loose yet more access to off road riding, just at the point where local roads get busier due to the new estate.

More and more carparks are being restricted to horseboxes/trailers, as more areas use physical measures to try to prevent caravans using car parks overnight. So it's harder to box up for rides than it used to be.

Add in the farmers who have illegally blocked bridleways because they sick of dirt bikers trashing their tracks (council do eventually react, but it takes ages)

No horse rider would rather ride on a road than use tracks and fields. But they seem to be at the bottom of the priority list when it comes to planning safety considerations unfortunately.

You’re talking about rural roads. People have walked and ridden horses and bikes on these roads for far far longer than anyone has driven and yet a common attitude now is that all other road users are merely an inconvenience to drivers. People, bikes and horses haven’t grown in size but motor vehicles sure have.
Thete was a short lived campaign to widen a road (by narrowing a stretch of footpath) close to my parents house because there had been too many ‘tips’- the problem is that people are driving tanks on roads not designed for them and the solution isn’t taking space from other road users.

It's not deliberate, it's usually to get to a bridle path / arena that's nearby. Sadly the bridle paths don't all connect . I am on pins when my DD is riding and having to be on the road but it's sadly necessary!!