Who was BU, me driving or man on horse?

[EsmeraldaEllaBella]

Sorry for another car thread! Name changed recently but am a regular poster

So today I was driving in the countryside, road is wide enough for 2 cars, 60mph road, very straight. There were 3 people in a line on horses coming towards me on the opposite side of the road. I was going about 40mph but slowed to 30mph when I saw them. The man on the front horse started waving his arms and looked really angry saying slow down slow down! Wtf? horse people around here piss me off so much. Was I BU?!

If he hears a vehicle coming he will ask me if he can turn round into a passing place or side road.

In my head, he has a very posh voice with a hint of Stephen Fry :)

Car and van/lorries drivers are the menace on the roads around the village where I live. Not horses, cyclists or pedestrians. Lots of our roads are un-pavemented - and it's the drivers who make this dangerous, because they will not slow down - some of them act like they're on a motorway ffs.

Lorries aren't even meant come into the village - there are "no HGV" signs all around it- yet they do because they're thick following satnav no doubt, and they then get stuck and have to angrily reverse back the way they came.

All sorts use our tiny village as a cut through - they go too fast, and they get angry and impatient when they come across a horse and rider, who have every right to be there.

I'm not sure on that tbh, SoupDragon. It's the footpath at the side of the main vehicular access up to the Barn. Whether the main track is a bridle way or not and the footpath just for the safety of the pedestrians I don't know. Wouldn't have tackled them on it, anyway, they had their hands full trying not to let the horse bolt off through crowds of people without me poking my nose in.

SoupDragon I think my horses "voice" is Michael Macintyre. My friend's is Joanna Lumley...

Just wanted to reiterate what everyone else has said. Yes there are arsehole riders, like there are arsehole drivers, as well as courteous and respectful. No one really wants to be on the road, but needs must. It really can be frightening. I will trot on to a safe passing place whenever I can in a bid to speed things up for drivers, but if I wave or signal to a driver it is because I REALLY need them to listen to me, whether that is to say stop/slow down etc. Not because i am a twunt who enjoys taking my life into my hands on a country lane just to wind up the drivers!

Also, to make the point to those users who refuse to slow down and drive sensibly, a LOT of riders are now wearing go pro type cameras everytime they ride out. If there is an incident they will and do pass on the footage to the police who have so far taken it very seriously.

On Facebook now, there are lots of riders uploading videos of vans and lorries on the road. They tag the company owned ones into their post.

They upload them, to actually say a very big thank you to the drivers of vehicles who have abided by the highway code and sometimes gone further by coming to a stop and turning their engines off.

Many of the riders just want to share their gratitude, and to help promote safe driving around horses. The companies who are tagged are also happy with the good publicity.

I am always very grateful to drivers who stick to the highway code. But unfortunately for every one good driver there are two who are, either ignorant of the highway code or arrogant it applies to them at that moment in time, or just plain shitheads.

If we could just get two out of three drivers sticking to the highway code. It would make life a lot safer for all road users.

If you are in any doubt about what horse riders face on the road due to people not driving safely please do watch the video I linked earlier.

The horses are not the problem, it's the drivers who don't give shit about them.

Yes horses can spook but if you are driving carefully you can stop. Giving the horse and rider room to collect themselves again.

Link again,

And yes, appalling driving not applauding driving it was late

just joined to reply to this thread, to say thankyou to the op for listening to other posters , and also for the great responses.
It might help to understand that horses are flight animals, when something startles them their natural horse instinct is basicly to flee. As much as most horses are sensible and sane and well trained it desn t take much for the instinct to cut in. My horse for example can walk past a hundred sheep in a field and not evan notice ..then see sheep no 101 and for no reason obvious to me find 101 terrifying. Horse logic isn t logic at all!
I have on occasion flagged a car down, not because i think im something special or anything at all like that, just simply because evan though my horse is sane and sensible most of the time, there is that once in a blue moon occasion to worry about when he will do something totally unpredictable..... and with the combined weight of his arse and mine we would so some damage when we landed on a car!

"My earlier point about the pelican crossings I was told on my R&RS course. I'm not currently in a position to look it up but I'm happy to rely on what an accredited examiner told me."

Just had a reply from my brother (Sgt. in the D&C Police).

"Sadly the kind of thing horse riders like to think. Many are okay but many have come across inconsiderate drivers and rather than rise above it, become just as intolerable."

Guess R&RS accreditation doesn't mean much. In fact,it's dangerous if they're telling you to go across a pedestrian crossing.

@Gabilan - you used an example of an obviously idiotic driver and had the bad grace to cut my quote. Very poor form.

My question regarding the danger that 700kg animals pose to sensible drivers

If there is a long and straight portion of B road (2 clear lanes). I overtake the horse at 10mph in the opposite lane but the horse spooks at a crisp packet and jumps into my car, is your excuse "there but for the grace of god go I"? Can the same be said if you're injured if I drive quickly past your horse? As slowly isn't defined in the Highway Code, it isn't prosecuatable as such and would be under "driving without due care and attention" or similar. When that idiotic driver cut up the funeral procession, she had no one to blame but herself. The same can't be said for horses. Just to reiterate, my Mum had a pain in the ass called Jake horse as I grew up and I'll always drive considerately. Doesn't mean that I don't think that horses should be kept off the roads.

"I have on occasion flagged a car down, not because i think im something special or anything at all like that, just simply because evan though my horse is sane and sensible most of the time, there is that once in a blue moon occasion to worry about when he will do something totally unpredictable..... and with the combined weight of his arse and mine we would so some damage when we landed on a car!"

Doesn't that strengthen my point. Horses on the road are dangerous. Cars (motorbikes, bicycles), driven by drivers who are paying due care and attention are not. What if I am sensibly overtaking when it sees the 101st sheep? Be sad if it was the glue factory / Finders it, but what if you or a passenger or pedestrian were injured or killed?

I slow right down or even stop if possible when horses are passing by. 30mph may not feel fast when you're driving a car but to a walker or rider, it's incredibly fast.

I was once riding when a car passed by way too close, freaked out the horse and the horse sat on the car bonnet. Car crushed. Lesson learnt.

Quite simply, if you're close enough for a horse to spook into you, you're too close.

I was about to post what Stratter5 said. If you're passing slow and wide as per the Highway Code, a horse spooked by a crisp packet isn't going to be a problem for you.

Quite simply, if you're close enough for a horse to spook into you, you're too close.

Oh, is there a set distance that a horse spooks for then?

But Stratter5, upthread it has been said horses spook at 52mph. I couldn't be far enough away to avoid that and still be on the same road, even if I were at a dead stop waiting for the horse to pass me on the other side of the road. I'm coming round to herecomethepotatoes' view here tbh as a result of this thread. I've always driven very carefully around other road users, always will, but it sounds from all the riders on this thread that horses are to unpredictable to be anywhere near me or mine be on the road.

It's very clear, slow and wide, it's the same when passing cyclists. There is supposed to be enough room so that if the topple off their bike they don't end up under your car.

I'm really interested whether those of you that are so defensive about your right to drive however you like on country lanes, actually live on one? I'm worried that instead of offering tea and sympathy to someone who has gone through my hedge/ended up upside down in the field/is in a ditch, I'll be witness to fatalities. I've already posted before about the car that hit and killed my dog whilst he drove across the grass verge it could have quite easily have been me

The recommended 2m would be wide enough for most spooks, obviously you're never going to be able to allow for that odd occasion, it's common sense and empathy really.

SoupDragon I think my horses "voice" is Michael Macintyre. My friend's is Joanna Lumley

Mine has quite a slow sounding voice, as befits a large animal. Not posh and Stephen Fry-ish I'm afraid, more Johnny Morris doing a walrus impression.

upthread it has been said horses spook at 52mph

Not sure where that came from or why. That would be absolutely top whack for a Quarter Horse travelling in a straight line. In terms of them travelling sideways, they can shy quite dramatically but if you were driving at 10-15mph and giving them a car's width of clearance it's highly unlikely they'd make contact. If they did, your reduced speed would dramatically reduce the kinetic energy of the collision making it much safer for you, the horse and the rider.

They can spook, as in jump side ways from stationary to over 50 miles an hour in a split second. Once landed on the ground again they would normally then bolt forwards or backwards. To get away from what ever spooked it.

If you are driving very slowly and wide, the chances are the horse will know their is a large object there, it may still jump sideways but if you are wide enough away (as far over on the oppersite lane as you can get) it should land in that empty space then will probably run backwards or forwards.

Not sure on that path up the Pike as around there it's sort of different to other places in that you don't have to stick to edges of fields etc etc and you can ride where you like
I tend to avoid weekends up there as usually lots of motorbikes but through the week it's fine

ExAstris the speed was apparently recorded on someone's GPS app they had on when the horse spooked.

Granted I can't find the original article, but do remember reading.

Sorry that should have been to Gabilan

you used an example of an obviously idiotic driver and had the bad grace to cut my quote. Very poor form

I quoted someone else quoting you. Quotes are always cut, that's the point. It's whether it changes the meaning, or perhaps highlights a part you'd rather wasn't highlighted.

The driver was doing something that I see everyday - i.e. overtaking without being able to see if her way forward was clear. In her case the consequences were devastating. Other drivers get away with it, forgetting that there is always the possibility that there will be devastating consequences and that that is the reason for that rule in the Highway Code.

If there is a long and straight portion of B road (2 clear lanes). I overtake the horse at 10mph in the opposite lane but the horse spooks at a crisp packet and jumps into my car, is your excuse "there but for the grace of god go I"?

No. He's really not that athletic and can't make it across that great a gap in time. He's not keen on flappy things but he is more wary of traffic so would be fully aware that you were there and wouldn't want to be near your car. Also, I'm aware of how a horse's vision works and generally make sure he sees things out of his right eye and therefore if he spooks, he's going to go left into the hedge.

The only way he'd end up on a car bonnet is if they were too close, and too fast to brake effectively in time. If you leave a car's width and pass at 10-15mph my horse is not going to end up on your bonnet for the sake of a crisp packet. Before I got him he had an accident on the road. I've spent a lot of time desensitising him with the things you commonly see out and about. He is well schooled, responsive to me and good with most traffic.

Horses aren't some major threat to road safety. Riders tend to emphasise their unpredictability to try to get drivers to back off but really I think on this thread that's been overdone. If a dog jumps up at a fence, barks and rattles it, my horse might go 6ft sideways BUT generally I'll have spotted the dog, got the horse well in hand, and flagged down any traffic nearby. If as a driver you're listening, considerate and able to stop in the distance that you can see, this will not present a danger to you.

Ileaveroom - gps isn't accurate enough for that. It's accurate to approx 5m.

I grew up around a horse (was forced to ride it occasionally) and am a keen cyclist. I stand by the fact that anything unpredictable shouldn't be allowed on the road be they human drivers or horses. The difference being horses are always unpredictable, can#t be educated nor can be held responsible.

I do think a horse could leap diagonally across a single lane, with me in another, and injure me, the rider or damage my car.

Horses have been on roads for centuries. I would be sad if they suddenly had to stop using the roads because people cannot drive carefully.

While some people pass dangerously others pass wide and not too fast. Problem is you cannot assume the horse is not a skittish one and should have your own safety in mind as well as the horse and rider. Some of the horse riders can go on a bit OTT swear and get all animated and rightous which doesn't help the cause, but if you are doing the right thing then that shouldn't matter or apply to/affect you.

I live in a small town in South America, horses are still used for carts and taxis. They are left to graze when they are not working, so you can easily have them wandering all over the road. Most people drive slowly and if they have room they give a wider berth but not always. I have never seen a horse startled by a passing car.

I am also scoffing at all the too many horses comment.I had a horse poke it's head in my kitchen window this weekend and try to steal something off the side. Another stepped on our water pipe and cost us a small fortune in the water bill and repair, no chance of finding these owners and doubtful they could pay up anyway. The horses you see doted around the British countryside is not too many by any stretch of the imagination.