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?!

to horse and hound forum

I even turn my radio down when i pass horses

Me too, even though it's not loud in the first place.

to HHO - I used to be one of your regulars!

I want to know who well err is...

I need to get out more...

I'm also a v old HHOer

Oooh shall we all out ourselves??

Gosh the H&H lot wander off topic even worse than we do!

I turn down my radio or music as well. I have an involuntary singing problem and with my sudden outburst of song it could do more than startle a horse

Someone on H&H mentioned that a rider didn't thank the cars for passing wide and slowing down. I don't drive much in the UK anymore but in the past whenever I have passed a horse they have always thanked me for passing wide and slow. It does help reinforce it for people who maybe feel that they are being too cautious and are not used to horses, or for some other reason because they've never read the highway code it can help. I also get thanks for doing it here in Brazil as I am one of the rare few that do it and I am on a one woman mission to re-educate Brazilians on how to follow the rules of the road it maybe fruitless.

YWBU. I find it really scary when drivers do this as I'm not a particularly confident rider.

While it is always nice to acknowledge other road users, I think there's rather too much made of the need to thank drivers who are doing what they are supposed to do under the Highway Code .

But I think some people read the highway code years ago and some people don't seem to have a clue about it. City dwellers are sometimes not confident drivers on country roads. People hurl along roads barely wide enough for two cars, if you slow down there is a danger that some twat will hurl themselves into the back of you because they think their car can break in 2cm when they are doing 60 and they "know the road like the back of their hand", so many people think they are putting themselves in danger when they slow right down. I know I am always nervous that some plonker will come along and kill both me and the rider. While in an ideal world riders shouldn't need to thank drivers for following the law, the world is far from ideal and courtesy and thanks don't hurt.

While it is always nice to acknowledge other road users, I think there's rather too much made of the need to thank drivers who are doing what they are supposed to do under the Highway Code

But I always thank other car drivers who wait whilst I drive past parked cars and there isn't enough room for us both. I thank them even if it's my right of way.

Same as if I wait for someone, they acknowledge me. If they don't I do always get that little thought of "entitled prick"

I thank them if they have in any way inconvenienced themselves - slowing down, waiting until it is safe to pass, managed not to crash into my horse's huge fluorescent arse...

I don't thank the idiots who squeeze past at ridiculous speeds. I have, on occasion, been known to gesticulate in a less friendly manner when a fellow horse owner squeezed past in a colossally stupid place. Boy racer types who rev past me get a sweet smile and thanks because I like to think it takes the fun out trying to spook horses if they don't get a rise. I live in hope, anyway.

managed not to crash into my horse's huge fluorescent arse...

....choked on my drink

Lots of horses around here. Thanks for slowing right down happen perhaps 50% of the time. But that's fine. If I had 8,000 tonnes of horse in my reins, I wouldn't wave my hands around either.

It can be really difficult to know if someone's seen you thank them. If your horse is tall and the driver's low down, eye contact is impossible. One van driver told me off for not thanking him but he was yacking on his mobile so didn't notice me nod to him.

Generally I make a point of not thanking drivers on mobiles but in his case I didn't notice until too late.

I always crawl past horses. Sometimes put hazards on to warn other drivers but then worry lights might worry the horse. Don't know what to do for the best!

True, Gabilan, but then if you're driving past a horse at 10mph or less, keeping a wary eye on it just in case it goes tits up, you usually notice a twitch of the head or hand from the rider.

Just saying it's fine by me if there isn't one because the rider is focusing entirely on the horse and expects me to behave in any case. And if that rider has thanked 10 people in the last 5 minutes I'd be thinking a) that must get really old really quickly, and b) I'd rather you were focusing on the horse. Honestly, it's no grief to me to go very slowly around a large, beautiful animal without scaring the shit out of it.

Soz tomatoIzzy but it is huge and fluorescent (when covered by his ridiculous retina-burning orange sheet )

Was the OP taken out and publicly flogged?

Yes, MrsDeVere - the British Horse Society have invested a lot in a new campaign for road safety. Anything that slows people down on country roads is a good thing, I'd say.

Agree MrsD