Shouty horse rider!

[SittinginaSleazySnackBar]

We live in quite a rural area, our boundary fence backs onto a large playing field. We have people parking up with horse boxes alongside the boundary fence quite regularly.
I was playing with DD (1) in our garden this morning, she was just pottering in her Wendy house, not making much noise at all just happily babbling and I was talking back to her.
I then hear a woman trying to get her horse into the horse box and the horse is having none of it, stamping its feet and rearing up.
Next thing I can hear a woman telling me to shut my daughter up, shes scaring her horse.
Was I unreasonable in thinking that a horse should be able to cope with a baby babbling especially if she is riding it along country lanes ! I refused to tell DD to be quiet or to go inside as surely we aren't being unreasonable playing in our own garden !
I have no clue about horses so second guessing whether I was rude, plus we are fairly new to the area and everyone knows each other.

I think I would have suggested it was more likely the fact she has a face like a rabid dog that was spooking her horse.

There is no way that a baby crying could be held responsible for injury or damage as a result of a spooked horse. The case of the dog barking causing a horse to spook is different, as dogs are subject to specific laws (Animals Act, Dangerous Dogs Act etc) that do not apply to the actions of people. Even then I'm surprised that a dog contained within a private property barking at a horse would be held responsible for the resulting injury - the only cases I can remember hearing about is ones where the dog has somehow got out of the property and been yapping around a horse's heels etc. A dog barking occasionally is expected behaviour from the animal, unless there had been prior incidents that the dog owners knew about and had done nothing to try and alleviate. (IANAL)

Horses get spooked if they get bored sometimes, they're like that sometimes, the adorable little buggers.

They hide in fog too, and giggle when you track them down to the remotest of remote corners of their field. Mine did anyway, it was their favourite game!

My horse loathed tractors. No idea why, was terrified at the mere sight of one, even hundreds of metres away. Those drivers that knew him did stop, did switch off their motors sometimes and we got past.

Your dd wasn't the issue, it was the box, but horses will look for anything to use as an excuse to get out of doing something that scares them.

That woman was rude. Yanbu.

There are different rules for gardens than for houses (dogs barking)

Are you sure she meant you to hear, OP? I must admit if I was really really stressed I might mutter something about a baby crying or child yelping.

Have you got that link yet Mutt? I do find it hard to believe unless there is some more backstory.

I expect the proportion of nice horsey people to hideous is about the same as the rest of the population 😏

Ywnbu.

It does remind me of coming across a hideous horsey person though.

At a show. Horses boxed, tucked up happily tugging Haynets and ready to go home.

Parked next door are a couple of ladies whose horse wouldn't load. We offered to lend a hand. They gratefully accepted. Horse is clearly genuinely wary of the box/ramp so we're taking it really slowly, one person in front of the horse with a bucket of feed, taking it in turns to lift his feet and place them on the ramp getting gradually further and further..... horse is relaxing nicely and two of us link arms behind him and he's going in, just a couple more steps to go.....

..... and this woman appears out of bloody nowhere, storming up behind the horse waving her arms and yelling "GOOOOOOOORN!! GETUPTHERE!! GETONWITHIT!!!!!"

Now it could have worked. Had the horse shot the right way, he'd have ended up fully on the horse box and to the untrained eye it could have looked as if we'd been footling about doing it slowly and carefully when all it needed was someone with a "no nonsense" attitude to be firm. I suspect that's what she was hoping for.

Instead however he threw his head up in alarm and shot backwards off the ramp. Whereupon everyone just stood and stared at the woman like this 😮😮😡😡

She stomped off muttering about people pandering to horses.

She was a hideous horse person 🙄

Some horse owners are rude, obnoxious and believe they own the road however some are lovely.

It's like saying all dog owners allow their dog's to crap wherever they like and never pick it up. Some do but the vast majority don't.

I think the lady was under immense stress and took the easy option of blaming your daughter. Horses are a law unto themselves, you'd never get me on one again

kermitt I think that woman used to be at my old yard!

A baby isn't a dog though Mutt, while I believe your story happened, OP's baby isn't covered by the dangerous dogs act or similar, so she's not at risk of being liable.

OP YANBU, she was probably stressed and was a bit of a dick, she should have asked politely rather than telling you what to do.

There isn't a link. It's what happened to a friend of mine. You are probably right about the baby crying but I was so shocked about the dog ruling it's made me paranoid!

I was once shouted/tutted at on a forestry commission footpath leading to a carpark/exit by a woman leading a kid on a horse. I was wheeling a bike and apparently the horse 'didn't like wheels'. Like the PP with a buggy, given that I was heading the same way down the only path to the exit I was WTF?! What do you want me to do, vaporise? I was genuinely at a loss and she did come over as very entitled. No apology for her horses 'issue' nor constructive suggestion on what I was meant to do, just very angry at me for existing!

I live in a small (UK) city with a large Traveller site nearby. They have a lot horses (between them), which we see quite a bit on the roads. Including dual carriage ways. I've never seen any of them misbehave (and seeing them is an almost daily occurrence). So it's clearly possible to have bomb-proof horses. I don't know if they cope better pulling a carriage/trap (which is what I typically see) than being ridden? They're also wearing blinkers.

Those people who think it's possible to bombproof a horse, have you ever jumped at anything? Ever worry about cyclists coming up fast behind you on shared use paths? Ever not realised someone's behind you and jumped when they say hello? Ever been worried when you're sitting in a car and a really large vehicle squeezes past you in a narrow gap? Ever jumped when a pheasant hurls itself at your windscreen?

That fear reaction is perfectly natural and it's something humans do too. My horse trusts me and I him. If I tell him it's OK and the spooky thing isn't a problem he will believe me. He's not bothered by wind turbines, wood chippers, helicopters, umbrellas, toddlers, push bikes or dogs. He's wary of tractors, buses and lorries but is OK if they give him room. But he'll still bloody jump if a pheasant flies up under his feet. You would too. Just one of those things, not actually anyone's fault.

Yuck. Most Horsey people are awful people so definitely YANBU.

Deary, deary me. Let's do a lovely sweeping generalisation nonsense statement. Idiotic. There are a lot of horsey people on here. You win the award for stupidest post of the day.

I think if you insist on riding around on a 4-tonne pet you should be able to control it

Dying! How much do you think horses weigh?!

Without wishing to derail the thread, and I might find a better place on MN to post this, but what are the rules about cyclists on bridle paths? I may cycle to work later this year and a suggested route I have found online seems to go through woods on what might be bridle paths. I will do better research nearer the time using an OS map (and a magnifying glass) but if anyone knows what is OK, can they comment here?

Thanks. And happy to post in other locations that are more appropriate, if anyone can point me in the right direction.

Cyclists are allowed on bridlepaths - just not footpaths ( same as horses.)

www.environmentlaw.org.uk/rte.asp?id=207

Yanbu. Im abit shocked if you cant control something you take it into public. I grew up in the country and you do get polite horse riders but sadly most dont appear to be. I know my dsis and a whole road of cars sat with their car engines off once for half an hour whilst a lady struggled to control her horse on the road. Why..put yourself and others at risk?

You were making noise in your own garden and she was parked next to your fence... and told you to shut your daughter up? I'd have told her to fuck off, and when she got there - to fuck off some more

Yes. If someone told me to shut my baby/child/anyone up when they're pottering about in their own yard, they'd have more than baby babbling to deal with.

If she can't deal with/control her horse then she shouldn't be taking it out in the first place.

I have a weird bike with a flag on it and every horse I meet freaks. I always pull over and take the flag down. Even the day when there was some sort of horse triathlon on and over 100 horses came past me in the opposite direction.

And the riders were all very appreciative

There are idiots on and off horses - in particular I'm thinking of the person the other day who said good morning as I rode towards him, I replied and then as I was bang next to him he started his chain saw. Horse went vertical and I managed to sit with it but honestly, I know it wasn't deliberate but it was certainly a stupid thing to do. I didn't have time to say anything as horse was not in a mood to hang around. Ditto the bloke who looked at me and then proceeded to throw a pile of metal into a skip..... So nobody is perfect, and yes the OP is quite right to be annoyed but it's really not worth getting too worked up about.

The woman loading her horse was rude and being unreasonable however all the arse holes on here making sweeping statements proclaiming all horsey people to be entitled,awful and rude to mention just a few are being very unreasonable and in face showing how obviously it they that are rude and obnoxious! As a horse owner myself I'd never declare all non horsey people entitled and or rude!

what are the rules about cyclists on bridle paths?

The 1968 Countryside Act gave cyclists access to bridle paths. However, the order of priority is pedestrians, riders then cyclists so just give way to everyone you encounter. If you're looking on the OS map you can go on the paths with long green dashes, but not short green dashes, because they're footpaths.

I cycle a lot and ride. IME the best thing to do when approaching a horse is slow down and if behind them call out "bike behind". Bells can make a horse jump, same as a human will also sometimes jump and swear at me on my because they read a lot of anti-cycling shit in the press If the horse still seems freaked, you might need to stop completely. Keep talking, anything will do, it's just so the horse works out you're a person. Of course in an ideal world the horse would be so well trained or completely switched off and in a state of learned helplessness, which is what some people seem to want that it wouldn't spook. But if it is. it's just safest for everyone if you stop.

I'd like to mention that all the horsey people I met while walking ASBO rescue dog were very polite about his barking and helpfully assisted me to try to get him used to the horses.