Horses on the road- safety?

[malteasers19]

If you hack out on the roads, what safety precautions do you take against selfish and dangerous drivers?

I’ve got an amazing horse who loves to hack and is safe around all vehicles and machinery. I wear hiviz and have a medical saddle tag with emergency contact details aswell as information about my health such as any medications. I tell my family before I go out so they know when to expect me back, and I never hack in the dark or weather that will make visibility challenging. I try to be as safe as possible and I genuinely really enjoy hacking and so does my horse, he’s in his element when out exploring!

But even after saying all that…. I still worry about how safe it is to be out. there’s so many reckless and impatient drivers on the road and even though I love hacking, it makes it more worrying. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been shouted at, tailgated, driven far to closely beside and sped past.

So fellow riders, what safety precautions do you take? Is there anything I’m missing that you do that helps you feel safe?

Thanks

I have no advice but it saddens and sickens me that other drivers think it is OK to behave in this way.

Hat camera and high viz to show the fact I’m recording! Game changer x

My hat cam recorded both in front & behind

Honestly the POLITE gear works a treat. The amount of people who slam on the breaks…

Another fellow horse rider here!

I always make a big deal of thanking drivers when they show any consideration for me and my horse on the road. I hate it when riders ignore polite drivers and almost cement the image of horsey people being snobs. It takes 2 seconds to raise a hand or nod your head. I will always remember my mum telling me as a young rider to “kill them with kindness”

However if they zoom past then all bets are off!!

Of course I’m now a big advocate of hi vis and anything that will make it safer for horse and rider.

HI OP @malteasers19!

Would you like this thread to stay in the 'Am I being unreasonable' section as we see you have the vote function on but wonder if you'd like it to stay here or possibly move to another section to make it easier to find?

Happy to help either way!

I take the precaution of trained horses, hi vis / lights, defensive riding and a gritty refusal to be pushed off the road by arrogant arseholes in cars.

I ride in a rural area where most of the locals are used to horses and I try to be on friendly terms with everyone so that they're more likely to be polite when we meet on the road (and, almost invariably, they are). Doesn't help with some of the bonkers delivery drivers / random passers through, though, so I'm still selective about routes / visibility / times I go out.

Hi viz, Hi viz, a camera and more Hi viz!!! We have to ride along a busy section of road to get to a bridle path, luckily it's a nice wide road and my mare is sensible. Drivers don't seem to understand or care about a signal to slow down, if anything happened at least they can never say they didn't see me. Apart from that I don't know what I can do as so many are ignorant or purposefully don't care about my hand signals (have had plenty speed up to pass us on purpose). In fact the level of selfishness of drivers never ceases to astound me - is it really so hard to slow down for the sake of 20 seconds of your journey in order to make sure everyone is safe? I don't want myself or my horse to die and I can assure you it wouldn't be nice for her to sit on your windscreen either!

I am also very polite and ALWAYS nod or wave a thanks, often a big thumbs up to a driver who passes nicely or let's us turn into a junction, doesn't do any harm for the image of riders. Although people passing like total twats get the finger obviously.

We hack out as a pair or threesome in single file. We all have hi-viz including wraparound pieces on the tack. We are careful about our route avoiding roads with blind corners etc.

Its a local joke that you can see me and my horse coming from miles away.. We have hi viz from hat to hoof and are probably visible from space.
I do love the 'polite' range and think it makes a huge difference to people over normal hi viz. I think it makes people do a double take thinking it says police and they automatically slow down.
That said theres always idiots on the road so i dont ride as much as id like to as it can be nerve wracking.
I also always do my utmost to be courteous and give way and say thank you to other road users.

A mix and match of different colour high viz. Each colour is designed to be most visible in different conditions, which vary during a hack. So I wear all of them

An example is a ruder I saw wearing yellow high vi's on a bright sunny spring day against a green hedge. Yes she was visible, but no where near as much as I suspect she thought or as much as if she had been also wearing pink/ yellow high vis.