Horses on the road - rant !

[Itsabeautifuldayoutside]

Sorry just needed a bit of a rant. I know not everyone is like this, and to everyone who drives respectfully around horses- thank you so much, it’s so appreciated.

Unfortunately some people are completely selfish (and stupid!) and drive carelessly around horses and my post is directed towards them. It’s the law now- drive at less than 10mph, give at least 2 metres of space and don’t make unnecessary noise (engine reving, beeping horn). Why is this so difficult to understand? Going out hacking is so, so stressful because of other people’s selfishness. If you can’t follow the Highway Code then you shouldn’t have a driving license.

My stables has fields and off road areas for riding, but the destruction of bridle paths meant that to get to the off-road areas you have to hack on a country road. Also, sometimes horses need to be out hacking or on the roads for training, working or health reasons. It’s not just for leisure. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been sworn at, tailgated, hassled, overtaken at insane speeds, overtaken with no space.

Last week I was overtaken by someone at easily 40mph+ who was so busy hassling me and beeping their horn that they didn’t check for the oncoming traffic. After pulling out, they had to speed up even more and pull back in to our side of the road- nearly knocking my horse over. Luckily my boy is fantastic on the roads and is the most bombproof hacker, but this could have been so, so dangerous for everyone involved and unfortunately isn’t unusual.

side note- my horse weighs around 600kg. Even if you’re selfish and don’t care about me, or him, or other road users- why would you want to risk him landing on top of your car in an accident?!

That would be a complete joy. Unfortunately most of the fields and woods are not open to horse riders and we would be trespassing.

Conflating issues here - horse riders often have polluting vehicles because the tech doesn't exist for an EV which is capable of towing a decent weight - which many horse owners require for logistics (like picking up loads of forage or taking animals for veterinary attention) - and EVs with sufficient space for carrying bulky equipment are very expensive.

I don't know that horse riders are worse around cyclists either. Most of my horse riding friends, like me, tend to overreact to cyclists, and give them space / slow down in case they spook - because we're all slightly bonkers and think bikes and horses are pretty much the same!

We live near an equine college so are very used to horses on the roads and I grew up on a stud farm.

Makes me so mad seeing people carry on past without slowing down. I take my hat off to anyone brave enough to ride on a road tbh.

Strictly I think driving is a 'conditional right'.

Riding abreast is something that is done to introduce inexperienced or less confident horses to the road to help them to learn. It's recommended in some circumstances and perfectly legal. Sorry that some riders have the cheek to have a chat while they do it. 🙄

YANBU, OP. I admire the nerve of people who take their horses on the roads these days. It seems so so dangerous now.

I live in a part of the north east where even just 10 or 15 years ago it used to be common to see young lads with their fast-trotting ponies and minimalist speedy 'carriages' (don't know the correct name), even on busy A roads. An impressive and beautiful activity that has been really important for a lot of working class families, especially Travellers. Now I see fewer, almost none, and I'm sure that is at least partly because motor vehicle drivers (and highway authorities) are so unaccommodating.

Similarly the colourful horse-drawn caravans that used to be a moderately common sight on the roads here in summer. Going, going, gone.

Re 'waving on', even when it isn't particularly helpful for the car driver, it is just riders doing their best to cope with a frightening and dangerous situation. I wouldn't take it as grumpy or entitled or anything like that.
(Of course it is always the drivers' responsibility to see for themselves when it is safe to move forward, so you shouldn't feel obliged to follow their signal if it doesn't seem safe.)

You'll always have idiots on both sides.

We're fairly rural, and so it's not uncommon to have horses on the road here, most of us have grown up learning to drive with them about. There's one back road into town, twisty, several big bends on it, so you can't see around. National speed limit so technically nothing wrong with 60 but 40 is more than acceptable and safe to do. Local kids all know not walk down it, it's not really safe, take the main road if you have to. About once a month some dozy woman rides her horse down there, and then gets all cross and waves her arms about when people come around the bends at perfectly sensible speeds, and find her there. She then proceeds to rant all over village fb pages about people not slowing for horses. Everyone I know does, but it's only any good if you can see them - perhaps don't ride down a back road with blind bends. Yes, everyone could slow down, but we're not all going to drive those whole roads at the speeds we would would slow to for horses!

If you are driving round a blind bend at a speed which means you cannot stop in the distance you can see, you are driving too fast.

You could meet a car coming the other way, a tractor in the road, a wide load, broken down car, wildlife in the road - etc, etc. If you can't see, you can't presume it's clear and safe to drive through.

I'm honestly sick of explaining this to people who think roads are there to be their personal race track. Read the highway code and engage your brains.

I always stop in a driveway or lay-by or something on really narrow roads if a car wants to get past and there’s not room.

Or, if the driver will wait 10 seconds, I’ll turn my horse and walk back past their car then we can all continue on our merry way.

Actually, by far, the most issues we have here is with cyclists on bridleways, especially since the first lockdown. It boggles my mind that one vulnerable road user can behave so recklessly and dangerously around another vulnerable road user.

About once a month some dozy woman rides her horse down there, and then gets all cross and waves her arms about when people come around the bends at perfectly sensible speeds, and find her there.

They’re clearly not perfectly sensible, safe or acceptable speeds. You shouldn’t be taking a blind bend at 40mph if you cannot see all the way around it. There could be anything in the road.

I hate horses with a passion, especially on the road but that's not their fault. No need to cause them harm, nothing is that important that drivers must speed past them or come too close

No, I mean range rovers and land rover discoveries pumping out huge clouds of diesel fumes, moaning about waiting behind cyclists (or overtaking dangerously).

As an aside the only accident I was involved in as a passenger as a child was a lorry that scraped all down the side of my dad's car on a narrow lane... he was driving too fast and couldnt brake hard and prevent the crash because "there's horses in the back".

*I always stop in a driveway or lay-by or something on really narrow roads if a car wants to get past and there’s not room.

Or, if the driver will wait 10 seconds, I’ll turn my horse and walk back past their car then we can all continue on our merry way.*

The roads I was talking about are very (very) rural, narrow, with no driveways and sporadic passing places. Some drivers drive on at you past a passing place, knowing you have nowhere to go - there's no option then but to pass within 2m.

YANBU I will never forget being a child and on a horse with a group and a driver came up behind the group (of children on horses) and beeped his horn scaring a load of them. It took me a long time to get on a horse after that but I've never been back on the road since that.

I've never had an issue with riders, I've always slowed down, given them plenty of space and always had a thanks whether it being verbal or a friendly wave.

My friends sister was on a country lane a horse cleared the hedge landed on her car they both died. I'm very respectful of horses

Too many complete arseholes on the road sadly.

YANBU. There was an item about precisely this on our local news last evening (BBC South Today). Some of the filmed footage from horse-riders was appalling and really quite chilling. It only takes a few moments to slow down and pass a horse with consideration and care; I can't understand how anyone can justify such careless and dangerous driving.

People drive it at perfectly sensible speeds to brake and stop in plenty of time, I don't think there has ever been a single accident on the road in the 40 years I've lived here (unlike many of the other local roads) but even that's still enough to startle the poor horse. I'd never pass or be around a horse in anything other than maybe a crawling second gear, realistically, no-one is going to crawl a whole road in second just in case. It's a really stupid road to take horses on and I feel for the poor animal.

And all riders should know how to behave safely and courteously but unfortunately lots of them are rude and entitled.

If everyone, riders and drivers, behaved how they should there wouldn't be a problem.

realistically, no-one is going to crawl a whole road in second just in case. It's a stupid road to take horses on and I feel for the poor animal.

You don't have to crawl around at 10mph - you need to always be able to brake back to a standstill in the space you can see. That means going slowly enough around the blind bends that, if there is a horse (or anything else) there, you can brake back to 10mph to pass it safely.

If you aren't doing this, you are the problem, not the rider. "Everybody else does it" is not an excuse.

It only takes a few moments to slow down and pass a horse with consideration and care; I can't understand how anyone can justify such careless and dangerous driving.

If this thread had been about cyclists you'd have seen a hundred of them piping up their justifications. Horses don't seem to bring the VIP drivers out of the woodwork the same way

Round near me there are lots of country rd and horses . The thing is it's all well to demonise drivers but riders have a part to play as well.
There's 1 road not single track 2 cars can pass but a car and van wouldn't ,national speed limit and blind bends .
It's unsuitable for pedestrians cyclist and horses yet there is one woman who rides her horse doesn't give a fuck, with the best will in the world you can come round a blind bend at minimal speed to meet a horse walking she's always in local paper complaining .
Plenty ride side by side talking making it impossible to pass and even where there are spaces the horses can pull into to let the que they have caused behind them pass they don't bother .
Theses are a few examples but that said the majority of drivers respect horses and the majority of riders respect cars . Its the minority on both sides that spoil it for everyone else

Lots of bridleways have been built on for new housing estates as towns expand, so the stables that used to be on thr edge, now aren't. In the vast majority of councils, pedestrian and cyclist access is protected, but horses aren't. So the housing developer bungs in a footpath (which is narrower than a bridleway and which often winds through the estate) and paints a cycle lane, and then bingo, horse access is lost.

The rise of dirt bikes is also a big issue. In some areas, bridleways have been destroyed by idiots making them unsuitable. Nearby farmers then (illegally) block access with gates/locks and the local council does sweet FA, so again access is lost.

Also, there is no one body that looks after bridleways, so they are not often coherent routes and roads are needed to join then together.

Canal paths all used to be bridleways, bit when they became owned by the canal and river trust, horse access was withdrawn in most cases, despite still allowing cyclists. Maddening, as they were built for horses!

Side by side is allowed and indeed recommended in the highway code. It helps shield a young horse if they panic and both horses gain confidence from being next to a friend

Part if the problem is how big the average car has become. In the recent past, most country sized roads could squeeze three cars side by side, hence plenty of room for a car to overtake a horse. Now, two large SUVs fill the entire road. There is just less space, so people need to slow down / stop more frequently