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?!

Read the thread, @rwalker, your interpretations of those riders' actions aren't fair. It's perfectly justifiable for riders to ride two abreast - it's in the HWC, for good reason, and anyone driving around blind bends at speed is driving too fast. No road is "unsuitable" for walkers, horses or cyclists (other than motorways etc as per HWC).

Going round a blind bend is crazy, horse or no horse. There could be ANYTHING on that road- a broken down car (I’ve broken down on a blind bend before!), a wild animal, a child (yes children shouldn’t be on roads but kids are kids and sometimes do daft things!). The list is endless and isn’t limited to horses. The point is, if you cannot slow down in time for a horse then you can’t slow down in time for any of those things. Stop justifying dangerous driving. 40 is an acceptable speed to go round some corners but it’s entirely based on the situation and from the way you’ve described that road, it’s not safe or acceptable at all

I witnessed a near miss recently.
Car going too fast on a bend on a country lane overtook and nearly hit 2 riders and their horses.
As a result 1 horse was all over the road until the rider managed to steady him.
Car didn’t slow down or stop.
I was driving in the opposite direction and I was really shaken by it, never mind how the riders felt.
Unfortunately I didn’t get his registration number but I did report the incident and the make and model of the car.
As a rider, I stopped riding on the country lanes years ago.
Too stressful with cars and to be honest, so many more cyclists who could be just as ignorant as motorists.
I’ve found somewhere I can hack without going on any roads but I appreciate that isn’t the case for many.

Not me. I am patient and considerate around horses, and I love seeing them. I also have a great deal of respect for farmers and know that if a tractor is on the road then there is a good reason why it's there, and modern ones seem to go quite fast. Round here they are pretty good and do pull over if necessary. But cyclists are a different matter - I've seen plenty of entitled and downright dangerous behaviour from some of them and I find it hard to have patience with them, but wouldn't want to injure anyone so have to put up with their arrogant behaviour.

Cyclists and traffic don't mix either. I just feel sorry for the horses being put in dangerous situations.

Yep, horse riders, cyclists & pedestrians all have the right to use the roads, despite many car drivers thinking they don't.

realistically, no-one is going to crawl a whole road in second just in case.

No one has to crawl a whole road in 2nd gear.

If you can’t see what is round a bend then it’s clearly not safe or sensible to be taking it at 40mph.

You should be taking the blind bend at a speed that you can stop or slow to 10mph safely - there could be anything in the road - broken down car, tractor, cyclist.

It’s really stupid to take a blind bend at speeds where you can’t stop or slow quickly and safely enough when you encounter other road users

but I don't think that horses should be on the road.

ultimately horses are on the road by rights & others on the road must obey laws, rules

you’re entitled to opinion but this will not change anytime soon

No, of course you are not being unreasonable OP. It's crazy the way some drivers pass horses.
I find the worst are transit type vans, they often seem not to slow down at all and because they are bigger/high sided they are scarier to my horse. She is fine with normal, fairly slow cars but she hates vans and will spin round as they approach if they're too fast, then she's facing the wrong way and they fly past causing her to spin back again. I've basically had to give up hacking on the road because of this.
Tractors and lorries are nearly always OK because they have the sense to stop and let you past. Big groups of bikes are a nightmare too, oblivious to everyone but themselves, yelling non-stop and taking up the whole road.

Sadly I think it's a battle we are losing.
I think perhaps we would be better off targeting the speedsters and car users to support creation of safer off-road routes for horses. Rather than targeting the horse riders to support what they would already support.

It may be the HWC but it's about been considerate to ALL other road users . Riding 2 abreast makes it very difficult for people to see if it's safe to go past thats why they take risks . There was a hacking route by agreement of local farmers but something went one and a few of farmers have withdrawn form it you could end up following a horse for 3 miles if you don't overtake

I'm a cyclist and again it's in the HWC you can ride 2 abreast but I don't because I'm not and entitled arsehole doing something because I can . I ride considerately so other road users can pass me safely because I'm aware I will be holding them up rather than making it awkward for them .

As for blind bends a horse normally walk at about 3MPH I always heavily reduce speed but realistically who take there speed down to 3 MPH on a national speed limit rd to take a corner on a rd wide enough for 2 cars.

Whilst every rd as you quite rightly said is suitable except motorways . We have a 4 lane dual carriageway national speed limit that exits off the motorway to the port . I would not ride a horse, bike or walk down that it's common sense even though I would have to right to

Not unreasonable at all.

I do ask though, do you think horses should be kept off country roads that have blind corners?

I don't know any ordinary working people with their own horse. Horses are pretty expensive aren't they? The livery charges, the vet fees, the equipment, the food etc. 🤷‍♀️ You've got to think if I have a horse, where am I going to keep it? Where am I going to ride it?

No
Because if you drive so fast round a blind bend you hit a horse, you also couldn't have stopped for a pedestrian, tractor, broken down car, sheep, fallen tree.... I asked a car to stop once as I could see over the hedge, he stuck his fingers up at me and flew round the bend to come head on with a tractor. I did try not to laugh as he had to reverse all the way back

I've always ridden side by side to act as a visual block but then will drop back to single file or pull in so cars can pass
If I can see over a hedge I will warn a driver of any obstacles and tell them to stop, I will let people's children fuss them, I'll catch your loose dog. Basically I'm a considerate rider that just wants to go home alive at the end of the day so I do everything I can on my end including wearing high viz and just expect drivers to be sensible

It is a bit annoying when they are out in rush hour.

Normal working person here, currently without a horse due to lack of time
You ride them where you're allowed whether that's an arena or the road. But horses are allowed on the road so that's not the issue

Sadly, I think this is a bit like all those signs saying "don't be abusive to staff". Nobody who is abusive to staff will care that there's a sign saying they shouldn't - they already know they shouldn't...

a lot of people don’t know why it’s dangerous op. I’ve met otherwise well-educated people who were surprised to know that you could scare the horse and the rider could get chucked off and break some bones if you put it into bloody sport mode and zoom past.

I'm an ordinary working person on an ordinary salary and my daughter has a horse. You can buy a horse for less than the cost of an old second-hand car and you can keep it on cheap livery. Our horse has cost MUCH less in vet fees than our dog!

These people are amongst us.

I don’t have horses. But I live on a country lane with blind corners and I walk with my baby every day. Do you think I should keep off the road too or do you think drivers should drive appropriately to avoid killing us, as they seem to be able to do? It really isn’t that hard to drive safely on a country lane.

I know someone on benefits alone who has two horses......

They aren't just for rich people yknow?

Let me be clear from the outset that I don't condone bad driving, certainly not when it puts other people at risk. However, I find your use of the word selfish quite ironic. You want to use the road as you please, without being inconvenienced. Guess what, so do the motorists. You're both as selfish as each other.

Yes, I think you’re right, and until the police start actually cracking down on it, nothing is going to change.

My daughter was hit by a car when out riding. She has a helmet camera, and 2 other passing cars gave us their dash cam footage. Police refused to do anything about it.

YANBU. However I think maybe during rush hour it'd be sensible not to ride your horses just for an hour.

If I see a horse I stay well back, more than aware they can do more damage to me than what I can do them.