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?!

It is as much a choice to walk or cycle for pleasure - as they often do - on these roads. Why is a horse rider or dog owner less reasonable for using the road to facilitate their hobby?

I'm not sure why you think that someone owning dog and walking on the road with it doesn't have a garden or a local dog park / suitable walking area - they do have to get between the garden and that park somehow and some roads don't have pavements.

I think it’s ignorance tbh.
if people were shown graphic pictures of the damage that a horse does to itself and car occupants when one comes through the windscreen/lands on the roof maybe they’d think twice.

also most people have no idea how fast /far a horse can jump sideways at basically 50mph covering sometimes up to 10-15ft in one leap.
my reactions aren’t that fast and I ride the stupid creatures, your average motorist has no hope!.

The cyclist who decided to undertake me as I turned left on a sharp bend onto a busy road really must have a death wish. As he whizzed into my vision on the narrow strip between my car and a wall I had to brake hard and fortunately there was a big gap before the next car on the main road or there could have been a squashed cyclist and two or more cars and contents mangled.

He cycled on oblivious.

Everyone should have to pass a test before they go on the road in any sort of vehicle including cycles or with animals.

Sorry, was picking GS up and my heart is still trying to jump out of my chest.

Two words

Horse
trailer

How do you know the cyclist doesn't have a driving licence? About 75% of adult cyclists do have one- pretty much the same as the population.

Love this description of ‘hairy ankles’ (AKA ‘feather’) 😀
My gypsy cob has very hairy ankles 🙂
We ride mountains, forests and lanes from the livery yard and 95% of drivers are fantastic. There will always be nobs, sadly.

My horse (who is generally excellent on the road) has been wound up by the sound of motorbikes coming from behind recently - the bikers were doing nothing wrong and were keeping a really respectful distance before attempting to pass slowly, but there must have been something about the sound that freaked her out. A controlled freakout, but totally unpredicted based on past behaviour.

Drivers can never be certain what a horse will do.

Parking not always available. May still need to use roads to move from one bridleway to the next. Have to run a large gas guzzling, polluting car.
Riders can’t win really can they.

100% agree op.
trouble is,the law is not being enforced.
If there's any video footage of dangerous driving etc to take to the police and it gets widely noticed horse riders are not prepared to let these idiots get away with it,perhaps these incidents will eventually be far fewer.
keep safe.🌈

Did you not check your mirrors?

How fast were you trying to take this "sharp bend" that you had to brake "hard"??

How do you know he did not have a driving licence and hadn't passed a test?

It is eye-opening how often people will blame their own inattentive / impatient / unobservant / otherwise poor driving on other road users.

There's footage on reddit of two police horses absolutely refusing to walk over one of the zebra crossings that's been rainbow-painted for pride. It really struck me that there was no thought at all about who might be using that crossing when it was painted.

I was wondering if it might help if more horses were used as (and were seen as) actual working animals rather than a posh hobby. (And I take some posters' points that they are not posh, but like it or not "posh hobby for rich people" is how riding is seen.) The only time most city-dwellers encounter a horse is police horses, or on state occasions, but if there were more routine instances of horses on the roads, like the Youngs Brewery deliveries in Chiswick, it might normalise horses as road users.

Well she should have checked, but the cyclist is also not allowed to pass on the left. So he shouldn't have been there at all, and I'm assuming she was indicating so why go there at all? It was lack of observation on both sides, only the cyclist would have ended up severely injured if hit. Doesn't seem smart.

I can't comprehend why people insist on riding horses on roads. It's potentially dangerous for themselves and the horse, potentially stressful for the poor horse too, and inconvenient for the public. It just seems really unnecessary.

Well she should have checked, but the cyclist is also not allowed to pass on the left

its called filtering and it’s allowed in the uk as in the Highway code 67

@ancientgran As of 29 January, pedestrians have new priority when crossing road junctions, while cyclists have priority when passing a turning car, under a new hierarchy of road users. Perhaps you’re not aware of these changes, but then the irony is you’ve passed a test to have a licence to drive and if you’re not aware of the changes 🤷‍♀️

Because they don't habe a choice!! In order to get to off-road hacking from our (and many other) yards you have to go into the road for a short stretch. It's unavoidable.

Exactly! At various times I am a pedestrian, a cyclist or a driver. An inconsiderate cyclist is likely just as inconsiderate as a driver.

An inconsiderate cyclist is likely just as inconsiderate as a driver

which is a lot more worrying as they can do a lot more damage with their car than they can on their bike

This is nothing except your poor observation. If they have only ‘whizzed into view’ Once they are almost past you, that necessarily means that you have not checked your mirrors.

Typical entitled driver.

I completely agree! We're a horsey family as my mum had her own horse as a child and growing up we had horses (not me now as I'm too busy) but she had an incident where a guy (in the 1960's) kept beeping his horn and my mums horse left hoof prints on his car! Lol 😆
Saying that I was cycling up a canal pathway that's open to all except cars and motor vehicles and this fucking horse rider was taking up the whole pathway with her friend. Cycled up, she'd seen us and not moved, I rang my bell very briefly and she had a right go at me saying 'for gods sake my horse will take you out if you ring your bell' she looked very sheepish when i told her in no uncertain terms that if she loves horses and is able to handle them Correctly then she needs to wear a sign on her back and make way for other traffic not just hog the pathway and assume she's correct - stupid woman

Rule 67: when cycling on the road, only pass to the left of large vehicles when they are stationary or slow moving and you should proceed with caution as the driver may not be able to see you. Be particularly careful on the approach to junctions or where a large vehicle could change lanes to the left.

So cyclists should be careful when approaching junctions. Also,

Rule 74: Turning. When approaching a junction on the left, watch out for vehicles turning in front of you, out of or into the side road. If you intend to turn left, check first for other cyclists or motorcyclists before signalling. Do not ride on the inside of vehicles signalling or slowing down to turn left.

So the cyclist was wrong to do what they did.

Although this is a bit confusing when the above is new, but this is also in there: Added a new rule H3 about not cutting across cyclists, and not turning at a junction if to do so would cause a cyclist going straight ahead to stop or swerve.🤔

So the driver can't turn if a cyclist is there, and the cyclist can't go if the car is wanting to turn..

You might as well say that you should only have a car if you have somewhere safe off road to park it. Or you should only have children if you have a huge garden for them to play in.

Don't be ridiculous and excuse the poor behaviour of impatient drivers, there's no reason they cannot drive safely around slower road users.

@ILikeHotWaterBottles

Rule H3 (Cyclists Priority): This rule highlights the new priority that cyclists and horse riders have when vehicles or motorcycles are turning. When a vehicle is now turning into or out of a junction, as well as changing direction/lane, they are not allowed to cut across vulnerable road users like cyclists and horse riders, but instead, should give way to them, regardless of whether they are on a cycle lane, or riding ahead of them on the road.

many drivers ignore this rule and I constantly see drivers turning left at a junction and ignoring pedestrians- it’s now the pedestrians priority and the driver would be in the wrong if they hit a pedestrian stepping off the kerb, same with cyclists, they have priority at junctions

this changed in 2022

I was once riding in a group (single file obviously) on some spanish country roads, and a car of late teens/early 20s people was driving super close behind my horse making it really nervous for a few minutes, they then revved the engine and deliberately bumped the back of the horses legs with the car! The horse obviously was really startled and upset, reared up and tried to escape from the situation. Luckily i was able to stay on, but she nearly threw me onto the bonnet, and the group leader went absolutely crazy at the people in the car who werent remotely apologetic and were just laughing. Some people are just tossers!

He doesn't have one that is for riding a cycle on the road because there isn't one. Whatever he had or hadn't learned about driving a car didn't apply to driving into a very tight space between a car and a wall because he couldn't have done it in a car.

He doesn't have one that is for riding a cycle on the road because there isn't one. Whatever he had or hadn't learned about driving a car didn't apply to driving into a very tight space between a car and a wall because he couldn't have done it in a car.

the Highway Code is for all users of the road, and when you take your driving theory test - do you have sections on the Highway Code you are told not to learn as it’s not relevant when driving?