Why do people drive so close behind the trailer when ponies are in??

[Eve]

Especially lorries... They have no excuse, they can see the ponies yet are an inch from back of trailer!!!

Trying to get you to move over to let them past? If I have a long line of traffic behind me I always pull over to let them past. Nothing more annoying than having to drive at 30mph on a 60mph road.

I must admit I find lorries are usually ok - coming back in the trailer the other day I was creeping down a very twisty hill with a huge double lorry behind me. Once he'd caught me up he dropped right back to about 3 lorry lengths and was very patient as I did my 20mph crawl. Where possible I pull over, but sometimes it just isn't - people are incredibly impatient.

Another thing that hacks me off is when you are going along the road and someone waiting on a side road sees you coming and pulls out in front of you, but not quickly enough meaning you have to brake. I try so hard to give my horse a smooth ride but when these idiots do this it becomes impossible. The problem is ignorance, so few people know what's involved in towing an animal they don't realise the impact of what they are doing.

It's because you aren't Going fast enough for them. They think they can intimidate you I to speeding up. They are the kind of people who would more than happily tow a trailer in the fast lane of the motorway doing 80!

Because they are ignorant. I once had my dad tow wonky donkey to a show as a youngster and he drove far too fast, I kept shouting At him to slow down but he wouldn't listen. He was truly shocked and upset when I unloaded wonky who was shaking and dripping With sweat at the show. I confess I did nothing to make him feel any better as I think I swore at him for about 5 minutes before the steam stopped coming out of my ears. He just didn't appreciate that horses can't hold on and it's incredibly hard and scary for them to keep their balance in a moving vehicle. Especially when it is moving too fast, round corners or when you have to do an emergency stop at the bloody traffic lights because you are doing 40 in a 30 zone with a horse on the trailer and the trailer brakes engage! Can you tell this incident rankles with me even now 15 years later?
Anyhow, point is unless you have travelled horses yourself you just don't think about how they are keeping their balance stood in the back of the trailer so don't appreciate why you are driving so slowly and carefully. But then again some people are just twunts. Like the one the other day who helpfully honked his horn at my already rearing horse, just in case I hadnt noticed I was in the middle of the road.