Why are some drivers such utter tools around horses on the road?

[Springersrock]

This baffles me

Our yard is on a tiny little country lane. It’s a dead end with a farm at the end, a few houses and several other small yards along it. Lots of access to bridle ways off the lane so hardly any roadwork.

Yesterday afternoon DD had a lesson so was hacking to another yard along the lane - about 10 minutes hack away. I was following on my bike.

A delivery van comes flying along the lane, barely slowed down and passed so close DD could have touched it.

A couple of minutes later he came back the other way, this time he did slow down - but only so he could shout abuse at DD and I before he sped off again.

He obviously wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer - he was in a sign written van so I’ve phoned the delivery company and complained

This isn’t the first time she’s encountered behaviour like this and, sadly, I’m sure it won’t be the last, but why on earth do people behave like this?

I cycle a lot and while I have been subjected to some pretty stupid drivers, I’ve never encountered anywhere near the level of aggression and hatred that seems to be directed towards horse riders.

Here’s what happens when people go round ‘fast bends’ in a car and meet a horse. This is why people on horses get so cross at car drivers who drive like idiots, Motherofcreek, because every second we spend on the same road as cars causes us fear that this could happen to us. The fact that you are still trying to argue that the presence of a horse on your ‘fast bend’ is problematic but the speed that you take fast bends at isn’t, suggests that you still don’t get it.

The thing about the rider crossing the road is it's not the sort of thing you do randomly presumably they were crossing there for a reason. I know round here there are several bridleways and farm entrances that join the road very close to horrid bends and you have to listen out and ride across positively.

In my experience it's ignorance and preconceptions about horse owners/riders.

I was out this morning on my horse and there was some kind of cycling event. Every rider we passed was terribly helpful, polite and careful. I think we're lucky where our yard is. Where I used to keep him (very rural, horsey) drivers were generally very unpleasant. I don't know what the rhyme or reason is. It's easier when DD is on board than me so I can only assume people think I'm a twat and not worth slowing down for rather than the horse.

Dd had a good one the other day.

She was riding through a flooded patch on the road, just walking through on the left. A twat in an Audi drove through the flooded bit really fast without slowing down creating a wave which soaked both dd and dhorse

We came across a complete twat today

DD hacking on an actual bridleway! to a cross country lesson when a car comes speeding along it

Fortunately there was a field to one side of us so she took her pony into the field. The car didn’t slow down or acknowledge us or anything. I was walking with them and was a little way behind so could see what was going to happen and managed to get my phone out and video it plus DD had her hat cam so we’ve reported it to the police

My heart was in my throat. I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry

Everyone around here bangs on about how horses shouldn’t be on roads - we were on a bloody bridleway FFS. I can’t work out how they even got a car on it