abuse from driver for riding side by side

i ride 2 abreast & will do for some considerable time to come no matter what width the road or how much traffic as the safety of my 4yo & his nervous but very gentle pony is more important than a car driver getting held up for a few mins (& i will hit the red fiesta's windscreen with my whip handle again if it gets up my gals rear end & flashes/honks at us!)
 
Honey08 said:
And thats why the rest of get abuse too!
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Err no... Sorry that I do not care if it means that a driver will have to wait and go past slowly instead of just flying past causing me and my horse to fly into a ditch which is what happened last time! This is why my horse is terrified of lorries now! I do not care if it means that a driver will have to take the time to slow down and go around me.... a minute at max it adds to a drivers journey to slow down and pass wide and clear it's hardly life threatening where as flying past is!
 
Aoibhin said:
i ride 2 abreast & will do for some considerable time to come no matter what width the road or how much traffic as the safety of my 4yo & his nervous but very gentle pony is more important than a car driver getting held up for a few mins (& i will hit the red fiesta's windscreen with my whip handle again if it gets up my gals rear end & flashes/honks at us!)
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I totally agree... why people tihkn it is fine to inimidate riders and hurl a\buse at them... and the fact that we are meant to accept this behaviour? NO! If somebody abuses me then I will tell them It is legal and I will do it wether they like it or not!.... otherwise they will end up with half a tonne of horse on their car bonnet and the possiblity of killing somebody
 
why people tihkn it is fine to inimidate riders and hurl a\buse at them... and the fact that we are meant to accept this behaviour?
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Doesn't sound like a good place around by you to either ride or drive :rolleyes:

I don't think I've ever been abused or intimidated by a car driver. Sure, like most of us, I've had the odd idiot go to fast past me - but even had I been in company and riding two abreast people like this wouldn't be put off.

Riding two abreast is perfectly legal - we know that, although you are advised to move to single file around a bend (sensibly).

Attitudes like yours, Caz, is what gives us road riders a bad rep - and unfairly - because most of us are car drivers, know what it's like to be stuck behind something when you're in a hurry, but appreciate that sometimes you may have to wait to pass something. A rider acknowledging you are there, and accomodating you so that you can pass in a safe and timely manner is just that - good manners.

I would say that several on here should go on a road and riding awareness course - and a session on common sense and good manners.;)
 
It really concerns me how many people are hacking out horses on roads who they know are bad with traffic - seems to me some basic desensitising is being missed here.

I will hack side by side on quieter country roads, moving into single file to let cars past. Just because it's legal to ride two abreast, doesn't necessarily mean it's the best idea - unless of course it is to box in a nervous horse which is a different circumstance. If your horse is desensitised to traffic properly, you shouldn't have to encourage irrate behaviour in drivers by deliberately holding them back.

On busier roads (including a 40mph one we have to hack on that goes over the moterway) we always hack single file. I once went out a hack with a different lady from our yard, who insisted we went along this road 2 abreast. It was far more dangerous, as we ended up with a queue of cars behind us who kept making risky overtaking manouvers just to get past us whenever there was a gap in the oncoming traffic. If we had been single file, they could have passed at a much safer speed and the drivers would have been sensible in their decisions.

It's no use moaning that drivers should be willing to wait, that it's legal to do this and that drivers should be willing to slow down. Most horse riders think this, but moaning won't change anything at all. All we can do is ride to the conditions presented to us on the modern road, and deliberately holding up traffic for no good reason is not going to make said conditions any easier on yourselves. You'll end up making it worse.
 
two abreast if young, nervous inexperienced horse or horse no good with traffic. Two abreast for nervous riders/children. no need to drop to single file for any of these

Anybody can ride two abreast but its common courtesy to drop to sinlge file for cars!

There are 3 prats who keep their horses on a yard near me, they ride three abreast at rush hour, holding reins in tight, kicking horses on and no hats!! I have shouted obscentities myself to them because its down right dangerous! not one horse is nervous of roads as i`ve seen them out on their own before and the horses are fine! its pure ' hey look at me'
 
Rule 215 (ADVICE FOR DRIVERS)

Horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles. Be particularly careful of horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles especially when overtaking. Always pass wide and slowly. Horse riders are often children, so take extra care and remember riders may ride in double file when escorting a young or inexperienced horse or rider. Look out for horse riders’ and horse drivers’ signals and heed a request to slow down or stop. Take great care and treat all horses as a potential hazard; they can be unpredictable, despite the efforts of their rider/driver
 
Having just read through this thread it sounds as if some posters should take thier BHS riding and road safety tests. I think it is as in most things in life some bad drivers and some bad riders. Politeness is free and should be something which is the rule rather than the exception.
 
Ok I think ihave made myself come across wrong lol basically the roads users around my way are terrible! So bad I have now moved my horse so I don't have to go on the road anymore. I was knocked off the road and into a ditch and my horse got wedged in the ditch.... After that I always rode on the inside two a breast as he was sooo nervous around lorries.... If we got shouted at all I would reply with is "we are doing nothing wrong..highway code clause 53" (hence the figure of speech poke it lol) I always say thanks to EVERY car and pull in to driveways to allow cars to pass plus I would only ride out t quiet times but still I got abuse! I think until you yourself have to deal with this or get your horse injured you wont fully understand.... I am a car driver myself and yes it can be annoying but so can traffic lights and cyclists and round abouts... It's life. Forgive me for being bitter against ignorant people when my horse has been scarred for life mentally and physically
 
I only ride 2 abreast on one stretch of 30 mph straight road to help slow the traffic down, as without this they fly past as no-one does the 30mph anyway, it is usually 40mph plus :eek::mad:
 
we ride on roads that are narrow and quite winding. we ride single file on them. the wider straighter roads we will ride 2 abreast until a car comes and then move to single. We always say thanks and smile. we don't have problems with the drivers. a lot of them know us now and are really courteous. Even the bin men if they see us coming wait til we are well past before emptying the bins.
 
Even as a horse rider / lover I would be annoyed if I was behind horses being ridden 2 abreast with no obvious reason. If you're riding an inexperienced horse wear a tabbard saying so, other wise drop to single file and allow car drivers to pass easily.

From a non horse loving car drivers point of view, they pay road tax & riders don't so who do you think has more right of way in their eyes.

Common sense and courtesy cost nothing, lack of them causes bad feeling and accidents. Shouting abuse at drivers, even if they have dished it out first is totally unacceptable and just makes you as ignorant as them. If necessary take the number plate down and report them to the police.
 
thx for the replies, its been interesting reading thru them. luckily my boy is 99% with traffic ( i say 99% because he has flipped twice at stupid things other than the traffic, like a man in a hat in a garden and the sound of a hedge cutter hidden from sight) and most of the others i ride with are ok, altho are younger than mine and sometimes dont like the buses. altho the bus drivers are all used to us and do slow down. we're only ever on the road for about 15 mins thru a fairly straight, open 30mph bit. only trouble is, its a rat run if the A27 is blocked for any reason. i prefer to ride two abreast as it makes us seen better and does slow drivers down and makes them think and give us room. as my horse gives the others confidence if there is something scarey going on, if i've been behind, i will move alongside or then in front if necessary. we certainly dont block the road and if there are a lot of cars behind we will either pull into a side road or go single file. most the time there are only 2 of us out together, but on odd occasions all 5 of us go out, usually on a sunday. now i find that drivers get more annoyed at passing a line of 5 of us, than 2 side by side.

it just made me think after getting verbal abuse from a bloke today for being side by side. he wasnt even the driver!! there's not many horses in our area, but between all of us, there's usually someone out every day of the week, so locals are pretty used to seeing us. i guess there will always be those that like to moan and those that drive like they dont care. on the other hand, we've also been shouted at by dog walkers up on the Downs, so i guess we will never win whatever we do!!!
 
"Even if you can't take your hands off the reins you can always make eye contact and smile or nod."
Yes but how can you? If they approach behind you you would be forever turning round in your saddle and looking backwards and then be blaed fot not makinng eyecontact with the car comming at you...when the cars passed you there's no way you can make eye contact.
Not meaning to be rude,just wanting an answer as we seem to be the only road users that have to do things that in a car would be deemed as dangerous driving!
 
I had major row with a car driver. I was riding 14.2hh and leading 12hh pony so not taking up huge amount of room when car from behind tries to overtake on blind bend on narrow lane. A new temporary road sign had been put up and my two just did a very small side step. Car driver leapt out of car and said against law to ride and lead as I had no control over ponies. Added he worked in the legal profession. Yeah right! I said. I think because they were ponies he was confronting a youngster! Anyway as he finished ranting I just mentioned nonchalantly 'Why were you attempting to overtake on a blind bend' He drove off in a flurry of tyre smoke, wan**r.

Jane
 
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