Am I being an old fuddy duddy?

[Dizzle]

Coming back from the yard this morning in rush hour, I encountered a young teenage girl hacking down the A40, as I passed I asked her why she wasn’t wearing hi-viz. Apparently if your horse is grey and your yard is on a main road you don’t need to...

Am I the only one that thinks this is a very dumb attitude? As the queuing traffic was coming up to her, I couldn’t see horse or rider over the tops of the cars in front as the rider was wearing a dark blue jumper.

Am I being an old fuddy duddy for thinking that everyone should wear hi-viz, whether your on a grey horse, a country lane or what. Let alone hacking on a main road in rush hour. I spent the morning being rather outraged and considering writing to her YO/local paper etc...

I have to admit, I am a stickler for safety. Putting on a hi-viz takes a second and gives drivers an extra three seconds to see you. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t put one on, same with hats and even BP’s!

 

[unbalanced]

I think writing to her YO is an excellent idea. Maybe YO will start requiring young riders to wear hi-viz (ours does).
I do think it should be a requirement to wear hi-viz on the roads. After all, if you don't wear a hat, you could be killed, or worse, horribly injured and suffering for the rest of your life. If you don't wear hi-viz, someone else could be killed or injured as a result of your actions. And it makes a very loud statement that you don't give a toss about your horse if you would take him on the road without bothering to put hi-viz on him.
Well done you for stopping to call her out on it.

 

[AmyMay]

If she was on the A40 - then yes she should have been wearing hi viz.

 

[Damnation]

You should always wear Hi viz out hacking. Full stop!

 

[Dizzle]

Exactly! It’s not just the roads, I hack out on my own a lot and I like to think that (heaven forbid) anything ever happened the air ambulance could spot me!

My old YO told me of a case in Scotland where a lorry driver had hit two horses on a country lane, because the riders weren’t wearing hi-viz the driver wasn’t prosecuted. I believe both horses were killed (I *think* this is true, but could have been a scare story from old YO to justify hi-viz yard policy! )

Sadly this isn’t the first time I’ve seen non-hi viz riders on the A40, Easter Sunday morning they were on a dual carriage way part and as I rounded the bend there were two horses hacking side by side on the inside lane, thank god I’d taken the corner wide and it’s a steep hill so I wasn’t going too quickly... it beggars belief.

I know not everyone can be on yards with good hacking for various reasons but I don’t understand why you wouldn’t do something so simple that could save lives...

 

[WelshRuby]

I think writing to her YO is an excellent idea. Maybe YO will start requiring young riders to wear hi-viz (ours does).
I do think it should be a requirement to wear hi-viz on the roads. After all, if you don't wear a hat, you could be killed, or worse, horribly injured and suffering for the rest of your life. If you don't wear hi-viz, someone else could be killed or injured as a result of your actions. youAnd it makes a very loud statement that you don't give a toss about your horse if would take him on the road without bothering to put hi-viz on him.
Well done you for stopping to call her out on it.

DITTO

 

[Bug2007]

Do it.

Write to the YO and explain.

Grey horse...whatever, what if it is a grey day!!! Now if her horse was floresent yellow then she'd have half a reason not to wear one.

 

[YorksG]

On a main road, a side road, a bridleway, middle of the moors, of course you should wear Hi-Viz, if you want to get hit by traffic, not found if you should drop off etc, more fool you, your horse does not make the choice to go where you ask, the least you can do is make sure the horse is visible and findable. Standard hi-viz for us is:- hat band, jacket or tabbard, leg bands for horse, do also have summer and winter weight exercise sheets for the mare.

 

[madlady]

No you are not an old fuddy duddy - she should have been wearing hi-vis. End of.

No matter where I am riding I wear it, as do my 2 11yo nieces.

 

[Dizzle]

I have to admit in summer my hi-viz is usually just a vest for me (in winter it’s vest for me, quartersheet for horse) I keep meaning to get some summer hi-viz for the horse, especially now that we are doing longer solo hacks (last year we only hacked in company). Maybe I should practice what I preach

I’m going to ask for some of the Equisafety ‘Polite’ stuff for my birthday, I want to dress as a police horse!