Bridleway Gates - like them or loathe them?

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Rose Folly

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A few years ago I was much involved with local bridleways. The local council were very supportive, and among other things put in bridleway gates here and there.

At the time we were pleased, because they replaced collapsing wooden 5-barred gates each done up with half a mile of decaying binder-twine. Now I am not so sure.

My three current livery horses, all sensible sorts, are terrified of the 'new' gates (the kind with a high lever you pull back).

1. The gates are so strongly sprung that they snap back on the horses' rumps. All our horses now try to charge through the gates

2. They are very noisy - naturally, as they're always metal

3. The local farmers, however good or not they may be at trimming the hedges, never leave you any horse head room. With the old 5-barred gates the horse could, if surrounding vegetation demanded it, put its head over the gate. This is impossible because of the lever attachment. Also, to protect his machinery, no farmer is going to cut the hedge right up to the gatepost for fear of damaging his equipment; ergo the horse has nowhere to put his head if he is unable to stand alongside the gate.

One of my liveries complains she has very short arms. We were out yesterday and she was riding her 17.2 e-xracer. She was the lead horse on a single file track through thick undergrowth to a bridleway gate. Because of the problems listed above she was physically unable to reach it (her big fella measures over 11 feet nose to tail). There was general mayhem until the pony livery manged to crash through the vegetation to the front to reach the lever (but then her pony baulded because it has become very scared of the clang-shut). I'm surprised we're not all still out there!

Anyway, wondered how others fee - particularly anybody currently involved with bridleways or PROW officers.

NB: WISH WISH WISH more PROW personnel rode - non-horsemen don't always get the picture
 
I prefer them to most of the gates that we have around here which are physically impossible to open from the back of a 17.2 but I do agree that sprung gates are a menace. I don't do routes that have sprung gates as have had several near misses with horses being walloped as they go through them.
 
As wellsat said, I won't ride my horse through a sprung gate. You can't hold it open long enough to get the rump through, nor are the reins long enough if you try to lead through. They're also generally very narrow so wide enough for a horse to pass through dead straight but not enough room to swing them round if leading. And those industrial strength springs could keep a bear captive, let alone a weedy horse rider.
 
1. Sounds like a work party needed to trim the bushes

2. Sounds like the gates need adjusting--it can be done--ask Council Access Officers

Perhaps contact your local BHS Access Officer and get a few friends together who would benefit from this sorting and go out and do it yourselves. A work party under BHS guidance will be covered by insurance as long as Headquarters informed.
 
The problem with horse riders, is that most of them want to ride along a nice bridepath with a good surface and good gates, but they are completely unwilling to actually do anything to keep the paths open, to keep the gates in good nick, or to raise money to help with the surfaces.

In an ideal world, no-one would have troublesome gates, in fact we would have a little man waiting to open them for us. The trouble is, we don't live in an ideal world. So we need to make do. If your yard regularly use gates that are difficult, either physically do something, and adjust the gates yourselves, or ask the council to do it.

Sometimes you have to get off a horse to open a gate, if your horse is too big to re-mount, try to get tree stumps placed by the gates, if enough of you ask, you will get these things done.

I am a proactive rider, I dig into my own pocket to pay for surfacing, I go out and cut back the hedges and I also go out and adjust gates with a spanner, where needs be.
 
I wish people would CLOSE the gates after they have gone through them!! We have a couple of bridleways close to where we are and the amount of times riders DO NOT close them is disgusting. Teach your horse to stand and open and close the fairly simple, lightweight gates and be respectful to the countryside.

and breathe .........................
 
On one of our hacks there is a sprung gate but the kind landowner has put a mounting block on each side. This makes a big difference as I can get off to do the gate! Otherwise I just avoid the route. My horse can open 5 bar gates no problem but I'm not a fan of the sprung lever gates so I prefer not to risk it.
 
Agree with Cuffey. The gates are not adjusted correctly, there have been injuries to horses that have led to them being PTS, so contact the Council and ask them to make them safe (known as "mousetrap" gates). Advise oiling the gate fastenings too.

Also arrange work parties with local BHS committee or bridlepath groups. Our local County Council Volunteer Officer will contact the landowner and turn up with tools and coffee and biscuits to meet parties of riders to carry out bridlepath clearance work. It is only a morning occasionally.
 
Most of the gates we go through are quite difficult. You have to lift them up at the same time as you are undoing the hook so you need both hands. Good job I have a good horse who just stands. We also have hooks which are half way down the gate so when you're trying to bend down from a 16.2hh I'm sometimes on the verge of falling off! I frequently have to get off and then remount him off the gate on the other side.
We usually go out in groups of three so at least we can share the work but it is a bit of a pain.
I wish I had the money to pay for resurfacing my local bridleways and maintaining gates but I haven't. I would be willing to fundraise though. Who is actually responsible, is it the landowners or the council?
 
Hi Big Red and Dancing Queen. You are preaching to the converted. I served on our local bridleways group committee for 10 years, and worked my socks off - as did everybody else. We achieved a lot, and frequently had working parties, liaised closely with our brilliant PROW department etc. Unfortunately, and much against my feelings, our group was subsumed into a much larger, more distant group who, so far as I am aware, have done sweet FA towards grassroots maintenance in this neck of the woods. Kept saying they wanted a 'national network'. I kep saying national networks are no good if you can't even get as far as the next parish

I'm now old and decrepit. I still ride with secaturs in my pocket on occasions, or go out with the dogs and do a bit of lopping, but there seem to be few young ones interested in being proactive. To be fair, Health and Safety has made things more difficult. I think you now practially need a degree to lead a track clearing party.

OPs, yes, I will see if the gates in question can be 'unsprung'! The points about trying to lead a horse etc, had passed me by - but you are so right. And how could you ever cope with, for example, a child on a lead reein pony?
 
I hate the gates! I'd much rather get off to do them as I find it's easy to get your reins caught on the metal that sticks up and then the horse seems to rush through as it springs back at them. I'd much rather go through a gate and then have to close it than them closing themselves
 
We have one path near us that has such a gate at either end. The one I can do quite easily from on the pony, because it will stay open if you push it open wide enough. That tends to take my schooling stick to do, but we manage. The other one, I have to dismount, because the spring is too strong. I didn't know they could be adjusted; I'll take a closer look at it next time and see what type of tools are needed!
 
Hate the ones on springs!

My mum badly damaged her leg on one last August, he leg is still not right!
My horse has also been caught on one, left her with a wound and took ages to build up her trust again with gates.

Most bridlepaths are out of bounds for me in the local area because they have the horrible gates that spring back VERY quickly :(:mad:

I have written to the local bridleways officer and nothing has been done, I have also logged the incident on the BHS accidents website.
 
Hmm, undecided

We have them along stretches of river bank, one springs shut which idiot wlesh 9and the pther two) are surprisingly fine about! The ones that don't are more difficult as they stay open. We have two which are about two horse lengths apart, and as the gates are only narrow, and the gap between them is fenced to the same width, you can;t turn around in between, so if you let go of the gate, which you have to as it jams, it stays open and you can;t turn around to close it!
 
Meant to say though that they are better than nothing, and I am happy there is something to contain my creature should we part company!
 
If you say the gate hits the horses rump, can you not keep hold of the gate, and do a turn on the forehand around the gate to turn and close it. This is something which most of the time I am too lazy to do (!) but I can do if necessary, and if the ned behaves. There is one gate with wire on near me (for sheep) which rattles like crazy when yu let it slam shut, again I am too lazy to hold this to close it, so it slams. First few times horses leapt away, now they just don't bother.

I don't mind if the hedge grows right up the gate, give my horse something to munch on whilst I concentrate trying not to fall off his side! :D

I woudl rather have them than not though, having fallen off my pony as a kid, a bridleway gate stopped him from running straight onto a very busy road :)
 
One hunting style gate we use have to be careful not to catch martingale on then they ask gate to be shut but bridge not wide enough to turn horse onto do it.
 
Hi Stencilface. In theory I agree with you, and all horses should be able to perform said manoeuvre - one of the first things new arrivals here are taught.

But the particular gate that prompted my thread, on the ride we do, opens towards you with the opening to the right - i.e. you are pulling it back against you and because it IS only a bridleway gate (3'6" wide?), and with thick hedge-like undergrowth either side of the track, which itself is only about 4" wide, there's no room for manoeuvre. When you ride the track the other way, which for various reasons most of us don't, it's much easier, as you push the gateaway from you and with luck can hold it back just long enough for the next rider, if there is one, to shove up alongside your horse's bum and take over the holding.

The old courtesies of holding the gate open for the person behind you are largely impossible with these gates, which can leave a fretful horse at the back.

I'm hoping that our local PROW offficers may (with prompting) read all your replies. It may sow some ideas??
 
I find the lack of room to get your horse alongside the gate in the first place is one of the worst problems where I live and that's only with a 14.2 pony - hedge right up to the gate post and the catches often stiff, unreachable or broken. There's even one where the path has been fenced with the 'invisible' electric wire with only a couple of yards width to manoeuvre in and barbed wire on the other side, on which I ripped my johdpurs - luckily no damage done to me or pony. I seem to always be sending emails to OCC access person but it takes ages for landowners to do anything. Surely I'm not asking for anything unreasonable? Rides are often ruined by gate incidents and I rely on my daughters to hop on and off to do battle with the gate. Must thank those who maintain gates and bridlepaths with the horse rider in mind as thankfully there are a few of those around too.
 
The best gates IMO are the wooden hunter gates with the tall lever, which aren't on springs. I hate coming across old gates which have dropped, or have faulty catches. Still, beggars can't be choosers, and any accessible bridle path is welcomed!
 
We still have quite a lot of original gates/normal farm metal gates in our area which are fine except for the ones which have dropped off their hinges and need lifting! We do have quite a few of the new sprung gates with the long handles and I sometimes struggle to get the gate open without my boy catching his bridle on the long handle! He did once get his bit caught on the handle which could have been nasty but luckily he stood still while I quickly jumped off and took his bridle off! :eek: I think the newer design of gates needs a bit of rethinking to make them a bit safer.
 
There are a number of different horse friendly gates being manufactured at the moment. The British Horse Society is setting up a trial to test all of them and determine the advantages and disadvantages of each type.

I believe that the initial trial will be set up in Kent so if anyone is interested in trying them out please contact the Access Department at the BHS H.Q. who wil be only to pleased to arrange for you to take part in this assesment.

Peter Natt BHS Access Officer Hertfordshire
 
I won't use them at all if I can possibly avoid them. They're a serious accident waiting to happen, whether it be my leg or my horse's flank that gets trapped. They are also seriously difficult to open and get your horse through. I jump the main five bar locked gates to the side of them sometimes as its much safer than going through them but in general I avoid routes with them - can't always count on a pedestrian or mountain biker to be there to open them for you and hardly ever anywhere high enough to climb back on from if you dismount to open them safely. Vile things.
 
Design is so important. We have a few in our area, which aren't sprung and have good catches on them so they're easy. Unfortunately they're also padlocked with a combination lock so we have to get off anyway, but better that than have what few rides we have ruined by trail bikes.

A few weeks ago we did a fun ride in a neighbouring county. There were lots of gates and not only were they really heavily sprung (it was hard to push them open from the ground there was so much resistance) they also had a sleeper to step over immediately in front of the gate and there was no way you could get close enough to reach the catch lever. Neither the springs nor the sleepers were necessary and just made life even more tricky. We had to get off 7 times between us on a 10 mile ride, and that was with about 3 gates tied open for the ride. With a bit of thought we could have done every gate without getting off. As bridleway gates you'd think people would design them with riders in mind!
 
Stencilface said:
If you say the gate hits the horses rump, can you not keep hold of the gate, and do a turn on the forehand around the gate to turn and close it. This is something which most of the time I am too lazy to do (!) but I can do if necessary, and if the ned behaves. There is one gate with wire on near me (for sheep) which rattles like crazy when yu let it slam shut, again I am too lazy to hold this to close it, so it slams. First few times horses leapt away, now they just don't bother.

I don't mind if the hedge grows right up the gate, give my horse something to munch on whilst I concentrate trying not to fall off his side! :D

I woudl rather have them than not though, having fallen off my pony as a kid, a bridleway gate stopped him from running straight onto a very busy road :)
Click to expand...

They are too narrow, you can't get your horse through any other way than straight.
 
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