Bridleways and footpaths

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Clofox

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Hi all,

Me and my friend took our ponies out on a beautiful sunny hack today, on the bridleway... Bumped into many other horses, and also a few people.

We got to the longest,flattest part in the woods to have a nice canter on, however right at the very top there were two ladies having a chat. We stopped at the bottom waiting for them so we could canter up, the ponies of course became very irratable, BUT the most annoying thing was running parallel with the bridleway was a public footpath which was less muddy!they had many options to go onto the foot path but preferred the bridleway!:mad:

10mins later and 2 very impatient perky ponies and 2 grumpy riders, they arrived at the bottom and then said "something wrong" we just said we were waiting for them to reach us so we could have a canter without squishing
them(we were very polite) and they then said"oh well go then!?"

Sorry for the mini moan, I was just a tad frustrated!
 
Yes, I do know how you feel !

There is nothing quite like the feeling of having worked all week you finally get to hack your horse at the weekend, reach the one and only decent canter path locally only to find somebody half way along the path struggling to push a push chair ! Grrr - why can't they stay in the local park, on the road, local rec, or any of those places not accessable to horse riders but open to walkers !

Totally uncharitable response !! lol
 
No sympathy, sorry. It's a right of way for pedestrians and horses on equal footing. These two ladies had no reason to guess that you were waiting for them, and they are just as entitled to go at their speed as you are at yours.

(although, as the other poster says you had no absolute right to canter, perhaps they were more entitled?)

And - making a feisty horse wait when it wants to Go Go Go can sometimes be a good thing. :D
 
Thats annoying I think I would of had to say something along the lines of whats wrong with the foot path? Not muddy enough for you?! he he

I'm sure if you'd have just gone that would have done the trick they wouldn't be seen on the bridle way again! A bit naughty but it makes you like it we have a lot of inconsiderate people that walk/cycle down the bridle way near me. One occassion we were just the last few yards of the bridle path when 4 people saw us but decided to push through as its very narrow. As a result my horse shot up my friends horses bum he then tried to kick my horse and we spun around on a tight circle and one of the women walked backwards as we got near and fell into the ditch! All they had to do was wait a couple of minutes at the beginning of the bridle path. Its the same with cyclists they will try to cycle past at speed when its very very narrow or creep up right behind you until they are up your horses bum. Then they decide to ring their bell because they want to get past!! Scares the life out of me let alone my horse! lol Does drive me mad i've got into the habit of looking behind me every 5 mins now! And will ask cyclists to wait for me to pass as they clearly don't have much common sense the only trouble is with that is half of them are plugged into their mp3 players and can't hear a word you say anyway and continue cycling on blissfully unaware. Surely it can't be that hard to see a grey horse?!! Sorry rant over! Thanks for the therapy!! :)
 
If they were at the far end of your canter stretch I would have gone for it anyway! They would soon have shifted out of the way if half a tonne of horse was thundering towards them. I'm not saying mow them down, (as much as I'd be tempted...) but you could pull up before you hit them, and if they can see you coming they'll soon move over!

(Note: post is tongue in cheek... well, maybe...)
 
I really dislike this whole footpath and bridleway thing.
I think we should be able to walk and ride anywhere, so long as we don't destroy crops or go in people's gardens.
Funny thing is, we've got a bridleway which goes right through a farmers crops, but we're not allowed to go around the edge of the field?!
 
You can't go around farmer's fields because they usually get payments for not mowing the edges and allowing wildlife to thrive - they wouldn't get paid if someone rode on it..

As for the walkers on bridleways - of course they have every right to be there! It wasn't as thought you never got your canter, you just had to wait a little bit. Not the end of the world really.

Live and let live. Treat everyone as you'd like to be treated...
 
Oh dear!
You should give way to more vunerable users, so in fact a rider should give way to a person walking.
Also cyclists are not allowed on footpaths so have to ride on bridleways, they are not for the soul use of horse riders! They also usually ring there bells to worn you they are there, so as not to frighten your pony.
us horse riders have a bad anough name, please try and have a bit of patience when ecountering other bridle way users! You would expect a car to slow down, or even stop for you if you were on the road, so maybe it is fair for you to do the same.
 
I am someone who rants about people cantering on bridleways regardless of the conditions. It drives me crackers when people cut them up and make a mess, never mind getting impatient with other users of the path. I think it is a good idea to walk along 'canter' tracks, stops the horse deciding where it goes faster, rather than the rider.
 
Totally agree with Fii and YorksG. I guess it's a bit frustrating when this happens but it is good for horses' manners not to canter in the same place everytime as they tend to expect it. OP you could have just walked or trotted along and back and then had a canter second time around, rather than having your horses standing around and chomping at the bit.
 
TBH, if a horse came cantering at me out walking I think I'd assume the rider had lost control and would try to stop it:eek::rolleyes:
 
They are quite entitled to have a chat.

Bridleways are for walkers, horses and push bikes. Bikes give way to horses and walkers and horses give way to walkers.

How were the ladies meant to know you wanted to canter?
 
Pocket_Rocket said:
Thats annoying I think I would of had to say something along the lines of whats wrong with the foot path? Not muddy enough for you?! he he

I'm sure if you'd have just gone that would have done the trick they wouldn't be seen on the bridle way again! A bit naughty but it makes you like it we have a lot of inconsiderate people that walk/cycle down the bridle way near me. One occassion we were just the last few yards of the bridle path when 4 people saw us but decided to push through as its very narrow. As a result my horse shot up my friends horses bum he then tried to kick my horse and we spun around on a tight circle and one of the women walked backwards as we got near and fell into the ditch! All they had to do was wait a couple of minutes at the beginning of the bridle path. Its the same with cyclists they will try to cycle past at speed when its very very narrow or creep up right behind you until they are up your horses bum. Then they decide to ring their bell because they want to get past!! Scares the life out of me let alone my horse! lol Does drive me mad i've got into the habit of looking behind me every 5 mins now! And will ask cyclists to wait for me to pass as they clearly don't have much common sense the only trouble is with that is half of them are plugged into their mp3 players and can't hear a word you say anyway and continue cycling on blissfully unaware. Surely it can't be that hard to see a grey horse?!! Sorry rant over! Thanks for the therapy!! :)
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Really, where do you find a cyclist with a bell? - they usually just creep up behind us and plough on past regardless of the reaction of my pony :rolleyes:
 
We must be really lucky with cyclist here, they are always polite and carefull when they come past, always say hello or ask if it ok to carry on, or stop if the track is narrow.
In return i always speak or smile to them and to walkers, and pull over to let them go past if i can.
 
We always take care on our horses and I feel you did the right thing to wait at the bottom of the hill if you wanted to canter up. The walkers / ramblers are good allies to riders in Reading and I / we always try to work with them. Some of the by ways have been repaired back to really good condition following 4x4 abuse thanks to walkers and riders working together. What does get my goat is home owners who dump rubbish over there back fences onto the bridle ways. We had a group of home owners burning there rubbish on a bridle way once and she moaned that she was scared of horses as we edged past trying to dodge the smoke and flames! Happy days Ian
 
YorksG said:
I am someone who rants about people cantering on bridleways regardless of the conditions. It drives me crackers when people cut them up and make a mess, never mind getting impatient with other users of the path. I think it is a good idea to walk along 'canter' tracks, stops the horse deciding where it goes faster, rather than the rider.
Click to expand...

Totally agree
 
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