Bus drivers! And hacking q's...

[Sol]

Still rather miffed over my so called 'quiet hack' the other day... instructor was supposed to be schooling Danny but had an hour before hand to kill so thought why not just go for a quick hack? Sounds good right?

Met 1 bus driver going down the hill, coming towards us. Didn't slow down then slammed his brakes on along side us, air brakes caused Danny to spook and spin, missed the bus by about 6 inches. Pulled him up, got into a driveway and let the traffic go by. Carried on, got onto the salt line and was fine.
Come back off the salt line to go up the hill... another bus! But this one slowed down nicely but Danny was nervous and it wasn't worth the argument in the middle of the road, so moved him into a side road and let it pass, fine. Back onto the road..... Another bloody bus behind us!!

Did NOT slow down and I was wondering if he'd stop after he'd driven into us! Turned round and glared at him, held my hand up and asked him to stop. Kept getting closer.... at that point I will admit I gave him a gob full

(didn't get the idea though!) Mum was with me and stayed walking (on foot) in front of the bus while I trotted on ahead to the junction, but by the time I'd reached there the bus had passed her and couldn't even wait for me to trot the last 100m back to the yard! By this time poor Danny just froze, and then froze every time a van/anything larger passed

Refused to hack today as its a year to the day that I broke my elbow coming off on the road

Just very, very pissed off! Turned out that the driver of 3rd bus was heading back to the depot, obviously the end of his shift!!

Don't people realize how stupid it is to drive a vehicle so close to a horse!?

Took me about 3 hours to make my heart rate go back to normal afterwards

But after that, I'm honestly wondering if it's worth hacking these days. I don't enjoy it much anyway, it's boring to me (I /like/ schooling!) but feel that it's important to get Danny out seeing things, as well as for him to not just school all the time - as long as we aren't being run over... We only really have roads to hack on, except the salt line, or if we get a lift to Somerford or somewhere similar (which costs, and we couldn't do that regularly).
Would you bother?
Would you still hack alone? This is something I've been doing since I was about 12, and prefer to set my own pace and go where I like, leave when I want so I don't often hack with others!

*cookies for getting though that!*

 

[Katie__Connie]

ughh it drives me mad!! Glad you're ok though....

 

[showjumpinglover]

Could you not ring the depot and get them to speak to the drivers?

Probably won't do anything but always woth a try. (if they are anything like the arriva garage near us then they won't do anything)

Hope you are both ok though

 

[lilym]

Report it to the BHS and ring the bus company and moan!!

 

[Sol]

Thanks everyone

May have to see if mum can remember the registration, is it really worth complaining though?

Just hope that Danny's ok next time we go out, he's been really good recently though we haven't been out much, will be a little annoyed if we're back to square one! I honestly do hate hacking...

 

[Ranyhyn]

I agree, it is important for a horse to have a well rounded excercise routine. However if it is causing you both such stress I can understand why you don't want to. Try and make sure your nerves aren't making it worse for Danny and maybe have a squrt of RR to make you feel better and do perservere - ring the depot, ask them nicely for some more consideration and enjoy your hacks x

 

[Dubsie]

I would actually write to the bus company - start by praising driver No 2 and complain about 1 & 3. Suggest they include horses in their next driver training session, and give them a contact for eg BHS, or refer to Highway Code.
If they have it in writing = they will have a complaints procedure = they will have to do something about your complaint. Phone call = written on scrap of paper = forgotten about.

 

[showjumpinglover]

If you Pm echodomino i'm sure she can tell you more about what the depot can do (she is a bus driver) about this sort of problem

 

[charlie13]

i had a near miss a couple af years ago was hacking my 4 yr old in company wher a bus came qwickly around the courner and ten all of a sudden we wer in frount off it very scary but i manged to get him out the way and since then the bus drives have been very considerate but could only hack him on a sunday as busses dont run n it was a pain have sold him now but still not kean on hacking i now how you feel its horible try contating some one not sure who tho

 

[Sol]

Kitsune - I'm not usually particularly nervous about hacking, just cautious! More more nervy when it comes to 2ft showjumps...

Think I'll be going out with someone else though next time!

Dubsie - That's a good point, will look into that, thanks!

Showjumpinglover - thanks, may send her a PM if I have any q's then!

charlie13 - good point. I don't normally hack out on weekdays anyway thinking about it, may be why we don't normally encounter scary buses! Sorry about your incident, it's annoying that there are so few places to ride that don't involve roads now! :/

 

[jaynedoc]

luckilyI haven't had any problems with busses per say...but yesterday my daughter went hacking alone for the very first time... I drove on ahead to help her cross the main road that goes through our villiage....but it was after school time and getting on for rush hour.. the horse she was riding won't stand still when alone and she was having her hadns full circling at the juntion and stopping her backing up into the main rd it was obvious the horse was figity and becomming annoyed at being held so long but did anyone slow daow to let her cros safely...no they did not..after 5 mins I had had enough as it was becomming hard to keep the horse under control so I marched out into the middle of the main rd and bloody stood there with my arms out stopping all the traffic so she could cross....the speed limit is only 30 as it is a village but know one would let her cross at all...very frustrating.... she trotted over the rd in about 5 seconds now where was the harm in waiting 5 seconds... is everybodies life so self important that for the safety of a child they can't wait 5 meesley seconds...it makes my blood boil...and i believe I am write in saying that horses have right of way in that situation... sorry long rant over...

 

[YorksG]

Sorry jay_d but I think you should have more thought for your chikds safety and teach the horse to stand still when on its own before you expect it to cross a busy road at rush hour. I also think that it is rather selfish to expect other people at the end of a working day to stop to allow some-one elses hobby to carry on. I do my best to avoid busy roads at rush hour as we get a bad enough press from motorists and see no point in making the situation worse.
Re buses we are very fortunate and our local bus drivers are excellent

we have e-mailed them to thank them for this on more that one occasion. If the drivers are driving dangerously then report them to the police.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

QR
I always make sure that I do not hack past our local schools at finishing time, or on our local busy roads during the rush hour, it's just asking for trouble IMO.

 

[Kat]

Write a formal letter to the bus company, tell them where the incidents occured and the dates and times they should be able to trace the drivers even if you don't have the registration numbers.

Make it very clear that the behaviour was unacceptable and dangerous.

Ask them to record the incidents as a "near miss" in their accident/incident records and on the driver's records. Also ask that they provide additional training to all drivers on how to deal with horses on the road, and how to understand hand signals.

Report the matter to the BHS and police too and give them the details of the bus company.

Do not let this rest, the steps you take now could prevent a future more serious accident. It may also be the difference between a future claim following an accident being successful or not.

 

[AmyMay]

Do get in touch with the Bus company concerned and ask them to ensure that their drivers are aware of what allowances they need to make for horses on the road.

I'm lucky that my horse is 110% in even the heaviest or biggest of traffic. But I know from experience with a previous more nevous horse how upsetting it can be for both horse and rider when bigger vehicles are inconsiderate.

I had reason to contact a vehicle recovery company last year because of the dangerous way that the driver was driving - and they couldn't have been nicer.

 

[happyhack]

Similar thing happened to a local rider near me but she actually came off:
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/2170946.Horserider_s_road_safety_concerns/

I would DEFINITELY give the depot a call, don't get angry. Just advise where you were and at what time and they should be able to work out the bus routes from their end. Just explain that you felt the drivers got too close to you and that although nothing awful happened, you felt intimidated and would appreciate it if they could speak to the drivers and remind them that a horse is an unpredictable animal, and that by driving the way that they did could have ended in disaster.

Hope something gets sorted.

 

[ester]

Do speak to the bus company

just a note though that the drivers have no control over their air brakes. My driving instructor also drove coaches, he said he hated coming across horses as if he did brake and slow down he couldnt say when the air brakes would go off so would have to used gears instead but that necessited him seeing the horses in plenty of time.

He had a horsey gf (and was in groom training himself

) so had had it drilled into him what horses can get up to!

We have no problem with local bus drivers but we are generally on a wide straight bit of road so that they can allow plenty of room without having to slow down too much.

 

[Sol]

Thanks everyone, will definitely get in touch with the company!

I know that the drivers can't control their air brakes, but if he was going to go speeding past, it may have been more helpful than braking right next to us! (would have been over with quicker at least!)

Thanks again