Cantering on grass verges

what you have to remember OP is that there will always be people who do things differently and you can't help that.

It is possible to safely canter up a grass verge in control and with full awareness of your surroundings.
It's also possible to appear to be going quite fast and possibly a bit oblivious to road users.

Making a blanket statement about cantering on the verge being dangerous, based on seeing one person doing something in a way you wouldn't choose to is a bit OTT.

It's akin to saying horses shouldn't be allowed on the road because you once noticed a single person having a problem with their horse. Many, many people exercise their horses on the road safely and in control every day.
 
I have also never had a problem hearing/noticing traffic coming up behind me. As always I ease up and thank the driver with a cheery wave :)

I am aware of my surroundings when I ride, keeping my wits about me checking over my shoulder etc. I do this in all paces out hacking.

I've seen plenty of riders trotting along or chatting/walking in a group not realising there is a car behind them as they are not paying attention but is a completely different issue

I also don't see the difference in trot spook or canter spook in fact in canter the spook is likely to be smaller as the horse is going forward.

No objection to people who don't feel safe cantering on verges what ever the reason, under confident rider, very spooky horse, the verge / road its self.

But there are situations where it is as safe as any road work to do so. So you cant really judge unless you know all the facts
 
Goodness can't remember when I last did this..... Oh yes it was this morning, quiet country lane verges recently mown and flat, a regular route for me. We have very few bridleways around here and the generous farmers who have allowed me on their stubble fields have now cultivated. I need to keep my boy fit enough for hunting and can't afford the time to box up every time I want to canter. Oh and I always slow to a walk if a vehicle comes (single track road)
 
Been doing it for over 40 years with no issue. Really depends on the horse though, I mean I wouldn't do it on a horse I didn't know very well or one I just knew was liable to spook!
 
I was cantering along a rural verge in 1980. I had just turned 20 years of age. The horse in front of me, ridden by a young married woman who had two children both under 5 years of age, stumbled out into the lane and turned over without throwing the rider clear. He landed on top of her on the tarmac.

In those days we wore the old velvet caps without chin straps. Her hat did stay on, the horse got up with minor injuries. The rider spent a week on life support. Thirty six years later I can still see the her children's little faces at her funeral, it has never left me. It was of course a tragic accident that could have happened anywhere, but I have never viewed verges as suitable for anything quicker than a trot from that fateful day forwards.
 
round here, if it's 6ins wide it is a "canter track." Nearly all of our hacking is road work in one form or another, so if there is a suitable soft surface - i.e. the horse can fit it's feet on it - then it is used for cantering.

Mind you we have very few issues with littering, and our drainage consists of ditches running parallel to the road for the most part.
 
Yes on verges I know well, where I also walk my dog (and usually have in the morning before riding) so I'm 99% there are no issues. They're all on very quiet roads and we keep to a very steady, controlled canter. They're mostly only about 40m or so but we do have one where the verge is about 300m long, 4m wide and down a steep slope from the road (I've seen about 10 vehicles on it in 20 years of riding down there) so almost completely separate track. A horse could never spook up the slope and onto the road and even if they defied gravity and made it, the chances of a car being there are negligible.

We also have one stretch of road that has so little use the middle is a complete grass strip. It's quite long and straight and we often have a little canter down there too, although never too close to the bend, we make sure we're walking again long before a car could pop round the corner. I've never seen a car on that road, it links to the forestry gate but there's nowhere to park a car there so no use to walkers etc.
 
mini-eventer said:
I do it regularly.

On very quiet country roads, On nice wide verges, usually a couple meters wide.
The ground is good and the grass is mown regularly. We have some really long uphill stretches that are great for fitness. I actually do not know how I would get my horses fit enough with out them.

But key to it is assessing the risk, keeping control not blasting around willy nilly
Click to expand...

This
 
AdorableAlice said:
I was cantering along a rural verge in 1980. I had just turned 20 years of age. The horse in front of me, ridden by a young married woman who had two children both under 5 years of age, stumbled out into the lane and turned over without throwing the rider clear. He landed on top of her on the tarmac.

In those days we wore the old velvet caps without chin straps. Her hat did stay on, the horse got up with minor injuries. The rider spent a week on life support. Thirty six years later I can still see the her children's little faces at her funeral, it has never left me. It was of course a tragic accident that could have happened anywhere, but I have never viewed verges as suitable for anything quicker than a trot from that fateful day forwards.
Click to expand...
That's so sad. Awful thing to happen. Must have been very traumatic for all concerned.
 
Depends on the verge, the road it's next to and the horse!

What we do religiously though is trot the young eventers over the drainage ditches on a particular stretch of good verge! Obviously not if there is traffic coming.
 
I do ... Alot
We have pretty pants hacking so centering is very limited.
I have a rock solid highland and always know or check out the verges before I canter I tend to come back to walk if cars are passing but if it's wide enough I'd canter on.
Regularly canter down a wide verge at the side of a dual carriageway:)
 
Sandstone1 said:
No objection to people cantering on verges on private roads etc, what happens though if you canter along side a road your horse spooks and a car comes past? There may be no traffic when you start off but your unlikely to be able to hear it coming up behind you.
Click to expand...

I would bet you my life's savings that any of my horses would canter up the fast lane of the M1 without 'spooking' at a car. - it's not like cars are unusual on the roads, now is it? They might react if they saw a canoe coming down the road, but that's somewhat less likely :D
 
We canter on certain verges regularly. Those with suitable drainage ditches provide quite good sport.

Same as any other ground - look out for holes, debris, logs etc. I wouldn't canter anywhere I didn't know well enough and couldn't see the ground was safe.
 
ester said:
why are you unlikely to hear it coming up behind you? How much noise does your horse make :p. Mine is a high blower and I still hear most vehicles coming!

The verges I canter on are straight roads for a good half mile or so, I listen and look over my shoulder every few strides to be sure.

And yes def not hooleying along out of control, just a nice collected 'hand' canter, I can stop out of that as quick as I can a trot and it is no faster than a trot really so I don't see how a spook at a canter on a verge puts you at any more risk than a spook from trotting on the road itself?
Click to expand...

I love the sound of your verges, would love to canter up those and remind me of my childhood. We don't have any round me, quiet lanes but no cantering tracks.
I wouldn't canter up verges with busy traffic though.
 
pennyturner said:
I would bet you my life's savings that any of my horses would canter up the fast lane of the M1 without 'spooking' at a car. - it's not like cars are unusual on the roads, now is it? They might react if they saw a canoe coming down the road, but that's somewhat less likely :D
Click to expand...

It's not so much that they would spook at the car. Imagine cantering nicely up a lovely grass verge. A pheasant fly s out of the hedge just as a car is passing. What then?
If people want to do it that's fine. I was just surprised to see this lady next to a fairly busy road whizzing along.
I've not seen anyone else doing it for years and didn't think it was the done thing in these days of health and safely awareness.
I do personally think it's dangerous for several reasons.
 
pennyturner said:
I would bet you my life's savings that any of my horses would canter up the fast lane of the M1 without 'spooking' at a car. - it's not like cars are unusual on the roads, now is it? They might react if they saw a canoe coming down the road, but that's somewhat less likely :D
Click to expand...

I'm the same with Dolly and Mac. Cars, lorries, motorbikes no problem. If Dolly saw a carrier bag to the side though, we'd be in the fast lane before I could blink. I do look ahead for such things to avert such disasters.
 
Yes I did it when I was a child; even just six paces of canter on a nice verge was my version of sheer bliss!

But back then, the verges were trimmed more regularly by councils/landowners, so you could see if there was a drainage ditch or whatever, but that isn't the case nowadays, things are left to grow and you can't see whether there's a ditch or something nasty there.

Best to be safe IMO.
 
When our Shagya stallion was competing as an endurance horse in France, our stable jockey always trotted and cantered on the verge. Never encountered glass or rubbish, people here respect their countryside.
 
Depends on the verge really. We've got some you could drive a lorry up and some you can barely fit a horse on so its just dependent ok the situation :)
 
Don't think it's too bad if you use common sense. Saw someone on here in a video they had done where they cantered for a while on a grass verge next to what looked like a dual road. They did fine and their horse was sensible. Not sure i would trust mine but he isn't half as well trained as the other one.
 
Sandstone1 said:
It's not so much that they would spook at the car. Imagine cantering nicely up a lovely grass verge. A pheasant fly s out of the hedge just as a car is passing. What then?
Click to expand...

... erm, we live in a shooting area. There are pheasants everywhere. So what? Ours regularly ignore Chinook helicopters flying out of hedges, so I hardly think a pheasant would cause much of a fuss!
 
I'm not sure why a pheasant flying out of the hedge (or on my somerset verges more likely a duck out the ditch :p) is any more of an issue with passing traffic at a walk or at a canter. I'm not saying mine never has a spook he's welsh but what you would see him do out of traffic is also completely different to his behaviour with passing cars. If you want a quiet life you head down the A38 past the car wash :p.

The one thing I would say is that I am happier on narrower verges without shoes than I was with because if you do end up going sideways at all no chance of slippage due to the sudden surface change.
 
pennyturner said:
... erm, we live in a shooting area. There are pheasants everywhere. So what? Ours regularly ignore Chinook helicopters flying out of hedges, so I hardly think a pheasant would cause much of a fuss!
Click to expand...

Wish I had your horses! Mine would spook at pheasant, paper bags etc
 
Last edited:
Sandstone1 said:
Wish I had your horses! Mine would spook at pheasant, paper bags etc
Click to expand...

Same lol. Mine spooked at a pheasant that was stuck in a fence and went mental as we walked past. My horse spooked and went sideways at first, stopped, then saw the bird continue to struggle and spun round and ran back to his friends behind him.

He has had a real issue with blackbirds recently too although seems to be getting over it. I think he got attacked by some over night as he went from not caring to the next day spooking at them badly. Only reason I think he got attacked is because I saw two attacking a bird of prey for going in their tree (too close to the nest) and I can imagine my horse stuck his head in the tree to say hi and got the same reaction.
 
If the verge is good then yes. With the naff off road riding round my way have to make the most of every opportunity. Some of the rides I do the only canters you will get is on the verge.
 
No never, not anymore, after spending several weeks in A&E after my horse put his foot down a rabbit hole, somersaulted and landed on top of me. (A few years ago now)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top