Does anyone slow down for horse riders anymore?

I'm lucky that I have a hack requiring no roads, and the cyclists always give us a wide berth along the track.
But I was finishing a hack one and coming along the path onto the drive to the yard which runs parallel to the road. Then some young yobbo comes along, spots us and on purposely honks their horn repeatedly! No one else on said road and we were in plain sight, so obviously aimed at us. Must say that I'm extremely lucky that horse only jumped at the sound especially as he drove past very close to the fence. If I'd come off I'd have been onto concrete or a fence, and I was told my horse didn't like traffic!
 
Most around our way are pretty good... It's all fairly rural and horses being parked outside the co op aren't unusual let alone the back roads which are mainly single lane, dodgy tarmac types with the sides totally gouged out by tractors etc...

Last week though I moved to the side and a lunatic of an older chap hurtled past whilst a car of youngsters behind crawled by... A bit further along the road I found one of the other liveries' car over in a ditch at the side and the young lads had stopped and were organising everything to get her out... Her poor car looked like it had been rallying on its roof it was so mud spattered and it had scared the living daylights out of her... The first car had just hurtled past her where there wasn't the space so she'd ended up falling off the tarmac into the big ditch at the side... The lads were marvellous and got her out and back onto the road before heading merrily (and muddily) on their way...
 
We are pretty lucky round here, however there is a definate type that are regular offenders. Mum's with kids in MPVs. I asked one to slow down as she sped towards me in 30 zone, now as I have just had to do a Speed Awareness course, I am even more aware of why it is important to do 30 or below in a 30 and so should she. She gave me the finger as she came past, despite me wearing my Polite stuff which does have a definate effect on most drivers. White vans are also my other main problem. Buses, larger vans, lorries and always motor bikes are very good at slowing down and being thoughtful.
 
We normally cross a Very busy A road to hack out & if the road is busy get the traffic to stop it only seems to take a Couple of minutes for cars to stop we are always very polite & drivers don't seem to mind - we also hack out the other way through a housing estate to get to bridle path to be honest I prefer this the cars can see you & you can see them to me this is loads better than riding on a narrow country road with huge hedges being able to hear oncoming cars but not seeing them & knowing that they cant see you until they wizz round the corner x
 
Regarding the Mums in mpvs- I once had a run in with one who was driving towards me, swerved across the road & stopped about a foot from my mares head, all without indicating. I did actually politely point out the dangers of doing that, she said she couldn't care less if she did kill a horse & rider, I got extremely rude & told her she wasn't fit to be a parent etc ( as she was swearing away infront of her kids). Imagine my joy to meet the cow in the playground when my daughter started school a few weeks later. Funnily enough she always avoids me.
 
Supertrooper said:
We are on country roads, always wear hi-viz and always thank people for slowing down but we're finding more and more that there is very few that even make an effort to slow down :-(

Three times recently I've had people in horse boxes or with horse trailers flying past us, you'd think they'd know better!!

We also find now that if you ask people to slow down they either just ignore you or speed up, or worse still swear at you.

Sorry to rant but it does annoy me, yes in an ideal world I'd love to never have to hack on the road but unfortunately we have no bridlepaths near us. I always make sure i'm polite to other road users but I'm not sure why I bother!!!
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havent read through replies but today a car actually drove so close past us at speed he touched my friends horses tail ..i was and am soooo anoyed i have come home and attached a wee nut to the end of a schooling whip...the next one to come that close will now about it...we are lucky we dont have many roads but the 2 roads we have people will pass you even tho your walking through an island so minimum space or they will just spped up ur bum then pass without a thought...the other day a learner with instructor went thru a gap that a motorbike wud struggle with to pass us...she mounted kirb...we yelled to stop and the guy teaching just took his hand on wheel and guided past one wheel on kirb !! so hey its obvious nowadays animals have no place on the road to slow them down !! if learners are taught to mount kirb regardless and pass! needless to say we did report the driving firm but doubt it will do any good !
 
horseandshoes77 said:
the other day a learner with instructor went thru a gap that a motorbike wud struggle with to pass us...she mounted kirb...we yelled to stop and the guy teaching just took his hand on wheel and guided past one wheel on kirb !! so hey its obvious nowadays animals have no place on the road to slow them down !! if learners are taught to mount kirb regardless and pass! needless to say we did report the driving firm but doubt it will do any good !
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I'd have to agree, horses', with the exception of some, are definitely not enough to slow most people down, and it's not always the ones in cars either, the amount of trouble I've had with people on push bikes is passed annoying!

I can't get over how an instructor would teach a student, to pass a horse in such manner! Do they not understand the highway code where the sections are about horses' on the road? They have the same rights to be on a road as any other vehicle, regardless of what people think. The best way is just to be prepared to be seen with hi viz.

But, if there any cars you have concerns with, the best way is to get their number plate and report to the police, the more reports, the bigger the priority of the matter will be, and hopefully something can be done!
 
Ladydragon said:
Most around our way are pretty good... It's all fairly rural and horses being parked outside the co op aren't unusual let alone the back roads which are mainly single lane, dodgy tarmac types with the sides totally gouged out by tractors etc...

Last week though I moved to the side and a lunatic of an older chap hurtled past whilst a car of youngsters behind crawled by... A bit further along the road I found one of the other liveries' car over in a ditch at the side and the young lads had stopped and were organising everything to get her out... Her poor car looked like it had been rallying on its roof it was so mud spattered and it had scared the living daylights out of her... The first car had just hurtled past her where there wasn't the space so she'd ended up falling off the tarmac into the big ditch at the side... The lads were marvellous and got her out and back onto the road before heading merrily (and muddily) on their way...
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I wish there was a "like" button!

I generally find that most drivers are very polite and pass at a sensible speed/ distance. But every now and then you do get idiots and I absolutely hate it. Several weeks ago I was out hacking on my own during the day, there wasn't a lot of traffic around but I had all my hi viz on and pony was behaving perfectly. We were just riding past a row of parked cars when an Argos van came speeding up behind us - I took one look and knew it was going to pass far to close, so me and pony ended up diving between two parked cars and luckily just made it onto the pavement before the lorry came zooming past. I really was not happy! Luckily the cars behind the lorry waited and let me get back onto the road. It's a good job my horse is small though, or we wouldn't have fitted through the gap :p
 
If they work for a company report them to a company, particularly if they swear at you. I know someone who did this and the company sacked the lorry driver :) The message obviously got round the other company drivers too :)

You can also report people to the police for dangerous driving if you can get the numberplate.

Locally I find most young people pretty good with the exception of 1 who does it deliberately... The worst is one of the local riding school owners :S
 
I am with flame I wear a tabbard with please pass wide and slow on the back of it and this does seem to help but it needs to be on the front as well.

If we know they have seen us from a way off but are not slowing I am afraid we do the hog the road thing, or I cannot stop my horse thing as it is all that seems to work.

I have also waved arms to slow down, shaking head sternly can work ,pretending to read the number plate etc.

The worst drivers near us is one of our really bitter neighbours who actually used to own horses we just stay in the middle of the road otherwise it is far too scary.

It is possible to train a persistent offender by ranting like a maniac, when I was really angry this did actually help.

Also if you know the people approaching them while you are not on the horse and explaining at length what is wrong with their driving also works people are much more agressive when in their car.

I guess they are the same people who speed up to stop cars getting out at a junction and will not let people cross a road even when they are stuck in a jam very sad.
 
Yep - I slammed the brakes on for three idiots riding 3 abreast on the A46 saturday morning without a stitch of hiviz between them and obv not a single care for their horse's health... :rolleyes:
 
On a few hours long hack maybe 2 cars will slow down around here :( & that's for a child on board fully hi viz'd up (even says "please slow down - child" on her jacket) Its horrible & downright dangerous :(
 
Supertrooper said:
And they're ignoring the polite hi-viz now too :-(
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I wonder if this is due to so many people that are obviously not police wearing them. I see more 11 year old kids on their 12hh ponies with bright pink hats with pompoms on wearing these than I do adults who actually could be mistaken for police.
 
I find that where we ride in Bucks that most people slow down for horses and I always say thanks and I still wave my arms asking people to slow down and generally they do, we even had a horsebox stop whilst we went past, I've also had lorry drivers and a digger driver stop for us to pass, so generally good..... I always slow down myself when driving past horses and my husband also slows down on his motorbike and drives past slowly.... but what used to make my horse jump the most was the people on the bicycles as they couldn't hear them and until they went to go past my pony would jump as she hadn't heard them coming.....!!!

Always slow down for horses.....
 
Round here I am getting totally peed off with certain riders who text and ignore drivers when they slow down I have even shouted * a thankyou would be nice *. They even look down at the driver no smile as if to say I am superior:mad:

I have invented a sign for my car window which I will be displaying ( anyone can use it ) needs finalizing tho with logos It goes

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Can't something be done about this. I seem to read a new report of rider/ horse being injured or killed everyweek. Not to mention all the threads I read on here. Shouldn't the powers that be make drivers and other road users aware of what their actions can cause... Not only to horse and rider but potentially to them and their vehicle... Maybe they don't realise what a 16hh horse coming through their windscreen could do??
Couldn't they run a TV campaign with some suitably shocking images/ stories a bit like they do with anti-smoking campaigns.
I would like to think that 99% of people doing these stupid things are just ignorant rather than malicious???
 
I find that horseboxes and ladies in the 50+ bracket (especially those with dogs in the back) are the worst! The local eventers ( I'm in Wilts) rarely slow down, ditto for the racing yards. Makes you wonder. Nearly rang the bus company once though, as there drivers were brilliant.
 
zaminda said:
I find that horseboxes and ladies in the 50+ bracket (especially those with dogs in the back) are the worst! The local eventers ( I'm in Wilts) rarely slow down, ditto for the racing yards. Makes you wonder. Nearly rang the bus company once though, as there drivers were brilliant.
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careful there are ladies 50 + on here ;)
also the ones with brats in the back who drive 4x4 who should not be behind the wheel in one as they dont know the distance of it
 
BHS_official... Yeh that's exactly the type of thing I was thinking of... I have never seen anything like this displayed and I'm a horse owner so I'm sure most of the general public haven't seen them. Are there intended for anyone to print out and put up? ... Maybe we should go on a mission to put things like this up... Be pro-active!
 
You can download as many as you like and display them where appropriate, for example, a local shop or parish / village noticeboard, with the permission of shop keepers / council or equivalent.

Don't forget to check out the other safety information and downloads including advice on interactions between dogs and horses, safe and legal horse transport and lots more.

Thank you for your support. Safe riding.
 
It is so frustrating,
a) because if we backed into a car and damaged it, we'd have to pay for the insurance damage on the driver's car and
b) horses are unpredictable therefore they are not robots so they should definitely be respected

My sister was on my horse, who is a green hacker, and a big van came steaming past and my horse spooked - and ran in front of the van - there was nothing my sister could do but hang on... he then later shouted at her, I told him that if he was taking care driving by horses it wouldn't have happened...he then blabbed on about being in the right, my sister having to control the horse etc but realistically, I think, it was his fault...

Why should we have to worry about the driver and our horse, that is their place? Am I being unreasonable?
 
I have found that tractor driver, motercyclists and lorry's are always the best at giving plenty of room or stopping. The worst are mums in 4 wheel drives.

I always thank drivers for slowing down or stopping and get out of their way as quickly as possible, where practicable
 
I was taking Ned for a walk in-hand today and I was wearing my Polite stuff. Ned was marching quite quickly and for a moment I got left behind and was hidden from traffic behind his shoulder/neck. I moved myself into view and told him to slow down. As I moved into view, a speeding car was coming towards me from the front...as it saw me they slammed on their brakes, sat up and put both hands on the wheel :P haha!! It does work sometimes!!

I do agree about the kids wearing polite stuff though! Kinda takes the edge off it :\

The boy racers around here are fab, but I think most of them are friends with the YOs son, so he would tell them the dangers.
The 4X4 mums are the worst!! It was one of them that could have killed us, had I not reacted as fast as I did :\
 
BHS_official said:
Have a look at this link for a poster intended to demonstrate to drivers the damage a horse can do to their car. Sadly, this is often the most effective way to get the message across... explain how their actions could affect them!

'Hit the brakes, not my horse'

http://www.horseaccidents.org.uk/Advice_and_Prevention/Recent_Updates.aspx
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I was overtaken a couple of months back by my friends 18 yo son in his BMW going far to fast my horses are bombproof traffic because I put hours into training them they never battled an eyelid so I had a dilemma it's was way too fast the horses did not react I was worried that because mine ignored them he would think it was ok.
I spoke to mum and dad and with there aggrement tracked him down to the pub where he works and took him though what would happen tp his BMW if my 600 kilo horse sat on his bonnet .
gave him a quick lecture about passing horses etc and departed he confided to his Mum later he was mortified that I was worried enough to get into my car and seek him out.
 
My daughters hack out on knobberpony most days and I've come across very very few inconsiderate road users,perhaps the riders being little children makes people more careful?
 
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