Drivers purposly trying to spook horses..

during winter when its too dark to hack out, or when the indoor is full and the outdoor is flooded/frozen all i can do is hack on the housing estate near the yard, and it honestly annoys me so much when people don't slow down!! tilly is pretty good with traffic its just a bit of a task getting her to stand still, and when drivers become impatient and start revving behind her and beeping their horn it really doesn't help! -.-
grrrrrrr. there's a school right near the yard too so you get all the angry mummys on the school pickup racing around trying to park up and taking up the whole road. oh my god.
i always say thanks when someone slows down/stops for me, or i try to pull in so they can go past but some people are just idiots.
i hate inconsiderate drivers!
 
I find cyclists are a menace where we are. Most are great - but the odd few idiots that wizz past at high speed and leave me and my pony spinning in the road drive me made!!

I have one of the tabbards someone mentioned and they are really effective

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I have noticed a big difference in people slowing down when out hacking since I've had it. From the front it looks just like a police hiviz too as it has the blue and white strip along the top - and with my blue hat and hiviz band I look like pc plod!

I read a post on here a long while back about using clear hand signals - and 99% of the time that does work too (I dont mean rude ones! :) ) If you clearly put your hand up telling people to stop, 9 times out of 10 they do - particularly in said tabbard.
 
Many years ago I was hacking down the (then) new dual carriageway - clear straight road & before the days of all the hi viz I wore a Sam Browne cross body belt as did the police back them. Silver grey horse.
I had a car brush past so close he snapped my stirrup leather. Luckily I ride with only my toes in and had some of the early swan neck irons.

He drove off & I reported the incident to the police. Never heard any more.

I wonder what a new rear passenger window & quarter light & respraying the side bit behind them would have cost to fix on a new Bentley.
Horse could have been poster child for bombproof - I went everywhere on him even rode through the city centre and across fairgrounds. Has this been my previous pony we might both have been killed.
 
When I use hand signals to ask drivers to slow down 5 times out of 10 they wave back......The other day I was hacking along and I asked a car that was coming towards me to slow down as there was a car coming up behind me and he gave me the finger and didn't slow down. I was shocked.

I find yummy mummies the worst offenders. When I was living in Lambourne I was hacking out one of the race horses one day and normally I am a very quiet sort of person but this woman driving a massive range rover was behind me and I was on a mad race horse and was trotting on to find the nearest gateway so I could let her pass. The horse was trying to buck me off and was going sideways. She beeped her horn. The horse went mental and kicked her jeep, she started screaming at me and I screamed back I told her what would happen if I landed in her car on top of her and her kids. I totally lost it. She went very quiet when I described what could happen to her kids. To be fair to her kids they were mortified and kept apologising to me and telling their mum to shut up.

I found out later she was a total menace on the roads around Lambourn but suddenly one day she was very polite and nice on the roads. She had a personalised number plate so lots of people were able to confirm it to me.
 
following my earlier rant, I must say that there is a v. patient tractor driver up my way - he sat for a good few minutes with his engine off when jerry decided that he couldn't possibly go past it while it was moving. to be fair to jerry, it was his first encounter with a big scary tractor
 
my mom told me that when she used to work at the racing yard 'back in the day' the old boy (owner of yard) used to carry small ball bearings. If a car went speeding past or was utterly rude he used to wait untill the car was just past level with the horse then throw one at the car! They soon slowed down as they thought they had damaged their car! I allways take a small driving whip out with me and hold it up horizontal if i hear a car approaching at speed, it just gives that little more space. but yes drivers are getting worse. I have had an empty bottle thrown at me (plastic) FOR NO REASON! good job my moms horse is a saint and didnt even bat an eyelid... my fellow on the other hand :-o
 
Tinypony said:
I'm sure that really helps the next rider they meet.
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I got this with a van that got stupidly close (the one that went past when there was also on-coming traffic and the driver heard the noise and started bricking himself. He obviously thought the horse had kicked the van or something as he slowed to pull over, thought better of it and continued onhis way.

It really gave him something to think of though.
One highland had one car come too close at traffic lights and promptly sat down on the cars bonnet. :) Oooops. Driver knew he had no comeback.
 
iv got 2 young horses and unfortunatly have to go straight onto a main road,thankfully they are very good for a 18 month old and a 9 month old.i try to walk them out as much as poss but some days i just think whats the point.its very rare anyone slows down or gives us a wide berth and even had an abulance speed towards me and turn sirens on as i frantically tryed to drag my poor horse on to someones drive.it makes me so mad,im usually one of them people what doesnt say anything to anyone but sometimes i could really let fly!
 
It's not just on roads. I was riding through a section of Bramshill Forest where there are only footpaths, & horse riding by licence only. Motorbikes are totally banned, to the point that the endurance ride I used to run there each year was marked on foot / by horse.

Met 2 motox bikes coming through the woods. As they approached I very polietly informed them that motorbikes weren't actually allowed in the woods. I was very nice, trying to be helpful as recent rules had been brought in giving the rangers new powers of enforcement. They said it was a byway, to which I told them the only byway was Welsh Drive which ran from x to xx. Annoyed that I knew the woods this well (very well infact including the landowners as I had to gain permissions to run my ride & know where I could/couldn't route it, which tracks I was allowed to use etc) they started reving their bikes, roared past us down the track. Obviously disappointed my horse hadn't spooked (unusually), they turned, came right up behind her & span their back wheels to kick up the gravel at her (she still stood her ground). I did take their details (mentally), & knowing the area knew where they lived so reported them to the Police who I was told actually bothered to visit them. Didn't see them again in the woods.

Doing endurance I have great respect for the trail riders fellowship, & know bikes & horses can get along. All sections have a minority of idiots though, who think it is acceptable behaviour to try & deliberately scare an animal putting the life of both it & the rider in danger.
 
A few years ago I had a car full of young lads slow right down for me, I gave them a big smile & a thankyou & what did I get in return? one of them threw a cigarette end at me! luckily it landed between my leg & the saddle & not between the saddle & my horse.
 
I must say, with the exception of a minority of *****-i find most drivers quite cooperative. Alot of it is down to your attitude. I thank every driver who passes me & try not to ride when roads are v busy. Its amazing how far a smile and nod of the head goes. I do believe that some drivers genuinly dont know what to do when they meet a horse on the road and i hand signal most drivers to slow down unless they do so immediatly- i usually get a good reaction. It may well depend where you are too, we are in north east scotland-perhaps people have different attitudes in different parts of the country
 
I feel very lucky the roads around my area are either v quiet lanes that lead to one or two farms or the slightly busier roads (all B roads) majority of drivers have some link to horses (its v horsey country). TBH tho i agree older drivers tend to be the worst. young drivers who have spent lots of money making there car nice or someone who has spent a fortune on a car do tend to go past wide and slow!! Although i did get past by a lambourgini on my old boy once and it revved up as it was going up hill...my boy nearly cost me a lot of money luckily he just missed it with his hooves!!
 
Drivers round by me are complete ar$e holes! i keep my boys on a quiet country lane, just wide enough for two cars to pass with care, despite being high vized up etc., i have had cars squeeze past because they can't be bothered to wait, ive had a flat bed van, see me and accelerate at me, and i have had a car full of teenage boys, see me accelerate at me & sound their horn! oh and i have also had someone swerve across the road to drive at me too - just as well my boys are good in traffic - i think it was actually better off when i used to ride the main roads that where busy with traffic.

What really pees me off as well, is that when im out riding, if i can i will get up on the verge or in a gate way to allow people to pass, and do they slow down or say thank you!! do they hell as like :mad:
 
a friend and i were once hacking out through a village near our old yard, flat straight road where you could clearly see traffic and traffic could clearly see us.... a lovely gentleman pulled up an a motorbike next to us and revved and revved and revved his bike went up on the back wheel and span off down the road. The horses behaved as expected - both were relatively traffic proof but were a little upset... he did this on purpose and we could see him laughing through his helmet visor.... we tried to get his reg but it was impossible as we were trying to keep control of the horses...
 
somethingorother said:
I always say thank you. But i unfortunately do know several people who don't. Shame they spoil it for the rest of us. But i always think if you go out of your way to do a big smile and some sort of thankyou then it reinforces the good behaviour for the next person, and may negate some of the effect of any rude riders.
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i do the thankyou when i'm on good horses,but when i'm on the spirited or on there toes thy get a smile and a nod,or a big 'thankyou!' if the windows open,maybe i'm abit too happy...haha
 
The other day on a hack Andy was really on his toes and dancing down the road, I was trying everything to get him to behave but he wasn't having it.
To make things worse I had people revving their engines at me, shouting out the window and beeping their horn!!

I was disgusted at what people were doing and to make it worse no one offered to give me a much needed hand at the time.
 
I've been hacking out a lot with my current horse share and we generally hack on busy roads to get to bridlepaths. I was shocked at how incredibly inconsiderate some drivers were - those that won't slow down even though you're frantically waving your arms for them to slow down. The biggest shock was when we were going up and over a narrow bridge. A white van (typical!) driver on the other side of the road did not stop and let us go, but continued to drive over the bridge, stuck his foot down and also gave us a rude gesture, despite the fact that we were already nearly on top of the bridge and had right of way! I really think some of these dreadful drivers need to have their licences taken off them and made to read the Highway Code - it explicitly states that horse riders have priority at all times on the roads!
 
I have to say, around my neck of the woods everyone seems to be fairly steady away. One day, though I was just coming back home through some woods which brings you out in the pit village. Was riding down the road and one guy felt the need to beep his horn at me and shout 'why cant you ride your ********ing horse round the *******ing fields and keep off the *******ing roads' at which point I then turned round and trotted after him and followed him through the pit village to his house and infomed him that he had better get used to seeing horses on the road because I had four of them and was going to ride each of them past his house every day for the foreseeable future (which I did throughout summer). Every time I see him in his car now I mouth 'I know where you live' at him and do the eye to ey gesture. He thinks I'm a right nutter!

Have had someone once stop and give me a right mouthful, he was quite taken aback that the snobby bitch on the horse had a vast, vast, vast range of obscene vocabulary and didn't seem afraid to use it!
 
I saw a program on road safety for cyclists the other week, It detailed how a lot of cyclists are now wearing helmet cams which are relatively inexpensive. Due to this quite a number of prosecutions have taken place. one guy was assulted by a van driver after he hit the side of his van due to him being so close and it was all on camera.

I know its not what we want to be wearing out on hacks but it would help with ID'ing reg numbers and bus drivers etc
 
I'd love a hemet cam, but have to say wher I am now drivers generally much better & tractor drivers ace. I was hacking out last year though & had a car speed by me (I always wear hi-viz) then parked (blocking the footway) outside a house further on. My horse did something wonderful, a big sloppy poo (lots of grass) right by his car. On passing it on the return journey I noted that several other vehicles had driven through aforementioned poo & sprayed it up the side of the offending vehicle. Small victories feel good, think it was a case of natural justice.
 
We knew someone with a Shire X that was schooled up to GP dressage, when people looked like they weren't about to slow down she put it in the middle of the road and passaged it, they always seemed to slow down at that point :D

Slightly off topic but I got dumped at the end of a massive field a few weeks ago and the horse headed for home without me. He stopped by a main road at the end of the field and a couple of drivers pulled over, but no one actually made any attempt to catch him. He waited for a bit then decided I was obviously taking too long to get across this huge field so set off across the road and down the next track. I called home and they caught him half a mile away trotting happily down our road, but I was disappointed to see that all 3 of the people who'd pulled over watched my horse gallop across the road and disappear, got back in their cars and drove off!! I appreciate non-horsey people wouldn't want to go near an overexcited TB but at least wait and see if the rider is injured or if they need to use a phone?!

I don't think many drivers realise how much damage a horse could do to their car, never mind what they could do to the horse :(
 
We had a similar situation to yours, kickonchaps. Not my horse but another livery was dumped and the horse took itself home. While galloping down the main road, fully tacked up of course but missing a vital component ie. rider, a BMW overtook him and the horse kicked the car. The driver then followed the horse up to the yard and proceeded to berate anybody in earshot about the damage and how he was going to sue. Wazzock.
 
i'm quite lucky that around me most of the drivers slow right down and get into the side. there's always alot of milk tankers etc. as i can only hack around the moorside. the wagons nearly always stop and turn off their engines. i am also very lucky that my 20yr old pony isnt that spooky and just jogs a little, but nothing bad.
 
did find it very amusing albeit very annoying when out hacking the other day down a quiet lane when a guy in a big shiny 4x4 sat in the middle of the road and expected us to squeeze past him and the wall as he obviously didnt want to get his car dirty by moving over into the gate way next to him he even went as far as to point at the gateway he expected us to put two rather large horses, one who was bouncing up and down and refusing to stand still, on the opposite side of the road! when we didnt manage this he promptly pushed forward past us and reved his engine next to my horse, so close was very tempted to kick him. luckily horse didnt bat an eye lid but it annoyed me that day how many people assumed because he is well behaved in traffic rather large and steady looking they could pass within a hairs breath rev engines etc. which they didnt do to the horse my friend was riding as she was dancing around looking generally more excitable.
 
cloball said:
did find it very amusing albeit very annoying when out hacking the other day down a quiet lane when a guy in a big shiny 4x4 sat in the middle of the road and expected us to squeeze past him and the wall as he obviously didnt want to get his car dirty by moving over into the gate way next to him he even went as far as to point at the gateway he expected us to put two rather large horses, one who was bouncing up and down and refusing to stand still, on the opposite side of the road! when we didnt manage this he promptly pushed forward past us and reved his engine next to my horse, so close was very tempted to kick him. luckily horse didnt bat an eye lid but it annoyed me that day how many people assumed because he is well behaved in traffic rather large and steady looking they could pass within a hairs breath rev engines etc. which they didnt do to the horse my friend was riding as she was dancing around looking generally more excitable.
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Haha he's lucky topaz didn't sit on him!!

He'd have deserved it too!!! :D :D
 
I pulled her up lame yesterday, but it looks like it was just that she'd trodden on a stone :-/

I didn't ride her today anyway- she looks sound, but as she's not mine I didn't want to risk it!!

Will try her again tomorrow or Tuesday :-) x
 
charcoalfeathers said:
I've been hacking out a lot with my current horse share and we generally hack on busy roads to get to bridlepaths. I was shocked at how incredibly inconsiderate some drivers were - those that won't slow down even though you're frantically waving your arms for them to slow down. The biggest shock was when we were going up and over a narrow bridge. A white van (typical!) driver on the other side of the road did not stop and let us go, but continued to drive over the bridge, stuck his foot down and also gave us a rude gesture, despite the fact that we were already nearly on top of the bridge and had right of way! I really think some of these dreadful drivers need to have their licences taken off them and made to read the Highway Code - it explicitly states that horse riders have priority at all times on the roads!
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Having just read the "rules about animals" section of the high way code, I can't see where it states that horses have automatic priority. Maybe I've misread it?

I really don't think smacking your whip on the top of the car is really the cleverest thing in the world to do - what if you hit the car, the driver gets startled and crashes into you/your horse?
 
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