Get riders wearing reflectives you can help!

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Sheri

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Evening/morning all!

I have just set up a FB page to try and raise awareness of the importance of wearing reflective clothing/ horse wear whilst hacking out.

The bigger plan is to TRY and get the insurance companies to make it a compulsory requirement - but in order to put my case forward I need as many men=mbers as I can on the page to show the strong support behind it.


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Keep-...ear-Reflectives/148474228505377?v=wall&ref=ts

Please 'Like' :)
 
Joined and invited 39 of my horsey friends to join as well.

Don't get me wrong i think it should be personal choice to wear reflective items and not a forced issue but i fully appreciate the benefits of wearing High-Vis and do so myself.
 
I would love to, but I can't because I'm not on FB......is there any way that you could start something on H&H that people could effectively sign?
 
Rebelzmum said:
I would love to, but I can't because I'm not on FB......is there any way that you could start something on H&H that people could effectively sign?
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Funny you should ask, just finished creating an online pertition for this and to get horse safety ads back:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/equineads/

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/getyourhorseseen/

Thank you all so much for your support :D can't believe we have 29 'likes' already (and I only know 3 of them!!)
 
Well done you! Have signed and forwarded on to some of my FB friends!

I think it should be legal for horse riders and cyclists (and any other road users) to wear hi-viz on the roads.
 
I was at a hunter trials earlier this year. The horsebox park got full so they started using a field across the road for parking. They put stewards on the road crossing and it all worked very successfully (you had to walk about 50 yards down the road to the showsite). Not everyone will have had their hi-vis stuff with them. So you are suggesting that if some idiot had decided to drive too fast down this road at the time and crashed into one or more of the horses crossing - the horses and riders wouldn't have been covered by their insurance as no hi-vis was being worn? I know this is a bit of an unusual situation, but legalities and rules need to take "unusual occurances" into account.

What level of hi-vis would you require - a tabard only, a tabard and tail cover, a tabard and leg markers, or maybe nothing short of tabard, tail cover, leg markers, noseband, breastplate and rein covers.....????

My friend lives near some fabulous hacking, and she and her friends are often out for 2 - 3 hours at a time having a fantastic time, all off-road etc. But to get there they have to walk the length of one house down a road which has a total of 5 houses on it and almost no traffic. So would thay have to put on all their hi-vis stuff for about 20 paces, then take it off again (its horrible to ride in at anything other than a walk - come on admit it!), then put it all on again for theit 20 paces back to the yard, otherwise they are not insured.


Although I always wear hi-vis on the roads and I would love to see all riders using hi-vis stuff, and any campaigns to encourage people to do this get my full backing, I would object to my insurance whilst hacking to be based on this.
 
trottingon said:
My friend lives near some fabulous hacking, and she and her friends are often out for 2 - 3 hours at a time having a fantastic time, all off-road etc. But to get there they have to walk the length of one house down a road which has a total of 5 houses on it and almost no traffic. So would thay have to put on all their hi-vis stuff for about 20 paces, then take it off again (its horrible to ride in at anything other than a walk - come on admit it!), then put it all on again for theit 20 paces back to the yard, otherwise they are not insured.
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They could keep it on for the whole hack? Don't mean to knit-pick and be mean, just that's what I'd do :) xx
 
Joined

I saw someone last December - about 7pm near my local tube/overhead station in Essex/East London, wearing all black, on a dark brown horse, riding during rush hour via a mini roundabout (pretty major junction for the area) with no hi-vis AT ALL- and to top it she was on her mobile phone - as she was negotiating the traffic (she was approaching from the right onto the main road).
Even with all the street lights and car lights you couldn't work out what the shape ahead was, possibly until it was too late. WTF?????

Really wanted to say something, but how do you pull up alongside without possibly spooking the horse (and obviously without interrupting her very important phone call)??
 
trottingon said:
I was at a hunter trials earlier this year. The horsebox park got full so they started using a field across the road for parking. They put stewards on the road crossing and it all worked very successfully (you had to walk about 50 yards down the road to the showsite). Not everyone will have had their hi-vis stuff with them. So you are suggesting that if some idiot had decided to drive too fast down this road at the time and crashed into one or more of the horses crossing - the horses and riders wouldn't have been covered by their insurance as no hi-vis was being worn? I know this is a bit of an unusual situation, but legalities and rules need to take "unusual occurances" into account.

What level of hi-vis would you require - a tabard only, a tabard and tail cover, a tabard and leg markers, or maybe nothing short of tabard, tail cover, leg markers, noseband, breastplate and rein covers.....????

My friend lives near some fabulous hacking, and she and her friends are often out for 2 - 3 hours at a time having a fantastic time, all off-road etc. But to get there they have to walk the length of one house down a road which has a total of 5 houses on it and almost no traffic. So would thay have to put on all their hi-vis stuff for about 20 paces, then take it off again (its horrible to ride in at anything other than a walk - come on admit it!), then put it all on again for theit 20 paces back to the yard, otherwise they are not insured.


Although I always wear hi-vis on the roads and I would love to see all riders using hi-vis stuff, and any campaigns to encourage people to do this get my full backing, I would object to my insurance whilst hacking to be based on this.
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Drivers don't have to be "too fast". As per the highway code (the majority of) roads without street lights are actually National Speed Limit i.e. 60 mph - and that includes single track country lanes.

Better be safe than sorry, no? A vest at the least.
Insurance requirement, may be not - but why would you NOT want to wear something that makes you more obvious to traffic - and to other riders/and walkers for that matter??? And thus makes things easier and safer for you as a rider.
 
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I am constantly surprised by the number of people who don't wear high viz.

The usual suspects round me are a polo yard and an eventer - never see them with high viz on!

I wear it in all weather and for the whole hack - it makes you easier to spot if you fall off in woods / fields as well as helping while on the road.

Some of the stuff you can get now is really good and far more 'fitted' so it's not as annoying to wear for hours on end!

I also carry high viz in the horse box - have broken down on a busy road before and it would have helped!! Not saying it's likely to happen again but for the sake of putting it in the box . . . . .
 
I've fallen out the side door and been knocked unconscious when hacking out alone when I was about 15. Was spotted down the bridlepath much more quickly than I could have been through wearing a hi-vis tabard. Luckily I was totally unscathed and just had to have a quick checkover at the hospital :) But if it had been more serious I'm glad to know it could have helped save my life!

That aside I'm 100% all for Hi-Vis on the roads too! *liked* :)
 
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I've joined- think it's a good idea. I always put in my share contract that it's compulsory that my sharer wears hi viz and I always do, it's not worth the risk not to. One of my friends horses was killed from underneath her a yrs ago. Not sure if she was wearing it or not to be honest but if it improves your chances its stupid not too.
 
I dont think it should be a legal requirement....I have a horse with a bright white bum.....If people cant see me (In broad daylight) then high-viz isnt going to help.

I use my common sense, and use a tabbard if I am 1) riding a young horse (to ask people to slow, rather than see me quicker); or it is a little foggy or overcast. Generally, I think whether I would put on my lights if I was driving, and if I would, I wear high viz stuff....
 
I always wear hi-vis when on the roads. If you read my post properly you will see that I am 100% in favour of wearing hi-vis on the roads, I too cannot understand why anyone would go on the road without any. I just don't see what it has to do with my insurance, don't insurance companies place enough demands on us already???

As for the comment made about national speed limits - what on earth has this got to do with my previous post? My point was that these riders were having to use a road when they had not expected to and therefore some of the riders might not necessarily have had hi-vis stuff with them - yet some of you would be happy for them not to be insured if an accident had happened. I think that's a bit harsh personally.

(Mental note - if this were to become an insurance stipulation I ever see an escaped horse running down the road and I don't happen to have my hi-vis on at the time, I mustn't go after it to try and catch it, because if I do and we subsequently are involved in an accident on the way back I won't be covered by any insurance, so I should just let it run off and cause havoc.)
 
I strongle believe that riders and their horses should wear Hi-Viz when hacking out as it makes them so much more visible to other road users. ( Regarding one of the above posts a horse with large white marks is hardly any more visible to a motorist in areas of shadows).
Hi-Viz is not only usefull on the roads but also off road in the event of having an accident as it is so much easier to find a rider of horse wearing Hi-Viz. This is especially true if they have become seperated.
Horses are vunerable on the roads and we owe it to them to give them as much protection as possible.
I recomend wearing long sleeved Hi-Viz jackets as it makes it so much easier for others to see ones hand signals.
 
Im a newbie Hi-Viz wearer! And I wish I began wearing it earlier. No one EVER wore it on the yard when I began riding, apart from if it was winter and it was likely we got caught in the dark, so I didnt wear it. But then not so long ago a new livery came who wore Hi-Vis head to toe. Few weeks ago I asked her why, and she told me years ago a car clipped her horse because he couldnt see her, and now wears her Hi-Viz constantly. When I thought about it, when I was in the car, I couldnt see horses properly until I got up close, even in broad daylight, so it does actually make sense to wear it. So I now wear mine when ever I ride on the road!
 
I agree with encouraging more to wear hi viz but to demand it?

Hats are being worn more and more through educated choice not through demands. High Viz would be much better recieved if it were an encouraged choice rather than demand.

I don't berate any person for going out for a ride with out it. I sometimes do. In the winter this is rare as my thick coat is High Viz but during the summer? Depends on what I am wearing!

Encourage yes but I think campaigning to make it compulsary is silly. There coe a point where people have to be allowed to live their lives as they see fit and not how others demand.
 
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