hacking on roads

[Cortez]

Thanks for your concern but he will not go into ANY driveway or gate opening at all.. do you not think I have tried in the 8 years and 35 years of riding

How do you get him into fields, turn offs, etc? Horses have to go where you tell them to, it's not optional.

 

[JFTDWS]

I've ridden on the roads on and off for 30 years and I think the standard of riding is what has deteriorated and that riders are fast becoming as annoying as cyclists!
People who lack confidence and ride alone and therefore feel like they have to ride in the middle of the road to ' make people slow down' Imagain if a car did that to a horse rider? !

I'd say it takes quite a lot of balls to put your horse in the middle of the road to force a driver to slow down.

I've done precisely that to prevent cars passing too fast, and too close, to a horse which is more nervous than mine, or a nervous rider, or, on occasion, simply to prevent an idiot from attempting to overtake in a dangerous location. Only the other day, I put my highland's arse in the middle of the road to stop a motorbike trying to overtake at speed on a single track road, while I was trotting the few feet to pull into a gateway. It certainly wasn't because I'm lacking in confidence on the road - quite the opposite.

 

[cauda equina]

The scariest thing is when you're in the middle of the road thinking drivers will have to slow down but they still roar past at full speed

 

[JFTDWS]

The scariest thing is when you're in the middle of the road thinking drivers will have to slow down but they still roar past at full speed

One of the advantages of single track roads is that, if I'm in the middle of the road, a car has no choice but to stop, unless they're happy to have half a tonne of lard on their bonnet.

I did have a quad bike try to mount the 3ft bank at the edge of the road rather than stop, recently. He got stuck and nearly tipped it back over onto himself and the road. Strangely enough, I sent the go pro footage of that one to the police!

 

[Rowreach]

‘Get out of the way’ wow!!
Some horses wont pull into gateways etc, mine wont so then I would trot to the nearest wider opening!
Horses have a right of way in the Highway Code… 2m distance and max 20mph . Possibly more considerate drivers should remember that I always thank though and I always record too.

As I said above, it really doesn't matter who has the right of way or where you are in the road user hierarchy, a vulnerable road user, be it a walker, cyclist, horse rider, will inevitably come off worst in the event of a collision with a large metal object with a motor. It makes sense to keep yourself and your horse as safe as you possibly can, especially when it's common knowledge that a lot of drivers have no idea how they should approach/pass a horse on the road.

*it's not 20mph btw

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

My now retired mare came to me with a distinct aversion to stepping over into gateways etc to allow road traffic to pass us.

She had only ever hunted so probably just a hole in her schooling, over here a young hunter is not often required to have too much schooling just the basic point and go type of thing.

It was very simple and quick to school her out on rides to side step over and get her bum tucked in off the lane when asked. I cannot even imagine what our hacks would have been like without putting this very basic bit of schooling into her.

What do people do if their horse won't get over? Block the road? Trot like fury until you reach another road to turn onto? I am struggling to see how this even works?

 

[cauda equina]

One of mine was a bugger about halting on hacks when I first got him; he wouldn't wait at junctions, or if I wanted to chat to someone, or anything
We did lots of groundwork and once he learned that Woah is followed by a biscuit we were fine

 

[paddy555]

You could teach your horse to pull into driveways / gateways? It’s a fairly essential basic skill if you ride on narrow roads. I think consideration goes both ways, I always try not to hold others up if I can pull over and let them past.

I’d be underwhelmed if I was in a car, met a calm horse going the same way up a single track lane and they made no attempt to pull into driveways / gateways they passed to let me pass them. And as a result I had to follow them at a walk speed for a prolonged period of time.

we are on very narrow roads usually with very good drivers. I try not to hold others up but if some reason I have to because of the horse then I try and explain why when I am able to let them past. Most of them are very helpful if you explain.
My greatest successes are with trial motor bikes. They only have to see us and it is straight into the side and their engines off.

 

[paddy555]

One of the advantages of single track roads is that, if I'm in the middle of the road, a car has no choice but to stop, unless they're happy to have half a tonne of lard on their bonnet.

that was my late haflinger, the world's best baby sitter. No one was going to get too close to the youngster he was baby sitting. None of them fancied his rather ample bum on their bonnet.

 

[Zoeypxo]

I used to ride an ardennes, he was beautiful. Must have been around 18hh and probably weighed a tonne. I had so much fun hacking him. Cars would pull right into the hedge at the sight of him coming down the road towards them. Not once did i have someone try to squeeze past. Funny that

 

[Fieldlife]

How do you get him into fields, turn offs, etc? Horses have to go where you tell them to, it's not optional.

Quite. I’m baffled that a horse can be considered safe to ride in public but won’t go in gateways / drives.

Teaching him will be possible. You might need a horse to follow / a person on the ground to help / yourself for him to follow on the the ground if you haven’t got the trust and relationship under saddle, but it absolutely is possible if you invest the time and effort.

Not to be able to train something this basic is a huge hole.

How long you’ve had the horse / been riding isn’t always relevant to the skill set you bring to
You can learn and develop skills every day or you can close mind and stop learning.

 

[Barton Bounty]

I dont ride on roads where I put myself in the position of not getting to somewhere safe. If I had to I would trot to the nearest space if I was on a single track road. I also think that some people that no longer ride and haven’t for a very long time are ouch of touch with current traffic and manageabilities. It is very daunting for any rider to have an electric car flying up their bums etc Times have changed and everyone needs to be considerate of their surroundings

 

[SEL]

I am going to be very unpopular.
I've ridden on the roads on and off for 30 years and I think the standard of riding is what has deteriorated and that riders are fast becoming as annoying as cyclists!
People who lack confidence and ride alone and therefore feel like they have to ride in the middle of the road to ' make people slow down' Imagain if a car did that to a horse rider?

I always ride in the middle until I'm sure the driver has slowed down and will go past me respectfully and with sufficient distance. Nothing to do with confidence and everything to do with safety.

 

[irishdraft]

I ride on a single track lane to get to my local bridleway, on Sunday I hear a car coming up fast behind me so I trot on to pull off road, 3 times this car roared up behind me,stopped, crunched through the gears only to repeat the exercise.When I got to pull in I turned to see it was the old bat who used to be DC for local pony club. Was going up same lane today and had van come up but he waited until I got to pull in then came slowly past this was a delivery driver. Definitely old people are by far the worst, I do wonder if they can actually see .

 

[moosea]

I'd say it takes quite a lot of balls to put your horse in the middle of the road to force a driver to slow down.

I've done precisely that to prevent cars passing too fast, and too close, to a horse which is more nervous than mine, or a nervous rider, or, on occasion, simply to prevent an idiot from attempting to overtake in a dangerous location. Only the other day, I put my highland's arse in the middle of the road to stop a motorbike trying to overtake at speed on a single track road, while I was trotting the few feet to pull into a gateway. It certainly wasn't because I'm lacking in confidence on the road - quite the opposite.

No doubt it does take a lot of balls to put flesh and blood up against metal and engine.
Not something I'd be prepared to do tbh.

I always ride in the middle until I'm sure the driver has slowed down and will go past me respectfully and with sufficient distance. Nothing to do with confidence and everything to do with safety.

Not my idea of safe and the highway code states to keep left. ( Rule 53 in case you want to look it up)



Just out of interest, how many people on this thread have had any training in riding on the roads and in what form?

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

I dont ride on roads where I put myself in the position of not getting to somewhere safe. If I had to I would trot to the nearest space if I was on a single track road. I also think that some people that no longer ride and haven’t for a very long time are ouch of touch with current traffic and manageabilities. It is very daunting for any rider to have an electric car flying up their bums etc Times have changed and everyone needs to be considerate of their surroundings

Oh well a very good point it is aaaages since I rode out, must be all of two years now since my accident so what can I possibly know? Totally out of touch and forgotten everything I ever learned adapting to nearly seven decades of hacking on roads in various countries and circumstances on a very varied selection of horses.

Would you like a shovel for that hole your digging there?

 

[moosea]

I dont ride on roads where I put myself in the position of not getting to somewhere safe. If I had to I would trot to the nearest space if I was on a single track road. I also think that some people that no longer ride and haven’t for a very long time are ouch of touch with current traffic and manageabilities. It is very daunting for any rider to have an electric car flying up their bums etc Times have changed and everyone needs to be considerate of their surroundings

Had an electric behind us last week - only thing that worried me was that I didn't notice it for a moment as it was so quiet - didn't want to hold them up any longer than needed.
I rode the hunters out in my younger days - sometimes 3 - 4 hours road work a day( on multiple horses! ) and took rides out of up to 20 riders. Ridden youngeters out solo, unknown horses out solo, un hackable horses out.
I don't think I've had more problems recently. There are always going to be idiots. We need to be able to react in the correct manner.
Maybe because its all over social media we are more aware of problems that do occur? Maybe its because horses are out on the roads less because of the percived threat that those horses ( and riders) are less prepared for the roads?

 

[crazyandme]

No doubt it does take a lot of balls to put flesh and blood up against metal and engine.
Not something I'd be prepared to do tbh.

Not my idea of safe and the highway code states to keep left. ( Rule 53 in case you want to look it up)

Just out of interest, how many people on this thread have had any training in riding on the roads and in what form?

Took and passed the BHS Road Safety Test. It was taught 15 years ago odd to sit out in the middle of the road if it was required to keep you safe
I did with Reg, because some of the idiots who would come speeding down the road by the yard and given half a chance would have not slowed down in the slightest. Being right in the middle meant they had no excuse not to see us, nor could they shoot past at 60mph as they would have done otherwise!

 

[moosea]

Took and passed the BHS Road Safety Test. It was taught 15 years ago odd to sit out in the middle of the road if it was required to keep you safe
I did with Reg, because some of the idiots who would come speeding down the road by the yard and given half a chance would have not slowed down in the slightest. Being right in the middle meant they had no excuse not to see us, nor could they shoot past at 60mph as they would have done otherwise!

I took the BHS Riding and Road Safety Certificate .... a loong time ago! But it is the most useful exam I've taken! Was taught to always keep left. Not squashed in the gutter, butalways to the left.

 

[Zoeypxo]

Also did bhs riding and road safety

 

[moosea]

Also did bhs riding and road safety

I took mine so long ago that we had to wear hacking jackets, shirt and tie and if you turned up with dirty tack that could send you home!!!

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

I have to confess I have never had a formal road safety test myself. But I did get both my son's ready and trained to pass the pony club road safety test way back in the 70s and early 80s. Not sure if that gives me any brownie points though?

 

[ponynutz]

To be completely honest I always find I run into more idiots hacking around the village than I do crossing the dual carriage way coming off a major motorway. We have two bridleways that run alongside that road and you have to cross at the roundabout or at the traffic lights. I’ve never run into any problems there or on the roads surrounding but a little further away in the nearest village is where I get into all of the trouble.

I’d say this stands for when I’m driving too to be honest. I loathe driving through small towns and villages because there’s always people driving like absolute twits.

 

[asmp]

Not read all the replies in full but getting the Techalogic dual camera for my hat for Xmas seems to be slowing the drivers down. Also wearing hi viz (unlke the yard opposite) and not riding when the sun is low in the sky. Around this area it’s the women who are worse drivers!

 

[Rowreach]

One thing I've noticed about people's Techalogic footage is that nobody seems to look around/behind themselves, ever You can't blame electric vehicles, for example, for sneaking up on you if you are so unaware that you've not bothered to look.

(Decades of training a lot of people for their road safety tests).

Oh, and furry ear muffs people wear for cold weather riding - nope, you need to be able to hear things (traffic, dogs barking, kids playing, chain saws) in good time, and react to them.

 

[ycbm]

The scariest thing is when you're in the middle of the road thinking drivers will have to slow down but they still roar past at full speed

Don't ever put yourself in the middle of a road that actually has enough space for someone to pass you, or they will.

In a road that wide put yourself in the middle of the lane, your side of the road, so you have room to move left if you have to.

 

[cauda equina]

Well I didn't think there was room to pass but some ****wit proved me wrong!

 

[ycbm]

Not my idea of safe and the highway code states to keep left. ( Rule 53 in case you want to look it up)

Keep left only applies of there it's room for a car to pass you safely. If you are in a road where there simply isn't room for a car to pass you safely, it's far safer to ride in the middle of the road and force the car to wait until there is somewhere you can move over to get out of their way.

ETA as CE found out above, there has to be genuinely NO room.
.

 

[Chippers1]

It's scary, i've been on the same yard for over 20 years and it's down a small country lane that intersects two A roads and over the last few years the standard of driving i've seen down there is so much worse. We have to walk up/down the lane to get to the winter turnout fields and I also make a point of walking in the middle of the lane so I am visible. The lane does curve slightly as it goes past the yard and also cars park on the side of the lane outside the yard so I keep to the middle because it's easier to see cars/us approaching. It's not wide enough for two cars to pass and there's a grass verge part way up that we can stop on to let cars past.
The other day I was bringing Buzz in and a car came so quickly around that slight curve, it must've been doing 80mph I could hear it before I saw it so tried to get Buzz out of the way but at that speed I just couldn't and they slammed their breaks on and skidded towards us, it stopped within feet of us both. I was so shaken they got a mouthful of abuse and had the sense to look sheepish before driving slowly away but it was awful!
The road is signposted as NSL which goes past the yard gates, only changing to 30 further up the village and despite many attempts at the council they won't move them so we get idiots like that gunning down there. It's horrible, i'm not even riding, just trying to get him in!

 

[Gallop_Away]

I'd say it takes quite a lot of balls to put your horse in the middle of the road to force a driver to slow down.

I've done precisely that to prevent cars passing too fast, and too close, to a horse which is more nervous than mine, or a nervous rider, or, on occasion, simply to prevent an idiot from attempting to overtake in a dangerous location. Only the other day, I put my highland's arse in the middle of the road to stop a motorbike trying to overtake at speed on a single track road, while I was trotting the few feet to pull into a gateway. It certainly wasn't because I'm lacking in confidence on the road - quite the opposite.

I quite agree and it's something I have also done myself to stop someone passing too closely on a narrow road. I am an experienced rider on the roads, as are my horses. I find riding more assertively in some situations keeps myself and my horses a lot safer than hugging the verge and encouraging motorist to squeeze through a gap (I challenge anyone to want to put their bonnet to the test against my two welshies' apple bottoms tbf...)

I completely disagree that riding more assertively is due to a lack of confidence. Quite the opposite!