Horses on the road

Daisy is about 95% on the road but I do take her out because its the only way for her to learn. I try and go early in the morning at weekends or late evenings during the summer so that there is only light traffic and less heavy stuff.

She has improved massively since I bought her and is now really sensible in the vast majority of situations. The only things that she has problems with are really huge lorries or tractors coming close to her i.e. down a single track road. She can scuttle a bit with motorbikes but only because some idiot drove far too close up her tail and traumatised her. I'm not one of those riders who thinks that we have a god given right to be on the roads but equally I think its one of those situations that needs abit of give and take. The only problems we have are when people drive right up her tail down narrow country lanes. I'm sorry but if you try and take a short cut to work down a lane passing between farms and yards then she should accept that you might meet the odd horse and be willing to pass wide. Stick to the main road. It was really telling when our road was being resurfaced and so was closed except for access. It was almost completely deserted and we could hack in peace.

Yes in an ideal world we would never have to ride on roads and all horses would be traffic proofed at a young age but neither is possible to guaruntee. We live in an area with amazing bridlepaths but you have to do about 100m of road in several places because the planners didn't bother to join up the paths. My one regret with Daisy is that I didn't get her as a youngster but you have to work with what you have and the dodgy education that previous owners have given your horse. If I'd gone for for the principle that only horses that are 100% should be allowed on the roads then she's never have learned and we wouldn't be able to enjoy such wonderful hacks
 
Yes I agree I cannot abide by riders that have the attitude of blocking the road to slow down traffic...they deserve to be injured doing it but their poor horses have no choice and they are the ones that get most of the impact when hit.
I have always trained any horse I get to be good on roads because that is what I do...hack...so they need to be fit for purpose. So I buy a horse I can manage and that could be suitable (i.e not some big flighty thing) and train it by taking it out early when it is quieter and being sensible and teaching it that everything is okay. If I hear traffic coming (and I constantly listen for it) I get off the flippin road and onto a verge or into a gateway so even if we have a little to do, we are not stopping traffic or causing accidents. It is simple to do really, it is just that people need to concentrate on the job, stop nattering to friends and use comon sense...and there is not much of that in the horsey world!
 
At my old yard wehad to hack along a busy A road to get to any hacking at all. The 1st time Boo went out, she was so good (bearing in mind that she hadn't been exposed to any traffic before we bought her and only cars at the yard before) though she was bothered by the white lines in the road.

The 1st time I hacked her out (her 2nd time out on this road) I was nervous but as I was going out with 2 other girls, I thought I'd brave it. 1 of the girls had this huge 18hh ex-showjumper who played up as soon as we got out of the yard. This worried me as I thought that if Boo thought it was a good idea I was right up the pooper! But she stood there and I think wondered what this horse was doing. When we got to the A road, this horse went mental. It is a severe bend and she was rearing, spinning & bucking and I just crapped myself. Anything could have happened, and I was so worried.

Boo however was AMAZING, she stood there and waited for it to all be over and was fantastic. We had no option but to hack on this road and I hated it. We had been promised when we originally moved that we would have 150 acres to hack on the YO land, but it never materialised... After this little incident, we moved and now we have no roads!

Pat yourself on the back for getting through that!!
 
But TBH not all horses are naturally good on the road and Im unsure how you would actually teach them roadwork without going on the roads! Yes, she probably should have been out in some safe company but some people have nobody to hack out with such as myself. I have had the odd project in the past who Ive backed etc. I dont know HOW these horses will react on the road until I take them out! Although saying that I rarely hack any horse nowadays because its too dangerous!

But yes, if this horse seems to behave badly regularily then that's a different story. One of mine lost confidence with cows, he bolted twice so that had to be the end of it and he now is not taken out alone. I agree owners do need to accept responsibility but you'll still get the odd youngster etc. spooking etc.!
 
As you have clearly never ridden a bad horse maybe you should have a go before you moan at others. I have to ride on the road and a couple of mine can be funny with traffic even though they are experienced hunters.
It takes time and patience to fix these problems so if drivers were more corteous horses would be less scared.
The drivers round here are brilliant (even though we only have single track roads) As a rider your self you should be a little more understanding
 
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