How would you have reacted?

Degan

Degan

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I went for a hack today with a friend, and about half way round our route we spot a horse and trap coming up behind us (but still a fair way off but trotting.) So we decide to trot on so we could get to a wider part of road and a turning that we could let the trap go past (as we were going through the village with houses on the road on one side and a wall on the other side!)
Anyway we are still trotting to get to a safer place for them to pass when they continue trotting up behind my friends pony, her pony was clearly distressed by this and started cantering up the backside of my horse. This obviously puts him even more on edge as this trap kees trotting and comes clattering past the pony and as gets level with my horse he starts leaping forwards and attempting to bronc. At this point I shout at the people to 'Stop, Please Stop' (who knows why I felt the need to be polite! :rollseyes: )
Luckily nothing happened and our horses calmed back down but I cant help but think surely this sort of behaviour is totaly unacceptable OR am I wrong?? Is this the normal way to behave in a trap when encountering others?!

What would you have done? would this situation have you in disbelief at these people or is that normal!?
 
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That is really shockingly bad manners from the driver, many ridden horses have never seen a horse drawn vehicle before and think the horse is being chased so their reaction is to run for the hills. Even when approaching ridden horses who are not exhibiting nervous behaviour I always come back to a walk to pass them and get well passed before going into trot again.

I think the driver was lucky you were so polite!
 
I'd've expected them to slow up before they became a potential threat to you and let you get somewhere safe or, at the very least, shout ahead and check if they were OK to come past. And if not then to wait until it was safe for them to come past.

We try not to trot away from scary stuff cos it does tend to allow a situation to escalate but sometimes there's no option.

Did they stop when you asked them to?

The one and only time we've met a horse and trap was this year when we took a potential purchase out on a hack with our big lad to make sure they were compatible. The trap was coming towards us, so different from your situation, the lady in the trap stopped and let us walk by then she moved on when we were well past. She said when she meets other horses they're often unnerved by her and her pony. I'd've thought this was quite common and her reaction normal!

Hope there's no long term damage :)
 
No they didn't stop or even acknowledge me, just kept on trotting past me! at this point I was then just trying to stay on and in controll if I'm honest, else I think I would have come up with something a little less polite.
 
Oh I am sorry this happened to you. I drive a horse and carriage, and we always give way to riders my groome will hop off the seat and go to my horses head and we stop to let them pass. Most of the horses on our yard are used to us now, one or two are bit spooky, but to keep trotting up behind you when it is obvious you were doing your best to get ahead is not on.
 
Did you ask them to slow or stop when they were behind you? If not, they might not have thought on- I drive, and a lot of the local horse traffic are now used to me, so we go on our merry way. But if I can see there is an issue or the rider has asked me to stop, I will. My section D driving pony occasionally has other ideas- he also does endurance and if he spots a group of horses ahead the little brat will do his best big trot to overtake and get back out in front. I do however have full control of him, and ensure that he doesn't do it under harness!
 
That's appalling, as fellow horse people you would think that they would have more sense. All the carriage drivers around here are very careful and wouldn't dream of behaving like that. Hope you're all ok.
 
The same scenario happened to my friend and i earlier this year,and the Travellers were race training their horse with a truck behind,and they could see our horses were terrified.We asked them to slow down but they gave us a barrage of verbal abuse and told us we should not be on the road!I am afraid these people are a law onto themselves and they function outside of mainstream society.People are scared to confront them as they have a reputation for reprisals,their philosophy being "an eye for an eye"I am sorry you had a bad experience and i can only feel for you and your horses.
 
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