I couldn't believe my eyes.................................

Toby_Zaphod

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but I was driving down a lane when I saw a rider ahead of me. She wasn't wearing any hi viz....but no real surprise there I see many like that
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. As I got closer I saw she wasn't wearing a hat
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Then as I went past her there was no saddle on the horse
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I cannot understand the reasoning by some people
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mmm, some people are a bit silly. I only ever sit on my pony without a hat, and would never dream of riding on the road without one! Have just passed my Riding and Road safety test, and am now very cautious on roads, I know people who hack without saddles sometimes, due to reasons such as only having one saddle to two horses.

I guess at the end of the days its their choice, although personally I'd never ride like that!
 
i personally dont weare hi viz, i do minmum road work and most is on a closed road so not necessary.. but not wearing a hat and bareback... on a road! i mean i ride bareback, jump/hack whatever but on a road and without a hat.. stupid! if the horse spooks your going to come off onto a nice hard road!
 
Had to do 1 out of the 3 last year, yes I wore hi-vis and and a hat, but mare had a nasty bite on her girth area, really needed to keep her fit so hacked out and flatworked bare back, but always had someone with me. Did wonders for my position!
 
I used to ride around the lanes bareback weekly as a teenager. I had an excellent seat (wish i could say the same now) and although the mare was a little spooky, never even came close to coming off. However, i always wore a hat and the lanes were mostly not accessable by car and the few that were were very quiet and bumpy, so cars went slow.

The hat thing is silly, and i would never ride without a saddle on an actualy road. Not as many people wear hiviz on roads as should, but she's certainly not alone in that.
 
listen to this then.

Passed a woman on her horse, no high viz but she was wearing a hat but it was undone as she was on the phone and had a puppy in her arms! FFS
 
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i personally dont weare hi viz, i do minmum road work and most is on a closed road so not necessary.. but not wearing a hat and bareback... on a road! i mean i ride bareback, jump/hack whatever but on a road and without a hat.. stupid! if the horse spooks your going to come off onto a nice hard road!

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I do understand your reasoning for not wearing hi viz - BUT if you were to come off, if you have a tabard on it could make you more visible if you were dumped in the nearest ditch / undergrowth etc etc.

Just thinking of the worst possible case scenario - in the nicest possible way
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Yea we had one round here last year, no hat, no viz gear light or dark days, totally slack reins one handed, on her mobile on the road with traffic passing, horse spooked she came off and she brained herself, ambulance blah blah, fortunately no vehicles were involved, total arsehole, I wont even acknowledge her as I cant bring myself to speak to someone so bloody stupid, I think she wears a hat now, think she was fortunate not to do any major brain damage, thats if she had much of a brain to start with.
 
I used to do that in a headcollar if i couldnt be bothered to lead up to the fields.
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Those were the days in which I could vault on though! LOL! I am not condoning it btw!!! It is just what we did!
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I wouldnt dream of it now though. I would definitely wear a hat.
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And the effort needed to vault on, plus the pulled muscles as a result mean that leading up the road is the better option nowadays.

My thoughts when you posted were " well she had a bridle on...that was one better than what I used to do!" LOL! And i will add that there were cars on the road back then!
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Oh that's nothing.

Woman near us rides along in just a parelli haltar (no hat, saddle or anything) with a foal running alongside... yes, down the road, and yes, they're 'hacking out'
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She's quite quite mad.
 
When I had my serious riding accident, I was in the middle of Ringwood Forest and they were sending the air ambulance. I have no doubt that wearing hi-viz would have been crucial to finding me quickly, so don't buy this "I ride off-road" argument. 99% of my riding is off-road, but it's not just me out there. There are mountain bikes, walkers with mad dogs, trials bikes...

Don't see much wrong with riding bareback, though. A saddle is only as secure as the rider in it!
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