ignorant blooming drivers! (rant)

dufffy

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since i've been home for the holidays i've been helping out at my friends yard. she got a new horse about a month ago and was out on a hack with him when a driver came flying round a blind corner and smacked into the back of my friends horse. now any normal person would say oh i've hit a horse but no he just kept going until the horse managed to limp off the bonnet then he just sped off! lucky friend and horse both ok cept for new horsey has been on box rest for past 2 weeks and is still very sore. it absolutly bewilders me as to what people are thinking! i mean for F**ks sake you have a horse on your bonnet!!!!!!!! you might just want to i dont know say try STOPPING. sorry i know this post is rather pointless but it just pisses me off that theres people out there like that. good thing he has been caught and recieved a rather large fine. so here is the poor chap who got scooped up by the car

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Poor Horse!! Stupid drivers, i mean honestly common sense!

An ex-racer I used to know, used to sit on the bonnets of a car if the car got to close because the car spooked him....
 
yep unfortunately i'm not sure wheather or not shes gonna try to pursue anything further i didnt want to ask her too much as she is still rather upset about the whole incident
 
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good thing he has been caught and recieved a rather large fine.

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Very quick if he has been fined already! Lucky she got his number I expect her insurance company will be after hiis insuraners or him for any vet bills and injury costs.

Howver, I find the comments re he ' probably a ... pikey' rather odd. I have found the majority of gyspies are careful whern passing horses. It's middle class 'Mondeo Man' or young boys in powered by sound hot hatches that go along country lanes too fast.
 
Some thing like this happened to me 11 years ago. On a bend bus coming towards me and a stupid woman in a car tried to overtake me hello why would someone do that. Anyway car caught my horse, he kicked out and left a huge dent in her very nice yellow sports car. I was physically sick. THe woman got out and started ranting at me, never once asking if we were ok. I had obviously got off and was in a dreadful state. She said I hope you are insured, I was and then asked for her address and name. After leading my horse the mile or so home I obviously made sure he was ok, I then called the police - they were not interested. I then went to her house to get details off her and to give mine. I filled all that happened with my insurance company and they would not pay for her car as it was very obvious it was her fault. There were witnesses around at the time. After that happened my husband said you have got to go back and ride on the road - I did once and then never went off the farm again. It totally traumatised me for years. I bought a new horse last year who is very good in traffic and one of my liveries persuaded me to come out - i have now been out but initially i felt so dreadful riding on the road that i did wonder whether it was worth it. I now am ok but it has taken ten years to get over it. These people have not got a clue - they are so selfish.
 
have alot of trouble with pikeys in my area, whizzing about with no regards for other road users, one killed a cyclist in a hit and run, and was seen going onto a well known site, the car had damage to the front corresponding with the accident, yet no charges were ever brought, the sort of pikeys we get aren't the horse loving type and have no patience...
 
gosh naala poor you thats awful some people just really havnt got a clue.

lcobby i meant no offence by saying pikkey i was meerly suggesting as we have had problems with this in the past and i am still rather peeved by the whole situation i know this isnt an excuse but i'm sorry if i caused offence. in regards to him being caught and fined quickly i really couldnt tell you i have no idea about the legal system and can only tell the story that i have been told
 
My old mare (lovely girl in my sig) got 'scooped up' too. Unfortunatley the wing mirror of the car broke off and punctured her artery so she bled to death, so your friends horse is a LUCKY BOY! I knew the bloke who killed my girl, we'd bought hay off him. He got fined about £250 I think and 7 points on his licence, but you know, he never even apologised to me for killing my horse I'd had for 17 years? That would have meant more to me than a poxy fine!! That's justice for you though isn't it?
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oh gosh thats horrible i dont know if he got points probably did. yes he was very lucky we are all glad at first she thought it was broken as he hopped home on three legs luckily he was just very very sore. i feel so sorry for anyone who has had an accident like this as it is so traumatising especially when you lose a deeply loved horse
 
I cannot believe what I have just read in Big birds 146's post. That is so awful. I would want revenge - sorry I know that seems harsh but i could never forgive that person. How sad.
 
Yeh, I get the pleasure of seeing him drop mini-bus loads of kids off at the local school on a regular basis as well (he's a taxi driver). You wouldn't think he'd be able to do a job like that with conviction for driving without due care & attention would you? No, I was totally gutted and still miss her desperately. Even though she'd got to a good age (25) I feel so cheated as she was still really fit and well,and I'd grown up with her.
 
I could cry reading your post - how lucky were we! It still freaks me that bend we were hit on. I feel i have missed out on lots of rides for the last ten years because of someone elses stupidity. Until it has happened to you you really dont have a clue - we were the lucky ones. Hope you still manage to ride out.
 
This happened 5 years ago, 3 weeks before I was due to get married (that VERY HOT August 03). I had to put my other horse in the local livery yard for a couple of weeks until i'd sorted a new companion as I didn't dare bring him home to an empty yard (not good on his own, big mard). Anyway, I rode around the farm a couple of times, then the lanes, then made myself ride down the main rode where it happend and some tosser in a BMW came hairing past me at about 70 in the exact spot of our accident. I've never ridden it since, but do ride out regularly, just not past that bit in that direction. I'm quite pragmatic and came to the conclusion I had to either get over it or give up so i got over it as i think it was a freak accident. I always wear lots of hi-vis gear now, (it was a sunny day when it happened so just goes to show it doesn't necessarily have to be dusk) but am constantly looking over my shoulder for cars coming.
Poor Rosie, RIP.
 
Way back when, a friend and I (me 12, her 10)were riding our horses near the road, but on the grass berm...a cement lorry honked his air horn right behind us. My friend's pony spooked into the road in front of the lorry, she fell off and was killed...I watched everything. The driver was mad..too bad. Officials showed up, the mother kept just looking at me and her daughter's body covered up in the road.

The driver tried to blame us, saying, "those brats shouldn't have been riding on the road". Luckily, some adults saw what happened and the driver was arrested.

Ultimately, the driver got away with murder...it was called "an accident". My friend's father came to the barn with a shotgun and killed her poor horse. I moved from the stable. A bad time.
 
the problem in a nutshell is that lots of drivers have the opinion that horses shouldnt be ridden on the road to them its that simple
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was out with a friend riding down the road last week about 5ish in evening on my 4yr old gelding who mostly behaves well and van slows down at the side of me so the driver can shout out the window"its rush hour you shouldnt be on the road" what the hell was that about???? we were in single file obviously id slowed him down a tiny bit too much!!!! stupid man..!!!! it makes me sooooooo mad i dont particularly like riding on the main roads and use side streets as much as possible but sometimes i have to but its like iv got a death wish coz most drivers have no idea how to behave when passing an horse it should be in the driving theory test at least...ok rant over now.....
 
OMG how awful for all of you that have posted, I feel terrible now and so pleased that I don't have to ride on the road.
I'm so lucky that our yard is at the foot of the south downs and we can ride straight onto them without touching a main road, only the driveway to the yard.
 
I am lucky too as we have a menage and off road hacking. It was one of those things that i had gone through a local village to get back onto our land, I had left our farm gone through this village and was on my way back to our land in total about a mile of road through a village. This woman who hit me actually lived in the village. She was just impatient and would not wait on a bend so thought hey and went past just at the same time as me and the bus, obviously the road is not big enough for all of us. Consequently the car caught the horse, he kicked out and hey presto an acident caused by her stupidity. I now go out as I said but it has taken ten years - of missing out going on some lovely roads, tracks etc. The road I was hit on is in a village and not a fast road. Cant win can we.....
 
It saddens me to read of the above accidents which have clearly been caused by dangerous driving.

Sadly in this day and age cars are stronger and more powerfull than ever before and a minority of drivers have little regard for other road users.

Although I have spent many years riding on the roads including London I am always cautious and avoid riding on the roads when there is low bright sunlight, wind or wet conditions. I always wear Hi-Viz so that there is more chance of drivers seeing me. However i am aware that Hi-Viz offers no protection from dangerous drivers.

Horse riders need to work together to get more integrated off road riding routes and ask local authorities and highway agencies to provide horse tracks along the side of busy and narrow roads.

Look at how much the cyclists have achieved through Sustrans who have spent 80 million pounds of government money on off road cycle routes.

The British Horse Society and its nationwide volunteers work hard to provide off road riding routes however they need the support of horse riders if they are to achieve more so if you are concerned about road safety for horses then please join the BHS and help us achieve more.
 
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