its getting so dangerous to hack out now

marydoll said:
I had a mate who fixed a ball bearing to the end of a long schooling stick that she took out with her, if the car was to close it hit the ball bearing
I
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I do something similar to this only just with the end of my long schooling whip - it's only rubber but makes a noise on the car when it hit's the roof etc - surprisingly effective at getting people to slow down when you threaten to hit them with it.

Luckily my horse is fab with traffic - but that's not the point - I do sometimes find hacking out stressful because like you say, you spend most of your time trying to slow down idiot drivers!
 
I must admit I very rarely do now - even though I live in the country. One hack I met a snow plough round a blind bend, then a herd of escaped cows. However last weekend had lady round who wanted to loan my cob so had to take her out. Had 2 cars on country roads with loads of surface water must've been going 60 at least. Missed us by a fag paper really. My youngster jumped forwards (thank goodness) cob was predictably perfect but that's not the point. It's just not worth it but real hassle to lorry everywhere
 
horserider said:
The posters who use hand signals to slow traffic, how often do you need to do this ? I haven't ever needed to wave traffic to slow/stop, any potential hazards on the road, I try to match passing them with a gap in the cars/lorries, waiting or trotting actively forward, if its a busy road.
I try not to inconvenience traffic when riding as drivers are more likely to be at work or going about their business while I'm out just having a nice ride.
I tend to think that waving to make cars wait, could be seen as antagonistic. With the very exceptional circumstance, horses on the road should be under control and able to deal with cars whizzing by.
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100% agree.

I do the same, get out of the way where I can, trot on if I'm holding them up, wait until there are no cars coming to pass something I know my horse will spook at, etc. I think all this hand-waving and 'ordering' drivers to do this and that just gets their hackles up and make them worse.
 
I have had some unpleasant near misses on the roads.
Sadly I have no access to direct off road riding or any type of schooling area.

I always wear hi viz.

What frightens me about many drivers is that they hardly seem to register your existance. They whizz by with blank looks on their faces.

I try my very best not to be an inconvinence. I'm always looking for passing places. Avoid riding at commuter times .
Where possible I will turn back to a passing place or push on to the next one. However that's not always possible.
I too have experieinced the lack of response to hand signals.
This has lead me to riding quite defensively on certain roads. For me this means riding in the middle of the road so that people are encouraged to slow down or failing that at least I have space to jump out of the way. I hate being so rude but its the only way to be safe.
Sadly most drivers don't realise that your requests are as much for their safety as your own. I spend time trying to calmly explain to a convertable driver that my horse across her bonnet had a high probability of a fatal outcome for her.

I always thank drivers who respond to my signals or slow down without being asked. If they're people I see regularly I will thank and also give a wave and friendly smile.
A chap driving an RAC recovery job acted perfectly towards my young horse without me having to even signal. I thanked him there and then but also phoned his employer to ask them to pass on some thanks.

There are some riders in my locality who do nothing to encourage cooperation from drivers. I have slowed for several groups of riders who have not even acknowledged my existance. Infuriating. However the worse incident was in a single track lane. I encountered three riders. Two teenage girls on TB types and a similar aged lad on a gypsy cob type pony. When they saw me they booted their horses into a raking trot on tarmac. The boy's pony followed at a canter with the lad, who clearly was no rider, clinging onto the pony's mane. They continued to clatter past five clear passing places. The girls bother rode onehanded as their other hand was occupied with holding a bottle of lager which they cockily waved around!!:mad: After about half a mile of this caper they took a different direction to me, but not a glance back of acknowledgement. They proceeded up a track causing some walkers to have to shift out of their way. Idiots like that don't deserve a rocking horse!

With all these factors in ind I'm not sure how things can be changed for the better.
 
My horse is brilliant in even the heaviest traffic. He will walk calmly on as huge aggregate lorries and combine harvesters rumble by but.....an old gentleman on a mobility scooter with a clear plastic rain cover that we see occaisionally when out hacking freaks my boy out!
Recently we were virtually back to the yard when said gentleman and scooter appeared from round the corner. As normal for my horse if we come across this hazard, his back went up and he began to get very tense and joggy. As we were virtually home I put out my right arm to indicate to the traffic that I would soon be turning right and the old guy stopped his scooter as he usually does to stop the rumbly noise which worries George so much.
Now as a driver also, I feel that if I was approaching this situation in my car ie, very tense joggy horse and rider signalling right I would be stopping and giving the rider a chance to complete her manouver and get her horse off the road. Is that what happened??? No. The traffic ahead of me kept coming and as George began to move into the middle of the road to get away from the scooter the car behind me came past on my inside!!
I am always very quick to acknowledge road users that pass us at an appropriate distance and speed with a lift of my hand and a big smile but it makes my blood boil when situations like this happen.
 
I was hacking our 4yo cob today around a fairly quiet country road. He is getting braver all the time, but still have a lot to learn. Cue being met by a combine and a fleet of tractors! At first I thought he might go past but he spun around and got all fidgetty so I rode back a bit to let them into their yard. Was riding past the entrance of said yard, where one of the vehicles was parked, the poor horse doing his giraffe stance the whole time, but doing his best. Until some complete spanner came driving up and tried to pass us via the single car width between us and the tractor! That blew the poor 4yo's mind and he shot off at high speed down the road.

How stupid do you have to be to try and squeeze past a horse that is obviously anxious and fidgetting? Ten seconds more and he would have had all the space he wanted! I despair for the human race :(
 
our local riding association managed to get our speed dropped from national speed down to 40 major achievement also we have triangular horse signs warning horse rider

i wear martingale we hi viz leg bands on 4 legs and ta-bard winter i wear more
 
Hmm well I've just come back from a lesson wih Malaga,travelled with a trailer
Travelling down a road towards Alcester (50mph limit)there was a gentleman all decked out in Hi Viz on a hunter/cob type.No problem seeing him,wide verge(20ish+ foot)which he didn't see to want to use,straight road...but his hand signals!!!!!!!?
He had a whip in his right hand which was stuck out in a half hearted fashion and jogged up and down as he waved(I presume)to the cars.At one point I couldn't work out if this was his intent or whether he was signalling to turn right as he was out in the road so far and this whip was waving up and down nonchalantly (Not a slow down way)
If you are using signals PLEASE make them clear!
 
Quite a few of our issues are related to drivers driving much faster than they should on country lanes. I wear a full hi viz outfit including hi viz trousers and pony has hi viz boots as well. Drivers still have commented that they cannot see us.

I may suggest more speed cameras, and larger fines for speeding, government would easily get the money back from the investment and might encourage people to drive a bit more slowly.
 
Oh dont get me started......recently a work colleague moaned to me that her hub wasnt happy as he was on the lanes that join my land and he saw horses being rode, she said he was fuming as it was a 60mph road and he had to slow down for 'bloody horses that dont even pay road tax'.....OMG that statement so gets my back up... for one its the limit not the speed, 2, i dont ride my horses on the motorway so bog off my lanes, 3 .....that small girl on a ponio might one day be your lass..... 3 seconds slowing down and waiting compared to 3 seconds, some poor girls life being snuffed out because you think car is king and everything does not matter anymore.....
 
I'll say it again and again.

Get yourself a cheap helmet mounted camera that records onto a SD card and records what you see.
When you encounter this poor poor driving, download the footage, and get it onto youtube.
If its a company vehicle send a link to the company involved. It really does make them take action!
 
horserider said:
The posters who use hand signals to slow traffic, how often do you need to do this ? I haven't ever needed to wave traffic to slow/stop, any potential hazards on the road, I try to match passing them with a gap in the cars/lorries, waiting or trotting actively forward, if its a busy road.
I try not to inconvenience traffic when riding as drivers are more likely to be at work or going about their business while I'm out just having a nice ride.
I tend to think that waving to make cars wait, could be seen as antagonistic. With the very exceptional circumstance, horses on the road should be under control and able to deal with cars whizzing by.
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I think this is a very sensible post.
I usually annoy a lot of people on here with my attitude to riding on roads, but never the less I will share...
I value my life a lot, I also value my horses' lives, they are very important to me and I should be mortified if one of them were injured. I value our lives so much that I just simply cannot justify putting hi-viz on and riding on any stretch of road.
Just because horse riders have a right to ride on the road, and wear hi viz, doesn't make it any more safe, especially with the amount of nutters on the roads these days- I am not going to put myself and my horses in danger to prove a point to other road users- it annoys me how many horse riders ride on dangerous stretches of roads because they can.
I have come to accept that a 60mph road is just that. Whilst it is wonderful when vehicles slow down to pass me, I never expect them to- they are legally permitted to travel at that speed, and therefore I believe if you are riding on a nationl speed limit road you should expect to be passed at 60mph. I loathe horse riders who swear and make rude hand gestures at cars overtaking on a 60mph road at anything over 20mph- there are a lot of drivers out there that will remember this and possibly deliberately speed up for the next horse rider they see ( I know this sounds bonkers, but there are, as I previously said, a lot of nutters on the roads.)
I don't agree with people riding 2/3 a breast on busy roads unless absolutely needed. I also don't agree with riders riding in the middle of the road because they have the right to, that just gives vehicles less space to overtake. I think it is selfish and dangerous, it is one of my biggest bug bears.

I tend not to ride out on the roads anymore because the roads are quite busy, and the fellow horse riders in our area are so rude to motorists I feel embarassed to be associated with them.
I feel, when I see such selfish use of the roads by horse riders, and such selfish attitudes "we were here first, we will do as we please" (be it at your own or your horse's risk) that I think if I were completely unhorsey, and I came across such ejits in the road, I may too feel the urge to not pass wide and slow, because if horse riders are not obliging to motorists, they will not be obliging to us.
 
marmalade76 said:
100% agree.

I do the same, get out of the way where I can, trot on if I'm holding them up, wait until there are no cars coming to pass something I know my horse will spook at, etc. I think all this hand-waving and 'ordering' drivers to do this and that just gets their hackles up and make them worse.
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The first part of your post is common sense and im sure we all do that when hacking. As for the rest, credit people with common sense.
I dont order drivers to do anything, i dont wave my hands about, i use recognised signals to slow down cars who, for whatever reason may cause an undesirable reaction in mine or others horses.
I'd rather ask a driver to slow down if i feel it necessary,than risk anyone including the driver being hurt by an upset horse
 
RunToEarth said:
they are legally permitted to travel at that speed, and therefore I believe if you are riding on a nationl speed limit road you should expect to be passed at 60mph. .
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I disagree.

The speed limits is as the name suggests a limit and not a target.

Speed limits are determined by judging the road under good conditions.

As soon as a hazard is introduced the road conditions change and a motorist's speed should be adjusted accordingly.

If a motorist has to pass a horse, cyclist, slow moving vehicle or pedestrian the road conditions have changed and therefore the motorist should not expect to travel at the speed limit unless they can be very sure that the conditions allow it.
Drivers must to realise this.


I do wholeheartly agree that all riders must to their bit to help endear the equestrian community to 'ordinary' drivers. A little respect and politeness goes a long way.
 
It's the same where I live too. I find the residential back streets are much better, as the traffic usually travels at under 30mph along these roads, and I'm lucky as I can get a decent 40 minute road walk around here.

I hate riding along any through roads. The narrow B roads are the worst. It seems as though at least 50% of drivers go too fast and too close to the horses, and now, If I have to ride along these roads, I tend to hog the middle of the road, so it's impossible for idiots to skim past my horse at high speed. I've had less scary incidents since I've been doing this, and more drivers seem to acknowledge me and thank me for letting them pass, but I tend to avoid riding here as much as possible.
 
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