Just because there've been quite a few negative posts about other road users...

Trish C

Trish C

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... I wanted to share a positive experience!

Took the big ginger thing out alone this morning (only fourth time, but I was actually really looking forward to this one, not shaking with nerves, woo!) and deliberately took him out around 'rush hour' as wanted to meet a bit of traffic (challenge!). Note: rush hour at our place means we meet 7 or 8 cars, instead of 0 or 1 ;)

First driver coming in along the lane wasn't paying attention at first but when she did spot us she stopped and reversed back to a suitable passing place, then apologised for not stopping sooner.

Second driver parked up by the side of the road, told her noisy kids to be quiet and stop shouting at the 'huge horsie'.

Third driver stopped and pulled in, turned off loud banging music then wound down the window to tell me how handsome my horse is (she was my favourite of the day :D).

Fourth and fifth drivers in noisy rattly vans absolutely crawled past as we waited in a gateway and gave big thank yous to us (as we did to them).

Sixth driver reversed a huge distance back up the road, pulled in and switched off engine and gave a nice hello as we went sideways past (evil calf monsters in neighbouring field). Seventh driver stopped and let us trot up and turn into our laneway rather than trying to come past.

I did, of course, thank all profusely :)

Nothing exciting, but it was very gratifying since I've read a lot of 'bad press' about other road users on here - we've also had our own fair share of idiots on the roads recently. Worth remembering that, like many things, for every bad one there're plenty of considerate and good ones! :)
 
Gosh how refreshing is that ( I take it you did have clothes on! ) Round here people aren't bad but you do get a few impatient white van men - i always acknowledge drivers even if they haven't slowed down much - still makes 'em realize there's actually a human being all the way up there!
 
Have to say in general the drivers around me are very very good. 'Boy racer' types are usually the best, most of them have sisters with horses so know the deal (we're a very rural area so alot of farming and horsey types!) to be honest the people I usually have problems with are middle aged women...think they are jealous I'm out having a lovely time with my beautiful boy while they are stuck in the car doing the school run or going to Tesco's!!!!:D;)

I do enjoy seeing cars with kids in when they wave and the look of awe on their faces...I was once that kid who stared jealously at the lucky person on their horse so always make sure I wave and smile back at them.
 
Gosh thats great! And well done for going it alone - I tend not to as my wee beast is an idiot on his own - not in the traffic but with everything else, so I stick to off road if alone. What a good experience for you and ginge.

Maybe I need a bigger horse.......
 
Must admit where I am and go hacking, we go down a few quiet roads and all of the cars we meet (of which there are very few!) are very considerate!!

Yesterday my boy decided a cow in a neibouring field was going to "kill" him just as a car was coming... car stopped, pulled over, turned off engine and waited for us to get passed :) Very nice!! I thanked them very very much, and went on my way :D
 
jsr said:
Have to say in general the drivers around me are very very good. 'Boy racer' types are usually the best, most of them have sisters with horses so know the deal (we're a very rural area so alot of farming and horsey types!) to be honest the people I usually have problems with are middle aged women...think they are jealous I'm out having a lovely time with my beautiful boy while they are stuck in the car doing the school run or going to Tesco's!!!!:D;)

I do enjoy seeing cars with kids in when they wave and the look of awe on their faces...I was once that kid who stared jealously at the lucky person on their horse so always make sure I wave and smile back at them.
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completely agree with this. Personally i prefer to meet all boy racers as they also dont want to have their cars damaged! I also get the look of awe and people slowing down when walking my mahoosive newfoundland...it gets annoying at times tho :p
 
I have to say the drivers round our yard are very good, even the taxi drivers. In the three months I've been there the worst incident has been someone trying to pass us on a very narrow lane without waiting for us to reach a passing place. He did do it slowly and quietly so probably thought he was doing the right thing, and neither horse bothered at all!
 
KristmasKatt said:
I have to say the drivers round our yard are very good, even the taxi drivers.
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Last week I was past (very slowly and politely) by a taxi driver as I went up the road. About 10 mins later, further up the road I met him coming in the other direction (having presumably dropped off his passengers) and he stopped, said how lovely my horse was :) and then commented how nice it was to see all the hi-viz we had on (we go out decked out like the proverbial Xmas tree), how much of a difference it made to how soon he could see us, and where could he get a reflective neckband like that his (daughters?) horse!

Put a big (smug!) grin on my face for the rest of the ride! :D
 
The horse I'm riding is terrified of evil calf monsters and last time we came to them (and they galloped up to the fence to say hello) I stopped to let the traffic past before passing them so that she wouldn't sit on anyone's bonnet. However, the nice driver behind me sounded his horn and then as he passed me, bellowed "Can't you control your horse?" Given that we hadn't done anything except stop to let him past, I was incandescent. However, a woman made up for it later in the ride when she stopped her car, wound down her window and said "Haven't they got lovely little legs!" They've actually got big hairy legs but they like to be appreciated!
 
Hehe! Evil calf monsters are the bain of our life at the moment... can't wait til they grow up, because somehow they become less evil as they get bigger :rolleyes:

We've had a couple sound their horn passing/coming up behind us recently, it drives me cracked. One sounded it as he was coming up behind us despite the fact that I'd turned round, put up my hand (not in a 'stop' sort of way though) to acknowledge that I'd seen him and trotted on to a passing place. Another sounded it coming towards us and another as he was passing us, several times. Grrrrrr! I always keep an eye on the numberplates as, since we're in a very rural area, I'll probably bump into them in the shop at some point. Where I will creep up behind them with cymbals :D

But they're the few bad ones, compared to all the good ones I met today :D
 
I always keep an eye on the numberplates as, since we're in a very rural area, I'll probably bump into them in the shop at some point. Where I will creep up behind them with cymbals :D

LOL!!!
 
Lockie123 said:
I always keep an eye on the numberplates as, since we're in a very rural area, I'll probably bump into them in the shop at some point. Where I will creep up behind them with cymbals :D

LOL!!!
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^^^ hahah love it

nice to here a good post have a far few lorrys on country roads up here and they are either fab turn off engine and lean out of window to say hello or force me to jump into a hedge although i am increasingly getting terrified of going out onto the roads since girl at new yard's horse was driven into by an old lady who claimed not to see the horse or the person in hi vis in the middle of the road jumping up and down
heres to all the fab considerate drivers out there THANKYOU :D
 
Old ladies - and men for that matter - are way worse than lorries/vans/tractors/buses in my experience! We nearly got driven into the other week as well - old lady coming along a straight road towards us - the road was straight for about a mile, bright daylight, we were in high-vis on two big light enough coloured horses, but she just didn't stop. We threw the horses into a ditch and she missed my outside stirrup by a few inches. She looked ancient and I don't think she could even see over the steering wheel never mind spot any hazards in front of her :rolleyes:
 
Aww, thats great!
Agree with jsr, often the "boy" racer types are good! More bad experiences instead with middle aged men in expensive cars!
 
animal said:
Aww, thats great!
Agree with jsr, often the "boy" racer types are good! More bad experiences instead with middle aged men in expensive cars!
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Completely agree with this. Round here they always slow right down for me so I give them a very big grin and a thank you. It's everyone else I have trouble with although I have to say that today all cars bar one slowed down for us.
 
Most the folks I come across are pretty good about slowing down. I live in quite a rural area so will most likely know who they are & can give them an earful if they are bad ;)

Best is my best friends BF who looks absolutely terrified whenever he meets me on the horse :p . Apparently he's always worried about scaring her.

Must second the Hi-Viz, most people that I know have said the first thing they see to know I'm riding is my bright yellow hat silk :) & I also have 3 different yellow hi-viz jackets / vests for different seasons!

However got to say although I know they think they are doing good I don't like when people switch of their engines my horse always jumps in the air when they restart their engines :o oh well haha.
 
We're pretty lucky in our very rural area.

I was hacking a few evenings back (with high viz on as always!), quiet country lane, verge about two foot wide, heard a tractor coming up behind me. I turned and checked it out, could see tyres behind it too so I knew there was a trailer behind - I didn't recognise the driver/machine, and he'd slowed down loads, so I pulled onto the verge and waved him on - he crawled forward a bit, I kept waving him on, and Harley just stood on the verge. In the end, the tractor just crawled by, and then I realised just why he'd been reluctant to pass us - he had a folded up huge hay turner on the back! It was about 12 foot high, and when Harley unexpectedly turned his head to sniff it (d'oh!) I had to yank him back straight again before one of the spiky bits caught his head - I could easily have touched it as it went by!

So chuffed to bits with the great driver, but also top marks to my boy, I've always said he is foot perfect in traffic but that was a big ask.

Two minutes later he did a dramatic shy at a leaf!
 
Last week we had a car stop, the driver wound down his window, we thought to as for directions, but no, to tell us how beautidul our girls were :D A while back we had a car full of young lads call out that the girls had 'good socks' on :)
 
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