Meeting cycling clubs out hacking

We have a lot of cyclists out and about especially on Sunday mornings and if they are coming towards us then Celt is fine with that but if they come up behind him he is one very anxious, scared horse. Don't know what can be done about it as the cyclists are entitled to use the roads the same as us so feel I just have to work on his confidence with them. They are always polite and will slow down when they see there may be a problem but they are never in groups of more than about 15.
 
Tiddlypom said:
We are on a cycleway so get it all the time. Miserable eeijits who won't acknowledge a friendly greeting whether I'm on my horse, cycle or walking the dog. Wobbly leisure cyclists are quite different, very friendly and relatively 'normal'.
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I hardly think not replying to a greeting can mean condemning them for being on the road?!
dangerous behaviour yes of course, but not replying to a greeting..?, hardly. Probably havent got enough breath to reply if they are pushing themselves.
 
My friend & I met some the other Sunday, first little group called out "Bikes behind" & we trotted into a gateway to let the past & they thanked us & said there was another group behind. We waited in the gateway & the 2nd group cycled past & completely ignored us, no thanks for letting us past, nothing. We started to walk out of the gateway & a 3rd group came charging up behind us, no warning, nothing. Complete tossers, surely group 2 could have a) thanked us & b) warned us that yet another group was following on. Yes, they are entitled to be on the lane, but apart from group 1 we received no thanks, no acknowledgement despite politely allowing them to pass. I seriously wish they would all disappear up their own backsides.
 
I've got no problem with cyclists on the road, but my gripe is when they use the road as a competitive 'arena'. They adopt a different mindset, and are very reluctant to reduce their speed for anything or anyone. I suppose you could say they were 'in the zone'. As far as I know, no other group of road users are allowed to use the public highways for competitive reasons, so why them?
 
Cragrat said:
If more than 50 horses or cars were out on public roads having a speed competition, there would quite rightly be complaints.

In fact, it's unusual for such large groups of horses or cars to be out in packs that size even non competitively.
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Er??? Hunting? Vintage car rallies, motorbike clubs thingies (they meet at a diner on the a5 relatively near here).

Tbh I don't have a problem with groups of cyclists in theory. They're easier to spot when driving than an individual cyclist. I do have a problem with rude groups of anything on the roads. We are all road users and should respect each other. I also think we all have a responsibility to be as safe as possible, eg hi vis, lights, getting out if each other's way etc.

Some cyclists will have insurance. My oh does through his british cycling membership (like bhs gold membership).

The world is getting busier. I'd like to move near my mum (deepest wales) where to roads are so quiet and its a lovely place to ride a bike or horse or drive a car, but there's no work so the Midlands it is!!
 
Pennythetank said:
A couple of years ago, a yard belonging to a lady I was riding out for had a massive problem with seemingly random races happening unexpectedly on the roads we used for hacking. She asked and asked for notice for when these races where scheduled but they keep ignoring her request.
One day she saw a lad hanging route signs for a race to be held the next day. She got everyone on the yard (20+ people and most of them had 2+ horses, it was a major competition yard) and their friends who could ride (so every horse on the yard had a rider, easily 50+ horses) to go out the next day and basically block up the road for the cyclists(ride 2/3 abreast super slow when infront of them!) Most of the horses were over 16hh so very intimidating and when we asked what the bloody hell we were doing we simply said that we were doing the exact same as the cyclists... holding a race without giving anyone notice, the only thing different was that our race was a walking one where we wanted to see who's horse could go slower.
They ended up calling off the race after an hour and we found out the next day that the race had been a major one between 3-4 different clubs.
The yard owner told the organisers that unless we had prior notice of any and all races taking place within a 10mile radius, we would continue to hold our 'races'.
That was probably ttwo years ago by now and the yo still gets at least a week's notice before anything!!
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This made me laugh. What a genius.
 
amandaco2 said:
I hardly think not replying to a greeting can mean condemning them for being on the road?!
dangerous behaviour yes of course, but not replying to a greeting..?, hardly. Probably havent got enough breath to reply if they are pushing themselves.
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Oh yes, they are cycling dangerously, too. Riding three abreast at speed around our narrow blind bends is plain stupid.
 
As I say dangerous behaviour, be it intentional or not, is to be condemned.
sadly there are people from all road users who fall into these categories.
One can only try to educate the ignorant ones and report the intentional ones.
making either into an enemy is inadvisable.
 
amandaco2 said:
some of the replies here are saying things like cyclists have less right to the road due not paying insurance? An attitude like that wont help at all.
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Are we reading the same thread? I'm not sure anyone has said they have less right to the road due to not paying insurance unless I missed something?

Back on topic, unfortunately I've only had negative experiences with the sportive riders near here.

When I first got H we were out riding with a couple of friends on a winding country road. We were all of about 5 metres from a driveway when 30+ cyclists came flying around the bend just as a car came the other way. I screamed "whoa" whilst using my arm to signal to slow down and then asked them politely as we pranced sideways if they could please slow down and let us get onto the driveway as my horse was inexperienced. They just yelled back that they couldn't slow down as it was a race! Fortunately we managed to eventually get the horses onto the drive way but not before H had bucked and kicked out at the bikes. How he didn't connect with them I'll never know!

Whilst I fully understand that they have as much right to be on the roads as us, I do wish the ones near us could be a little more considerate.
 
amandaco2 said:
As I say dangerous behaviour, be it intentional or not, is to be condemned.
sadly there are people from all road users who fall into these categories.
One can only try to educate the ignorant ones and report the intentional ones.
making either into an enemy is inadvisable.
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You're absolutely right - there are all types of dangerous and ignorant road users out there. But cyclists are the only group that use it competitively. Sure, there are plenty of other road users that go out in groups, but they are not actually competing, they are parading. Surely, the very nature of being in an organised 'race' will encourage them to take risks and go fast?
 
Shady said:
they are the bane of my life here, everybody thinks they are in the Tour de France, what's worse is that they are not only on the roads in large flashy groups but they tank around the bridle ways too and look at me as if i am riding a fire breathing dragon, i've even had them trying to wave me off the roads and shouting at me to control my horse!!!!!!( who is usually standing there yawning), , i always yell at them that i have more rights to be on the roads as i have insurance and they don't but i feel for people who's horses are young and just learning , my friend helped her horse cope better by getting family and other friends together with bikes and doing a desensitizing lesson,i think it's the silence and gear changes they don't like. It worked well.
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FestiveFuzz said:
Are we reading the same thread? I'm not sure anyone has said they have less right to the road due to not paying insurance unless I missed something?.
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Yes.
 
amandaco2 said:
Our local groups have a fb page with routes on it.

Cyclists have as much right on the road as anyone else. Im not aware of a law saying horses or cars or motorbikes cannot go out in groups?
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Agreed but Sportives should not be timed as it encourages excessive speed and lack of consideration as they don't want to slow down and spoil their times. I am on one of these routes and they can be a nightmare.

On a day to day basis I don't have any problems with cyclists but they seem to get a pack mentality when in competition.

Years ago (and I'm not sure if it is the same now) we ran a treasure hunt using cars. We had to inform the police if there were more than a certain number taking part.
 
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littleshetland said:
You're absolutely right - there are all types of dangerous and ignorant road users out there. But cyclists are the only group that use it competitively. Sure, there are plenty of other road users that go out in groups, but they are not actually competing, they are parading. Surely, the very nature of being in an organised 'race' will encourage them to take risks and go fast?
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Runners use the roads competitively too.

organised races should be exactly that. Organised. With marshals and advertised.
obviously there are times this doesnt happen and thats inconvenient for all other road users and theres a potentional for harm.

ive seen plenty of drivers and horse riders take plenty of risks and/or go too fast. Ive had a lot of times with the hunt taking over the village of a meet and behaving in a manner likely to cause an accident.


the roads are dangerous and realistically we can only try to educate people who dont know how to act around our horses. Rubbing them up the wrong way by yelling things at them etc may cause them to join the intentional group. At any rate its unlikely to cause them to change behaviour for the better.

Hence I suggest trying to contact cycle clubs and groups with the view to preventing accidents.

and trying to report those who are dangerous.
 
amandaco2 said:
Does having a speed competition mean the cyclists act vastly differently?
im sure if 2 cars were having a speed race that would be complained about.....mostly as cars have a speed limit to keep to legally!
for cars and horses a speed competition would equal much higher speeds than normal.

For bikes the difference isnt that great as most cyclists are wanting to push their times anyway, esp in a large group. And large groups meet for regular rides so a large group isnt unusual, at least around here.
some of the replies here are saying things like cyclists have less right to the road due not paying insurance? An attitude like that wont help at all.

Obviously im not supporting behaviour from cyclists thats potentially dangerous.
Just trying to say cyclists have road using rights, they often go out in large groups as part of the sport. They probably dont see why rider need to be out on the road in groups.
just try to deal with it by trying to keep relationships as good as possible, by improving understanding
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amandaco2 said:
Yes.
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Apologies I missed that. Definitely don't agree with the tax/insurance argument.
 
A friend of mine recently organised a pleasure ride in her area. She'd thoroughly researched the route beforehand to hopefully eliminate hazards, busy roads etc, and had walked the route a lot and ridden it. In short, a helluva lot of planning.

The day before the ride: orange arrows began appearing in the countryside, can't remember the name of the event but I think it was a national thing???

Where my friend had planned her ride, the dreaded orange arrows appeared. We googled it: and it turned out that it was due to go along the path of her pleasure ride!! She ended up speaking to the organisers late that evening, and had to go around very early the next morning and change some of the route as otherwise she was concerned that there could be a nasty accident.

Please note: the cycle race didn't think to change their route, oh no. The horse riders were the ones to had to "get out of the way".

There should be a body appointed to co-ordinate the use of the roads for "road races". Unfortunately, in my area, because we are on a hill - and form a good "loop" with the old main road nearby, in the summer there's a race almost every weekend here. We try to keep abreast of what's happening on social media, and warn everyone, but it would help if the local cycle clubs would go around and post details of the race, it needn't be much i.e. "cycle race here next weekend" would do.

I've had way too many frightening experiences with cyclists: the worst being a stoopid woman who overtook my mare's hind legs very close and then weaved in and out of me and my riding companion just as the bus was coming up the road! When I challenged her, and asked her to please not to come so close, all I got was a load of cheek, even though I was pointing out that I was trying to give her some safety advice so she wouldn't get kicked!!

Perhaps, just perhaps, if one of them gets thoroughly kicked and badly hurt, then it might just act as a warning, but will be awful for the rider of the horse that does it :(

By god, they get my hackles up :(
 
I sent a very polite email to the club concerned and I've had a very polite email back. Apparently the event I met is an annual event, hence the large number out. He has said he will talk to other organisers with regard to slowing down/stopping for horses when requested. I've now also got means of checking for future events. Hopefully, I won't meet an event like that again, it'll probably be something else! Oh, the joy of hacking in 2015!
 
Pebble101 said:
Agreed but Sportives should not be timed as it encourages excessive speed and lack of consideration as they don't want to slow down and spoil their times. I am on one of these routes and they can be a nightmare.

On a day to day basis I don't have any problems with cyclists but they seem to get a pack mentality when in competition.

Years ago (and I'm not sure if it is the same now) we ran a treasure hunt using cars. We had to inform the police if there were more than a certain number taking part.
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In a race there should be marshals. The times are offset if they stop for lights etc and competitive events should be advertised.....

I dont think trying to enforce not timing cyclists would ever work....same as only letting slow inconvenient horseboxes on the roads between 8pm and 6am wouldnt work. Least of all if such a law for timings was brought in how would it be enforced?

definitely agree considerate safe use of the roads ought be priority one.
No easy answer to solve it really as sadly some humans seem to have a very limited capacity for understanding each other and acting sensibly.

I do wonder if cyclists have similar debates on their forums about large groups of horse riders out on the lanes without publishing the 'event' first, or cases of rude riders or riders behaving dangerously..?Probably.
 
oldie48 said:
I sent a very polite email to the club concerned and I've had a very polite email back. Apparently the event I met is an annual event, hence the large number out. He has said he will talk to other organisers with regard to slowing down/stopping for horses when requested. I've now also got means of checking for future events. Hopefully, I won't meet an event like that again, it'll probably be something else! Oh, the joy of hacking in 2015!
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Glad you have taken sensible mature actions. Hopefully you have led to the education of some other road users and your situation wont happen again.
 
They are the bane of my life too. Loads around here. One almost hit my horse last year. Since then he's terrible with cyclists. Which makes hacking out hard work as there's no where to go where I don't run into them. He's getting better with the odd 1 or 2 but a large group freaks him out now. Weekend hacking is out and in the summer so will weekday hacking too.
 
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MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
A friend of mine recently organised a pleasure ride in her area. She'd thoroughly researched the route beforehand to hopefully eliminate hazards, busy roads etc, and had walked the route a lot and ridden it. In short, a helluva lot of planning.

The day before the ride: orange arrows began appearing in the countryside, can't remember the name of the event but I think it was a national thing???

Where my friend had planned her ride, the dreaded orange arrows appeared. We googled it: and it turned out that it was due to go along the path of her pleasure ride!! She ended up speaking to the organisers late that evening, and had to go around very early the next morning and change some of the route as otherwise she was concerned that there could be a nasty accident.

Please note: the cycle race didn't think to change their route, oh no. The horse riders were the ones to had to "get out of the way".

There should be a body appointed to co-ordinate the use of the roads for "road races". Unfortunately, in my area, because we are on a hill - and form a good "loop" with the old main road nearby, in the summer there's a race almost every weekend here. We try to keep abreast of what's happening on social media, and warn everyone, but it would help if the local cycle clubs would go around and post details of the race, it needn't be much i.e. "cycle race here next weekend" would do.



By god, they get my hackles up :(
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Im not sure of the complaint here really?
a national event had put markers out before their event. How were they to know a group of riders recently planned to use a part of the route??

National events tend to be organised months in advance and well publicised as shown by it being on google.

if they hadnt been responsible by putting markers out, the pleasure ride would have been caught up in it, so surely the organisers putting markers out was a good thing??

the woman weaving in and out of the horses does sound a moron, having been clearly asked to give the horses space and ignoring the request. If she had any club clothing on etc, speak to the club? Not much one can do about unmarked cyclists. Reg plates would be an idea, same for horse riders! So all can be accountable for their behaviour.

Does the local cycling group put the meets on their site? If not simply ask them to do so?
Yes its inconvenient having them meet every weekend, but at least you already know thats the case?
Im sure they are equally annoyed by long tailbacks of traffic behind our lorries en route to shows?
 
amandaco2 said:
In a race there should be marshals. The times are offset if they stop for lights etc and competitive events should be advertised.....

.
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But they get around the marshals problem and other regulations by saying a Sportive is not a race - so what is the point of timing it?

As I said I don't generally have a problem with cyclists (with a couple of exceptions), my problem is that Sportives encourage speed in groups. Individual cyclists wouldn't be a problem but the nature of the event means large groups travelling at speed. You never see large groups of horse riders out in the lanes around here and they certainly don't reach the speeds of the cyclists.
 
Whilst I agree sone cyclists are a pita, so are some riders...last winter we were returning home along a fast, dangerous local road which has massive hills. It's regularly closed due to serious accidents. We came over the brow of one particularly steep hill to find 3 members of a certain hunt cantering abreast, up the hill towards traffic on the wrong side of the road. Hardly a good advert for the rest of us.
 
amandaco2 said:
I do wonder if cyclists have similar debates on their forums about large groups of horse riders out on the lanes without publishing the 'event' first, .
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I'm in an area with many bridlepaths and only once come across more than 4 riders and given that 2 were on a lead rein with with someone on the ground, were not proceeding at speed.

Timed cycle events however are twice or more a week during the summer. They don't publicise and I wasn't able to find them on google to work out dates and times to avoid. The signs go up very shortly before, I can go for a hack and half an hour later find signs everywhere and lots of cyclists flying round blind bends at top speeds. The day there's a car coming in towards us as they pull out to go past, there will probably be an accident.

On the plus side, last summer, they were better and about half slowed down and gave me some space, felt like someone had talked to them about how to ride near horses; however they then spoilt it by nearly taking me out when I was on foot walking down to the station.

It's not just horse riders that suffer, a friend posted on facebook how she had been abused for going slowly by racing cyclists when she was out her bike on a sunday with hubby and kids.
 
The police stop youfrom racing cars on the road and horses for that matter but cyclists seem to race every weekend... Why is this legal? It's not safe for anyone as those cyclists don't even look at junctions and woe betide anyone gets in their way by stopping at a junction etc... I personally think racing of any type on the public highway should be banned
 
Get someone on a bike, preferably a slightly kamikaze 5yr old to accompany you hacking. No normal cyclist will be a problem once your horse has experienced this for a few hours. ;)



 
I used to live in Cheshire and kept my horse in Mobberley which has become a popular area for groups of cyclists and the mass races. I have found myself in a few sticky situations while riding with them passing at speed. They also like to race down the very narrow lanes 3 sometimes 4 abreast, not sure how they intend on missing a car as they fly round the corners. Once driving home from the yard I got caught up in one of the races as did an unfortunate couple out riding. The woman had already got off her horse and was struggling to hold him on the ground, this was clearly visible to the cyclists but they continued flying past in a constant stream, the gentleman was also having trouble controlling his horse as it reared and danced about, I honestly could not believe that not one of the cyclists thought to slow down or to wave behind to slow others down to pass the horses.

I found the groups of cyclists incredible rude and discourteous. If I were to see someone struggling and potentially in danger I would certainly slow down, an extra couple of seconds off my race time is certainly not worth risking a persons safety for, if everyone behaved in this considerate manner it should not affect race positions anyway. I do however find single cyclist much more polite we would often get a bell ring or shout a hello as they approached from behind to let us know they were coming.
 
I think that part of the problem is that if you are on a suitable routes it's not a 'once a year' thing. It's 2 or 3 times a month in the summer.

In a village near to where our friends live there is a cycle group that holds regular races. They have routes where they can do laps and only need to turn left, this means on a race day they do 10-12 laps. There are a lot of vehicles involved in these races (cars drive along in front etc.) and the residents get fed up with it. I think they suffer because it is on/near the Olympic route and the only turn left rule.

We don't seem to get the organised races around here, but we still get the Sportives and other events - 3 times in one month last year. The arrows painted in the road by one group lasted months!
 
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Hi
I think you've probably not read the thread but I don't have any issue with cyclists per se, my horse will cope with pretty much anything we meet on the road but I don't think you can prepare your horse to cope with massed cyclists travelling at speed. Mine coped with the 1st tranch of 30+, struggled with the next group and would have lost the plot with the last lot if I'd not been able to get him off the road onto a private drive. I'm an experienced rider on a sensible older horse, goodness knows what would have happened to someone on a youngster or with a child on a pony Just reread your post and realise it's probably "tongue in cheek"!!
FfionWinnie said:
Get someone on a bike, preferably a slightly kamikaze 5yr old to accompany you hacking. No normal cyclist will be a problem once your horse has experienced this for a few hours. ;)



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If the ones at the front braked when you asked them too, someone behind would not realise and you would have a massive pile up.
 
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