NICE other road users

[ajn1610]

To the lovely gentleman who took the time this afternoon to pull over his car and help my youngster on her first solo hack get past a horse eating fly tipped sofa, a massive thank you, you are a diamond

Isn't it lovely when people are just nice and kind to each other, he made my hack and my day.

 

[NeilM]

I'll add a thank you to the farmer who not only stopped, but reversed his Landy and trailer back around a corner when I was walking in hand with a super spooky Anglo-Arab the other day... and to the FOUR other cars that all came along at the same time, and this on a road that is so quiet that was probably the entire traffic flow for the day. They were all smiles and waves.

And thanks to the bloke in the scariest ASDA van on the face of the earth, for backing up and making just a little more room for us to flounce through.

It's nice when people understand that horses are, well, horses!

 

[showpony]

Yep I'd a great experience couple mths ago. Was hacking out my sometimes very spooky chap and a bin truck came around the corner, brakes hissing, lights flashing etc.. Que my chap throwing some advanced stressage moves. Not only did the driver stop, he turned engine off completely and didn't start it again until I was about 100 yards past it. I made a point of ringing the company and also emailed me back, they were delighted to get some positive feedback

 

[Bionic Boy]

I will add a thanks to the bus driver who didn't wait to see if he was scary he just pulled to a stop and waited for us to past without s problem.

 

[ajn1610]

See, I feel better about life knowing there are considerate people out and about. Three cheers for them!

 

[Allover]

I met a lovely motorcycle man the other day whilst riding a 4yo - he stopped beside us and said "she looks young, do you mind if I give her a cuddle so she thinks well of motorbikes next time she sees them". "Bless your heart, thank you and yes you can" was my response. Pony gave it best cute eyes and got a lovely rub. Restores your faith somewhat

 

[Mike007]

I met a lovely motorcycle man the other day whilst riding a 4yo - he stopped beside us and said "she looks young, do you mind if I give her a cuddle so she thinks well of motorbikes next time she sees them". "Bless your heart, thank you and yes you can" was my response. Pony gave it best cute eyes and got a lovely rub. Restores your faith somewhat

Bikers are the best road users , I once had one drive a little too fast past me and was highly amused to watch his mate (who passed me a few seconds later really carefully)giving him a hard time a few hundred yards up the road . There was a lot of gesticulating and finger pointing and the odd point back to us down the road. It was obvious that there was a certain amount of horse education going on. Sadly most cyclists seem to be absolute pigs.

 

[C1airey]

Accompanied a friend hacking a youngster to his new yard yesterday which involved quite a lot of road work. Not especially busy roads at that time of day, but to the lad on the incredibly noisy moped who came up behind us on an uphill bend, slowed right down and then lost momentum so had to punt himself along with his foot to pass us: thank you!

 

[Mike007]

Accompanied a friend hacking a youngster to his new yard yesterday which involved quite a lot of road work. Not especially busy roads at that time of day, but to the lad on the incredibly noisy moped who came up behind us on an uphill bend, slowed right down and then lost momentum so had to punt himself along with his foot to pass us: thank you!

He will be a real biker when he is older .

 

[Nutsaboutnags]

To the 30 odd Harley Davidson riders who stopped for me and my friend a few weeks ago -thank you!! They stopped for us at a junction to let us out across a busy road.... On the opposite carriage more that 20 cars drove past without even slowing, but the bikers waited patiently until a gap finally came.... Over we went into the bridal path safe and sound. (Although my mare still freaked out at the noise behind her as the drove by but she's prone to hysteria!!)
Thanks guys!

 

[Emby]

When I first had my girl about 3 years ago, she was very green and quite un-confident on new hacking routes on her own. One day whilst trying to get her up the through the village, a couple walking 4 large dogs between them were coming the other way. She stopped and stared at them and refused to move forward. Thinking they were helping, they turned off down a side track to wait for us to go past. Unfortunately my mare just assumed they were now lying in wait for her as she could still hear and see them, and she still wouldn't move. So the man got his partner to take all of the dogs whilst he came and asked if I needed any help. I asked if he would take hold of her bridle and lead her forward a few steps for me then walk past the dogs with us. This he did willingly and and even kept apologising for frightening her!
I thanked him (and the lady as we went past her and the dogs) and saw them out and about quite a few times in the following months.

 

[skint1]

What a lovely thread, restores your faith in the human race ( a bit anyway )

 

[tamsinkb]

To the 30 odd Harley Davidson riders who stopped for me and my friend a few weeks ago -thank you!! They stopped for us at a junction to let us out across a busy road.... On the opposite carriage more that 20 cars drove past without even slowing, but the bikers waited patiently until a gap finally came.... Over we went into the bridal path safe and sound. (Although my mare still freaked out at the noise behind her as the drove by but she's prone to hysteria!!)
Thanks guys!

Harley riders are the best...years ago I was waiting to pull out from a notorious T junction in towing my trailer with a horse en route to emergency vets....it was friday evening rush hour and had been queuing for 15+mins....the junction is 300yards from a harley dealership...a group of 15 or so riders pulled out of the dealership, some saw the trailer rocking with colicing horse. They pulled out onto both sides of the road and stopped the traffic so I could continue my journey..... I have never been so grateful in my life, but never had the chance to thank then properly.

 

[ilvpippa]

To the ambulance with their lights & sirons going; to when they saw us they turned them all off and made sure they were far over as the could be when the zoomed past. Horses wouldn't have been bothered with the noise or lights but humbled me that they were so quick thinking whilst being occupied with their work. Brilliant

 

[lhotse]

Hanson cement lorry drivers are the best around here. They all understand that horses often don't like the fact that the back moves and will always stop, even on the steep hill. If you meet them in the lane, they will turn off their engines and wait until you are well past.

 

[starryeyed]

Harley riders are the best...years ago I was waiting to pull out from a notorious T junction in towing my trailer with a horse en route to emergency vets....it was friday evening rush hour and had been queuing for 15+mins....the junction is 300yards from a harley dealership...a group of 15 or so riders pulled out of the dealership, some saw the trailer rocking with colicing horse. They pulled out onto both sides of the road and stopped the traffic so I could continue my journey..... I have never been so grateful in my life, but never had the chance to thank then properly.

Wow!!
This is such a lovely thread. A lot of people around here are sadly pretty arrogant and go past you without any acknowledgment, no matter how polite and friendly you are or how quickly you step off the road onto the verge to let them pass - but we do meet the odd gem! I was incredibly grateful to a lovely tractor driver a few days ago, he was hedge cutting on a tiny country road - there was no alternative route or gateways to wait in and we'd already been out quite a while so turning around and going all the way back would have been awful, horse was prancing everywhere, but he switched the cutter off, reversed forever and waited in a very rare layby for us to dance past - very kind! I'm also always very surprised by a local boy racer - I pass him on the way to work every day and he's always racing along through the villages with the windows down & music blaring, but every time I have met him on my horse he has been the most courteous driver, always stops immediately and puts off all music/lights and even turns off the engine for us.

 

[Karran]

It does seem to be bikers that are super nice!
Was taking my scatty part loan out on a hack and two teenage boys on scooters came up behind us. V absolutely hates them, even hearing them go down the road when i'm schooling causes a huge drama. So she started bouncing on the spot.
Bless them, they turned their engines off and then got off and wheeled them past us.

I was too pre-occupied to thank them but I was so surprised that they put themselves out like that, I was completely expecting them to whizz past us and was preparing myself mentally for the fall out.. (which came later when we bumped into the ice cream van!)

 

[Mike007]

It does seem to be bikers that are super nice!
Was taking my scatty part loan out on a hack and two teenage boys on scooters came up behind us. V absolutely hates them, even hearing them go down the road when i'm schooling causes a huge drama. So she started bouncing on the spot.
Bless them, they turned their engines off and then got off and wheeled them past us.

I was too pre-occupied to thank them but I was so surprised that they put themselves out like that, I was completely expecting them to whizz past us and was preparing myself mentally for the fall out.. (which came later when we bumped into the ice cream van!)

Future Harley Davidson owners.

 

[Feival]

The oil tanker man I bumped into at the top of the farm, turned his engine and lights off, opened his window turned his music down and cooed at CC as we went past and complimented me on my 'very pretty pony'

 

[fidleyspromise]

What a superb thread - nice to see acknowledgements instead of whinging!

I'll add a few months back when youngster was at professional backers yard and I took her out for our first hack together. A tractor with trailer coming towards us pulled in but she was still nervous of it (I was reasonably bricking it myself) and he turned off engine and waited for us to get a good distance past before starting engine again.
Gave me a lot of confidence so a massive thanks.

 

[Annagain]

Bikers are the best road users , I once had one drive a little too fast past me and was highly amused to watch his mate (who passed me a few seconds later really carefully)giving him a hard time a few hundred yards up the road . There was a lot of gesticulating and finger pointing and the odd point back to us down the road. It was obvious that there was a certain amount of horse education going on. Sadly most cyclists seem to be absolute pigs.

The vast majority of cyclists round by us are great. We get a lot of them, especially on Sundays and often in big groups. They nearly always shout a warning if they're coming from behind us and give us plenty of room.

I've also phoned a haulage company to thank a driver who turned his engine off for us. Our horses are fine with lorries but he didn't know that and made it as easy as poss for us to get past him.

I've also had someone turn off their vintage Matador truck off for me to go past, and then not be able to start it again. Felt very guilty about that one, especially as it wasn't necessary - very kind, but not necessary!

 

[Emma_H]

I had a gentleman coming towards me slow right down to pass. His window was down so I thanked him verbally. He said "pleasure" in reply. His response made me so happy

 

[NeilM]

The vast majority of cyclists round by us are great. We get a lot of them, especially on Sundays and often in big groups. They nearly always shout a warning if they're coming from behind us and give us plenty of room.

Thanks for that.

When not on four legs I can often be found on leg powered two wheels. I have bells fitted to all of my bikes, both road and MTB, so that I can warn people of my approach. I did this after startling a lady and her nice coloured cob who were walking along a quiet road, obviously enjoying the sunshine and silence, only for some silly ar$e to shout "CYCLIST". I saw them both jump, and apologised as I passed. The next day, I fitted a bell to my training bike as a 'Ping Ping' is a lot less offensive.

As for ignorant cyclists who give no notice, I can only apologise, but there are knobs on foot, horse, bike, in cars, vans, lorrys and busses.... more's the pity.

 

[Pennythetank]

I have the lorry drivers who no matter what, turn off their engines for me and generally don't turn them back on until I am out of sight , a group of young lads with quads/mopeds/motorbikes, who have caught my riderless horse before and walked a mile to return her to me and always turn off their various machines as I go past, I have had farmers pop over to my house just to warn me if the route the drive the cows down the road (to milk etc) has changed, and most of the cars I pass stop and say hi to whatever horse I'm on. (sometimes if it is safe,children get out of the car and come over to pet the 'pretty pony'!)
Its lovely to read such a nice thread and it has made me think about how lucky I am with the road users around me...

 

[BeingKate]

The big lad once decided the farmer driving a tractor load of hay past him on a single track country lane was meals on wheels and grabbed a mouthful off the back much to my embarrassment. Next time the farmer came past, he had a carrot in his pocket "in case he saw the hungry horse again" and from then on he always kept one in his tractor just for my boy

 

[Honey08]

I think that a lot of road users are still lovely and I try very hard to make eye contact and thank most drivers.

Re the cyclists, I find on back lanes they are lovely, on main roads, particularly in groups they're not so nice. To be honest a lot of horse riders are just as bad.

As for motorbikes, they're mostly lovely. Many years ago when I was a young girl I had a go on my friend's Arab. It set off with me and went about two miles at a fast canter, crossing a busy road junction (luckily it was Charles and Diana's wedding so traffic was rare that day). Three motorbikes came alongside me and asked if I was ok. When I said no they formed a v in front of me and blocked the horse into slowing down and stopping. Despite not being horsey, one stayed with the motorbikes while one led the naughty pony and the other led a crying ten year old me back in the direction we'd come from until we met my worried parents in pursuit.

 

[Jenny Wrenny]

Lovely thread. I find that the vast majority of people are really very nice around us. We get a lot of big farm machinery and they are generally very considerate. The worst people seem to be the old dears who drive at 40mph wherever they are (motorway, Tesco car park, narrow lane passing a horse etc etc) but I honestly think that they are so far into their own little world that they are oblivious to anything else! Always nice to give considerate drivers a big smiley thank you so they do the same next time they pass a horse. It's nice to be nice and I hate to see horse riders not thanking drivers, its the height of bad manners.

 

[Princess Rosie]

A lovely, lovely thread and a reminder that there are lovely considerate people out there. My mare particularly hates tractors and a few months ago (on our first ever solo hack) we came across a horse eating (old and very rattly) tractor at a junction we were approaching. I was signalling hand across my throat to him (bit cheeky but keen for our first hack to go well) to ask him to cut his engine as she was starting to riverdance and he immediately stopped and switched his engine off. She managed to survive past it and I was so thrilled I forgot myself and spooked my mare by shouting to him a huge thankyou and telling him he was amazingly kind. He tipped his cap in good old chap fashion and waited until I was well out of the way before he carried on.

Bless the decent human beings out there. x