Paralysed by a fear of traffic?

[LankyDoodle]

No, not my horse. Me!

I have always had a healthy respect for traffic of any kind, whether I am on horse, foot or in a car. But in 2004 we were involved in a traffic accident (with the horses) and at around the same time an uninsured driver also crashed into me at speed in a country lane. Ever since this time, I have been particularly nervy around traffic in lanes. I am NOT nervous of the horse in traffic - I trust my horse - and am confident and happy when the road is wide and/or straight, but around us, this is rare and roads tend to be windy and very narrow. Lots of tractors and cattle trailers use the lanes as well. A lot of the drivers use the lanes as a cut through between towns and go at speed. We've had several other near misses since these accidents, but then most riders have, and I was speaking to a friend the other day who was telling me about the times she's been hit by wing mirrors, the horse denting the side of a car etc..

I plan routes in my head and try to avoid routes where I know there are the narrowest lanes with quite a bit of traffic; in holiday season I ride at daybreak because the lanes are even fuller of more clueless people who aren't aware of riders.

I find I clam up just as I am about to mount and often change routes at the last minute because I jib out of more tricky ones where I may meet more cars. When I hear cars in the very far distance I have been known to burst into tears and want to turn round; I push the horse as far into the hedge as I can so that if a car comes round too fast they are more likely to miss us. I still have some semblance of control but I panic and feel my insides flip and flutter and I feel sick and like I said cry, my breathing gets faster and my chest gets quite tight. I know this is a reaction of panic but I am unable to do anything about it.

Like I said, I am quite confident with the horse and trust it in traffic. But I am so frightened of traffic and this is never more apparent than when we are on holiday (I've just got back from nearly 3 weeksin Cornwall with my horse). I've been riding our friends' 17.2hh warmblood, who is gorgeous and for sale

and he's fab in traffic, but because he is so big compared to George, I become even more aware of our vulnerability should a car come too close.

Does anyone else get nervous in traffic? I don't have a lot of off-road riding around my current yard sadly.

 

[kerilli]

yes, i get worried by it too... i had one horse who was very tricky in traffic, we had a few near misses, and one day it dawned on me that i was more relieved to get him back to the yard in one piece after every hack than i was after going xc round a big track! tbh i moved house because of it... now i live in the Fens where there are few hedges, it is totally flat and open, and i can literally see cars or lorries a mile away in all directions. i never get taken by surprise, and nor do drivers.
if there's no alternative to riding in the traffic, i'd cover myself in dayglo stuff for starters, it does help to make drivers slow down.
perhaps you could try NLP or hypnotism or something to try to allay your nerves a little though, i realise this is probably more applicable than "move house!" best of luck.

 

[CheziBrown]

Yep, i'm petrifed.

I rode my horse out one day and a "killer coke can" came rolling down the road towards us. He freaked out and headed for home chucking me off in the meantime. I always remember as I was falling seeing a car drive past and thinking it was going to hit me. I thought it was a good idea to keep hold of him as I was petrified of him getting hit by a car dragging me down to the road on my stomach !

Like you, to get to bridleways I had to ride on roads to get there. I rode really early in the mornings so I could get back without having to meet much if any traffic at all.

I always wear high viz as well so I can be seen. I'm that bad, I have a flashing tabard and couldn't care less what I look like.

I just found it was best to take it slowly. Don't push yourself too much until you are ready but you have to push yourself to be able to get over it.

 

[LankyDoodle]

Thank you

I wear head to toe dayglo when I go out - get seriously laughed at but don't care! We are in the process of looking for a new yard and safety of riding/availability of off-roading is one of the priorities.

I'm glad I am not alone, so thank you for replying

x

 

[moodiestmare]

I am not scared of traffic but I always carry a long schooling whip (which my mare doesn't need) and leave it poking out really far.

I find cars give me a much wider berth because of this.

 

[bex1984]

Carrie1983 - I am exactly the same. I trust my pony, I like riding out, I'll gallop around the fields on my own etc etc but traffic terrifies me, to the point that I very very rarely go out on the roads, but this is something I have to work on this winter. I am prone to bursting into tears, squealing with terror when cars approach, clinging onto my pony for dear life - basically I'm very bad in traffic!! I think that I am actually more scared of Murphy getting hurt than me getting hurt.

So you are not alone!! I'm dreading winter when I can't hack out round the fields and am going to have to go out on the roads

 

[ISHmad]

Traffic scares the hell out of me. The horses are good with traffic, but I worry to death that somebody is going to come round a blind bend on one of the country lanes near us and smash into the horses. Cannot shake the fear so tend to do 90% + of our riding off road. Just not worth the risk IMHO. I used to think the country lanes looked idyllic, until I was sat on the back of a horse and then I find them terrifying.