Passing other horses out hacking. Rude people!

ann-jen

ann-jen

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Whenever I meet other horses out hacking I generally ask if its ok to pass and just assume this is the normal most courteous thing to do.
However yesterday I was out on my mare escorting my friend on her 4 year old on his second ever hack. He is fortunately bomb proof for a youngster as 3 women just burst out of nowhere and cantered straight past us on the track we were on.
They then pulled up and walked snails pace in front of us so we were nose to tail with them.
By this point my normally unflappable girl was thinking we were on some sort of hunt ride and bouncing around setting a very bad example to the stoical 4 year old lol.
Anyway the 3 women couldn't get their horses to go down a bank as there is a stream at the bottom and its a bit spooky so I gave the whole group of us a lead and myself and my friend set off again. They hung back a bit and then about 5 minutes later were charging up behind us again. So my friend explained that her horse was young and could they please pass in walk to which they said yes but continued in canter! My friends youngster was clearly upset as he turned his backside at them as if to kick which is very out of character to which the 3 women seemed cross about. But she'd clearly asked them to walk past and told them why and they agreed but just didn't!
People can be so rude! This track is used by walkers and cyclists as well as horses and I do hope they don't pass children and dog walkers in the same fashion as they will cause an accident!
I just wondered where manners and consideration were these days! We had no problem from any of the cyclists who were all very helpful when we explained about the young horse when they passed. Nor the scary Nordic walkers brandishing their sticks. Seems sad that the only inconsiderate people were our fellow horse riders :-(
 
Bad etiquette(sp lol) its happened to me in past .I was walking my 4yr old
16h to our stable block from paddock on road and they trotted past me on opposite side of road.I shouted walk hes a baby , I don't even think they realised what they had done :(
 
Sometimes the rudest people are unfortunately other horse riders such a shame as you would have thought they would be the people that would understand
 
i escort my YO on her youngsters with my very sensible horse and we meet dog walkers, bikers, pram pushers, runners, in fact they all stop when asked for the youngsters to pass safely by -horse riders no! they race ,overtake as fast as possible ,dont acknowledge our thankyous and are generally rude! come on people if you are lucky enough to ride a sensible horse that you bought like that -how do you think they got like it??
 
Unfortunately I've come across this also. Particularly when i'm my car driver self :rolleyes:

If I'm on a road (which is rare these days as I don't need to be, it's because I've chosen to be) I thank every single driver no matter which direction they came from - even if they didn't slow down but passed wide, I still thank them. If they did squat I don't bother but if they've slowed up, passed wide and slow and done all the right things, i'm positively gushing at them.

I must be a rarity as I pass at weekends around 6 - 8 horse riders and not ONE of them thanks you. It's always the same people and it makes me feel like flying past at 60mph (it's a national speed limit road), touchably close and braying my horn.

No wonder some non-horse drivers act like pr1ck5 when some horseriders behave as though they have more right to be there than anyone else!
 
i hack on a common where i rarely ever see other horse riders, just lots of dogs, and i always walk past them or sometimes stand if their owner is trying to get them to come back! but i would never zoom past a horse without asking- it is rude and dangerous, treat others how you would like to be treated yourself really. bet if they werent in a group but on their own they wouldnt have canterd past without thinking
actually saw another rider in the near distance today so we purpously hung back a bit as could see it was spooking quite a lot so didnt want to get too near and upset it more.
im the same on the road- always thank everyone, unless i really need two hands at the time!
 
I agree about thanking all car drivers no matter how small a concession they make. To a non horsie person dropping for 60mph to 50 probably seems like a lot. But if you don't thank them they are unlikely to even do that in the future. :-(
 
Whoopit said:
Unfortunately I've come across this also. Particularly when i'm my car driver self :rolleyes:

If I'm on a road (which is rare these days as I don't need to be, it's because I've chosen to be) I thank every single driver no matter which direction they came from - even if they didn't slow down but passed wide, I still thank them. If they did squat I don't bother but if they've slowed up, passed wide and slow and done all the right things, i'm positively gushing at them.
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I'm similar, I have a progressive level of thank you's when I'm out riding. If they really haven't made any effort, I won't thank them. If they think they've made an effort (slowed down slightly or pulled out a bit) I give them a small thank you. The people who go all out get several thank you's, a big smile, and if their window is down, I say thank you as well.

Passed a rider out on my way to my yard the other day, who was on the grass verge on the other side of the road. I slowed right down...and all I got was a "how dare you be on this road?" glacial glare in return. If I didn't know anything about horses, riders like that would definitely make me less bothered next time! I think it also suggests that you don't need to slow down. Which obviously isn't the case!

On the rude riders note, I once took a horse who kicked to pony camp. I had a red ribbon in her tail, and everyone kept clear...apart from one *******ing idiot who cantered her horse right up my one's bum "just to see if it kicked". Would've been sorry if her horse had been kicked but not if she had! Luckily mine didn't do anything, I think she was half asleep at the time.
 
I wonder if any of those riders are on here and read this thread and feel ashamed or anything?
We are all in the same club and should all be curtious to each other and work together to educate and thank all drivers out there if they slow down and pass wide. Its not rocket science!! :rolleyes:
 
On the other side of the coin with drivers, I once had a lady who pulled off the road and stopped the engine when we approached. It was a little over the top as the horses were plodding along and there was no other traffic in site. But to thank her effort I raised my hand, nodded and smiled then mouthed thank you as I drew level. My friend was a little way behind me (can't match my horse's power walk when home is in sight!) ..... Anyway she nodded and raised her hand in thanks. But when she drew level the woman wound her window down and screamed at my friend for how ungrateful she was for not thanking her properly! I'm not sure what else she wanted? Other than us dismounting and going over to shake her hand lol. I'm sure the smile and raise of hand is a fairly universal sign of thanks. I do it when driving to thank other drivers that give way and none of them have berated me that it wasn't enough lol! We left thinking she deserved a completely different kind of hand gesture altogether lol
 
Whoopit said:
I must be a rarity as I pass at weekends around 6 - 8 horse riders and not ONE of them thanks you. It's always the same people and it makes me feel like flying past at 60mph (it's a national speed limit road), touchably close and braying my horn.

No wonder some non-horse drivers act like pr1ck5 when some horseriders behave as though they have more right to be there than anyone else!
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This exactly. It's slightly shocking how rude a lot of horse riders are, and it leaves no wonder why drivers don't bother slowing down. Even if you can't take your hands off the reins, what effort is a quick smile and nod of the head, really?

Pet hate!!
 
How rude!!

Only yesterday I was out hacking with my friend, we were both walking the entire way round the woodland. A group of 4 riders came charging up behind us, as in right up nearly treading on our horses' back feet, causing both of our horses to panic and take off. By the time we pulled up I turned and shouted at the riders asking why they would do that, to never try and pass in canter and never canter right up behind a horse, especially an unknown horse.
"Err, what's the problem? We were just about to walk and pass you."
Right... after you used my horse's back end as an emergency break :rolleyes:
 
few years ago I was at the beach with friends pony, which was quite young and hadn't been to the beach before. So, friend was riding the (daughters)pony and I was walking beside them. 3 riders came down onto the beach behind us, as soon as their horses hit the sand they took off at a gallop. Passed us, passed some kids playing on the beach, dog walkers, etc. and disappeared down the beach. Friends pony got so excited by this she reared up and fell over backwards. Thank God friend was riding and not little daughter. Both were ok. When we got back to the car park, I tracked down these riders and gave them a piece of my mind! (I was very calm - no swearing or shouting! lol). Their excuse was "well we just couldn't stop" !!! WTF? These were adults, not daft teenagers. Could not believe my ears.
 
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