Please people – be sensible on the roads!!

monkeybum13

monkeybum13

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Please people – be sensible on the roads!!

A person I know was riding along the road that our yard is off today and she fell off. A car came round the bend, got close to the horse, horse spooked and she came out of the side door. The driver was worried about the whole situation so followed rider into yard to apologise. The rider was very stroppy with him, swearing at him etc anyway speaking to this driver he said he could not see the horse until the last minute as visibility was poor and it was on a bend. Coincidentally this rider never wears reflective clothing and quite often will chose to hack on roads rather that bridle paths so my first statement is
Please wear reflective clothing, at all times of the day, all seasons, whenever riding on the road.

The next is un related but this same rider does not thank drivers for slowing down, pull in when possible etc and wonders why drivers will no slow down so my second statement is
Please be courteous to drivers and thank them for slowing down/passing wide.
Also if you have the chance to pull in off the road then do so, most drivers will appreciate this and then won’t race past you.

Sorry for the rambling but please be sensible, you have a duty to your horse to keep them as safe as possible. I know many drivers are irresponsible and drive to fast but surely if we as riders thank those that do slow down, more and more drivers will.

(Please not this is unrelated to the death of a horse near Weston super mare, I do not know the situation so cannot comment, but I do feel very sorry for all those connected to the horse)
 
I was once driving out of my lane, which is narrow, wooded and twisty, but well used by riders as there are a couple of bridleways from it. Unfortunately there is a pub at the end so lots of careless drivers too!

As I came (slowly) around a blind corner I found two teenagers riding two abreast in the near dark, I barely missed them!! It gave me such I scare I stopped and asked why they were paying so little attention to saftey and neither wearing any reflective gear. Their answer was that they 'didn't want to look stupid'

You are going to look a heck of a lot more stupid bouncing across the bonnet of a car!!!!
 
I feel sorry for that driver! How nice of them to be concerned and follow the girl to check she was alright, and how out of order of her to react that way! Poor man probably wondered why he bothered
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I feel sorry for that driver! How nice of them to be concerned and follow the girl to check she was alright, and how out of order of her to react that way! Poor man probably wondered why he bothered
frown.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Well put PL, couldnt agree more, it makes me so mad when riders do not thank drivers. As a horse riding driver i am astonished at the amount of riders who are not courteous, i always am, i always wear hi viz no matter what, always. Makes me furious that these riders are so ignorant, they make it more dangerous for the rest of us courteous riders!!
 
I had a "word" with the girl today - i say girl, she's in her 50's and has been riding about 40 of those. I think she got very annoyed as I am only 16 but I don't want her lovely horse in the same situation again. The driver was quite shaken up about the ordeal, even more so when she shouted at him so my mum explained to him how kind he was to check she was alright and apologise for the other person not wearing hi viz clothing. People like her don't deserve to own a horse IMHO
 
In this area I often see riders on mobile phones and one lady who has a dog on a extending lead being led from her horse.
They are not in proper control and it really is stupid and dangerous.
 
Daughter has collected a whole set of Hi viz pink for the grey she rides, and I think it embarrassed YO into gettting Hi Viz yellow for her bay TB. He was so big and dark that under trees it was sometimes hard to see them as she is little too and always wore dark clothing, but as she'd never worn it I don't think she realised.
Looked very dazzling when they went for a hack together last week.
 
I think that was a bit stupid to blame/Shout at the driver, i dont think anyone out there would go out of their way to hit/scare a horse they just dont know horses very well, most drivers ive come across have been very helpful! My mares first time out on the roads she got spooked by a car reared and nearly knocked me out, but driver was patient, although he had enough room to pass turned off the engine and waited until i was a safe distance, sounds like the rider was in the wrong tbh!
 
Well said.
Too many riders are quick to flam drivers whilst being less than sensible themselves.
 
Said hello to 3 riders tonight passing our yard gate, only 1 had a viz tabard on
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, I mentioned it and got a strange look
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, an hour or more later 3 others off home in the dark heading for the road, no viz gear no lights nothing
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, a poor horse today dies on the road and "still" people do this is, WHAT THE FEK DOES IT TAKE TO WAKE THESE PEOPLE UP,
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I can't understand people who don't wear hi-viz on or off road.

On the road the need is obvious, and off it should you come a cropper it makes it a lot easier for the air ambulance to spot you!

I think a lot of people don't realise how invisible a horse can be even in broad daylight.

Better yellow than dead!
 
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it should you come a cropper it makes it a lot easier for the air ambulance to spot you!


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That's a very valid point. When hacking around the fields on the farm i fell off and dislocated my hip, luckily I was wearing my high viz waistcoat as it was raining, if I had not of been wearing it my mum (back in the stables) wouldn't of spotted me (fixaphone wrong said of bad leg-couldn't move to phone) and the ambulance crew wouldn't of found me easily
 
QR please put your high viz on, please.

Myself and a colleage nearly took two riders out when we were leaving work. They had no high-viz on, they were on bay horses, they were in shadow and we were in bright sunlight. My colleague and I are both riders and both know horses - we just couldn't see them. Fortunately one of them had a bright hat silk and that is what allowed us to see them in time to slow down - I don't think they even realised how close it was.

Even if you aren't going on the roads much - put your damn high viz on. I was walking the dog a few weeks back, saw some riders coming the other way and their high viz gave me time to call the dog and put him back on his lead to pass them - they thanked me and I thanked them for wearing their high viz!

Our horses have no choice about where they go out, so it is our responsibility to get them there and back safely.
 
Just as a matter of interest... my FILaw used to work with a rescue team - said the Pink or Orange is ALOT more visible than the yellow - especially if someone has had an accident in a field... not sure the pink is everyone's cup of tea, but certainly made me think! I work in the rail industry now, and planning to halfhitch some of the work gear with is orange :-)
 
I have got a green hat band, a pink brownie belt and yellow leg bands so am covered for all eventualities there
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Hat bands/ covers are great because they are more likely to be seem over hedges etc and leg bands are good because the legs are moving so they catch the eye
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QR,
We were told recently by a pedestrian that siters horses leg bands, which are pink, were more easily seen than my mares yellow leg bands. I think when it is time to replace them it will be with orange or pink (on a chesnut!)
 
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