Pony 1, Cyclist 0

[Cop-Pop]

Our yard is on the side of a hill and we get a lot a cyclists trying to go downhill as fast as possible (even though it's a single track road used by a lot of cars)

I walk the pony out once a day for hill work and even though I have a hi-viz vest on and pony has hi-viz tail bandage and boots the cyclists never seem to see us

Just lately a group of lads have been using the lane as their personal race track

and despite me asking nicely, shouting and various other methods

they wont slow down or give us more than a few inches of room when they pass

They always scare the pony and it was getting to a point where I as going to stop going out

I went out this morning and on our way back down they came flying down the hill behind us

A car was coming up so they had to brake hard and stay behind us. The guy in front had very squealy brakes and he almost went into the back of the pony

C then lashed out with both back legs

and one brushed his cheek - he had a graze it was so close

I'm not sure if her other foor went the other side of his head or something it all happened so quick but it gave him a massive scare and he has apologied for not slowing down the other times

Hopfully he means it and I can now go about our hill work in peace

It was quite scarey though - she has never even so much as threatened a kick before even when scared. Luckily I've got insurance if he decides to sue

 

[Cliqmo]

Good, he clearly needed to learn the lesson! Your insurance wouldn't pay as you were wearing high viz and it is well known (and in the highway code!) that you need to give horses space- and so it was his fault!

 

[Damnation]

Ufortunately some of these eejits have this need to learn the hard way and unfortunately he did. I hope he was none the worse for his experience

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

Good for your ponio!!

Lets hope the idiot learns his lesson now.

 

[bushbaby28]

lol go pony!!!! glad it wasn't more serious but glad your pony taught them a lesson. So many people do this!!! couple of cyclist did this to my horse and coz he could hear them behind him but not see them he panicked and hasnt been the same with bikes since!

 

[AmyMay]

Thank God the cyclist wasn't killed......

Have you spoken to your local police officer about the problem with the cyclists and the dangerous use of the road????

Someone sounds as if they are going to get very badly hurt or even killed.......

 

[k1963]

Agree with the above .
Sometimes though , I wonder if it is ignorance on the part of some people ( though clearly not in your case .) They assume all horses & ponies are 'trained' to be with other traffic , forgetting that that they are animals that can be startled , whereas it is difficult to spook a motorbike .

Years ago , I used to ride near a pub where the local Hell's Angels would drive to . My Instructor would go into the centre of the road , holding her hand up & they were brilliant . Engines switched off & not started again until the riders were safely far enough into the forest . Mind you , we often had a long wait , while the Instructor was being chatted up

 

[Cop-Pop]

The police were alerted by the YO of a different yard. They've been around but there aren't many of them and they can't be there the whole time. Luckily he wasn't killed/hurt - he's walked away with a graze that probably won't bruise but he did get one almighty scare (so did I). The main problem seems to be people forgetting that there are other road users

Hopefully they've all learnt their lesson (there were 5 in his group) - the majority of them don't go quite so fast so would have been able to stop sooner (if their brakes worked anyways

) They were very lucky it was the pony I was walking out and not the horse

 

[AmyMay]

Are they part of a particular cycle club??

 

[Tharg]

Good pony!

 

[Cop-Pop]

[ QUOTE ]
Are they part of a particular cycle club??

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think so - they don't dress like it if you know what I mean. The hill is a very popular place - during spring and summer the place is heaving with walkers and cyclists. Normally you don't see the same person twice (apart from locals obv) but these guys have been around a couple of weeks now. I haven't seen them before so they could be on holiday.

 

[marmalade76]

Which hill / lane is it?

 

[Festive_Felicitations]

Go PONY!!!
This reminds me of Baby...

*** Warning long story coming up!***

When we lived in Chile, we had a mare (Dona Nana) and accidentally had a foal from her called Baby (alias Cocktail - shaken not stirred) who from the minute her feet were strong enough followed behind. We were riding in the Andes so traffic was not an issue.

Any way at 3 she would still follow us any where (my family averages 5'11 beanstalks but as she was only 13.2 we didn't want to break her in too early) so for exercise she would follow lose and generally do twice the distance we did and provide so much entertainment.

Any way we used to share the lower trails with cyclists who didn't like to slow down or give way, Baby soon had them well trained!
As, if she fell behind she would catch up at speed, generally by the most direct route (ie XC) so she would appear at speed out of bushes/ up the trail. Any way we just had to yell Caballo! (Horse!) and any cyclist with in hearing would screech to a halt and throw themselves into the nearest bush so as to be out of range =)- heehee!
I guess 13.2hh of black shiny muscle makes for a good brake.
We used to laugh so hard (once out of sight), and didn't feel bad as they were all so rude!

So Ponys 2, Cyclists 0!!!

 

[Kenzo]

Learnt his lesson the hard way, thankfully nobody injured though.

 

[Hippona]

I was leading pnio, with daughter on top...down a fairly narrow road with parked cars on the other side. heading towards us...open topped sportcar with x4 bimbettes squashed in...they tried to squezze down the side of ponio and the parked cars...going over a speedbump, albeit fairly slowly they didnt give us much room.
Ponio was great until the tyre made a noise on the bump...right by his back end...cue massive buck (daughter stayed on bless her...thank god for balance strap)...I think he must have missed the car by about an inch....but between that and my bellowed expletives, I doubt she'll try and squeeze past a horses back end again

 

[nickslynn]

Any where done the lane you could put up a big sign, " Please Slow horses about!" or something similar.

 

[nickslynn]

Or speak to your local paper asking if they could do an artical on the dangers of speeding bikes and horses down your lane/area and mention your near miss.