Q About High Vis

Timely thread as I met 2 riders this morning (dreary, raining) without high viz and blending into the hedges. Narrow road, blind bend - what could possibly go wrong

Orange jacket and a pink / yellow quarter sheet for me. I need to get a new hat band and I want orange or pink. I did a stint with a railway operator 20 years ago and our H&S briefing showed how visible orange was.
 
PotofEarlGrey said:
What high viz do you consider to be 'enough'?

I have a tabard, exercise sheet, breastplate, & fly hood. As I only ride out in daylight hours, on roads with clear viewing, I tend to only use my tabard.

What's your view re high viz?
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I'm afraid I don't have much time for people that don't wear hi vis in the same way I don't for people who won't wear a riding hat. When they say "well I have a bringt top on" or " I have a grey horse" it makes no bl**dy difference in some light conditions, like bright sunshine for example. I have even taken a photo of one person who used to ride down the lane without hi vis and literally their horse and themselves blended so much into the hedge you could hardly see them. But instead of saying "Oh thanks Anne, I hadn't realised how invisible I was" they said "its none of your business". lol

This was one of the lanes I used to ride down a lot, as you can see its dark and surrounded by hedges and trees so hi vis never cut it on its own.
So I'd often hack out with flashing light bands on the horses legs and a flash on the back of the exercise sheet (as photos). People always took the mick out of me at the yard in a light hearted way but if my horse is ever going to get hit by a car due to not being seen, I would like to think I'd done everything to mitigate that first.

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The minimum hi-viz I wear is a waistcoat or gilet. In winter I wear a long sleeved coat and my horse wears an exercise sheet as I ride before work at first light. This thread has reminded me I have a hat band and a breast plate somewhere too. I've been told I'm easy to spot as my horse has a white blaze, a black and white rump and four white legs. Unfortunately this means I'm also easy to spot if I go somewhere I shouldn't. No sneaking onto stubble fields for us :)
 
Sealine said:
The minimum hi-viz I wear is a waistcoat or gilet. In winter I wear a long sleeved coat and my horse wears an exercise sheet as I ride before work at first light. This thread has reminded me I have a hat band and a breast plate somewhere too. I've been told I'm easy to spot as my horse has a white blaze, a black and white rump and four white legs. Unfortunately this means I'm also easy to spot if I go somewhere I shouldn't. No sneaking onto stubble fields for us :)
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Yes, that's the downside of hi viz - how much do you want to be seen?
 
Birker2020 said:
I'm afraid I don't have much time for people that don't wear hi vis in the same way I don't for people who won't wear a riding hat. When they say "well I have a bringt top on" or " I have a grey horse" it makes no bl**dy difference in some light conditions, like bright sunshine for example. I have even taken a photo of one person who used to ride down the lane without hi vis and literally their horse and themselves blended so much into the hedge you could hardly see them. But instead of saying "Oh thanks Anne, I hadn't realised how invisible I was" they said "its none of your business". lol

This was one of the lanes I used to ride down a lot, as you can see its dark and surrounded by hedges and trees so hi vis never cut it on its own.
So I'd often hack out with flashing light bands on the horses legs and a flash on the back of the exercise sheet (as photos). People always took the mick out of me at the yard in a light hearted way but if my horse is ever going to get hit by a car due to not being seen, I would like to think I'd done everything to mitigate that first.

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I am with you 100% You owe it to your horse if nothing else to keep them as safe as you can while riding out. I have had rows with people who have said "But I had a light top on!", it's not enough.

I wear an orange tabard that wraps round me, hat band, leg bands, breastplate and mesh quarter sheet. The quarter sheet and breastplate and orange and yellow V-Bandz ones and really stand out. If the weather is a bit dull, I have a flashing running lights for front and back on my chest.
 
Blanche said:
I don’t have a need for hi vis at the moment but often I see Parsons Rump hi vis advertised. Is it any good? I would worry about it getting caught on branches etc but maybe that doesn’t happen.
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I have 3! They are excellent, don't get sweaty like an exercise rug, less prone to snagging branches and things as they are close to the horse and all connection points have velcro safety releases in case you get tangled and can confirm they will give way if you get stuck, but won't undo at random while you're riding.
 
Waistcoat /gilet or jacket depending on the weather. A hat cover.
fly hood, leg wraps and exercise rug in winter.

I have had people comment that the hat cover and fly hood are the things they notice most. Most of my stuff is orange or orange/yellow mixed.
 
Blanche said:
I don’t have a need for hi vis at the moment but often I see Parsons Rump hi vis advertised. Is it any good? I would worry about it getting caught on branches etc but maybe that doesn’t happen.
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I've got one and really rate it. I've never had it catch on anything whereas I have had a mesh Hi Viz exercise sheet catch on things. My horse gets really hot so need something that won't make him sweat in the summer.

In the winter I'm going to experiment with putting it over a quarter sheet if I clip.
 
Anyone know of ear covers in hi viz that aren’t plasticky- the only ones I’ve come across are waterproof not like normal ear covers. I have some bright orange ones but not hi viz. A local yard owner me once if we were in the Dutch team given all our orange 😀. I said no we just support McLaren F1
 
FitzyFitz said:
I have 3! They are excellent, don't get sweaty like an exercise rug, less prone to snagging branches and things as they are close to the horse and all connection points have velcro safety releases in case you get tangled and can confirm they will give way if you get stuck, but won't undo at random while you're riding.
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criso said:
I've got one and really rate it. I've never had it catch on anything whereas I have had a mesh Hi Viz exercise sheet catch on things. My horse gets really hot so need something that won't make him sweat in the summer.

In the winter I'm going to experiment with putting it over a quarter sheet if I clip.
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Thanks both of you, good to know.
 
I think that the message that a hi viz tabard is not enough has already been well made on this thread, but to reinforce that I will add these dash cams stills which I have posted previously. This is a NSL country lane.

Gloriously sunny late Jan day, lunchtime, wet roads...

Not only are the riders, only one of whom is wearing a tabard, barely visible in the shadow of the hedge they are difficult to make out in the low sun even when close up.

We did spot them and slow right up. It was the disembodied riders's heads bobbing about over the height of the hedge that first alerted me. The horses were completely invisible.

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We weren't allowed out as kids without hiviz on even 40 yrs ago. I always wear yellow but will get some pink. I couldn't use a quarter sheet, pony gets too hot but will investigate Parsons rump and flashing lights
I think I do have a yellow hat cover somewhere. Even tho we only hack on village roads there have been some very near misses
 
tda said:
We weren't allowed out as kids without hiviz on even 40 yrs ago. I always wear yellow but will get some pink. I couldn't use a quarter sheet, pony gets too hot but will investigate Parsons rump and flashing lights
I think I do have a yellow hat cover somewhere. Even tho we only hack on village roads there have been some very near misses
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You can get lights added to the Parsons Rump, look under bespoke
 
PotofEarlGrey said:
What high viz do you consider to be 'enough'?

I have a tabard, exercise sheet, breastplate, & fly hood. As I only ride out in daylight hours, on roads with clear viewing, I tend to only use my tabard.

What's your view re high viz?
.
Click to expand...
In our experience, even with high viz, drivers can take a long time to 'see you' before they respond. I've now been wearing two small, flashing, red cycle lights on my helmet, front and back, and they seem to spot us much earlier.
 
Mrs C said:
My view on high vis is - the more visible I am the sooner I'm noticed. So I always have on a sheet, fly view and at least a tabard for myself (or jacket if its not too hot)
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Sooner you're noticed. Correct. The thinking and braking distance for a car driven at 40mph is almost the length of a small dressage arena.

Or in other words quite possibly the difference between life and death.
 

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On colours Hand S is one of my brothers specialty
It depends very much on the environment and the weather
Yellow is not great in bright sunlight
Orange less good in autumn
Green is good in the urban environment bit poor in the countryside
Pink is a good all a rounder……. Unless you are riding within a Barbie movie .
 
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phizz4 said:
In our experience, even with high viz, drivers can take a long time to 'see you' before they respond. I've now been wearing two small, flashing, red cycle lights on my helmet, front and back, and they seem to spot us much earlier.
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My experience too. I always wear lights and have them on in bad/dim light.

I don’t hack on roads either, closest we get is the guided bus way with a wide path next to it (fence inbetween) but people are often out with dogs/kids and on bikes.
 
D wears an orange saddle cloth, yellow nose band and orange breast plate with an orange sheet in autumn/winter. I wear high Viz gloves, tabard or coat depending on the weather, and hat silk in all three colours. I definitely wear more than most I see. I'd like to add more but leg bands or boots are difficult with all the hair😁 we get lots of RAF around here as well so it helps to be seen. My pony is small and dark so I'd like us to be seen in the hedges. Screenshot_20230219-192211-625.png
 
humblepie said:
Anyone know of ear covers in hi viz that aren’t plasticky- the only ones I’ve come across are waterproof not like normal ear covers. I have some bright orange ones but not hi viz. A local yard owner me once if we were in the Dutch team given all our orange 😀. I said no we just support McLaren F1
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I have the v bandz ones they arent bad, similar to the material of a tabard
 
I only hack occasionally on the RS horses but I'm currently building up my hi vis outfit. I've got a yellow hat cover, yellow gloves and an orange long sleeve top. I'm going to get a hi vis schooling whip and am thinking about hi viz breeches and a jacket and maybe some flashing lights. RS gives us tabards and the horses wear leg wraps.
 
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