Riding 2 abreast on the road... right or wrong?

all about Romeo

all about Romeo

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Hi

What do people think about horse riders who ride 2 abreast on the road?

When I hack out with another horse and rider I always ride 2 abreast, putting the youngest horse, more nervous horse, youngest rider, least experienced or nervous rider on the inside to use my horses body to keep the horse on the inside straight and safe, preventing it being able to spook into the road.

I also find it good for riders communicating if their horse is spooked or playing up or the rider is worried about anything on or around the road including traffic.

If I am riding and leading a horse, the riderless horse is on the inside so there is still 2 horses width on the road.

I have previously been out hacking riding single file along a quiet country road with another horse and rider and quickened my horses pace to catch up to the other rider to find after a split second of riding round a corner and then riding 2 abreast (once round the corner) a car that was speeding could not make the corner and very nearly crashed on the opposite side of the road... If I had stayed behind in single file this driver would have wiped out my horse and me! :eek::eek::eek:

I ride 2 abreast for what I feel are VERY good reasons and yet I still come across people (both horsey and non horsey) who believe that riding 2 abreast is very irresponsible and ignorant! To whom I find myself being given a lecture and defending my reasons for doing so! :mad: I ALWAYS thank drivers who pass wide and slow and signal to pass if in a safe place to do so, my horse also wears hi-viz gear.

Drivers say if the horse is not safe in traffic it should not be on the road, so how do we make these horses safe if we don`t take them on the road? (there is only so much desensitizing you can do in a car park)

So what do other people think? Are my reasons not valid? :confused::confused::confused:
 
It depends why.

If they are riding 2 abreast just so they can have a chat, then no. They should be single file.

If the Horse on the inside is a youngster and is nervy then yes. However I do think after a couple of times with an older Horse on the outside is enough. If your Horse is still nervy after this then you shouldn't be on the roads at all! accident waiting to happen.
 
I ride on the outside of my daughter, or if riding & leading or with a young/ inexperienced horse. But I do always make a point of pulling over as soon as I can, or once a car has slowed & is waiting for a safe place to pass I'll drop back into single file. Likewise, quiet roads I ride abreast of friends to chat, but pull back in if I see a car approaching.
 
This depends .....

Depends on the road layout

Depends on whether a young inexperienced rider needs to be covered by a more experienced one

Depends.......

If asking do they have the legal right to do so then YES they do
 
LaurenBay said:
It depends why.

If they are riding 2 abreast just so they can have a chat, then no. They should be single file.

If the Horse on the inside is a youngster and is nervy then yes. However I do think after a couple of times with an older Horse on the outside is enough. If your Horse is still nervy after this then you shouldn't be on the roads at all! accident waiting to happen.
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In my opinion though there are several reasons why I choose to ride this way on the road, if your horse is nervous on the road and you need to ride on the road to get to a bridleway what do you do then? Never take the horse out? I think people should think more about the reason why riders are riding like this before having a go.
 
I always ride two abreast for much the same reasons as OP, many cars would not bother to slow down at all if we were single file all the time. Plus I like to position myself where I can be seen best around the cars. Lanes are very narrow. The cars HAVE to slow down as I ride a 17hh porker. I'd be the one to be blamed if I scraped their car with a stirrup iron (I'm always worrying about this)
 
midnight mayhem said:
I always ride two abreast for much the same reasons as OP, many cars would not bother to slow down at all if we were single file all the time. Plus I like to position myself where I can be seen best around the cars. Lanes are very narrow. The cars HAVE to slow down as I ride a 17hh porker. I'd be the one to be blamed if I scraped their car with a stirrup iron (I'm always worrying about this)
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It wouldn't necessarily be your fault if this happened... it would depend how close the driver was to your horse or if your horse had spooked into the car.
I find this is a very grey area though.
 
I think if a horse is permanently nervous, not just because its getting used to traffic, then either the owner needs to work on bombproofing, or keep the horse somewhere that doesn't require roadwork. Not necessarily from the pov of riding two abreast, but I think unless its part of an ongoing improvement its irresponsible to take a traffic shy horse on the roads.
 
If we're riding 2 abreast and a cars coming i'll always go into single file. If you can, i think you should. Especially on country/single track roads. We all whinge enough about drivers being courteous to riders, so i feel we should do the same in return.
 
When we used to have to hack on roads we were always single file, only fair to allow other road users as much space as possible to pass us safely without having a longer wait than necessary. Should one of the pair be less chilled then they went in second place, nicely up together though, no miles of road inbetween the two - that will just cause more problems!
 
HC
53

Before riding off or turning, look behind you to make sure it is safe, then give a clear arm signal.

When riding on the road you should
•keep to the left
•keep both hands on the reins unless you are signalling
•keep both feet in the stirrups
•not carry another person
•not carry anything which might affect your balance or get tangled up with the reins
•keep a horse you are leading to your left
•move in the direction of the traffic flow in a one-way street
•never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends
 
My horse never spooks, he doesn't care how close a car gets to him but the lanes are so narrow and some cars try and force their way past us just assuming our horses will not move an inch!
 
again depends on reasons, If its a single track road the nervous horse should go behind a more confident horse to prevent accidents, but roads where you can be seen im all for it, also gives drivers less chance to just fly past.

But im one to follow the conditions and HC also. As if anything is said i like to beable to throw that at them.
 
ROG said:
HC
53

Before riding off or turning, look behind you to make sure it is safe, then give a clear arm signal.

When riding on the road you should
•keep to the left
•keep both hands on the reins unless you are signalling
•keep both feet in the stirrups
•not carry another person
•not carry anything which might affect your balance or get tangled up with the reins
•keep a horse you are leading to your left
•move in the direction of the traffic flow in a one-way street
•never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends
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True but also note this section which is instructions to motorists meeting horseriders

215

Horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles. Be particularly careful of horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles especially when overtaking. Always pass wide and slowly. Horse riders are often children, so take extra care and remember riders may ride in double file when escorting a young or inexperienced horse or rider. Look out for horse riders’ and horse drivers’ signals and heed a request to slow down or stop. Take great care and treat all horses as a potential hazard; they can be unpredictable, despite the efforts of their rider/driver.

So the rules are not clear as the instruction to use single file on narrow/busy roads is in conflict with the acknowledgement that escorting a young/inexperienced horse or rider may require them to be two abreast. Esp as busy/narrow roads are exactly the places where such a policy may be chosen as a defensive strategy like that of cyclists adopting a central position in their lane.

I think it needs to be clarified but the key thing is that a bad impression is given by pairs of riders chatting on their mobiles on clearly relaxed horses shlepping along two abreast, but equally motorists should be clear that in the required circumstances it is perfectly legal for two horses to be abreast and they must treat that scenario with extra patience and not less, since it is a signal to them that the horse/rider in question needs their extra consideration, like an old lady crossing the road with a stick would.

I should add that I only ride two abreast when necessary and never chat on a phone and if I do have to be two abreast I move to single file when a car approaches......once they have slowed down! I do it as they slow so it is a mutual courtesy demonstration.
 
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I always prefer to ride two a breast especially at the trot. I think it is much more professional and safe. Of course if something comes along that cannot get by safely then I would go single file until it had passed.

Cycle people ride like this two.
 
After being pushed into barbed wire on side of road because irresponsible driver pushed me up embankment I prefer to ride two abreast.It stops drivers overtaking on blind bends which is what happened to me, driver came past realised she had made mistake and pushed me into hedgerow,this caused barbed wire injury to my mares flank.I always pull in and will ride single to stop traffic being backed up but hate lack of respect from drivers in hurry.
I had to walk young horse few metres on road recently to new paddock waved for driver to slow he was so angry that I raised my arm in slowing isntruction he hit his horn when passing us.Lovely :confused: had several other drivers disgusted but it only takes one to cause fatality.:(
 
i ride 2 abreast but go single file when cars come.
Riding 2 abreast is you have a young horse is fine and a good idea to keep it on the inside as long as you are courteous to drivers and try to let them past easily.

What drives me NUTS is a local professional dressage rider who wanders down the narrow lanes on the buckle, beside one of her liveries chatting away. They make no effort to move over or get into a gateway to let you past. As a horse owner and rider I always give drive past carefully but when I see this crowd out it makes my blood boil as I have to wait for ages to get past......and I think they are giving riders a bad name . What do the non horsey drivers feel when they have to wait for the 2 riders chatting away? It means they won't stop or slow down for the genuine people who have young horses.
 
IN my old job, we used to have to ride on very busy town roads and ALWAYS rode two abreast. The amount of abuse hurled at us was unbelievable but otherwise we had traffic pushing us off the roads as they would overtake with oncoming traffic, hurl past at 70mph ect. We never blocked raffic from passi g, just ensured they didn't overtake when unsafe to do so.
 
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