Riding at night on the roads

Birker2020

Birker2020

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I expect I already know what the vast majority of people will say about this and I am suprised I am even asking this question myself but do any of you hack out at night?

I keep my horse at a livery yard which is on a long straight lane, with excellent visibility. I hack out frequently after work, but now the nights are getting darker it won't be very long before it will be pitch black after work.

I always hack out with flourescent exercise sheet, flourescent breast plate, flashing tabards and recently have got some flashing leg straps which I put on the o/h of my horse and my leg and my arm as some of the roads by us are very narrow and dark even in summer. I was wondering whether it would be safe to ride along the lane in the dark with flashing lights and a full regalia of flourescent on. I would be very visible to car users and whilst I understand that they wouldn't necessarily be expecting to see me, there are no sharp bends that would render me invisible on this lane.

It would be better for my horse as he is being brought back into work and means I won't have to do relentless laps of the school or buildings in order to exercise him.

What do you think? Would you ride at night if you were visible? Its actually dusk and dawn when you drive in half light that are the most dangerous times to traffic in terms of visibility. Horses have good vision in the dark.
 
I wouldn't because my horse is silly, but my friend does this with full lights, like on a bike, and a head torch on her pony. I think if you're well lit, and obviously depending on the type of road (would never do it on the fast country lanes round my yard) then it's not so bad since you're probably more visible than most bikes - but I imagine many will disagree...
 
personally no, I wouldn't ride in the dark unless I could completely stay off the roads.

I know there are times when people get caught out or in some cases I have had to lead a horse in the dark along a very quiet road but I wouldn't do it unless absolutely necessary.

Is there no opportunity for you to ride in the mornings in daylight?
 
I feel your frustration as when the clocks change this will be me :(

I won't be hacking out mid week in the dark. It's just not worth the risk so in the week we will be schooling, lunging and a hack with his sharer on a Wednesday and then hacking or comps for me at the weekend :)
 
amymay said:
Personally - never.
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This ^^^

I'd be surprised if you would be insured to ride in the dark tbh!

The only time I would consider riding in the dark is in my own field that I know well, but I still wouldn't unless absolutely essential.
 
Patterdale said:
No.

I have ridden in the dark a couple of times when I've been hunting and we've ended up miles away from the boxes. It's scary and dangerous and not to be recommended by choice.
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I have had to get back to box when hunting as well it's the only time I would do it and even then it's because of unforeseen circunmtances and I was stuck .
 
I did this for 6 months! It was bringing a horse back from injury and vets said to walk her in a straight line on concrete......well there was no concrete on our yard at that time!! (It was a tendon injury). It was October so I had very little choice. Our yard is on a big kind of cul de sac so to be honest it's only people that live there/livery there that drive on these lanes so I knew there would be very little traffic.

She had a wrap around flourescent sheet, 4 leg wraps, yellow martingale and attachments to her browband, noseband and reins. I would have my flashing tabbard and 4 flashing leg and arm bands plus a miners lamp thing on my hat! I would walk in the middle of our lane too and never had any problem with cars.

I was told I could be seen from a mile away thanks to there being no street lights and so my "white" stripes really stood out as did everything flashing!

I felt a complete numpty BUT it worked. I wasn't happy about it BUT for the sake of her injury it was the only thing I could do to give her a maximun chance of coming good again.

So basically I would say put on as much flourescent and lights as you can. I don't think we had an angle whereby we weren't glowing like a couple of freaks ;)

Having said all that I must be honest and say that I have not done it since (this was 5 years ago) but who knows if ever it will be necessary again.
 
I used to ride in the dark all the time (I know a lot of people won't approve!). I had certain rules that I stuck to, such as never ride at rush hour, always make sure I was lit up like a Christmas tree, and choose my routes carefully. I generally just rode "round the block", which involved 50% quiet residential roads and 50% main roads. All were well lit, even the residential roads (which were very quiet - basically country lanes but generally only used by people who lived along them), and the main road had a 20mph speed limit and speed bumps. Tbh so long as riders are well-lit and avoid busy times, these are fairly safe roads, even in the dark. I think you have to be careful about where you ride, but if you have a safe route - so quiet, no sharp bends, slow speed limit, well lit etc - and make sure you're decked out in lights, then you should be fine.
 
I ride in the dark in winter all the time and have done for years.

I have ridden on very busy main roads, unlit lanes, unlit bridleways and lit country lanes. By far the worst thing (for me) to ride on was unlit bridleways - the bridleway goes through woods which totally freaked both me and horse out :)

I currently ride on a mixture of lit single track country roads and lit bridleways. I ride every night. I am always well lit up but I do wait and ride a little later than I would normally just because traffic is a little quieter.

I've never ever had a problem.
 
nope ! Pony will be ridden at the weekends only over winter :( Poo but even if we are lit up like a Christmas tree our roads are straight so people gun down them at 70 odd mph... country lanes no lights etc
 
Interesting thread. This year I'm at a yard with no school so was wondering about this. I can do a circuit of a byway with a tiny amount of roadwork so was wondering if I could do that in the winter. Would also be interested to know what lights people use if anyone has any suggestions
 
I have a flashing reflective band on my hat and a head torch. (got both from V-Bandz)

I have a reflective excercise sheet with tail guard - V-Bandz, reflective strips for around horses legs - V-Bandz. Flashing leg and arm lights for me - I got bike ones for this and adapted them onto elastic and velcro strips that go around my arms and legs.

I also have a lot of small fishing floats - these are hung onto the excercise sheet at the back.

For myself I wear high viz over trousers and a large high viz coat that I put a flashing tabard over the top of.

Oh and I have a reflective breast plate, rein covers and a noseband cover.

I'm waterproof, warm and easily seen. As I said earlier I've been doing it for 20+ years with no problems :)
 
depends on the road which only you know tbh. I prefer to do it early mornings- wouldn't do it after work as too busy and have only done it on one stretch of lane that takes you to off road riding.

Gloi you must have white to front and red to rear so I use a head lamp, a rambo reflective flashing tabard (red LEDS) my red bike light clipped on behind and reflective flashing wrap round straps round my ankles. - This was in addition to (everything fluo and reflective) - noseband, breastplate, exercise sheet and leg bands on pony and hat cover/coat/gloves on myself.

Fwiw I think I am likely more visible than on a sunny day- it is more the issue of people not expecting to see a horse out in the dark (I would only see a couple of dog walkers heading to the same spot as I was so they became used to seeing me).
 
I personally wouldn't as I would never forgive myself if any harm ever came to my pony. I think the benefit of short night time hacks is no where near enough to warrant the risks.

Last year pony was turned away due to having no floodlights at our yard. This year I have got a sharer so my pony will be exercised 2 or 3 times during the week and I will ride at weekends.

It doesn't matter how lit up you are, I doubt your insurance will cover night riding. I think accepting winter is poo and looking forward to the spring is the way forward.
 
No way would I do it by choice.
I was out the other evening and all of a sudden the light just went and did end up with me finishing the last mile in the dark.
I'm always hi-vizzed to the eyeballs and pony is pretty white so we were as visible as possible but wouldn't do it again!
 
I would only consider doing it if I lived in the middle of no where with very little possibility of meeting any traffic.
 
I ride in the dark on the road because I have to from Nov-Feb :) That's because in winter here it is only light from 10am to 2pm and then it quickly turns pitch black. So lots of people in this region happily ride in the dark. It's not a big thing, but there's some pointers to keep in mind and to stay safe.

The most important thing to remember is that car headlights are directed downwards, so have as much reflective gear low down on the horses legs as possible where it will shine up first from a long distance. You can also get reflective spray for the horse's tail/hooves if you don't mind rinsing it off after. Next you can have reflectors hanging from your stirrups (some people use cyclist lights that blink and pulse) and a reflex breaststrap and a reflective sheet. I also wear a good LED headlamp which shows up for miles to oncoming traffic.

Reflective boots/bands on the legs show up from a long distance away, but anything reflective higher than the stirrups will only be really visible in the last 50 metres or so. Avoid roads with higher speeds or tall hedges.

At first it took some getting used to because drivers just don't feel the need to dim their headlights when driving past a horse and you're faced with two glaring white lights in otherwise pitch darkness, so it can help to ask the horse to stand until the car goes by.

If the horse is nervous in traffic during daylight it'll be 10x worse at night though - the horse has to be pretty bombproof where vehicles are concerned because you'd be amazed how many caravans/trailers/crashyclanging things you meet in the dark. I wouldn'ät risk it if you're at all doubtful of how your horse will react in the dark.
 
I wouldn't by choice but it depends on the road, traffic and visibility. Bear in mind that horses move differently and are bigger than bikes and walkers.

Imagine you're driving a car in the dark and see an unexpected moving hazard ahead. Your brain takes longer to recognise the object because its unexpected and unfamiliar. You expect to see cyclists in the dark so your mind processes the information quicker.
Because the horse needs more room and time to pass, the driver needs more thinking time at night to react in time.

So flashing lights on the horses leg boots might help the drivers as when they see four legs moving, they know its a horse.
 
HaffiesRock said:
I personally wouldn't as I would never forgive myself if any harm ever came to my pony. I think the benefit of short night time hacks is no where near enough to warrant the risks.

Last year pony was turned away due to having no floodlights at our yard. This year I have got a sharer so my pony will be exercised 2 or 3 times during the week and I will ride at weekends.

It doesn't matter how lit up you are, I doubt your insurance will cover night riding. I think accepting winter is poo and looking forward to the spring is the way forward.
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Not all dark hacks are short/of limited benefit. - I was riding to off road to do canter work (horse was competing/hunting at weekends). I would be very surprised if insurance was at all bothered- they certainly don't mention that they are.
 
dogatemysalad said:
I wouldn't by choice but it depends on the road, traffic and visibility. Bear in mind that horses move differently and are bigger than bikes and walkers.

Imagine you're driving a car in the dark and see an unexpected moving hazard ahead. Your brain takes longer to recognise the object because its unexpected and unfamiliar. You expect to see cyclists in the dark so your mind processes the information quicker.
Because the horse needs more room and time to pass, the driver needs more thinking time at night to react in time.

So flashing lights on the horses leg boots might help the drivers as when they see four legs moving, they know its a horse.
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Ironically I would say cars slowed SOONER and passed me better when I rode at night decked out in my glory than when I encounter them in daylight!

I stress that this is/was a VERY quiet lane and there would be nights on end when I saw no one.
 
I have once (apart from the 100 yards from field to yard an an essentially private road!).

We'd gone out in daylight and ended up having to wait for the fire service to deal with a fire in the park we were riding round. Thankfully they followed us back with their lights on but that wasn't something id like to repeat!!
 
Depends on your road, OP. Where I used to keep mine I had about 40 ft of rural lane before reaching 1000s of acres of off-road hacking. It was amazing just how many people drove on that stretch seconds after I pulled out of the driveway! However, I am also decked out like a Christmas tree when I do it and dripping with reflectives. Like Madison, I found that people slowed much sooner than in daylight or for cyclists. On one occasion I came across one driver walking their dog - turned out they'd driven towards me as I went through the village and stopped because they wondered WTH that thing was up ahead. ;) This happened a few times.

I second the observation that people don't dip their lights. This is because they are halfwits and you can't legislate for stupidity, so be prepared to stop your horse and feel free to flash your headtorch as a reminder. I found that the people who stopped in the WTH manner just switched off their brains. Having only one cell meant that full brain power was required to identify the UFO up ahead.

My offroad riding includes byways and I often came across recreational users. Same thing would happen in that they would stop dead.

I would test the road out by walking along it in the dark with your reflectives and lights on. If you don't feel safe, then forget it. If you do, give it a try. As long as you have the correct lights (fixed white to front, fixed red to rear, flashing lights are optional and in addition to those required by law), then you are insured.

ETA: The only time I got scared was when an owl hooted in my ear. I nearly fell off Henry. Other than that, he wasn't spooky at all. Seemed quite happy to be out!
 
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