Riding in the dark/poor light

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All the reflective gear and lights in the world wouldnt get me hacking on the roads in the dark.

Its bl00dy dangerous and an accident waiting to happen. The same as cyclists riding in the dark - stupid
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At least they only have themselves to worry about tho, when you are riding you need to consider the welfare of the horse aswel
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Ah right so we'll have a curfew that says only cars are allowed on the roads afer 4pmf or 6 months of the year shall we?
After all it's less safe for pedestrains, cyclists and horse riders so they should be banned.
Rather that drivers should be given a bloody big kick up the arse !


Gets of soapbox .....
 
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So everyone thinks i dont value my horses life when i ride out in the dark! I ride in a well lit area with lights like a crimbo tree! If i wasnt bothered why would i put lits on! Im sick of hearing "I value my horse to much" so do i just becasue i ride in the dark doesnt mean i dont care!

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but I don't have that choice. Our yard is in the countryside, the road is a lane with just enough room for 2 cars yet people often do at least 50mph round the bends and flat out on the straights, the roads off of this road, are single track with blind bends the people just zoom down, often dipping their lights to see if anyone is coming in the other direction.

In my opinion, in my area, its dangerous and I really do think that either me or Cropi would get badly hurt, or worse. I don't know where you live, or where you ride. If you didn't think it was safe then you wouldn't do it I'm sure. Of course you care
 
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Ah right so we'll have a curfew that says only cars are allowed on the roads afer 4pmf or 6 months of the year shall we?
After all it's less safe for pedestrains, cyclists and horse riders so they should be banned.
Rather that drivers should be given a bloody big kick up the arse !


Gets of soapbox .....

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Not quite sure of your point there? No being funny just dont really get what you mean?
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I think she is saying, why should bikes, pedestrians and horses not be allowed to use the roads just because it is winter!

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Exactly TinselW thanks.
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Its not dangerous if you trust your horse 100%. My neddy can be spooky but if im riding out in the dark he always follows so is a lot better!

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What a load of tosh
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You can't be serious??
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I trust my horses implicitly! Star has done nothing but look after me 100% in the years I've had her. I would still NEVER ask her to go out in the dark. I value our lives far too much.

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What a load of tosh!!!!!!! I ride my horse in the dark and i trust him if i didnt trust him i wouldnt ride in the dark! Its simple would you ride a daft horse in the dark on the roads no! would you ride your horse in the dark on the roads if you did trust it yes! You dont know anything about my horse so you cant say anything!

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Its not the horse thats the problem, its the drivers!!! We were riding out this morning at 6.45, perfectly light, we were hi-vized to the hilt, when some twat comes flying around a corner, taking the racing line and JUST misses us. Its nothing to do with how safe your horse is, the drivers do not expect to see horses in the road at that time of the morning, let alone at night, when, in my opinion its even worse as idiots like that bank of seeing the car lights coming the other way when the straighten the roads out.

IMHO its dangerous and I would not want my beloved horses death/injury on my concience for the rest of my life
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Thank you Tricksy, you saved me typing it
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So everyone thinks i dont value my horses life when i ride out in the dark! I ride in a well lit area with lights like a crimbo tree! If i wasnt bothered why would i put lits on! Im sick of hearing "I value my horse to much" so do i just becasue i ride in the dark doesnt mean i dont care!

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It is absolutely necessary to your horse that you ride on the roads in the dark? As people have said the horses aren't the issue, it's the drivers. All it takes is a bit of glare, or someones lights adjusted too low and there could be an accident.
 
I suppose its about perceived risk. Risk comes into everything we do. You think nothing of getting into a car with your kids strapped into the back, and bombing off down the motorway, because you're used to it and you feel competent and safe; you know perfectly well that you could all end up as mince, but somehow, because so many people drive, thats OK; you don't think its going to happen to you.

I think we've made a sort of truce with the car, whereby even people who don't drive one are forced to accept that they might be killed when they're just walking down the street (like a friend of mine, 18 years old, walking through town, taken out by a hit & run driver). So, its alright to risk your kids being wiped out when you crash into another car at a combined speed of 120 miles an hour; or, indeed, risk hitting some poor innocent yourself in a moment of reduced concentration, but its incredibly wicked and irresponsible to walk, ride, cycle after dark, in case someone comes into you? Something wrong here, IMO.
 
I would also say that whatever the personal risks that people feel happy to accept, we do have a RIGHT to ride at night, if we carry lights and obey the rules of the road; and we do have a RIGHT to walk and cycle. If we voluntarily give up these rights, and criticise those brave souls who keep them alive for us, we will lose these rights completely; and I feel this will be the thin end of the wedge; the next focus will be the undoubted risks of riding out in daylight- until, in the end, hacking out will disappear in our nanny state for the convenience of motorists and for our own good.

I would also say that I have just returned to cycling (including at night, when I need or wish to) after a gap of about 15 years, and in that time everything has changed; whereas before we cyclists were the scum of the road, resented by drivers and obliged to look sharp if we were to survive, where I live there is a whole new awareness of cycling; I find that drivers now slow down for me & give way to me whereas before they would have cut me up, leaving me to stop or get out of the way if I could. There has been an incredible culture change; incomplete, but real and encouraging, and I think it has sprung largely from the bolshie persistance of sports cyclists who INSISTED that they had a place on the roads. (Admittedly some of them died). The rest of us have benefitted; but if someone hadn't hung in there, bikes would have gradually come to be seen as Too Dangerous and eased off the road. Those of us who ride and value hacking or who cannot avoid riding on the road if we are going to ride at all could learn from this, IMO.
 
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I would also say that whatever the personal risks that people feel happy to accept, we do have a RIGHT to ride at night, if we carry lights and obey the rules of the road; and we do have a RIGHT to walk and cycle.

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No sorry, I would disagree. A friend of mine was walking home from the pub once alone (had an argument with the bf) and she was walking along a dark road between villages. The police would NOT let her continue. They put her in the van
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and refused to let her keep walking up the road in the dark. So apparently that is not the case. Equally the police would, (and regularly do in the Cam - pesky students
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), stop people who are idiotic enough to bike in the dark without lights. It's not acceptable.

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If we voluntarily give up these rights, and criticise those brave souls who keep them alive for us, we will lose these rights completely;

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BRAVE?!?!
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Stupid I think....

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and I feel this will be the thin end of the wedge; the next focus will be the undoubted risks of riding out in daylight- until, in the end, hacking out will disappear in our nanny state for the convenience of motorists and for our own good.

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Surely there its a far greater likelihood of that happening if there is a greater number of accidents involving horses on the road?!
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Something that it more likely to happen in the dark than daylight. Being sensible about taking horses on the road, repsecting the safety of the rest of society, is exactly what keeps us that right.
 
ahh, we have a right to cause danger to ourselves, our horses and other road users? FFS no-one but no-one needs to ride in the dark. If you finish work too late then ride in the menage, if you havent a menage tough.
 
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No sorry, I would disagree. A friend of mine was walking home from the pub once alone (had an argument with the bf) and she was walking along a dark road between villages. The police would NOT let her continue. They put her in the van
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and refused to let her keep walking up the road in the dark. So apparently that is not the case. Equally the police would, (and regularly do in the Cam - pesky students
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), stop people who are idiotic enough to bike in the dark without lights. It's not acceptable.

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I had the same thing happen to me once.

I agree though, it isn't a right. You can't just consider yourself and your horse, but the poor sod who might hit you, be tramatised for life and end up in prison.
 
I agree. I may think I have the 'right' to walk along an unlit road in the dark, but it would be stupid. The fact is that horses, cyclists, pedestrians etc are classed as 'vulnerable road users' for a reason. It seems that people get so het up about their 'rights' that common sense goes out of the window.
 
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FFS no-one but no-one needs to ride in the dark. If you finish work too late then ride in the menage, if you havent a menage tough.

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Exactly Katy
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Plenty of winters I have roughed my horses off for the most part because I just did not have the daylight to keep them fit enough and justify putting shoes on them or clipping them - so they were turned away Nov-Feb. I'd far rather do that then ride in the dark and risk injury to us and others. I'm sorry but necessity is NO excuse
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I think its worth remembering that for many people, horse riders don't really have a place in the greater scheme of things at all; not only has no-one any reason to ride on the roads after dark, no one has any reason to ride on the road, full stop. Or ride at all. Or risk a horses life, or personal injury, in competition. Are you happy with that?

Obviously there's a right way to go about things, and the law defines this- so those cyclists stopped in Cambridge for biking at night without lights were stopped for the lack of lights, NOT for biking at night- and the police WILL stop if they see someone whom they think is particularly vulnerable or distressed- but that certainly doesn't mean that its illegal to go about at night other than in a car, or necessarily foolish- far from it. And as for "if you haven't got a menage, thats just tough"- with all the implied privilege of having such facilities- ( and the public at large sees us horse ownwers as rich gits, despite all evidence to the contrary)- words fail me!
 
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