Shocked at H+H advice not to wear too much hi-viz

Fashion statement!! If we were looking to grace the catwalks I would probably not choose to don a hi- viz jacket complete with hat band believe you me.... I wear hi-viz not because I like wearing day glo yellow or pink - I wear it to save a potential accident on the roads with my horse. I thinks it's the other way round, the ones who do not wear hi viz are doing so because they want to look the part with their horses.
 
Are the posts to this thread serious???

235 (sorry, 242 and rising!) posts since 3pm yesterday. I would say the journalist who raised this subject has done horse riders and other road users a great service.

Sometimes the best way to bring a subject out into the open and get people talking is to be a bit controversial, even facetious.

I'd suggest that anyone who can't see that hi-vis is a "good thing" when riding (and the more the better) probably lacks the commonsense to be on a horse at all, let alone on the public road!

Come on, folks, maybe H&H are stirring things up a bit to focus attention on the problem. The question is, did it work?

The ends sometimes justifies the means. Well done that journalist and well done H&H for publishing!
 
I object to being told I have ridiculed anybody. I have done no such thing.
Just because I don't agree doesn't equal ridicule.
 
Wow - cannot believe there are 2 people on here actually agreeing with H&H's statement.

To both of you....it must be nice being you, feeling in control of your surroundings and having the ability to predict the future! what a load of crap!
Wearing hi-vis is NOT something for nervous riders.

Most of us do assess the conditions before riding..... but then my powers to predict how many tractors will come out today are just simply not as good as yours ;)

A tabard is not enough...it is good but it is easy to be blinded by bright sun (and yes....some of us go out when its sunny! shock horror;))
 
H&H isn't exactly noted for professionalism to be honest, so this is no surprise. Nor do many people read it for advice, IMO. All this article will do is confirm the prejudices of the tweedy brigade - I don't think anyone with a shred of common sense will change their attitude because of this.

Personally I look down on riders without hi-viz as foolish and inconsiderate of others.
 
Booboss - yes, if conditions are bad I walk or don't go out unless I absolutely have to :).
If more people risk assessed, I'm sure there would be less accidents. I'm sure everybody had read an article and thought :eek: what were they thinking :eek:. Darwin awards anybody :p?
 
Dry Rot said:
Are the posts to this thread serious???

235 (sorry, 242 and rising!) posts since 3pm yesterday. I would say the journalist who raised this subject has done horse riders and other road users a great service.

Sometimes the best way to bring a subject out into the open and get people talking is to be a bit controversial, even facetious.

I'd suggest that anyone who can't see that hi-vis is a "good thing" when riding (and the more the better) probably lacks the commonsense to be on a horse at all, let alone on the public road!

Come on, folks, maybe H&H are stirring things up a bit to focus attention on the problem. The question is, did it work?

The ends sometimes justifies the means. Well done that journalist and well done H&H for publishing!
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Confess, I did read this section of the article several times. So surprised, thought the journo was possibly being ironic. Unfortunately, if you read this in the context of the whole article, they appear to be serious.
 
Thank goodness I wouldn't take any notice of H&H magazines advice on ANYTHING anyway :)

I am probably somewhere in the middle, I am happy to be wearing a hi-viz waistcoat. Happier to be wearing one and the horse wearing some too and happiest to have a few items on between us. :)
 
Nice one H&H, did you seriously pay someone to write an article that spouts such utter tripe on wearing hi viz ?
There are so many impessionable teenagers out there who will think after reading this twaddle that its not cool to wear hi viz everyone will think im nervous or novicey, great job on knocking the safety cause back 20 yrs :confused:
16 yrs ago, hacking on a beautiful summers day, without hi viz on, my friend and her horse were hit by a lorry and trailer .... I thought they were dead .
My horse bolted with hers when it got up and took flight.
I managed to get mine back and catch hers before reaching the main busy road, we were on a quiet straight bit of country road which was narrow with barley in full bloom both sides, the driver neither slowed down or stopped, he said he didnt see us, when i saw his vehicle turn into a farm just along from us and sent the police there.
Police didnt prosecute as he said he did slow down and his passenger agreed, they said it was our word against theres so no point !!
Ok if he did slow down, then he did see us, and hit her ??
Wouldnt even try on driving without due care and attention, or leaving the scene of an accident .... How can you not see 2 x half ton horses on a straight road in broad daylight ??
Lesson learned, horse wears fluorecent hi viz quarter sheet, martingale and leg wraps, i wear, tabard with flashing lights that can be on or off, in the winter i have a flashing light on horses tail, so yes i sport that christmas tree look, im not nervous or a novice, but thats not the point, and personally i dont give a flying fig about how others perceive me, the last thing i want me or my horse to be wearing is an arse full of headlights .

Nobody will say they never seen me again
 
I'll add my bit to keep the thread going!

I very rarely hack out because we have 300 acres at home to ride on but when I do hack out I will always put on some dayglo Derrick attire. I don't care if I look silly, I'd rather drivers see me.

Also if there was a accident and we did get hit by a car I'd want to know that I had done everything in my power to prevent it. Imagine your horse being injured and you thinking "I wonder if I had put my dayglo sheet on if that would of happened"

Ps....I quite like pink hi viz :D
 
quirky said:
Whatever ;)
Have been riding 26 and have never had what you would call a near miss. Maybe I am very lucky, but it takes no time to decide whether it is a good day to hack out and I shall carry on naively doing that :D. I am surprised other people don't assess the conditions to ride tbh :eek:.
If conditions aren't good, I go in the school. I'm lucky in that I don't have to hack out, I and my horse enjoy it immensely though :)
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i'm a proper fair weather rider, i ride for fun not necessity so it is never necessary for me to ride in less than perfect weather with clear visibility, i too used to think hi viz was a bit pointless, i have a 17hh grey as my main ride, who could fail to see that glowing white arse(hers not mine!!) on a nice sunny day was my opinion. well apparently a driver of a 7.5t van on a perfectly straight stretch of road, mid summer in the middle of the day so no low sun dazzling him, he just wasn't concentrating on the road as he was looking for his next drop address. saw me at the last minute, swerved to avoid me, hit the bushes and trees on his side of the road which made an awful racket scraping along the side of the van at 60mph and scared my mare witless, she tried to jump up on the verge and landed on her knees:(
Now i wear a tabbard and horse wears legs wraps and on cooler days a hi viz sheet, i drive that road as well as ride on it and it shocked me how invisible riders can be on a straight road if they have no hi viz! just a tabbard is not enough imo, it doesn't differentiate you from a cyclist soon enough, and on a 60mph road you want every extra second you can get to be noticed!!
 
QUOTE 'If you want to look like a Christmas tree that's fine by me better than no hiviz but IMO totally unnecessary and probably highly uncomfortable for the horse.'


Err - why should hi-viz be uncomfortable for the horse? Leg bands are not so very different to brushing boots, quarter sheets are quarter sheets whether hi-viz or witney blanketing, get the right tail guard and it will fit fine. (Believe it or not some of us DO actually know how to fit tack and equipment and get the correct size....)

I am old enough to remember riding sans hi-viz, hats etc but these days I would not actually take my horses out on even quiet roads without, especially the legwraps which certainly catch a motorists eye.

As for ridicule - well I can honestly say I have never heard any adverse comments from either riders or drivers on our appearance, just an occasional comment that we were easy to see coming.
 
catkin said:
QUOTE 'If you want to look like a Christmas tree that's fine by me better than no hiviz but IMO totally unnecessary and probably highly uncomfortable for the horse.'


Err - why should hi-viz be uncomfortable for the horse? Leg bands are not so very different to brushing boots, quarter sheets are quarter sheets whether hi-viz or witney blanketing, get the right tail guard and it will fit fine. (Believe it or not some of us DO actually know how to fit tack and equipment and get the correct size....)

I am old enough to remember riding sans hi-viz, hats etc but these days I would not actually take my horses out on even quiet roads without, especially the legwraps which certainly catch a motorists eye.

As for ridicule - well I can honestly say I have never heard any adverse comments from either riders or drivers on our appearance, just an occasional comment that we were easy to see coming.
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I agree, the only time I've had a problem with hi viz is when my horse spooked at her own reflection in a window when wearing it. :rolleyes: :D
 
Firewell said:
Christmas tree! Imagine driving across this pair on this day down a country lane with no high vis on or just a grubby tabbard. Probably wouldn't even see them.

400008_10150577807995210_503675209_10912237_1647141649_n.jpg


People may say high vis is just for novices but experienced riders bleed and break and die the same as novice riders. When a car breaks suddenly, looses control and skids because they havent seen you untill its too late, it doesnt matter if its a novice on a hairy cob or pippa funnell on an event horse, if your going to get hit, you'll get hit.
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Hey Firewell, what make is that jacket? I want one.
 
Having thought about the comment that wearing plenty of hi viz stuff makes riders look "novicey and scared" in my 40 yrs of horses, id say some of the best, brave, skilled riders ive come across are the hackers who take on a multitude of hazards on roads, in gardens, and in the air ,my friend recently encountering a herd of sabre toothed sheep, or at least thats what her horse saw :eek: especially the riders who introduce young horses to their first hacking experiences .... My alltime favourite, a helicopter taking off from behind a hedge at a local country hotel :eek::eek: my mare didnt bat an eyelid, on the other hand, meeting a pony and trap near gave her apoplexy, she was spinning like a top trying to get away :rolleyes::D
 
My view is that the comment in the article is irresponsible and naive.
For those who say that you don't need high viz on a nice day... Sunlight and shadows are lethal. When approaching a string of riders along a leafy lane in the sunshine the only thing I notices at a distance of about 50 yards was a blob of pink bobbing up and down. As they got closer the people and horses wearing high viz yellow started to come into view. The lady on the bay with nothing was in severe danger of being run into without her friends to protect her. A car covers a lot of distance in seconds.
I ride on my own in woodland and wear high viz for that as well. If pony and I were to part company, I'd quite like to be clearly visible in the bush where I've landed.
The bottom line is - what's the harm? It's not going to damage rider or horse if they go out wearing bright colours, so simply - why not? Afraid your bums might look too big in it?
 
... if we could get one of those big flashing signs with our names on, like the ones in the motorbike aware adverts, I think pony and I would happily ride along in that!
 
The articles as a whole has a point, we do moddy coddle our horses, many are leisure horses who dont need extra hard feeds, hundreds of layers of rugs and the like but when it comes to hi viz i think they went too far.

One of our yard rules in our contract is that you must always wear as a minimum a hi viz tabbard if you are leaving the yard to hack. In order to access bridleways you have to go on a public road, it is a very quiet village and no commuter traffic etc but is on a bus route. I tend to just wear a tabbard and i do have a hat band but dont usually put it on. Also have a hi viz quarter sheet to wear in winter when horse is clipped and its raining/cold and also if the visibility/light is not 100%.

I have no problem with people wearing loads of hi viz if they want to, even if i dont, just as i dont cover my horse in dead sheep or wear pink jods! I do agree with our yard rule that a tabbard is a minimum, it doest demonstrate novice/scarred behaviour its just sense to make yourself visable. I compete and hunt as well as hack and am not nervous or scared of traffic.
 
Unfortunately I haven't read H&H this week so can only go by the extracts posted on this thread. From what I have seen at least they actually advocate the wearing of a tabard which is a plus................... but to not advocate anything else is very poor judgement.

It appears that it was an ill advised piece of journalism & I would hope that in next weeks magasine there is some comment/retraction/clarification by the editor.
 
Crazy suggestion by H&H! Couldn't believe it when I read the article. I have most of the Polite gear and can confirm it does make a huge difference to how drivers approach us. I have hat band and waistcoat and my horse has leg wraps, exercise sheet and neck strap. I'm not particularly keen on pink so it's all yellow but it does its job.

Utterly irresponsible to print an opinion like that!
 
Really interesting discussion.

I have a fantastic Musto coat which is bright yellow that I wear in the winter. In the summer, unless it's dull I don't put on a tabard - because I can be clearly seen.

I've never put a quarter sheet, or otherwise on the horse because I tend never to ride in these anyway (so hot and uncomfortable for the horse).
 
amymay said:
Really interesting discussion.

I have a fantastic Musto coat which is bright yellow that I wear in the winter. In the summer, unless it's dull I don't put on a tabard - because I can be clearly seen.

I've never put a quarter sheet, or otherwise on the horse because I tend never to ride in these anyway (so hot and uncomfortable for the horse).
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Yea, i thought the same about riding in the summer ..... broad daylight on a straight road, my mates horse was still hit by a truck that " didnt see us ".
Many insurances wont pay out on accidents now unless you have some sort of hi viz on, there are mesh tabards and quarter sheets that are very effective and cool for the horse and rider, but i respect its your choice, your horses and your life, i feel sorry for the person in the car that might not see you until its to late though :(
 
This sounds silly. A horse would surely be the most vulnerable to traffic in a situation where the rider has fallen off. This can and does happen.

Anyway, in the dark/poor visibility I think it is helpful to have hi viz leg straps on the horse & those reflective plastic disks on the outside of the stirrups - it makes it instantly apparent that it is not just a person with a tabard on, and drivers see very clearly how far the horse is into the road.
 
amymay said:
Really interesting discussion.

I have a fantastic Musto coat which is bright yellow that I wear in the winter. In the summer, unless it's dull I don't put on a tabard - because I can be clearly seen.

I've never put a quarter sheet, or otherwise on the horse because I tend never to ride in these anyway (so hot and uncomfortable for the horse).
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O amymay. Please wear something. I would miss you if something were to happen to you!

I totally respect that it is your decision but as I like you (as much as one can ever like a person they only converse with online) I'm going to ask anyway.

What about something like this ( you can get them on ebay for less money) they aren't uncomfortable for the horse and take about 20 seconds to put on?

http://www.highvisibility.uk.com/equisafety/reflective-adjustable-neck-band

These are expensive but one of the girls on the yard has one and it's certainly visible, also takes no extra time to put on and isn't uncomfortable in any way to the horse

http://www.highvisibility.uk.com/polite/polite-saddle-cloth


If you're too hot in a tabbard in summer why not look into the cycling/running stuff. Stuff like this

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dhb-ladies-corefit-long-sleeve-hi-viz-base-layer/
 
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marydoll said:
Yea, i thought the same about riding in the summer ..... broad daylight on a straight road, my mates horse was still hit by a truck that " didnt see us ".
Many insurances wont pay out on accidents now unless you have some sort of hi viz on, there are mesh tabards and quarter sheets that are very effective and cool for the horse and rider, but i respect its your choice, your horses and your life, i feel sorry for the person in the car that might not see you until its to late though :(
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I suspect the lorry still wouldn't 'have seen' the horse, even if they'd had a tabard on, tbh.

And remember, a lot of our 'safety' is about ensuring we use the road correctly, and with awareness.

I'm not aware of any instances of insurance refusing to pay out if you're not wearing hi viz.
 
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