The 1,000th plea.... please wear high viz! This is why!

Natch

Natch

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I am very suprised that two hacks I met out on the roads today are still all in one piece
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Round my way so many people don't wear high vis - I assume because we have the luxury of miles and miles of off road forest tracks. Unfortunately, 90% of the riders who use these have to hack on the roads to get there. I wish they would realise that dark horses, high banks/hedges on twisty country roads and winter mornings when the sun is low means that there is a very high chance that drivers will not be able to see them until the last minute!

Thye low sun in winter terrifies me as a rider... and as a driver I've had a few scares where I haven't seen a cyclist/horse rider/ another car until much later than usual because the low sun is really misleading... you think you can see but then a piece of hedge becomes a person.
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One of the riders I met was just one horse/rider by themselves, and the first time I noticed them ahead was bcause of their white brushing boots - think how much further away I could have seen them had she been wearing a tabbard?!
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The other one I nearly witnessed as an accident because the driver going the other way did nothing wrong but almost ended up in a head on collision because it was obvious she just didn't see them until the last minute.
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So please, I know its "not cool" but for the sake of your horse's safety, make sure you and your horse are wearing at least one piece of high viz each, even if you think its perfect visibility - its not always as straightforward as it seems.

Lecture over! Sorry, I know its been done plenty of times before!
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Totally agree with you. When I get my first horse it is going to have loads of high vis.

I don't understand why anyone wouldn't wear it.
 
im 14, i dont care if its cool, or not me and my friend ride out in hi vis, normally pink though..!! its a cool colour!
xxx
 
I always wear hi viz when out hacking, and I am one of the very few people on our yard who do.

Last weekend I was getting ready to go out for a hack with another rider and her daughter - for once we were all wearing hi viz
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and we were congratulated by someone else on our yard. He had been expecting a horse to be sent to him for selling - but a few days before it was due to come to the yard it got hit by a car whilst out hacking and was killed
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I get made fun of for putting a fluorescent sheet on my horse - she is fat and hairy and apparently "doesn't need an exercise sheet". The reason I put it on is because she is SO much more visible with it than without! We also wear leg bands on hind legs, tabard, arm band and nose band - all yellow high-vis. I'm after a pair of brushing boots with high-vis straps for front legs too. I always wear a tabard when hacking, even in summer and even when I only have to go along literally 100yds of road to reach my off-road hacking - because if I fall off in the woods in a dark hedge, I want to be found!! I agree that it's just not sensible to go without high-vis... it's not just your safety you are risking, it's other road users' safety too. It should be law IMO to wear at least a tabard.
 
Absolutely agree, also those who only hack off road, please wear it as well, should the worst happen and you fall off you are much more likely to be visable to anyone looking for you if you have hi-viz tabbard and hat band.
 
I agree with you entirely! I was driving round our lanes in the winter sun the other day and came around the corner and only noticed at the very last minute a lady wearing dark clothing riding a dark horse against the background of a dark hedge. As I pulled alongside her I put the window down and very politely suggested that she should wear hi viz gear as she was nearly invisible. She retorted that it was unneccessary as the sun was shining, so I pointed out that winter sunlight often creates the worst visibility problems, only to receive an abusive reply.
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I am very lucky in that all our hacking is off-road, but we still wear hi-viz because occasionally we meet forestry vehicles, and anyway, if one of us gets dumped there is more chance of us being found in the undergrowth if we show up.
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Years and years ago, before you could easily buy hi-viz clothing, we acquired it from someone at the electricity board and started wearing it when riding and leading hunters on the roads. We stopped the traffic (I think they thought we were police!) until they got used to us
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As I drove to the yard yesterday I saw a girl riding up over the moor with hi vis on, I actually double glanced, almost with shock that someone was wearing it!
I am the only one on my yard who wears any hi vis and it makes me mad...but they will pay the price if they get hit
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...As I pulled alongside her I put the window down and very politely suggested that she should wear hi viz gear as she was nearly invisible. She retorted that it was unneccessary as the sun was shining, so I pointed out that winter sunlight often creates the worst visibility problems, only to receive an abusive reply.
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I've had abuse every time I've stopped and asked somebody to wear high viz.
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No matter how nicely you put it, some people think you're having a go. I just wish they could see that we're saying it because we have noticed there is a problem, not to be busybodies!!
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I quite agree with you! (I and my horse always wear high viz!
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) PS where is the miles of off road hacking in Cheshire please ? I am in Lancs and wd love to find some...and would travel!
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There was an incident in Lincolnshire a few years ago when low flying aircraft spooked a horse & the rider was killed. The MOD supported free hi viz vests & exercise sheet through local paper which I received, also bought leg wraps & other vests etc, wont hack out without hi viz & daughter & her friends always wear them. Its not just on roads we hack on many bridle paths & the red arrows can see us clearly!
 
I always always always wear hi viz!
I make sure i'm wearing at least a tabbard. I need some more hi viz brushing boots and i used to have a bright blue exercise sheet with reflective stripes but the horse out grew it!
The other thing i do, is if i'm carrying a whip i have a reflective strip around it. Just helps the cars to go around a bit more i've found.
 
Although not many drivers care whether or not they see you and slow down for you (well, at least our area is not) I totally agree with what youve said. Sadly, I have seen a young girl who were wearing black jackets on a dark bay horse. And other day, I understood why. I have seen a mother of this young girl. She didnt put her feet in stirrups, didnt wear hi viz and didnt acknowlge when I passed in the car. AND, she is an instructor in Pony Club. Its a joke really.
They really should be role models for those kids and teach them the importance of wearing hi viz before anybody get injured.
 
I quite agree! It is the low sun that is the worst in the winter...on wet roads it can be totally blinding for a driver.
I always wear high viz...as big a jacket in flourescent as possible and my horse wears high viz leg bands too...he is black and are roads are country, narrow and twisty so we need all the help to be seen we can get!
 
I am a Hi-Viz enthusiast, probably because I am a long term motorcyclist too.

I just got a really nice Hi-Viz bomber jacket at the Exeter Equestrian Fair today. Breathable, waterproof and really comfy when I used it this afternoon (yes, it did rain. New coat syndrome) all that for £20.
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Drives me up the wall when people don't, leaving work at 4.30 the other night, girl in dark clothes on dark horse riding on roads and other half came across another one elsewhere on a main road! I have horses at two different yards, one yard everyone wears it and at the other hardly anyone does, always want to say something but no longer bother.
 
Hardly anyone on my yard wears High Viz and I have had a lot of comments about it but I couldn't give a toss!!
Lots of our riding is off road but I sometimes go out round the lanes too so would rather just have it on.

Would much rather be a big fluorescent blob than a bloody mess
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I also get comments about Tara's knee boots which I use religously but again doesn't bother me one jot lol
 
One of my pet hates, people not wearing high viz. I always wear a tabard when I am out on my horse. And I've converted my YO who now also wears a tabard. My horse has a full wardrobe of High-Viz for every occasion.

I was driving home from work in the winter in the dark through a very busy junction, atrush hour, who should be comming the other was was 2 ponies, nothing high viz at all between the pair of them. Turn out they were only primary school age and no adults with them. One of my horsey friends has children at the same school, pulled the mother of one of the girls. She hadn't seen anything wrong in it!! But they never went out in the dark again.
 
Now you have got me on my soapbox again!!!!!!!!!

For all those you come into contact with who don't/won't wear hi-viz you might like to inform them that in their insurance if they have an accident there is a clause that goes along the lines of you must take all precautions to avoid an accident, one precuation is too wear hi-viz, so if they have an accident their insurance company is at liberty not too pay out and we all know that insurance companies will find any excuse not too pay out.

I like you all wear my hi-viz if I go off the yard and I have in fact being the YO now told all my liveries if they go out without hi-viz on not too bother coming back. Harsh yes but its worked they all now wear hi-viz.
 
Doesn't it make you wonder why we get this sort of reminder so often - just why won't people learn? I posted a thread about some idiots riding past my house just last week. So few riders around here wear hi-viz regardless of weather or time of day.
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I would strongly advise the wearing of Hi-Viz long sleevd jackets so that hand signals can be seen by other road users.

Many riders state that they try to slow the traffic down but if road users can not see the hand signals of riders or even the rider and horse then there is no chance of them slowing down!!!
 
I think the new "Luna Rider" hi viz stuff is actually pretty stylish and flattering, if anyone is not wearing it because they dont feel fashionable have a look at that stuff.

I bought an aerborn wrap around hi viz for early morning hacks yesterday, and wear a tabard/bridle kit etc. Stupid not too. Recently a girl in Nottinghamshire was thrown from her horse and the horse came home without her, I think she lay for 5 hours until the helicopter ambulance found her - she was not wearing hi viz and the emergency services said they would have seen her a lot earlier if she had been. They had seen a brown shape in the field but thought it was a watertrough....
It was summer so she was badly dehydrated, and sun burnt and I think she also broke her hip...
 
I bought one of the equafleece high vis fleece jackets and it's BRILLIANT. Super bright. Horse wears leg bands (£2.99 in Sainsburys...they are for people but do the job just fine). I only have to cross a road, but feel it's important in the woods as well so that walkers can see you coming. Also if I fell off so that both he and I are spotted. In summer I wear a tabard instead of the fleece. No-one else on my yard wears any.

I see riders all the time with no high vis on. Even on a Summers day they blend into the surroundings. I've never understood why people don't use it. You do see people much much quicker and instictively slow down whe you see high vis clothing. Saying all this, cyclists are just as bad. I pass them on the way home from work all the time with 1 piddly little light on - twice I've nearly hit people because I didn't see them. If I was on a bike in the dark I'd be lit up like a christmas tree!!
 
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I would strongly advise the wearing of Hi-Viz long sleevd jackets so that hand signals can be seen by other road users.

Many riders state that they try to slow the traffic down but if road users can not see the hand signals of riders or even the rider and horse then there is no chance of them slowing down!!!

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Totally agree! I have always just worn a tabard before, but this morning I put an arm band on too as it was a bit misty (I just grabbed all my high-vis stuff before setting out!) I wore it round my right wrist and I'm sure it made 100% difference to my visibility. I had to ask one driver to slow down - I always thought no-one round my area seemed to know what wafting your arm up and down meant, but now I know that I was just not visible enough before as for the first time this driver actually DID slow for me. Everyone I thanked, thanked me back. From now on I will wear my arm band as well, and a high-vis jacket is going on my Christmas list!!
 
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