This week Im properly fed up

[Cop-Pop]

With people riding out on the roads when they clearly dont have enough common sense to leave the house. I don't often pass people riding which is suprising considering the area I live in but this week its been silly!

Monday - just gone 7am, very dark still, came across someone riding on a main A-road with no hi-viz or lights on and a dog on the end of a lunge line or long rope. After swerving to avoid the horse I nearly got the dog when it tried to chase my wheels.

Tuesday - three kids taking up most of the road, didnt seem to understand the basics of the highway code or how to control their ponies. Eventually got by them after nearly a mile which at crawling speed is painful.

Today - two people hacking out alongside each other on a narrow road making no attempt to pull in for cars and purposely blocking the road when people got fed up and tried to pass. These weren't spooky horses either, one looked like it needed a bomb set under it just to get it moving!
Also met a woman on a single track lane abt 7:50 so still a bit dark - the horse had a hi-viz tail guard and she had strips on the back of her coat but it wasnt much use to me as I was approaching from the front and she blended in nicely with the landscape.

/grump

 

[Megibo]

people like that are the exact reason I ALWAYS wear High Viz and thank all drivers who slow down!

 

[mystiandsunny]

And I'm thoroughly fed up of car drivers who can't read/see. When my tabard says 'Please pass wide and slow' it means BOTH of those, unless you want a pony splattered on your bonnet. I'm not asking for silly wide or silly slow - a pony's width away from me to the side and 30mph would be wonderful!

I also wonder if people really want to crash their cars before xmas. After all:
- passing two ponies at about 50mph on a blind bend
- seeing another car coming but passing ponies anyway with nowhere to go (luckily the oncoming car always seems to stop in horror - as do we!)
- squeezing past pony about 2cm from my stirrup to squeeze between us and another car.

It's always the commercial vehicles who are the nicest - and the people in 4x4s who lack any idea of self preservation.

And no, we don't hold up the queue more than we have to, we trot ahead and find a driveway if there's more than a few cars. We're lit up like a xmas tree in hi-viz and it's fully light when we hack out.

 

[Spotsrock]

We got shouted at the other week by a very rude lady in a big 4x4 who should really have been driving a mini.

2 horses, single file, small amount high vis/reflective, middle of day, pleasant weather, saddles, bridles, martingales, tendon boots, hats and body protectors and well behaved horses. No grass verge to speak of, and what there was was very steep bank up to the hedge, narrow bendy road. Plenty of cars came past in each direction, slowed down and we thanked them.

1 lady in a 4x4 with a trailer hung behind us for a while making no attempt to pass us so we trotted quickly, still in single file, as close to the hedge as possible, to the first driveway where we pulled in and waved her past. She slowed down blocking us into the drive and screamed about us being the sort of riders who give horse riding a bad name and being dangerous???? Now I passed my riding road safety riding the same way and all the other drivers thanked us and smiled so have no idea what she was on except possibly glue.

I just politely asked her what she would have liked us to do differently but she carried on yelling about being dangerous so I told her to carry on driving and suggested a smaller vehicle as she was obviously struggling with a large one.

 

[Cop-Pop]

people like that are the exact reason I ALWAYS wear High Viz and thank all drivers who slow down!

I awlays wear hi-viz for safety reasons but make a point of saying thank you for the people who do slow down

And I'm thoroughly fed up of car drivers who can't read/see. When my tabard says 'Please pass wide and slow' it means BOTH of those, unless you want a pony splattered on your bonnet. I'm not asking for silly wide or silly slow - a pony's width away from me to the side and 30mph would be wonderful!

I also wonder if people really want to crash their cars before xmas. After all:
- passing two ponies at about 50mph on a blind bend
- seeing another car coming but passing ponies anyway with nowhere to go (luckily the oncoming car always seems to stop in horror - as do we!)
- squeezing past pony about 2cm from my stirrup to squeeze between us and another car.

It's always the commercial vehicles who are the nicest - and the people in 4x4s who lack any idea of self preservation.

And no, we don't hold up the queue more than we have to, we trot ahead and find a driveway if there's more than a few cars. We're lit up like a xmas tree in hi-viz and it's fully light when we hack out.

I don't often hack out as my horse doesn't have the brain for it but in general I find most drivers round here are considerate however I only ride out/lead out on roads where people would expect a horse to be. The woman riding out on a main A-Road shouldn't have been there imho - its a fast 60mph road and not a place for horses and yes, there are plenty of bridleways, byways and smaller roads for her to use.

 

[Cop-Pop]

We got shouted at the other week by a very rude lady in a big 4x4 who should really have been driving a mini.

Which was very rude of her but my point is people shouldn't be on the roads when theyre a danger to other people. People who are visable, (mostly) in control of their horses and who ride in accordance to the rules of teh road are fine.

 

[tallyho!]

What a bunch of dufuses...............

 

[MissChaos]

Tally has a word of the day today...