What nice young men!

Shantara

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Just a little post. People moan about bad drivers, so I'm going to praise the good!

Their mothers should be proud :)
They showed great respect for the horses, they were on those awful noisy scooter things, I've seen plenty of yobs riding them and they never slow down or give us enough room. These lads passed wide and slow and very quietly too :)
I thanked them and they waved back.

Lovely boys.
 
I find the "boy racers" are the best at slowing down and giving lots of space. It's the old folk that are the worst, never lift their foot and whizz past even on the narrow roads.
 
Ditto had this too the other week with a load of 15-18 year olds on bikes....all cut their engines off and stopped messing around and were perfectly polite. I was on a youngster at the time who had gone a bit wary eyed at one sat on of them sat on the ground, thanked them and explained he was just a baby, and the one sat on the ground he was slightly wary of, asked if he could give him some grass from the verge. I said I'm sure he;'d love it, so he came up and gave him some grass and little baby horse was having the time of his life as all others started on giving him grass also! ;)
 
I have to say I have never had any problems with the 'boy racers'...in fact the total opposite, came across a young lad on a quad who not only turned his engine off but also took his very 'scarey' helmet off. The worse by far are the older ladies who seem to just whizz past thinking if they dont make eye contact we wont see them! Had a few near misses with older drivers who have no spacial awareness and the worse was the local copper who nearly took my knee out and my schooling whip actually hit his wing mirror...he got a few choice words :)
 
Aww nice young men! I have found boy racer looking types to be quite good too, its those flippin mothers on the school run you need to watch out for! They make me especially mad as their children in the back are obviously looking out going 'look horseys!' and said mother frightens said horseys with inconsiderate driving!
 
I'm another who has met several considerate boy racers and been quite surprised, I know it's wrong to jump to conclusions but they're the last people I expect to stop!
Quite recently I was riding miss mad and I heard one of those sports exhausts coming at us from somewhere in the distance, horse's eyes went wide and we started sidestepping and snorting, I crossed my fingers, got her on the verge & clung on, when he zoomed around the corner and saw us the lad immediately slammed the brakes on, pulled over, switched the engine off and wound the window down to say he hoped he hadn't frightened her! Never been so surprised! :o
 
Boy racers are always slower and more courteous than these mothers of numerous children who drive those people carriers and look like a demon possessed behind a wheel, whilst they take the light out of your horses eyes. I close my eyes and pray every time I see a mum in one of these mini bus cars.
 
Boy racers are always slower and more courteous than these mothers of numerous children who drive those people carriers and look like a demon possessed behind a wheel, whilst they take the light out of your horses eyes. I close my eyes and pray every time I see a mum in one of these mini bus cars.

Yup! It was one of these that came inches away from killing me and Ned!
 
Yeah those mothers in the buses are always running late and have a set of blinkers on so they don't see other road users!!
 
Yeah those mothers in the buses are always running late and have a set of blinkers on so they don't see other road users!!

The one that nearly took me out was on her phone too!
She was SO stereotypical it was unbelievable!
Bleach blonde hair straightened to death, those massive sunglasses that wags wear, on her phone, sparkling clean 4X4 and going about 70 around a blind bend!!
I've spoke of this incident before, but it still gives me the shivvers. Had I not socked poor Ned in the teeth so hard to make him leap to the side, we wouldn't be here, I'm sure!
 
As the sister of a boy racer who LOVES his car more than anything in the world and is totally obsessed with it, I can confirm that there are two reasons why people like him will slow down when passing a horse:

1. There is a danger if the horse is scared that it may strike out and damage the beloved car.

2. Boys who spend their days with their heads inside car bonnets are completely scared of horses! I think it's a control thing...my brother feels completely in control when driving his car (even though when I'm the passenger I'm sure he's on the verge of losing control of it), whereas he's convinced that I am never in control when sat on my horse, and that she is a wild animal who will attack him as soon as look at him!

Whatever the reason, at least he passes horses slow and wide, like I told him to :p
 
As an actual car enthusiast (HATE the term boy/girl racer! ;) ) They know that their exhausts can be scary, and will happily dip the clutch or slow so its a low drone as they pass. Especially the ones around here as they have all been well trained by me :D

Old folk are by far the worst.

I used to ride through an old quarry / woods that was used by the local boys on their quads and crossers. Maybe shouldn't have been there but better there than out on the roads / farmers fields. They used to be absolutely brilliant about engines off and used to happily chat. I was only young then too and I actually made some great pals through them who I still go to car shows etc with. My horse wasn't too fussed but it was nice that they had the courtesy.
 
As the sister of a boy racer who LOVES his car more than anything in the world and is totally obsessed with it, I can confirm that there are two reasons why people like him will slow down when passing a horse:

1. There is a danger if the horse is scared that it may strike out and damage the beloved car.

2. Boys who spend their days with their heads inside car bonnets are completely scared of horses! I think it's a control thing...my brother feels completely in control when driving his car (even though when I'm the passenger I'm sure he's on the verge of losing control of it), whereas he's convinced that I am never in control when sat on my horse, and that she is a wild animal who will attack him as soon as look at him!

Whatever the reason, at least he passes horses slow and wide, like I told him to :p

Sorry, but if your brother drives his car anywhere near the point that his passengers feel like he is about to lose control then he should be seriously rethinking his driving style. Times and places for pushing and testing your driving skills, public roads are NOT it.

I'm not some condesending horse rider with a vendetta for 'boy racers' either. I'm an avid car enthusiast myself who drives and owns high powered cars. Roads are driving, tracks are for driving.
 
I find the world's worst are old folk in their beamers. A friend of mine was riding her mare alongside a few of us leading horses down the road, they were youngsters who weren't being overly amicable and the driver could see that some of us were struggling to hang on. We all had hi vis on and we're asking him to slow down and back off. We were only moving them 100 yards down the road to another field! He got so far up my friends horses bottom that she almost sat on the bonnet. We were fuming!
 
I once had a young male driver (won't say boy racer but car had a body kit) come SO close to running into the back of the last horse in our group (tucked into side of road correctly) I don't know how he missed him. Turns out, he was looking down at his ipod... I gave him a massive telling off and he was very apologetic. We've seen him since and he always passes nicely!

Totally agree, old people are worst, followed by Mum's in a rush :0(
 
Sorry, but if your brother drives his car anywhere near the point that his passengers feel like he is about to lose control then he should be seriously rethinking his driving style.

It's not me you need to tell! I've gone hoarse trying to get him to slow down and not drive into corners like a lunatic and brake at the last second...load of good it's done me! Just won't get in the car with him, would rather waste money on my own petrol and get somewhere in one piece!

Another group of road users I've recently established as not paying any attention to horses on the road is those towing caravans. I'm not tarring everyone with a caravan with the same brush, but all of the caravans that have passed me in recent months have not slowed down one bit (even on one occasion when my friend was waving traffic down as one of our group was getting a bit worked up). Do they not realise how scary looking a car pulling a caravan can be?! My girl is fine with them, she thinks they're the same as horseboxes and has been around those for years at the races, but not everyone's horse is like mine.
 
So nice to hear a good report for a change, restores your faith a bit! Sadly, we encounter many dangerous and disrespectful drivers around here, and age seems to be no indicator of bad behaviour. I have been abused by OAPs on several occasions and cheered up by the thoughtfulness of young people on many others. Thats people for you!
 
When I fell of my horse one day over on the common, it was the young boys on pit bikes that picked me up, popped me on the back, and shot off to overtake horse before she made it as far as the road.
Lovely lads who then wanted to escort me back, and then proceeded to ask a million questions about said horse.
A while back my friend was almost run into by an elderly lady who "didn't see her".....despite her looking like Bertie Basset in her hi-viz!
And again yesterday, her horse was worried about passing a big lorry that had parked up. Her right of way as the lorry was parked on the otherside of the road, but the OAP insisted on squeezing past my friend and the lorry so she could get to her bingo no doubt.
Luckily horse was very well behaved, but that could have been so different!
 
My boyfriend has a "boy racer" car and he is very respectful of horses, as are his friends. I thought I might have to prod him as he lives very close to rurally farmlandy bits with various livery yards and windy roads but they are all very careful courteous drivers. Better than the middle aged men in the BMWs and Mercs who think they own the town....
 
We get them off roading with no helmets round our bridleways. They always stop and get out the way. Very polite and happy to turn off engines or let inquisitive youngsters sniff their bikes, a 16.3 youngster licking their quad startled them a bit though.
 
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