Why should horses be on the roads?

[JFTDWS]

I generally find the "I'm allowed to be so suck it up" approach just gets people's backs up...

 

[Micky]

Clue in the name ‘ carriageway’ from the old days when horses were the only transport be it ridden or driven..loss of lots of bridleways means riding on roads to reach the remaining bridleways.

 

[scruffyponies]

Roads are 'open to all traffic' unless they are motorways, or restricted byways.

 

[Gloi]

Someone has to keep the skills going for when we can't drive cars any more.

 

[monkeymad]

I dont see the question as being rude/angry. Many of my work colleagues just assumed I rode around the fields and were horrified that I rode on the roads and felt it highly dangerous that a horse would be so close to cars etc. I think many people are just completely ignorant and genuinely dont realise that most horse riders have little option but to ride on roads.

 

[Lois Lame]

Dare I say that I myself wondered why you guys ride on the road. I found some replies here very informative.

 

[stormox]

Here in Ireland we have no bridleways and I believe its the same in Scotland. There is no where else!

 

[neddy man]

Also remember the carriage drivers, who can't even use the bridlepaths!

All gates on bridleways should be minimum of 1.5 mtrs wide (yes i know lots aren't) the bridleway must be wide enough to allow horses to pass each other. Why cant you use them ?

 

[scats]

I think a lot of the problems stem from the fact that people seem to think there are bridlepaths everywhere and that we can ride in any field we see. Debates on Facebook in local groups to me have a lot of genuinely confused people who don’t understand why we would risk our horses on roads when we are surrounded by fields.

 

[ycbm]

Here in Ireland we have no bridleways and I believe its the same in Scotland. There is no where else!

In Scotland the lucky blighters have open access to farmland, dont they?


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[Reacher]

All gates on bridleways should be minimum of 1.5 mtrs wide (yes i know lots aren't) the bridleway must be wide enough to allow horses to pass each other. Why cant you use them ?

I’m lucky to live in a village with bridleways, however they are unfortunately mostly inaccessible to carriages - too narrow in places, or too steep or surface too boggy in places - despite being in the fortunate position that we have had a pot of money to spend on maintenance (but we still are dependent on obtaining match funding from county highways etc which is difficult to get) and having volunteers willing to help maintain them. Land owners aren’t going to agree to move the hedges back to widen them. One bridlepath goes across a marsh owned by Natural England who flatly refuse to allow any works to make it accessible to horses or reroute it.

 

[milliepops]

you can just about get one horse down the bridleways around me, and they are deep gulleys with uneven rocky going... you couldn't get a pushchair down them let alone a carriage! Not to mention the ones that just come to a dead end.

 

[Reacher]

Yes, I guess what I was getting at is even where there are bridlepath they aren’t maintained, they are at the bottom of the list of things a cash strapped local authority is going to spend its money bet on on

 

[Keith_Beef]

If I were to describe in too much detail the riding we have around where I live, I think I'd need to start a whole new thread about "moving to France".

 

[scruffyponies]

All gates on bridleways should be minimum of 1.5 mtrs wide (yes i know lots aren't) the bridleway must be wide enough to allow horses to pass each other. Why cant you use them ?

1. We're not allowed - carriages are 'vehicles' and aren't allowed on bridleways or footpaths.
2. Gates are too narrow usually, as are many of the paths themselves
3. Where the path is wide enough (e.g. the lovely old railway line between Leckford and Romsey) there are 'measures' to prevent vehicles, such as posts in the centre, horse styles etc.

 

[Suechoccy]

Why shouldn't horses be on the road, ditto cyclists, walkers, invalid carriages...

Or, why should cars be on the road? Especially private cars for short journeys with one person in them. Most people can walk, most people have some sort of bus service within a few miles of where they live and there are taxis and car sharing schemes, so why so many private cars on the roads with one person for short journeys under 2 miles?

It ends up being a circular argument - they use their car because the road is too dangerous to cycle even for a 2 mile journey ... yet it's their use of the car which makes that road too dangerous for them to cycle.

 

[Suechoccy]

Those gorgeous green grass strips down the edges of farmers' fields which motorists can see while driving and may wonder why riders don't use them instead of the roads - because we're not allowed to. They are grass strips due to a government/EU subsidy scheme which rewards farmers for creating grass strips but does not usually include granting temporary permissive access to the public on foot, cycle or horseback for the duration of the subsidy.
Those gorgeous green fields that motorists may also see while driving are all private property.
Those little signs saying Public Footpath pointing along tracks of all sorts of width and surfacing are only for walkers, not even for cyclists let alone horse riders. There are 1000s of miles of Public Footpath, much less of Public Bridleway (walkers, cyclists and horse riders). The Public Footpath network is not completely cohesive but in general it's possible to walk from one village to any of its neighbouring villages. The Public Bridleway network is atrocious with many isolated lengths and dead-ends so in general it's impossible to walk from one village to any of its neighbouring villages.
Hence why horse riders are seen on the roads - because that's the only way we can get from one village to another.

 

[neddy man]

1. We're not allowed - carriages are 'vehicles' and aren't allowed on bridleways or footpaths.
2. Gates are too narrow usually, as are many of the paths themselves
3. Where the path is wide enough (e.g. the lovely old railway line between Leckford and Romsey) there are 'measures' to prevent vehicles, such as posts in the centre, horse styles etc.

Carraiges pulled by horses are allowed on bridleways because they are NOT mechanically propelled , as bicycles are not machanically propelled and allowed. (Countryside rights of way act 2000, ss 53-56.)

 

[cauda equina]

Carriages are allowed on restricted byways, but not on bridleways

 

[scruffyponies]

Carraiges pulled by horses are allowed on bridleways because they are NOT mechanically propelled , as bicycles are not machanically propelled and allowed. (Countryside rights of way act 2000, ss 53-56.)

This is incorrect, and in most cases physically impossible.
Cauda equina is correct. Carriages are allowed on restricted byways, BOATS (Byways Open to All Traffic) and on roads, but not on bridleways, footpaths or motorways.

Not sure about bus lanes

 

[Smogul]

In Scotland the lucky blighters have open access to farmland, dont they?


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NO. We have "responsible access". All the farmland round us is either used for crops so you cannot responsibly ride on it or inhabited by bullocks. Not an environment in which to take a horse, let alone a horse and carriage. And you would still have to go on the roads to reach any of it.

 

[Bills]

"Because they are too big to walk on the footpath like a dog, so we have to walk them on the road!"

 

[TotalMadgeness]

In Scotland the lucky blighters have open access to farmland, dont they? .

Ooooh I wish. I live in Scotland and we have a couple of woodlands round here that were planted by the Woodland Trust. They have wide grassy tracks but all have locked gates and the landowners flatly refuse to allow any horse riders to ride in them (we asked politely).

I occasionally ride on a farm track to a windfarm shared by 3 owners and have been yelled at by two different farmers for leaving horse poo on the track because it makes their car wheels dirty. Despite the fact there are piles of sheep poo and great big muddy puddles on the track of course! We do get off and kick the poo over to the verge but usually on the way back (it's not a circular route) but recently got told off for that too (we need to do it straight away apparently).

So if I dared to ride in one of their fields I'd probably get shot!

 

[scruffyponies]

"Because they are too big to walk on the footpath like a dog, so we have to walk them on the road!"

Ha Ha. We decided years ago that our 36" shetland doesn't count as a horse, and can be walked on the footpath like a dog. Nobody has ever challenged us. Of course HE thinks he's a 17hh hunter.

 

[neddy man]

This is incorrect, and in most cases physically impossible.
Cauda equina is correct. Carriages are allowed on restricted byways, BOATS (Byways Open to All Traffic) and on roads, but not on bridleways, footpaths or motorways.

Not sure about bus lanes

I was wrong and thank you for pointing this out.

 

[Mule]

In Scotland the lucky blighters have open access to farmland, dont they?


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If it was brought in to Ireland I can envision my irate farming neighbours chasing them off their land