Leandy
Well-Known Member
Why do you assume I'm wearing camouflage? I'll wear gear appropriate to the circumstances. I don't expect you to pick up any pieces. Why do you think your judgement is better than mine?|
Yard rule for wearing hi viz
- Thread starter FourLeafClover
- Start date
Why do you assume I'm wearing camouflage? I'll wear gear appropriate to the circumstances. I don't expect you to pick up any pieces. Why do you think your judgement is better than mine?|
Cowpony
Well-Known Member
https://ckl.uk.com/shop/workwear/workwear-hi-vis/hi-vis-adjustable-safety-vest-led-lights/
Currently on sale at £13.50
saddlesore
Well-Known Member
I always worry a little with some yard rules, knowing some yards are run by tyrants who have some crazy rules just so they can enforce them. I think it’s a great policy to encourage everyone though and I personally never ride without it.
ester
Not slacking multitasking
TP I don't think riders make the most of light useage, I definitely see what difference it can make bike wise.
flat3
Well-Known Member
I had to have the Air Ambulance come out to me. I was at an away-from-home jumping lesson and by chance I was wearing a Hi Viz baselayer. Unfortunately I went into shock so I ended up covered in a navy horse rug so blended into the rubber surface quite well ? the AA team said they'd struggled to find us and circled around for a bit (yard in middle of nowhere and before What3Words) and said when they saw my top that they'd have been with us quicker if I hadn't been camouflaged.
Before that I wouldn't have even thought about wearing hi viz when not hacking.
Equi
Well-Known Member
It’s not a rule but strongly encouraged. For insurance under 16s have to wear a hat on the yard when doing most things too which isn’t a bad rule either.
The Fuzzy Furry
Getting old disgracefully
Do you wear hi vis tho?
SaddlePsych'D
Well-Known Member
Not a rule I don't think, just that everyone on the yard wears it anyway (it's only a handful of people on small DIY yard) so it's in the 'culture' of the yard to wear it. The yard is on a right of way and it's great to see that pretty much everyone who rides past us has some form of hi viz on.
I think if I were looking for a yard and saw it had this rule it would make me think they had safety in mind, which is a good thing
Wearing hi viz while riding out is a fairly universally good idea with no downsides as far as I can tell, so the idea that some would either leave the yard or stop wearing it just because they don't like being told what to do seems fairly silly to me and maybe says more about them that the rule itself.
I think if I were looking for a yard and saw it had this rule it would make me think they had safety in mind, which is a good thing
Wearing hi viz while riding out is a fairly universally good idea with no downsides as far as I can tell, so the idea that some would either leave the yard or stop wearing it just because they don't like being told what to do seems fairly silly to me and maybe says more about them that the rule itself.
Ownedby4horses
...
I’m afraid if you’re not wearing high viz in a lot of situations, you may as well be wearing camouflage, as you will blend into the background too easily. Unfortunately, it is yard owners who generally pick up the pieces. It just isn’t possible to wear what “you think is appropriate to the circumstances”, not even if you have a crystal ball! How do you know how the sun will appear through trees making you and your horse blend further into the background, a heavy downpour making it difficult for drivers to see, a driver speeding and not seeing you until it’s too late. Simply riding in fields, away from traffic, you fall from your horse and are injured, you’re either unconscious or perhaps you’ve landed on your phone and smashed it, how does anyone find you? There are way too many scenarios to address and the thing about an accident, is that it is such that, it’s an accident, as in all the parts of the circumstances have lined up in such a way that it couldn’t be replicated again!
I have run yards in the UK for a long time and it was always a rule I insisted on as it looked after my clients safety, their horses and all other road users.
You may have a choice not to wear high viz but your horse doesn’t, I don’t see why anyone would refuse to wear it and risk injury or death to their beloved four legged friend.
Gloi
Too little time, too much to read.
Thanks. I ordered the jacket with lightshttps://ckl.uk.com/shop/workwear/workwear-hi-vis/hi-vis-adjustable-safety-vest-led-lights/
Currently on sale at £13.50
Ownedby4horses
...
I never ride out without full high viz, I make sure myself and my mare can be seen from space. I have worked in aviation for years and worked with the Air Ambulances and believe me, you want them to find you easily and give other pilots the option to avoid you if they can. The thing that has always been commented on is 4 high viz leg bands on my mare, I’ve had drivers stop me saying that they really could see them with the movement.
Leandy
Well-Known Member
Not sure why my comments are being misconstrued. I'm not so much objecting to wearing hi-viz where appropriate, just to being told I have to when that is not the law of the land and I'm actually free to wear it or not as I wish and whether that is sensible or not. As I've said, advice tactfully given is a much better way of getting people on side than trying to order them about. Just because I would do something anyway doesn't mean I don't object to someone else telling me to do it as though I was a baby with no judgement of my own.
The Fuzzy Furry
Getting old disgracefully
I wasn't misconstruing but asking if you wore hi vis.
You said you objected to being told what to do.
If a YO has it as a non negotiable rule, then obviously you are free not to move in there
However, there are rules in all sports activities that are not 'law' but usually in place for common safety, and sometimes potentially to cover against litigation.
I happen to think that any horse rider who doesn't hack out with some form of hi vis is sadly lacking in forward thinking and however much they might protest, not caring for their own or their horses safety.
Tiddlypom
Carries on creakily
Me too. A lorry driver who had slowed down in a narrow lane for us wound down his cab window and complimented us on ours, and how eye catching they were
.
Flame_
Well-Known Member
You've totally missed the point. Liveries are your customers and they are responsible for their own autonomous choices. They are acting within the law if they don't wear high viz and they aren't even on your property. I love hi viz and think its use overall should be encouraged, promoted and the norm that riders in general are accustomed to, but if, essentially a landlord, started thinking it was OK for them to tell me how to dress I'd think they were an out of their mind, control mad nut job.
Roxylola
Well-Known Member
Hi viz should just be a given if you're riding anywhere than an arena on the yard - tbh even then my hat bands and bridle viz is on as why take them off.
I can't see any good reason to object to having it as a rule other than just objecting to rules in general. There's strong justification for using it, no good reason not to wear it. Its like we all acknowledge and follow the rule to drive on the correct side of the road so everyone going the same directionis on the same side. You could object to it being a rule but there is just no sense to choosing not to follow the rule.
Imo, it ought not need to be a rule as everyone should be doing it anyway, but where is the harm making it a rule as you should all be doing it anyway
I can't see any good reason to object to having it as a rule other than just objecting to rules in general. There's strong justification for using it, no good reason not to wear it. Its like we all acknowledge and follow the rule to drive on the correct side of the road so everyone going the same directionis on the same side. You could object to it being a rule but there is just no sense to choosing not to follow the rule.
Imo, it ought not need to be a rule as everyone should be doing it anyway, but where is the harm making it a rule as you should all be doing it anyway
Tiddlypom
Carries on creakily
It would be a yard rule, take it or leave it. Plenty of the better run yards have certain strict rules in place, break ‘em and you’re out, and this would be one of mine.
As it happens, while I do have my own yard, I choose not to have liveries.
Roxylola
Well-Known Member
More often than not its not an absentee landlord though, its a tenant in your spare bedroom (to expand the metaphor) asking you to please make sure you are suitably dressed before wandering around the communal living area - please cover your bits before frying bacon...
Pippity
Well-Known Member
Me too. A lorry driver who had slowed down in a narrow lane for us wound down his cab window and complimented us on ours, and how eye catching they were
Legbands are possibly the most effective hi-viz, but so few people wear them. Even I'm guilty of skipping them occasionally, if I know I'm going to be riding through mud. They have movement to attract attention, and they're where a motorist's eye falls most naturally. The big problem is that they get grubby so quickly!
Most of my LEDs, I can reach while I'm mounted and I only turn on if I feel it's getting dark. However, because lighting can be unpredictable, the flashing bike light on her bum and the girth strap of her breastplate (which I can only reach from the ground) are almost always on.
milliepops
Wears headscarf aggressively
yes. it's totally different to a landlord-tenant relationship like you have renting a house. I don't even know who my landlord is. All the yards I've been in, the YO has lived on site. Totally different. If they fancied it they could stipulate that all horses had to wear purple headcollars, it would be an odd rule but if I wanted to be on the yard that bad I'd comply! at least a rule about hi-vis has very specific and defined benefits to everyone.
Gloi
Too little time, too much to read.
You tell me,? I had a lodger who was a devil for whacking the heating up to the top in mid winter and then sitting in the lounge watching telly in nothing but his underpants.
ester
Not slacking multitasking
PP I have the same breastplate
Snowfilly
Well-Known Member
love the red lights on the whip! Are they attached to it or part of it?
ponynutz
Well-Known Member
No, but it's a rule of my own that I always at least wear a jacket/vest and put Dusty's hi-vis brushing boots on. As you can see in my picture in dim conditions I put a hi-vis blanket on as well.
Pippity
Well-Known Member
They're part of it - it's one of the Thermatex LED whips. https://www.thermatex.co.uk/thermatex/led-whip-1.html
HappyHollyDays
Slave to 2 cats and 2 ponies
I go one better - my construction hi viz has red lights at the back and white lights at the front. Only cost £20 too ?. The cycling version by the same company costs £80!!
Mine is the cycling version. It was a freebie from an R&D company and has detachable arms. Really good idea as long as you remember to the put batteries in ?
Cowpony
Well-Known Member
My husband managed to wash mine with the battery in
. Luckily it survived. All the lights came on as soon as the battery was plugged in, and wouldn't switch off, but at least it was still usable. It's now settled down again and works fine.
J&S
Well-Known Member
My ponies wear leg bands (so I am pleased to see they are effective), I wear hat band and waistcoat so top, middle and low areas covered. It is minimal touble to put on and could save our lives. I get really cross when I am driving and see riders out without any hi viz on either them selves or horse, I am aware of horses' shapes but non horsey people may not realise what they are driving at/past when they are close to edges and hedges. The same applies to runners and cyclists and dog walkers in our lanes. Personally I think it should be part of the highway code, then Yard Owners would not be considered OTT for requesting compliance.
DabDab
Ah mud, splendid
Me too. A lorry driver who had slowed down in a narrow lane for us wound down his cab window and complimented us on ours, and how eye catching they were
It's my lights that people always comment on. Being an early morning rider I like to be fairly well lit (light on my hat, breastplate with big central light and fairy lights round neck and forward and rear light straps on my calves), and I'm always slightly surprised by the amount of walkers/cyclists/passing car drivers who say they like all the lights, surprised mainly because I forget that I've got them on.
DabDab
Ah mud, splendid
Btw, I would highly recommend the rider leg lights to anyone that wanted to add lights to their hacking gear. They are unobtrusive, very easy to put on, have red for back, white for front and are positioned right in the natural eyeline for most drivers
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Safety-horse-riding-lights-EquiLumen/dp/B079DS19QG
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Safety-horse-riding-lights-EquiLumen/dp/B079DS19QG