Bad driving shockingly common around horses too

[tonycollinet]

Horse: Bag of neuroses strapped together with a saddle.

[toestrap]

Couple of classics today:

1) Coming up behind a couple of horses, I slow down and start to do my hail and hearty 'Good Afternoon' ritual so they know I'm there when a **** of a cyclist in a red planet-x shirt shoots past me and the horses causing one to go skittishly sideways.

2) Coming up in front of a horse, car coming up behind me fastish. So I signal to slow down. Car continues to come up behind. Managed to pull out and force car to slow, much to horse riders relief.

All adds to the fun of a ride   

[CrinklyLion]

I remember the EldestCub and Ara(otp)'s lad haring off ahead of us once - I think it must have been the camping WARTY about 7 years ago - and us discovering, as we were attempting to catch them up, that the chiddlers must have passed a couple of horsie types in an inconsiderate manner. The chap was most irate, and persistently used his riding crop to prevent either Ara or I passing them at all, never mind wide/safely/slowly, so that he could continue to berate us for our offsprings' misdemeanours. The lady with him seemed rather more accepting  of our apologies on behalf of said offspring. And also appreciated our point that perhaps they should let us pass so we could catch up with the chiddlers (who were probably around 8&9 or similar) in order to a) keep the chiddlers safe b) prevent the chiddlers repeating such behaviour and c) bollock the chiddlers.

[PeteB99]

And now a horse behaving badly around cyclists

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/39932827/horse-gate-crashes-donegal-cycle-race

[Bledlow]

FWIW, I was advised by a friend who rides to get an use a bell, but to do so when a reasonable distance away. Once the rider knows you're there they can sort the horse and give advice if needed.

IME the horse usually tells the rider that you're there.

Wind and motors aside, they can hear you from quite a distance with a loudish speaking voice, no need to shout.

Doesn't need to be that loud, I think. IME their hearing's very good. Make a recognisably human noise, & watch their ears. They swivel, thus telling you (& as you say, the rider) that they know you're there. It's quite impressive how good they are at hearing you.

I've been told by a keen horse rider (& cyclist) that voice is best, because it's least likely to spook 'em. People are familiar things & not frightening.

[Tigerrr]

A lot of these horses are descended from the destriers of the medieval era. These were warhorses bred to use their hoofs to smash the peasantry to the ground for skewering with pikes. A lot of the riders of these horses have a similar sort of idea about relative status, and in general cyclists are peasantry - or at least were when the countryside was properly ordered, and one could set the dogs on them.

Realise that when they see you they assume you must be a disgusting smelly hunt saboteur who has risen out from a squat in some foul council estate to breathe their air and bother the livestock.

Keep safe.

[Feline]

I've said my stuff on this forum about this issue before, and as usual there has been some backlash. We, as vulnerable road users, should know better than to be less than supportive of other vulnerable road users. If you think you are vulnerable on a bike, you can probably multiply this by x10 for a horse rider. Our roads were built for horses. They don't need to tax their horses, like we don't need to tax our bikes. We just need to respect each other, and be respectful and careful around each other. There will unfortunately be twats on bikes who don't, and there will be a few on horseback who don't. But we should be uniting against a common enemy (the motorist as 'king' of the road) and not making things even harder for each other.

I live amongst people who are in both camps, so hear complaints on both sides. People who 15 years ago could ride a traffic-shy horse safely on a bridle way are now having to deal with the 'mountain biker'- some riders of whom don't appear to give a shit. Courtesy to riders from motorised traffic seems to be at an all time low. If you think being close-passed by a HGV with 6" clearance is terrifying on a bike (and believe me, I have been there), you should try that on 500kg of terrified horse who doesnt know they need to hold their breath and not deviate an inch from their line or they and their rider are instant road kill. I hate people sometimes (no matter what their chosen transport mechanism is) 

One of my close friends from vet school at uni is minus a kidney after being hit by a twattish motorist. Her horse died. She had done nothing wrong, just like so many of our fallen cyclist friends 

[L CC]

On a lighter note, I was heading home on the bridleway the other evening and saw a horse ahead. "Hello Horse!" I called out. The rider pulled in to the side to let me pass. "Thanks! But the bloody dog is just going to stand there" she said, as the bloody dog just stood there in the middle of the path. "just run him down, the idiot deserves it" she added.

[mllePB]

Horse riding is shockingly dangerous.

About 1 in 10 air ambulance call-outs in the Midlands are for equestrian accidents. 
David_Nutt  lost his job as a government advisor for speaking the truth that Ecstasy is safer than horse riding.

That said , I'm always cautious meeting riders on the road, especially trying to overtake. All parties are at risk with none in a metal box, while you can't assume at least a hope of rationality and common humanity with one.

[lahoski]

Doesn't need to be that loud, I think. IME their hearing's very good. Make a recognisably human noise, & watch their ears. They swivel, thus telling you (& as you say, the rider) that they know you're there. It's quite impressive how good they are at hearing you.

I've been told by a keen horse rider (& cyclist) that voice is best, because it's least likely to spook 'em. People are familiar things & not frightening.

This seems to be the case. As someone who, as a result of severe social anxiety as a teenager, is quite literally incapable of raising their voice in public*, I can testify that horses can definitely hear my mousey voice as I approach. It helps that I talk to myself far too much when riding alone.

*when I worked in a pub, calling time was super effective. I couldn't even bring myself to ring the bell. I hoped everyone would just guess, or preferably leave.

[Riggers]

My technique is to shout a cheery good morning / afternoon whist still 10 or 20 metres behind - don't think I've ever done this without the rider turning and saying thank you.

I'm with Whiters on this one too. One day (near Wilmington) I did my "Morning" (really to let the horse know I was 'there') and the riders turn and acknowledge, but just before I enquire "Is it okay to come pass?" Some berk on a bike comes whistling past us all, as if he's God's gift to cycling, without as much as a by-your-leave. Knob.

[Quisling]

I was looking at road safety issues yesterday in my role as a parish councillor and local Community Speedwatch coordinator. From 2010-2013 (inclusive) 445 cyclists have been killed in Great Britain. Horse riders aren't specifically identified in the main summary statistics but the "other road user" group, which probably includes mobility scooters and the like too, lost 369 in the same period.

We have a real issue achieving any preventative road safety interventions since funding is always prioritised where accidents already have happened - so you have to wait for someone to be killed or injured before the highways authority will even consider improvements.  In the meantime, quality of life suffers for affected residents and non-motoring road users.  I understand there are resource constraints, but if you follow that logic you'd not spend on any highways improvements and instead focus investment on reducing air pollution or fuel poverty which both claim higher annual casualties.

That said, nationally, deaths on the roads are at their lowest since the highs in the 1960's when 8000+ died each year and partly this is attributable to seat belts and better vehicle safety features.  More worryingly though, this reduction is also down to the number of people avoiding the roads for fear of their own safety.