Do you by law have to slow down for horses?
Discussion
FFS you want to be on my dads road when the "Hunt" is on......
Driving along and around ten horses and riders jump over a hedge infront of you and then over the fence on the other side of the road into a field.
I nearly shat myself the first time this happened just as well I only drive 25 mph down that winding little road.
Pull into the lane and there is two dozen dogs running around frantic around the old mans garden, then they are back onto the road trying to find a way into the fields.
It's crazy to be honest and bloody dangerous....
To be fair I always get a wave and a thank you from horse riders when I slow down and give them a wide berth.
Driving along and around ten horses and riders jump over a hedge infront of you and then over the fence on the other side of the road into a field.
I nearly shat myself the first time this happened just as well I only drive 25 mph down that winding little road.
Pull into the lane and there is two dozen dogs running around frantic around the old mans garden, then they are back onto the road trying to find a way into the fields.
It's crazy to be honest and bloody dangerous....
To be fair I always get a wave and a thank you from horse riders when I slow down and give them a wide berth.
Having lived in the country from an early age I've always been very considerate of horses, but increasingly find the riders are anything but appreciative of my efforts. The final straw was when I had been out with the Volvo V70 and trailer to drop off a car, approaching my home I saw 3 horses about 100 yards away. The road is a narrow country lane so stopped in a layby outside a house that would enable them to get passed the car, as they were level with the car I nudged forward to move the trailer from blocking the road behind. As I did that I got a torrent of abuse from the ditch-monster who was doing her best to crush her steed into submission. I had sat there for a good thirty seconds waiting for her and her over-nourished friends to pass yet all I got was abuse. So f
k them all from now on.
k them all from now on.Being bought up around horses I know that the vast majority of horse riders would like to avoid the roads if possible, however a lot of bridal paths have been made very difficult to access to horses as a result of preventing kids on motorbikes. Also a lot have been coverted to footpaths where horses are not allowed.
OP you did exactly the correct thing, the woman should not be taking a very nervous horse out on the road like that. When a novice horse is taken on the road a person should accompany the rider with a lead rein attached to have extra control of the horse, this is standard practice at our yard, as is also having the horse insured (sadly no legal requirement)
Most horses that are good in traffic will not care at all about car, trucks, vans, motorbikes ect as long as they are given some room. Beware that a horse is more likely to shy at something daft like a plastic bag in the hedge rather than a loud TVR
OP you did exactly the correct thing, the woman should not be taking a very nervous horse out on the road like that. When a novice horse is taken on the road a person should accompany the rider with a lead rein attached to have extra control of the horse, this is standard practice at our yard, as is also having the horse insured (sadly no legal requirement)
Most horses that are good in traffic will not care at all about car, trucks, vans, motorbikes ect as long as they are given some room. Beware that a horse is more likely to shy at something daft like a plastic bag in the hedge rather than a loud TVR
Around these parts the only real times you get horses are funeral processions or police; either time, I slow down to a crawl, then when in immediate proximity either stop or shift it in neutral so engine is idling; if the engine is already running hot I'll turn it off completely until the horses are a good distance away.
A nervous horse on the road? Her own discretion but she shouldn't expect everyone else to adapt to that, risky at best and bloody dangerous at worst.
A nervous horse on the road? Her own discretion but she shouldn't expect everyone else to adapt to that, risky at best and bloody dangerous at worst.
tyranical said:
Classic case of read thread title, open thread, ignore post content, write a reply of complete st based on your assumptions taken from the thread title, disappear when you realise you've made yourself look like an arse.
Classic case of only reading my first post, and not seeing the one where I realised I'd mis-read the post, and put up a t based on your assumptions taken from the thread title, disappear when you realise you've made yourself look like an arse.
smilie and I didn't dissapear, I have a life away from a computer screen. Arse. 
grumpy said:
Just remember it's never the horses fault.
Slow down to a speed that will not frighten the horse and if the rider deserves one give them a "fk off tablet".
On a lighter note, the exhaust on a mates Seven exits on the the left hand side. While following him one day we passed, very slowly a horse in a narrow lane. As the hot gasses carresed the horses legs it seemed to go into some sort of spontaneous dressage routine.
I gave the horse and rider a 10.
Slow down to a speed that will not frighten the horse and if the rider deserves one give them a "f
k off tablet".On a lighter note, the exhaust on a mates Seven exits on the the left hand side. While following him one day we passed, very slowly a horse in a narrow lane. As the hot gasses carresed the horses legs it seemed to go into some sort of spontaneous dressage routine.
I gave the horse and rider a 10.
RobM77 said:
5mph and music off is what I do too, and as a former horse rider I'd say that's fine. This lady sounds like she's endangering herself and others taking such a nervous horse on the road to be honest - very stupid.
I had a horse some years back and started to ride on the roads to get to hacks and then discovered quite quickly that the horse hated drain covers.
It was too spooked to ride past one for some reason so I had to keep off the roads.
this gets on my tits and i know its going to annoy some people, yeah as mentioned the polite side of me says slow down bu the other is why, the clue is in the name..........its a road that CARS USE so why should i slow down, i pay roadtax and all the other st that goes with owning a car in this country just to be told by some toffs on horse back to slow down, feck that. If your horsey cant handle the noise cars make then why are they on the road surely thats a form of cruelty ?
t that goes with owning a car in this country just to be told by some toffs on horse back to slow down, feck that. If your horsey cant handle the noise cars make then why are they on the road surely thats a form of cruelty ?Zwoelf said:
I thought roads were maintained out of local government funding rather than central.
And where does local government get its funding?about 25-40% council tax
some fees and charges
But the majority comes from a direct grant from central government (revenue support grant) which fills the gap between what council's are assesed to need to spend (not necessarily what they do spend) spend, and what is a politically acceptable level of local taxation.
There is no hypothicated tax in the UK - it all goes into a "pot" out of which the government departments are funded (health, education, defence, etc)
What we pay in motoring taxes is far greater than the spend on roads, but what we pay in health taxes (e.g. NI) is far lower than the cost of average health care, say fixing a broken arm, c-section (womenn only) or a heart bypass.
We could go to a system where you pay exactly what you use, but I reckon if people really thought about what it would mean for them they wouldn't go for it.
Anyway - horses. I slow down - after all, you've got to see if the young girl riding it is good looking..
apparently a lot of horses get freaked out by hi-viz and push cycles. Maybe some sort of horse councelling service can be run by the campaign for rural England?
Ian
Sam the Mut said:
This is unbelievable! just driven the same route picking my mum up from work I was dropping her off when it happend. So im driving along car in the distance and come over a hill and there 2 horse riders in the distance maybe 1/4 of a mile. There is a car infront (around 300 yards) slows but goes stright past them. I come, go to go past and she put her hand to stop ffs, but I stop anyway. She screams "turn your engine off this horse is scared!" I respond with the car infront drove stright past. I then recognize the other horse rider as the bh from school and put two and two together. (mum and daughter) I responded antifreeze solves scared horse. (not the best comeback I know) turn the car back on! rev the fk out it, and drop the clutch leaving a nice number 11 and you know what the fking horse didn't bat an eyelid!
What kind of car?h from school and put two and two together. (mum and daughter) I responded antifreeze solves scared horse. (not the best comeback I know) turn the car back on! rev the fk out it, and drop the clutch leaving a nice number 11 and you know what the fking horse didn't bat an eyelid! Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff