horses on the road

horses and horsey typed should be banned, they dont pay road tax or have MOTs, also don't make reasonable 'progress', which in itself is a offence afaik

they dont have working indicators or lights, they leave *&^% on the road... the list is endless.


i do slow down for horses, just as not to scare them, but I'm usually muttering under breath and they just annoy me and other road users...I don't feel I have to 'respect' a horse on the road, roads are for cars, fields are for horses
 
[TW]Fox;14708639 said:
No, I wouldn't.

If these animals are so easily spooked by traffic why not play with them in fields?
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They aren't easily spooked but a revving engine up your arse would be quite intimidating, also if you were walking down a road and a car came screaming past you very closely I'm sure you'd jump as well.

edit/ Also the only reason horse riders have to use the roads is due to a lack of bridle paths, which the British Horse Society is petitioning to put right because at the moment when a bridle path ends the rider either has to cross a road or travel up a road for a brief period of time.
 
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Sirrel Squirrel said:
They aren't easily spooked but a revving engine up your arse would be quite intimidating, also if you were walking down a road and a car came screaming past you very closely I'm sure you'd jump as well.
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He wouldn't be walking in the middle of the road, defecating on it.
 
Used to be a Horse Rider myself so i can see this from both sides, my best mate at the time was knocked off his Horse by a landrover down a country road, he was taken to hospital and one of his mums horses had to be put down, made quite an impression on myself since i was only 10 at the time, so if you've seen this or come close you can understand why some riders become defensive and act like this whilst riding on the road.

However, i love blasting down country roads, nothing more fun and most of the roads round my area are narrow sweeping country lanes with lots of sharp corners thrown in, we get a shed load of riders around my area and 90% of them are young hot girls who are polite and wave back when you slow down and pass, so no problem with that they don't seem to have an attitude problem imho.

Provided you treat them with respect they will treat you with the same respect, as for blanket "slow down to 20mph or stop for every sharp corner", well in an ideal risk obsessed world yes do this, but the odds or rounding a corner, finding a horse so close to you it becomes impossible to stop is so small its not worth taking into account, i'd say you've got more chance of a catastrophic mechanical failure..... So should everyone drive around at 10mph so when a tyre bursts or something you don't crash and hit someone else?
 
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Sirrel Squirrel said:
edit/ Also the only reason horse riders have to use the roads is due to a lack of bridle paths, which the British Horse Society is petitioning to put right because at the moment when a bridle path ends the rider either has to cross a road or travel up a road for a brief period of time.
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Maybe around you, but around me in the middle of nowhere people ride on the roads because they want to, not because they have to, nothing to do with bridle paths.
 
InvaderGIR said:
Maybe around you, but around me in the middle of nowhere people ride on the roads because they want to, not because they have to, nothing to do with bridle paths.
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God knows why anyone would choose to ride on the roads, in my limited experience of riding I've found it boring and you always have to be looking over your shoulder, so I avoided it wherever possible, far more fun on the bridle paths as you can trot, canter or gallop if you really want to.
 
I'm sure they are much better, people round here seem to avoid 'offroading' their horses though. You do get the ones that ride in the sand schools and fields but for the most part they take them out on the roads. Luckily I know the main roads that they use locally and they are largeish roads so normally plenty of notice and time to slow and space to crawl past them. :)
 
Because 9 times out of 10 you need to ride on a road for a short amount of time to get to a place of interest to ride off-road, its not worth loading a horse into a box to take it 2 miles down the road.
 
Firestar_3x said:
Because 9 times out of 10 you need to ride on a road for a short amount of time to get to a place of interest to ride off-road, its not worth loading a horse into a box to take it 2 miles down the road.
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My point is the main riding places round here go out for long jaunts on the roads, more than a couple of miles.
 
Peter Diffey said:
What rubbish!!

Where will the cyclists go? Onto the pavement is the answer, im sure you would appreciate getting hit by a cyclist going 20mph :rolleyes:
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I'd enjoy it! :D

I've been hit by a cyclist going through the red lights at 20mph whilst I was crossing by foot, thinking I would stop/accelerate out of his way. Apart from a bruise on my leg, he came off rather worse. I felt no sympathy for his wounds or pain.

They manage it in holland and germany pretty well I don't understand why they can't have the same in the UK.

I think it's daft riding a horse on the road, ride it on the soil where they belong.
 
Wicksta said:
The problem in the UK is the lack of decent cycle paths, it really annoys me when I try and cycle somewhere and then I'm not able to because of stiles etc.
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What about the cyclists who refuse to use the cycle lanes?? I regularly see near accidents because some tool decideds to cycle down the dual carriageway rather than the cycle path next to it. Plus they always seem to be the type that refuses to move out of the way to let a car past and insist on sitting slap bang in the middle of the lane with a massive queue behind them. Argh!!! :D

On topic - I slow right down for horses so as to not scare them and make them rear. Would be pretty daft not to really. Fortunately I don't come across them very often and as such it doesn't really annoy me..
 
neil_g said:
thats NOT what im saying. im saying take the extra 30 seconds or so to check whats around the corner.
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:rolleyes:

Now that is a truly viable option, you should be transport minister ;)

Sorry to hear about the girl, but coming on the internet and venting in a Motors forum really isn't the best thing to do when expecting sympathy.

Never had problems with the horses and riders I have come across, but there are complete ****s on both sides of the fence on this one.
 
[TW]Fox;14706628 said:
Cyclists can be frustrating though, especially when there isnt room to get around them safely so you must sit behind them at 7mph. Very annoying.
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I agree it is very annoying, but generally how much is this going to delay you by? 30 seconds max? :p
 
When confronted with a horse, obviously one tries to make it as safe as possible.

However I think it has to remembered that the roads are made for CAR/MOTORBIKE users.

We pay serious tax for the priviledge of having a car on the road, and to have you come on and try and lecture us and having to be subserviant to something that doesnt pay its way is just taking the cheek.
 
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