Horse Riding on Major Roads

[milly143]

On my way home last night I was following one of these big trucks that carries scaffolding. It's pretty much all country side round here but most of the roads are wide with a 50 or 60 mph limit. Driving along what is one of the busiest roads connecting two towns, two horse riders suddenly appeared from a side road to join the main road we were on. The sound and speed (probably only about 40mph at that point) of the truck in front of me spooked the larger horse who began spinning round and stepping into other parts of the road. All vehicles came to a stop until the rider eventually managed to get the horse under control but it was very unnerving for a while. The other rider was just a child on a smaller horse and would have had no hope if something more had happened.

Do you think horse riders should be limited to where and when they take their horses out on public roads?

[askyourgran]

Bit difficult to say, I live in a semi-rural town with lots of horses around. We often have to drive slowly around horses and riders on our minor roads. There are bridleways on certain main (trunk) roads and staggered gateways where they can cross a busy road, but not enough. The British Horse Society are always on hand to press for more bridleways. Horses can easily be spooked by large rattling lorries and it's up to the rider to know his mount to bide his time at crossroads, and to ease into a main road.

[boxtops]

The only time I nearly had a bad accident was when I had a cyclist racing along behind me, I'd overtaken a slow vehicle safely on a country lane when I saw two horses coming over the brow of the hill in the distance. Frightened the life out of me, having to pull back in in time to slow sufficiently for the horses to come past.

[rsvp]

there are 'bombproof' horses that have thrown their toys out of the cot when the Red Arrows have passed overhead and the results have been horrendous. There are also areas of UK that are subject to low flying aircraft manoeuvres and the average happy hacker is unaware of the dates and times. No matter how bombproof you think your pony is, if you are on a busy road the results will be catastrophic.
with due respect to all who think their horses/ponies are bombproof think again. You may meet a pig, goat, alpaca, ostrich farm, whatever I'm not out to start a war, just want to say, as horse riders, we are responsible for the safety of our horses and ouselves when we are on the roads .

[Bambiagain]

rsvp - I think the thing to bear in mind is that horses are animals and not machines. Unfortunately, many drivers of cars and lorries do not seem to realise this and drive too fast/too close, and not all riders act responsibly either. Riding on the roads (in fact riding anywhere) involves taking a risk and I'm sure that the majority of riders would quite happily avoid roads if they could. The question that Milly asked is whether riders should be limited to where and when they ride. In some cases this is unrealistic, but I do feel that riders who value their own skins, and those of their horses, should ride responsibly, allowing for their own capabilities as well as the known temperament of their own individual animals. However, regrettably, sometimes unknown factors appear and accidents occur. Would that they could be avoided!

[tamborine]

Horses dont deliberately run into vehicles nor commit hari-kari. If you happen to crash into a horse you would need a foolproof reason to blame the horse or rider for insurance puposes.

[bednobs]

no, the horses and riders are just as entitled to use the road as car drivers

[rsvp]

bambiagain -I'm very aware horses are not machines, - have exercised enough t/breds to substantiate that!!!!. milly143's poser is irrelevant - it ain't going to happen - horse riders and the great motoring public just have to grub along - there will be idiots on both sides and the resultant carnage mopped up.