Yesterday lunch time I had a long conversation with my colleagues about horses. They all know that I ride and that my family owns horses and over the time i've been at my job I get asked a lot of questions about all things horse related.
Anyway, so we got talking about horses riding out on the road and a variety of topics came up which I wanted to share with you, the reader and hopefully hear your thoughts..
Also, very sadly, it coincided with Horse & Hound publishing this article Teacher killed trying to remount her horse
This lady had to get off to shut a gate while out hacking with friends, her horse bolted (which was mentioned to have a history of doing when trying to be remounted) and sadly she died from her injuries. My thoughts are with her family and friends, it's so sad. I'm sorry.
It got me thinking though as it was something mentioned while discussing horses on the roads.
So many of you will remember a few months ago that a poll was conducting asking people if they think that horse riders and owners should pick up their horses poo if they do it on the road while out riding. Now if you're a horse owner you'll obviously scoff at this as being ridiculous and completely unsafe!
But many of the people signing that poll were (I assume) non horse riders or owners, and they wouldn't understand how dangerous it would be to dismount a horse on the road, or they're just ignorant. Who knows?
But what really got me thinking during this discussion and also the open admissions that, a lot of people just do not understand how to interact with a horse they encounter on the road, whether they are on a bike or in a car.
When mentioning that Georgie has to wear a headcam while out riding due to the amount of near misses or just plain silly drivers and cyclists they were shocked. Shocked that people would honestly try to endanger a person and an animal by them getting too close, going too fast or just plain trying to frighten a horse (we've been there with idiot teenagers in a car trying to purposely frighten Beanie but thats for another day). But then it got them asking - "when on a bike, how do you pass a horse safely?" to which I mentioned that it was much like passing a horse in a car. Slow right down, pass nice and wide at least 2 metres, and if you can do so safely and without scaring the horse, let the rider know you're passing.
Which then also got them asking "won't that frighten the horse". My reply was that you wouldn't shout as loud as you can, but either ring a bell, whistle or just speak up and say "cyclist behind you passing". But what do others think, should cyclists let you know they're behind you? Would that spook your horse, or would you and your horse actually prefer to be aware by a whistle or ring of a bell?
I know that when Georgie and I encountered a cycling club cyclist whizzing past Beanie as fast as he could without so much as a warning we concurred that cyclists on quiet road bikes should make an effort to let you know they're there. Horses are flight animals after all and their instinct is to run away from something they perceive as frightening or a danger to them. So by a cyclist flying past really quietly is going to spook a horse!
Now saying that, some horses are pretty much desensitised to almost everything and anything. They could have a bus go by and let it's air brakes off and not bat an eyelid, or pass roadworks or speeding cars and it not faze them at all. But as you may know, not all horses are like that.
Horses have different personalities, temperaments and have had different experiences which all affect how they would behalf on the road out hacking. Talking of which..
The conversation then steered into them asking did I think that the government or some governing body should assess horses before they are allowed on the road? At the time I wasn't quite sure what to answer..
I mean there are two sides.. Well at first you could answer, yes perhaps that would be a good idea. It could stop horse owners whose horse isn't ready for the road to give it plenty of training etc ready for the assessment and when it's finally ready, be allowed on the road.
But then on the other side, you could say that actually horses don't always react in the same way every time. There could be other factors which could one day mean the horse was absolutely fine on the road, and then another time it be very jumpy. Very windy days for example, as strong winds make some horses jumpy.
I don't have a definitive answer, even after sitting down last night and really thinking about it.
I wrote a comment on the H&H facebook and got some interesting replies -
There hasn't been a good safety awareness commercial on how to safely pass a horse on the road in a very long time. Years in fact!
And it needs to be put in between prime time tv programmes, not late at night or at some stupid time where no-one is going to see it.
We see a lot of "Think Bike" adverts, but why can't there be a "Think Horses" advert about how to pass a horse properly, and a fictional example of the impact of what an accident will have on people's lives. If a motorist hits and kills a horse and rider they have to live with that for the rest of their live. That is something I just cannot fathom people haven't thought of when driving inconsiderately on the road!
Plus also the impact a death would have on the the family and friends of the killed rider.
Here are a few photos which I found on a horse and rider road awareness group on facebook.
Follow them here
Use these pictures to put on your facebook to educate drivers by this simple picture of how much space you need and how slow they need to go.
And always always where your high viz! Us horse riders may look completely uncool but i'd rather look uncool than injured!
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