Jaydurh
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Post by Jaydurh on Dec 31, 2008 13:45:31 GMT 1
even a wave gets missed by ignorant drivers who don't look where the horse is. i find is worse with tractors around my area. spot is petrified of them and rears, spins and tries to bolt, so then i dont have time to wave im more concerned about calming him down and not hitting the floor.
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cubic
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Post by cubic on Dec 31, 2008 13:53:38 GMT 1
I dont like hacking it company as I get so fustrated at ppl's rudeness to driver's. Even a smile to a driver thats slowed down takes nothing. Me too, and people who wave their whip at drivers annoy me just as much - it could be taken as being agressive!
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Post by Lynsey on Dec 31, 2008 16:43:28 GMT 1
In the example I quoted the horses were coming towards me so I was watching them all the time. Definitely didn't miss a nod/smile! However, I do see the other points in terms of it is easy to miss a nod etc if you are passing the horses going in the same direction and often it isn't safe to takes your hands off the reins. I think we should just all be nice to each other whether riders, walkers, car drivers etc.
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izzy
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Post by izzy on Dec 31, 2008 17:58:04 GMT 1
FAO morwenstowstud.......I was front seat passenger in the car and not one of them looked behind them before pulling out so they couldnt of been aware that we had slowed down for them.
I definately didnt miss a nod a smile or even a look to acknowledge us and i greatly appreciate the fact that some riders cannot take a hand of the reins for various reasons ie young horse, something in the hedge etc we have all been there im sure but these are all quiet horses and the roads were quiet too.
In my mind there was absolutely no excuse for the mother/adult not to acknowledge us.
sorry but if she had other things on her mind she shouldnt be out riding on the road in charge of children when full concentration is needed to be aware of your surroundings.
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Jaydurh
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Syrah Belle, Love of my life, My soul mate, You're my best friend.
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Post by Jaydurh on Dec 31, 2008 18:41:27 GMT 1
In my mind there was absolutely no excuse for the mother/adult not to acknowledge us. sorry but if she had other things on her mind she shouldnt be out riding on the road in charge of children when full concentration is needed to be aware of your surroundings. If they were on their way home and for example one of the childs ponies/horses had bolted previously. I believe it is safer to keep concentration in bad situations rather than waving at people in cars. Some things are more important. In my eyes anyway.
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Post by rifleman on Dec 31, 2008 19:18:01 GMT 1
In my mind there was absolutely no excuse for the mother/adult not to acknowledge us. sorry but if she had other things on her mind she shouldnt be out riding on the road in charge of children when full concentration is needed to be aware of your surroundings. If they were on their way home and for example one of the childs ponies/horses had bolted previously. I believe it is safer to keep concentration in bad situations rather than waving at people in cars. Some things are more important. In my eyes anyway. I agree that keeping yourself and your horse safe must be an over-riding consideration, and also that if you are escorting a child or novice rider they must be your prime concern, but I think this is getting away from the main point of the OP. This was that she has seen many instances where it was clear that the rider just could not be bothered to acknowledge another road user's courtesy. And I know it happens that way, because I've seen other riders do it when I've been out riding with them. It's not a matter of 'waving to people in cars' as though you were the Queen on a state visit - you don't even have to use your hand at all. As others have said, even a smile can do all that's needed. I do agree with the OP on how important this is. Take the case of a motorist who knows nothing at all about horses, but takes the trouble to pass wide and slow, and gets no acknowledgment at all. If that happens to him a few times, he may think "ignorant pillocks!", and decide not to bother the next time he sees a horse - or he may genuinely think that he doesn't need to slow down - and next time, pass the horse as he would any other traffic. Also, if a horse, or even worse, a child's pony was a known bolter, I wouldn't take it out on the road until the problem had been sorted - a public road is not a suitable place to deal with something as potentially lethal as that. Best regards, Jack
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Post by ladynowak on Dec 31, 2008 23:57:16 GMT 1
In my mind there was absolutely no excuse for the mother/adult not to acknowledge us. sorry but if she had other things on her mind she shouldnt be out riding on the road in charge of children when full concentration is needed to be aware of your surroundings. If they were on their way home and for example one of the childs ponies/horses had bolted previously. I believe it is safer to keep concentration in bad situations rather than waving at people in cars. Some things are more important. In my eyes anyway. I couldn't disagree more. If a childs four legged mount had bolted previously then they should not have been on the road with a rider who was not able to control them. If it had happened on the ride then they should have been off the horses/ponies leading them home. The same goes for any horse that is not safe in traffic. There is no excuse for the adult rider not to be checking for the traffic, thanking drivers etc. It only takes a smile, which costs nothing. For those who don't thank drivers for slowing down because their horses are creating in the middle of the road (there are some of those just down the road from my yard) you shouldn't be on the roads. Grrr... I have the same amount of tolerance for ignorant riders as I do for ignorant drivers... none.
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Post by donnalex on Jan 1, 2009 0:04:46 GMT 1
Horses have to be taken out on the roads to get to the point where they are trustworthy on them. They are not born quiet in traffic and used to all situations.
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Jaydurh
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Post by Jaydurh on Jan 1, 2009 0:10:42 GMT 1
If they were on their way home and for example one of the childs ponies/horses had bolted previously. I believe it is safer to keep concentration in bad situations rather than waving at people in cars. Some things are more important. In my eyes anyway. I couldn't disagree more. If a childs four legged mount had bolted previously then they should not have been on the road with a rider who was not able to control them. If it had happened on the ride then they should have been off the horses/ponies leading them home. The same goes for any horse that is not safe in traffic. There is no excuse for the adult rider not to be checking for the traffic, thanking drivers etc. . So does that mean I shouldnt be allowed to hack my horse out just because hes not 100% bombproof. Their is no 100& bombproof horse. even my ex police horse spooks at times. If the childs pony had bolted for example, even if its out of the blue they still have to get home usually via roads. They wont have a helicopter to pick um up lol. Some horses are just scared of certain traffic.
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Post by morwenstowstud on Jan 1, 2009 2:26:57 GMT 1
FAO morwenstowstud.......I was front seat passenger in the car and not one of them looked behind them before pulling out so they couldnt of been aware that we had slowed down for them. I definately didnt miss a nod a smile or even a look to acknowledge us and i greatly appreciate the fact that some riders cannot take a hand of the reins for various reasons ie young horse, something in the hedge etc we have all been there im sure but these are all quiet horses and the roads were quiet too. In my mind there was absolutely no excuse for the mother/adult not to acknowledge us. sorry but if she had other things on her mind she shouldnt be out riding on the road in charge of children when full concentration is needed to be aware of your surroundings. Your tone is a little harsh. Unnecessary I feel. I don't just use my eyes when I'm out, I use my ears. I listen for cars. I can tell roughly what speed they are coming at, I can tell if they are slowing down. If they were in front of you then they had every right to keep going past parked cars. If they are trotting along a road isn't it, ( or shouldn't it be) obvious that they are going to keep going and if there are parked cars that they will be going past them? Shouldn't the driver have expected this? If they were in front of you, I assume that at some point you passed them. Isn't it possible that you were aknowledged once past? I always aknowledge when a car has passed, and hope they are looking in their mirror. Can you honestly say that your eyes were glued to every riders face, every second? I doubt it. It's easy to miss a brief smile or nod, especially on a moving horse where a nod could easily be missed. A smile can be missed in a blink. I acknowledge EVERY other road user I pass. I'm sure there are times it has been missed. Maybe someone has even gone on a forum moaning about how rude I was. Who knows.
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Post by rifleman on Jan 1, 2009 5:09:46 GMT 1
I couldn't disagree more. If a childs four legged mount had bolted previously then they should not have been on the road with a rider who was not able to control them. If it had happened on the ride then they should have been off the horses/ponies leading them home. The same goes for any horse that is not safe in traffic. There is no excuse for the adult rider not to be checking for the traffic, thanking drivers etc. . So does that mean I shouldnt be allowed to hack my horse out just because hes not 100% bombproof. Their is no 100& bombproof horse. even my ex police horse spooks at times. If the childs pony had bolted for example, even if its out of the blue they still have to get home usually via roads. They wont have a helicopter to pick um up lol. Some horses are just scared of certain traffic. Jaydurh - I don't believe there is such a thing as a 100% bombproof horse; as you say, any horse can spook at times. But, even if a horse or pony bolted whilst out on a ride, never having done that before, I would do the same as Ladynowak - get off, and lead it home. If I take my Land Rover out on a public road, then I feel it is my moral, as well as legal, responsibility, to make sure it's in safe working order. If it's not, then I'm not only putting myself at risk, but also other people. And, in principle, I can see no difference when I take a horse out in a public place; I'm not sure about legal responsibilities, but I certainly have moral obligations. No, I can't make that horse totally bombproof; I can't even guarantee he'll never spook. But I think it only fair to all concerned (not least the horse) to do my best to ensure that I don't put him in a situation he can't cope with. And part of this is down to checking from a safe distance how he feels about traffic, and doing whatever work is required to desensitise him, as far as is possible. As to how to go about that, there was a thread started a month or two back by Ginger Loon, which went into some detail about the time and effort she put into de-spooking her horse. It may be the case, with some horses, that they will never be able to cope with traffic, or with certain vehicles. A friend of mine had a horse which was involved in a very near miss, and was completely traumatised. Over a period of time, he tried to get the horse past the trauma, without any success - so he never took the horse out on the road again. As he said, it was cruel to the horse, and dangerous for other people. Yes, many car drivers are ignorant of horses, and of the problems faced by riders. Why shouldn't they be? How much does an average horse rider know about the difficulties and dangers of driving a steam engine? The way I see it, even if another road user completely ignores my wave, nod, smile, whatever - I'm going to do it anyway. Because there are others who will see it, and appreciate it. Best regards, Jack
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Post by ladynowak on Jan 1, 2009 17:10:32 GMT 1
So does that mean I shouldnt be allowed to hack my horse out just because hes not 100% bombproof. Their is no 100& bombproof horse. even my ex police horse spooks at times. If the childs pony had bolted for example, even if its out of the blue they still have to get home usually via roads. They wont have a helicopter to pick um up lol. Some horses are just scared of certain traffic. It means that you should do enough work with your horse so that they don't have a nervous breakdown over cars coming past. My horses aren't 100% in traffic, but I can always keep their back ends on the right side of the road and not let them go galloping off into the distance if something spooks them. Nothing wrong with the odd spook, but my point is that if you can't control your horse on the roads and be able to smile/nod at the driver that has managed to avoid your horse creating you shouldn't be on the road. You would have thought that if said ponies had previously bolted down the road with child on board having a nervous breakdown that the mother would be more vigilant.
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Jaydurh
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Syrah Belle, Love of my life, My soul mate, You're my best friend.
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Post by Jaydurh on Jan 1, 2009 21:23:25 GMT 1
So does that mean I shouldnt be allowed to hack my horse out just because hes not 100% bombproof. Their is no 100& bombproof horse. even my ex police horse spooks at times. If the childs pony had bolted for example, even if its out of the blue they still have to get home usually via roads. They wont have a helicopter to pick um up lol. Some horses are just scared of certain traffic. Jaydurh - I don't believe there is such a thing as a 100% bombproof horse; as you say, any horse can spook at times. But, even if a horse or pony bolted whilst out on a ride, never having done that before, I would do the same as Ladynowak - get off, and lead it home. I wouldn't get off it though, it teaches it bad habits. It will learn that in future if it bolts you will get off it and it can do it again.
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Post by morwenstowstud on Jan 1, 2009 23:08:07 GMT 1
It doesn't matter how much you despook, any horse is capable of spooking or running away. My Highland is a large, fat, hairy sofa who needs a rocket up his backside...until he goes round a corner with my daughter and spots the hunt in the distance and takes off to join in. He's normally so placid nothing even makes him flick an ear. A horse is a living, thinking being and no amount of despooking can guarantee that it will never react to things by spooking or taking off.
Also no matter how much prep you do with a young horse, unless you happen to own a few miles of private roadway complete with traffic, the first few times out on the road ar an unknown quantity and young horses can be naughty. If no one should ever take a naughty horse on the road, how are they to become used to the road. Despooking with plastic sheeting, is not going to stop them spooking at a moving vehicle.
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Jaydurh
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Syrah Belle, Love of my life, My soul mate, You're my best friend.
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Post by Jaydurh on Jan 1, 2009 23:09:15 GMT 1
i agree.
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