The rest of you… do you ever make it out into the country side enough to see people out riding horses, on public highways… unless I’m mistaken - they don’t pay road tax… and I do - so they’ve no right to be on my roads, and they’ve especially no right to try adn give me an ear-full after one of their horses went nuts after I jumped the crest of a hill to find horses coming the other way …
… I don’t begrudge the young (cute) lass for being scared… but I mean… wtf… it’s a road, not a bridle way… I respect that horses are big powerful animals, and quite capable of killing a rider if they get spooked (even the fall can kill a rider… it nearly had superman) but get the **** off my roads.
(we’re talking national speed limit roads, way out of the way of civilisation)
… I appreciate your inputs, I know there’s a few horse riders on here… why do you ride on roads… surely it aint good for the horse’s feet, legs/joints, etc - and this **** keeps happening to me.
Up here maintaining the speed limit on a national-limit road is a good bench of how good a rider you are… the road in question was plenty wide enough, and if there was a vehicle coming the other way, provided it wasn’t in the middle of the road (overtaking horses) I’d still be fine jumping the brow…
a bit of an ignorant generalisation dont you think Hambley
for starters riders who are usually on the road are usually taking the horses somewhere
why on earth would the road not be good for a horses hooves?
You will probably notice when you go into the countryside that there are a fair few signs warning of animals i.e. horses, pigs, cows because such animals belong in the countryside
The reason why there is a limit when you are around powerful animals like horses is not only for the riders safety but for your safety because if that horse were to kick you, you and whatever bike you were riding would go flying and you would probably spend the rest of your time in care
Plus we are all tax payers even the young cute lass on the horse. I must add that the whole “I pay my taxes” gripe gets boring as majority of the population, homeowners, landlords, higher income earners probably pay more than you do
Glad to see you’re jumping hills without a good idea of what’s on the other side… horse & rider, not very tall is it? Definetly a sign of how good a rider you are managing to keep to a minimum of 60.
I have no objection to cattle, pigs and the like, but horse owners get up my wick. Firstly they should be insured, after all, farmers are insured if their cattle do damage to your car/property, so why not horse owners? Think it should be compulsory.
Give them a good going on your horn, they all seem to like that - or so I’m told
I like horses. I like them to use the road freely. It’s my fault and responsability if I can’t control my machine enough to not scare them when overtaking. Who cares about the road tax issue…they pay enough for the stables hire…
I too respect horses being on the road for a short while but it does annoy me when horse riders have to exercise their beasts on the public highway when there are usually plenty of bridle paths available. A few hundred yards from where I live, there’s fields and the owners have no choice but to use the road for about a quarter of a mile and I’m always careful. However, what pi$$e$ me off is why on earth they can’t clear their equestrian mess. Horse manure is a flamin’ hazard on the road and they always leave huge great clumps of it right in the middle!
“…one of their horses went nuts after I jumped the crest of a hill”
And therein lies the answer. HTF did you know what was on t’other side of crest??? Thing is, they were probably obeying the rules of the road, whereas you were riding like a prat on a mission on a public highway. Yes, we all do from time to time, but when those affected by our silly actions take issue with it, how can we justify a moan???
“this **** keeps happening to me.”
Well if this seems to be a recurring theme on your rides, then perhaps your hazard perception/defensive riding techniques need polishing-up.
BTW, I’m not an animal lover (unless the thing is on a plate and covered in gravy) and I cant stand horses.
hambley - sorry mate but you’re in the wrong here…
First of all - keeping to the national speed limit is not a bench of how good a rider you are - riding at a flexible and appropriate speed with good observation is a good bench.
So if you have a good view of the road ahead, nice bends, clean lines then the speed limit is the flexible and appropriate speed… if you’re approaching a hazard - like a bridge where you can’t see the road ahead you should… take in the information available, select an appropriate position, slow to an appropriate speed, select a flexible gear and then accelerate away from the hazard. All nice and smooth and quick - you’ll actually make more progress doing this than hurtling away at the speed limit all the time… and you’ll arrive in one piece and share the road.
What you did was ignore the road conditions, make assumptions about a stretch of road you couldn’t see and then got your back up when another road user quite rightly gave you a mouthful - I would have to. What if a van was overtaking a cyclist? Or the horses? Or a pedestrian? You’d be dead implanted in the front of a truck. You point about road tax is mute - it’s a public highway not a toll road.
I’d grab a copy of Advanced Riding for Motorcyclists before you start saying what a bench of a good rider is if I were you
… you can actually see the road, as you wind down to it, and there was nothing else coming - but, I see your point - it’s one of my little pleasures in life… that hill - provided there’s nothing coming the opposite way, on my side of the road, there’s more than enough room to handle anyhting messy that might happen…
“this **** always happens to me” – round here, horses, cattle (had a sheep run out me the other day) hore **** on the roads, i’m talking 100% rural nothingness, the only things there are me, and horses, apparently…
It’s not the first, or last time I’ve had a moutfull from a horse rider, because they’ve been in the wrong - wriding in groups of 4/6 taking up an entire lane and causing a traffic jam… their justification “it’s first time on the road”… **** her, she was ride in a field until she’s old enough to accept the dangers…
A horse is a big, powerful, dangerous animal… at least as dangerous as a motorcycle - and motorcycles dont freak out if something startles them - if another ****ing horse rider waves me to slow down, i swear, I’m going to kick it down a gear and nail it past them as noisily as humanly possible.
Horse **** is a hazard, horses are, and toffs in jodpers are the worse part about it - i took the hill at 40… it’s one of those that’s just the right shape to give you the rollercoaster effect when u go over it - and the horses weren’t evne right there I had time to slow down and stop, before I got to them.
I’m gonna work on my burn outs before next time - ******s
…on reflection - don’t ever ride the bike when you’re angry, frustrated, or wound up…
I’m gonna take back the nastiness in this thread… because much as they **** me off, if a young kid fell off the horse and was killed/worse because of me, I wouldn’t be able to live with it -
But they should have a little consideration… the speed limit comment, if you can do 40-60, consistently, then that’s a good bench, that’s a safe speed most of the time, and keeping your observations up so you can do a flat 60 without diving on the breaks at every corner is a good way to ride.
(I’m taking my bike instructor’s advice and not riding when I’m wound up, it’s too easy to get the red-mist and do something stupid & dangerous)
… sorry if I offended anyone, but I think it’s time to break out the mountain bike, and go calm down… peace.
Reminds me of a particularly eventful ride with my instructor while doing my DAS, on the A234 (I think) towards Ash. Lots of horsey bridleways in that general vicinity so you don’t usually see the neddies riding along the roads, just crossing them occasionally. Well there we were, having a gentle bimble at 50 along a straight road with good visibility ahead and behind when some old nag came tearing out of a bridleway without a rider straight across the road about 20ft in front of my instructor. If he’d been closer the horse would’ve had him off and both would have been seriously injured, and thank ffff nothing was coming the other way. Would have been really nasty.
Yeah it gave me a fright too, but the reason I nearly fell off my bike was with laughing at the sharp intake of breath followed by the torrent of swearing and abuse that came over the mike. Real ‘brown trouser’ moment that was, but hilarious because no-one was hurt (well maybe there was a rider a long way back down the bridleway sitting on their bruised arse, but no-one I saw).
I’m a bumpkin and grew up with horses being on all the rural roads - what freaked me out was encountering a police horse in London for the first time! They are so different from country horses - shame they’re not all so calm around traffic.
hands up - sorry for my outburst, but surely the horse heard me coming… the gf just chucked me so i was pissed off!
I had my dad crash twice on lessons (we learned together) - he just binned the bike into corners, twice - that made for some startled pedestrians!
Horses are a pain in the arse… and I totally second the police horses comment… is it just me or are they ****ing massive?
I walked into one drunk (ok, leathered) once - it was like walking into a brick wall the copper just told me to back away… i wasn’t in an arguing mood :S
The angry young man in me completely understands what you’re pissed off about. Yes, these posh birds should be exercising their expensive pets well away from your favourite country road. But since they don’t, you must ride with them in mind, which means no flying up blind hills when you know these hazards to be present in the area.
Screaming past a horse at flank speed not only makes you come across as a bit of a prick, but gives all bikers a bad name. Plus if that horse freaks out and dumps the bitch in the ditch, they’ll not only have you but the fact you made somebody into a drooling mess in an electric mobility scooter will forever weigh on your conscience.
Plus, of course, the drooling mess might be you, if it’s a tractor making a u-turn behind that blind hill.
Trust me, since I’ve tasted how hard both other vehicles and the road are, my opinion on these topics has somewhat changed.
The bottom line? If you’re riding in an area known to have these types of hazards slow the hell down if you wanna see old age. And if you are absolutely itching for a burn, pick a road well away from horses where you can see whats out there miles ahead, and light it up.
Also – riding while angry is a subject in itself. My Police Riders Handbook says something about not letting emotions affect your riding, as they invariably do. In my courier days, if I would have gotten a chip on my shoulder everytime somebody in traffic pissed me off, I wouldn’t have lasted a week. It takes a it of practise to shrug it off and just carry on as normal, but it’s something you’ll have to learn… or bad things will happen to you. Not right away, but eventually. Practise than Zen-calm. Remember, when you let somebody piss you off, you’re giving THEM power over YOU. Don’t give them that power.
“A horse is a big, powerful, dangerous animal… at least as dangerous as a motorcycle - and motorcycles dont freak out if something startles them - if another ****ing horse rider waves me to slow down, i swear, I’m going to kick it down a gear and nail it past them as noisily as humanly possible.”
WELL AINT YOU THE CLEVER ONE, (i edited out the swear words myself so my reply is not full of asterisks)
Remember a horse has a brain, and dangerous ??? are you bloody kidding though i guess if in the wrong hands it will be like you on a bike , a bike doesnt have a brain it requires someone with a brain to ride it, something you seem to lack when out on your bike, how many you stacked so far ???..a lot of horse owners do tend to insure their PRIDE AND JOY…
And you dont have to be posh, a woman i know works two jobs to enable her to keep her horses and she aint no totty with a high paying job
Yes you don’t have to be posh me and my wife ride and we’re hardly the landed gentry… it’s is also worth reminding people that most horses ‘on the road’ are insured - either by specific insurance as we have or via the legal protection on your house hold legal cover.
Do you get a get-out-of-blame-free card when you have an accident? After all, a horse has a mind of its own… something you can’t claim with a bike.
“Honest officer, the sight of that diesel spill/flash box/roadsite MOT musta startled her, and she just decided to scream down the road on the back wheel all of a sudden, and nearly threw me off!”
It’s no defence you are in charge of the animal and how it behaves on the road - if you’re not in control it’s your fault period. But if a loud bike comes jumping over a bridge and makes the horse bolt, killing the rider and the bike rider… then I wonder who’s fault that is?
