Have you ever nearly hit a horse?

angelfben

angelfben

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Jul 12, 2004
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How many of us (drivers) have had a near miss with a horse on the roads?

I hold my hands up.. dusk on a winters evening last year, girl in dark clothing on a dark bay horse - I came round a corner on a country lane and saw her at literally the last minute. I stopped in time but dread to think what would of happened had I been distracted for the split second extra it would have taken me to hit her (changing the radio station, even glancing in my mirror).

Really brought home to me how dangerous it is to be out on the roads on a horse and how important hi-viz is. :eek:
 
not a horse, but a cyclist with no lights or hi viz must have just missed him by a hairs breadth

scared me witless, scarred for life :eek:
 
I was driving the other night in the near enough pitch dark down an unlit country lane when a car coming towards me started flashing me.. :confused: So I braked as you do knowing he was warning me of something (and thinking maybe it was a speed camera :eek: )... it was only a few hundred yards down the road, after thankfully having slowed right down, that I spotted the cyclist with no lights or hi-viz whatsoever. Thank god for the other driver warning me or I dread to think what could have happened :eek:
 
I nearly had a guy round my way who rides early morning, big dark bay, not good on road and he wears dark clothes. It was dark and misty and I was only travelling slowly but even tho I politely suggested he wear some hi viz I was told to mind my own business.
 
The girl I nearly hit just gave me a withering look, it's infuriating enough for me I dread to think what non-horsey drivers must think :(

I'm always mortified if a car fails to see me or my horse misbehaves while a cars passing! :eek:
 
yup. girl (no hat let alone hi vis) on a big bay complete with tendon boots, martingale, jumping saddle, all the kit, that was having a loony fit in the middle of the road as i came round the corner (45mph ish)

wasn't particularly dark but was late afternoon. stopped about 3ft from the horse. could have been very nasty.

have seen her a couple of times since, always solo, horse always jumping about, girl always hatless and no hi vis. sticks her nose in the air at the sight of us (or maybe shes just blinded by how brightly coloured we are!).
 
yes, very similar story to you. i got out and gave her a piece of my mind, she was very huffy and defensive until i pointed out i had two of my own and it would have devastated me to hit one, i wasn't an 'inconsiderate motorist'. with the best will and best driving skill inthe world, you just can't see them in time when they don't wear hiviz. i have done similar on several occasions since - when they see the pass wide and slow sticker in the back screen and see me in jods, it shuts up any arguments about how i wasn't looking out carefully enough.
 
Yes, nearly hit one this weekend in bright day light !
Tree-lined lane, very low but very bright autumn sun, and shadows all over the road. Two riders without any hi-viz whatsoever, dark horses, dark clothes. It was as if they suddenly jumped out of the shadows... or rather, they DID suddenly jump out of the shadows - into the middle of the road. Don't know how I missed them!
On my way back along the same road I saw the same two riders - again at the very last minute! Went past them a bit too fast but if I'd braked at the last minute rather than swerved at a speed I probably would have scared the horses a lot more!
As I got "the finger" from both riders I decided not to bother trying to explain the use of hi-viz gear even on a sunny day. :mad:
 
Yes, more than once :(

I drive home from work along back roads and through the summer months would see a couple of hackers almost every day. Usually not a problem because most of them are high-viz'd and I drive pretty slowly, expecting to meet horses. There's always a few idiots (on both sides of the fence!) but generally the riders are visible and polite to the drivers, and drivers are mostly careful.

I almost took the same girl out a twice though, and saw her a couple of times a week along the same lane. Typical country road with lots of bends and high shady hedges, and she rode a dark bay horse with no white bits, always wearing black or brown jods with a dark tee shirt and not a scrap of white or high-viz. It also didn't help that her horse was a bit skittish and prone to swinging its bum out, or that she rarely bothered to acknowledge drivers who slowed to pass her. After a couple of months of this, one day I pulled into a layby well ahead of her and got out to say hello. I started with an apology for bothering her, and asked if she'd thought about wearing lighter clothes or high viz as I was concerned for her and the horse. To say she was snotty is putting it lightly!! I haven't actually seen her since - I hope its because she's riding on the road at different times of day (or not at all), not that someone finally hit them.
 
same here. dark clothing, dark horse, dark background (trees shadows etc). Just spotted an odd movement between the bushes, rounded the corner at less than 20mph (thinking it might be a deer) and there was a rather agitated horse bang in the middle of the road. I despair of these inconsiderate and arrogant riders who feel their riding skills make them invincible, and it's that minority that gives the rest of us a bad name imo. I would be devastated to hit a horse and rider - am always ultra carfeul passing them (and am appreciative when a driver gives us the same courtesy)
 
Yes, OH and I have come across this - what is wrong with these riders?! Last one we had a narrow miss with, was riding a dark horse, was dressed in black / browns and had no hi viz on at all - it wasn't a bright day either, it was dull and verging on misty. Terrible really, just don't understand what it is about hi viz gear that they find so awful!!! I even wear mine hacking round the fields - well, you never know......
 
Mine were kept down a private lane that the kids from the yard at the end of the lane rode on in winter. I nearly hit one dressed in dark clothes riding a dark brown pony and I was only doing 10mph at most!!
Needless to say that when the child rode past I gave it some sten advice and a yellow vest I had spare in the car in case I broke down/ had to change a wheel etc.
Despite a few tears the next time I saw them out they were visible!!!
 
I ran my own stallion over once !
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He had escaped and was running about on the road. (the road goes nowhere and has about 5 cars a day along it) in the dark at night. He was giggling and playing hard to get, so I went out with the van to use the headlights so I could see what he was up to. He made a dash for the gate to go back in, so I reversed as quickly as I could but he'd stopped in the middle of the road so I reversed into him. He really did make for home after than, thankfully without a mark on him.

OH had to shunt a Shetland pony out in the hill, who wouldn't get out of the middle of the road, van bumpers up his bottom to persuade him to get out the way
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Had a narrow miss with a runner, going along a narrow country road (same one I ride along with hi-viz and never after the light starts to go) - it is a switchback, with lots of hills and blind bends and he was running towards me (doing that bit right anyway), out in the road a bit, wearing black. It had just got dark and he was invisible until I was practically on top of him.

Do people really not think at all? I mean, I'm sure he wouldn't have driven his car at that time of the evening without lights...

Riders around me are pretty universally hi-vizzed up to the eyeballs and you can see them miles away (it really catches the eye :)).
 
I don't tend to see many riders when I'm driving, but have had trouble with a few when I've been riding!

First lot were a bunch of kids, all probably under 16, about 5 of them with 2 ponies between them. They were in the middle of the road, with cars behind them waiting patiently to get past, horses playing up, kids walking next to them. We were taking Pumpkin up to a show and had to pull her in to wait for this huge group to come past, didn't even say thank you, and certainly didn't say thank you to the poor drivers who were having to wait behind them.

Next lot were 2 riders, no hi-viz whatsoever with 2 hyped up horses which were riding behind us. There was a car behind them who was waiting patiently, so we stopped to let him past. These 2 riders obviously hadn't even bothered to look behind them to see why we'd stopped, so put their horses into trot and went skitting past us, winding our horses up and rather annoying the driver behind, not to mention it was a blind bend and they were riding abreast :eek: We decided to turn round and go for another lap round the housing estate to make sure we didn't meet them again and to calm Spyder down who at this point was passaging down the road because the other horses had wound him up so much!
 
i've seen girls hacking in the middle of the road on dark horses plodding down the lanes, wearing dark clothes, not good, especially as theyre dark woodland lanes that cars speed down.

i've almost gone the other way and been hit, as a ponyi was riding took a spook and a car was too impatient to wait for me to pass him and zoomed past. driver almost hit my pony as there was a motorbiker on other side of lane, so there wasnt much room. pony spooked at car coming within a few inches off.
 
Drove past 2 kids from the local primary school out in rush hour traffic in the pitch black with no hi viz and the rear pony was black!! Luckly I recognised them and got someone to speak to one of the mothers. She had let her child out knowing that it was pitch black and they had nothing on. Stupid woman!! Never saw them out again in the dark thank goodness.
 
~*sugarlump*~ said:
i've almost gone the other way and been hit, as a ponyi was riding took a spook and a car was too impatient to wait for me to pass him and zoomed past. driver almost hit my pony as there was a motorbiker on other side of lane, so there wasnt much room. pony spooked at car coming within a few inches off.
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I nearly backed a pony into a tractor :eek:

Silly sod was meant to be standing nicely in a layby, instead he grabbed a thistle and tried to eat it whilst walking backwards. In the end I had to get one of the other girls to pull him forward as he wasn't listening to me at all and nearly went under it.
 
angelfben said:
I hold my hands up.. dusk on a winters evening last year, girl in dark clothing on a dark bay horse - I came round a corner on a country lane and saw her at literally the last minute.
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Happened to me too and it was some one from my own yard.

I was as angry that she had put herself, the horse and me in such a dangerous situation as I was relieved I hadn't hit her.
 
two girls very busy main road, 8.30 at night riding the wrong way up the road, very nearly didnt see them. Why do people not understand the meaning of safety, sometimes I think are they just ignorant or naive??

Danielle
 
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