I can't ride Sid at the moment because his feet are too long for his boots (long story). Trimmer is coming next week but until then we are doing long walks and I'm taking the opportunity to introduce him to new places.
Today I thought I would see how he was with trains and level crossings, so we walked down into Chilworth and along the main road to the station. We walked on the pavement. Sid was absolutely fine, though he is terribly nosy and wants to stop and investigate all the houses! But I was quite surprised at how, because we were on the pavement, every driver acted as if we just weren't there and zipped past at 40mph. They were just as close as they would have been on the lane, but made no adjustment for passing Sid at all. It was certainly a good test of his traffic skills!
We got to the level crossing, which is one of the old type ones with rattly dangling gates hanging from the barriers. Sid huffed and snorted at the bright white and yellow road markings but crossed the rails well enough. We had got literally 10m from the crossing on the road to home when the lights started to flash and the barriers dropped. Sid was all "WTF?!" at the rattling and clattering but he walked back to the crossing when I asked and I let him graze on a bit of grass right by the lights
There was a couple of minutes before the train came. It was a through train and zoomed past at about 50mph. Sid didn't even lift his head! He was not bovvered.
However, when the gates lifted he was appalled and danced to the end of his rope on the tips of his toes with his eyes on stalks and a neck like a giraffe.
So, a curate's egg of a reaction, but I know to be careful of the gates if I encounter them ridden!
Today I thought I would see how he was with trains and level crossings, so we walked down into Chilworth and along the main road to the station. We walked on the pavement. Sid was absolutely fine, though he is terribly nosy and wants to stop and investigate all the houses! But I was quite surprised at how, because we were on the pavement, every driver acted as if we just weren't there and zipped past at 40mph. They were just as close as they would have been on the lane, but made no adjustment for passing Sid at all. It was certainly a good test of his traffic skills!
We got to the level crossing, which is one of the old type ones with rattly dangling gates hanging from the barriers. Sid huffed and snorted at the bright white and yellow road markings but crossed the rails well enough. We had got literally 10m from the crossing on the road to home when the lights started to flash and the barriers dropped. Sid was all "WTF?!" at the rattling and clattering but he walked back to the crossing when I asked and I let him graze on a bit of grass right by the lights
There was a couple of minutes before the train came. It was a through train and zoomed past at about 50mph. Sid didn't even lift his head! He was not bovvered.
However, when the gates lifted he was appalled and danced to the end of his rope on the tips of his toes with his eyes on stalks and a neck like a giraffe.
So, a curate's egg of a reaction, but I know to be careful of the gates if I encounter them ridden!
