andytheflyer
Guru
- Location
- South Cheshire
Throughout this topic I have been pleasantly surprised at the consideration being given to horse riders. I have owned horses most of my life and can tell you it isn't always so with other road users. If a young horse's first experience of a bike, be it a recumbent or otherwise is good then they usually won't be a problem in the future so your patience and consideration is very valuable to the horserider. I had a Connemara pony who was bombproof with any traffic but was terrified of bikes after a mountain biker coming down the Pennine Bridleway on Mount Famine hit a rock, he fell off and his bike came flying through the air to land at the pony's feet. Very unfortunate and it took a lot to reassure her whenever we saw any bikes after that. Sometimes though there just isn't a reason and as someone else has said sometimes it's the rider. A nervous rider is telling the horse there is something to worry about, then the horse decides the focus of the fear.
I am very disappointed at the response you had @byegad from the lady rider. I expect she was panicking but no excuse. We should all have tolerance and a care for the safety of others, it cuts both ways.
Well, as non-motorised road users, paid for from our tax payments, we all have to get along, so a little courtesy does no harm.
But I'd have to declare a greater interest in not wanting to share my laid-back GRP seat with half a tonne of frenzied horse, lashing out with steel-shod hooves. Even if only for a second or two. My family used to keep horses, so I have a fair understanding of what they weigh, the force implicit in a flying hoof, and just how stupid an apparently intelligent animal can be. If a simple banal conversation (yes, it's a 'funny' bike, coming past, I'll keep talking....) whilst creeping past can avoid an unfortunate incident, then so be it.