Nice horsey...

[Globalti]

I once came flying down Holcombe Hill on my MTB and around a corner there was a teenage girl on a pony. The damned thing reared up and she managed to dismount partially but caught her foot in a stirrup and got dragged along the ground. I checked she was OK then made off smartish.

Then there was the time we rode down off the fell into a farm lane and a group of 3 very thin horses took off and gallopped down the field looking scared. The owner came out of her farmhouse and gave us a right old bollocking, apparently these nags were worth thousands.

Too small a brain in charge of too much muscle if you ask me.

 

[lukesdad]

Is that the horse or the owner your referring to Globalti

Well with a name like Sheamus Arch you shuold have known better

 

[buggi]

i've never had a problem riding up behind a horse. i always just give them as much room as possible and slow down.

 

[Arch]

Well with a name like Sheamus Arch you shuold have known better

At first, I (as a complete novice) was given Bryn. Possibly the laziest horse in the world. The first time we attempted a tiny jump (just a pole on the ground), he walked up to it, stopped, and then stepped over it one foot at a time, despite my attempts to urge him on.

Would have been less embarrassing if that week hadn't been the week my Mum and sister were staying, and came along to watch my prowess.

 

[Arch]

Oh, and I was out on the recumbent at the weekend (low down bright orange, with a flappy flag on a pole). Didn't pass any riders, but did pass several horses in fields. I would say it was about 50/50 between:

a) stand at the gate and watch me pass, ears pricked

and

run! run!, whatever it is, gallop away down the field!

Apart from one, which did a for a while, and then b.

 

[Norm]

Too small a brain in charge of too much muscle if you ask me.

I agree that you were a bit rash coming down Holcombe Hill like that but I think you are being a bit hard on yourself with that one.

Still, horses for courses. I prefer mine for a main course, with a nice Chilean red wine to accompany it.

 

[lukesdad]

Now let me see..... erm Bryn..... yes he would probably prefer opera.

Our permanent ones are Taffy ( 16 2 Pure welsh cob lazy does not like work and thinks he s the Boss)

Duke thoro bred (derby winner line does evrything at 100 miles an hour)

Panache pure welsh again ( he s a sod the one that wont go thru Puddles)

AND ANNIe Thoro bred again typical woman need I say more...

perhaps its all in the name.

 

[equicyclist]

blimey,that's confidence, or stupidity.

I found myself behind a couple of riders the other week, on my recumbent - even more of an issue than a standard upright. They saw me and moved up to a trot, so I ambled behind them, happy enough. When they could pull over and turn the horses to face me (gives a horse more confidence than seeing something out of the corner of their eye), they did. One dismounted to hold hers, the other I noticed was on the phone...

I think your rider was a bit over confident. I'm happy to have my MP3 player in on a country ride (on the bike, not a horse), but I can always hear over the top of it. Riding one handed and texting at the same time is lunatic!

Id say riding one handed is not a problem if the horse is used to it but deaf to someone calling out to you because you have music in your ears and not looking where you are going is a bit adventurous if not stupid.

 

[equicyclist]

Sounds daft to me. I used to pass a bombproof old war horse on my way to work, he had one eye and wasn't fazed by much at all according to the girls that rode him.

In the book "Don't lets go to the dogs tonight" the author talks of training her horse to be confident around gunfire in case it all kicks off. It was fine around gunfire after the training but still scared of everything else.

I used to ride police horses and strangely they would cope fairly happily with a football crowd but if they had had a bad experience with something they are likely to remember it so never be too careful on your bike as some dont like the noise of cycle brake blocks, that rubbing sound. My horse anyway !

 

[equicyclist]

Some horses will spook at a bike. Some won't. Some will spook at the most unexpected things: I remember having it explained to me by a competent rider, after she had skilfully calmed down her twitchy mount, that it wasn't my bike that had scared it, but a bale of straw wrapped in black polythene in a neighbouring field. Apparently the horse was more afraid of black polythene than anything else.

You never can tell - but the rider will know if they are acquainted with the animal. That's why I think the rider should be as attentive as a cyclist or a motorist. No mobile phones. No texting!

those bluetooth things work well for me. Do any of you use them on your bike?

 

[equicyclist]

I ride both bike and horse They re a litle more intellegent than Arch suggests not so much irrational fears as past experience. Obviously its a question of training and confidence as with a lot of leisure activities.

One of mine hates black and white cows the other wont walk through a puddle without a little persuassion

Horses have very keen hearing and will hear the displacement of air created by a cyclist from a greater distance than most people would think. This is totally alien to them as any other vehcile would have associated engine noise, but once seen by the horse it becomes a familar sight.

The warning I would give and expect would simply be "Im behind you" called at about 20 metres.

I dont carry even a mobile with me when I ride My wife doe s in case of emergency

Well hello there, Im from West Wales, Cross Hands. You are the first "local" ive found here!

 

[equicyclist]

my ex-boss does carriage dressage. Her husband took me out for a ride (and I admit it was great fun) to show me what it was like. Bird scarer? No bother. Very loud motorbike? No bother. Cyclists shooting past without warning? No bother. Orange Sainsbury's carrier bag in the hedge? Bolt-tastic. White ones? No trouble at all.

Have you got any routes that horses and cyclists can use together in Sussex?

 

[equicyclist]

Have you got any routes that horses and cyclists can use together in Sussex?

Im trying to find out which counties have multi user routes that include horses and which dont. Doesnt need to be all of them, just one or 2 that everyone can use. Wondering if there have been any issues and what surface is on them. Im talking to the council here about multi user routes at the moment.

 

[661-Pete]

Im trying to find out which counties have multi user routes that include horses and which dont. Doesnt need to be all of them, just one or 2 that everyone can use. Wondering if there have been any issues and what surface is on them. Im talking to the council here about multi user routes at the moment.

What are you referring to - on-road or off-road?

Routes in Sussex for horses and cyclists? Just take any road - literally any road except the few bits of motorway that is. There are more horses per square mile in Sussex, I think, than any other part of the the country (I can see a big argument looming ). I've seen horses going down the A23 dual carriageway, though that is unwise - and probably illegal.

I don't think I've ever gone out for a Sunday spin on the quiet country lanes, without passing several. And the odd horse-and-cart too - not all that uncommon - usually a pony-and-trap being driven for leisure. These last are safer to pass than riding-horses, it's invariably an older, better-tempered animal I think - and in blinkers.

 

[Arch]

As I understand it, any bridleway can be used by horses and bikes (possibly unless there's a specific prohibition on bikes), so there must be lots of such routes - of course whether a bike can negociate a churned up path is another thing (and whether a rider wants to ride on a hard surface).

For me (a fan of tarmac, the smoother the better) the ideal would be either a track wide enough to have a tarmac path and a grass verge, or something like hard packed clay with minimal gravel. But it depends whether the route needs to suit all cyclists, or just MTB'ers with knobbly tyres - they could cope with all sorts of mud.