Abitrary said:I haven't seen a horse on the roads in about 20 years (I think).
Anyone who doesn't sees lots of horses needs to relocate because the whole area sounds dangerous and unkempt.
Abitrary said:Where are these horses???? Is this all to do with leisure cycling on horse paths?
Bang on the nail and exactly the same entirely selfish reason I voted no to a ban; the fear that we'll be next.byegad said:I voted for horses to be allowed on roads. To be honest I'd be happy if I never see another on the road, but then I feel the same way about caravans and many other road users too.
Why did I vote to keep them then? Because if we ever do ban horses, or caravans, or mad BMW drivers, the next group to be banned will be cyclists!
byegad said:I voted for horses to be allowed on roads. To be honest I'd be happy if I never see another on the road, but then I feel the same way about caravans and many other road users too.
Why did I vote to keep them then? Because if we ever do ban horses, or caravans, or mad BMW drivers, the next group to be banned will be cyclists!
515mm said:I must admit to an irrational loathing of horse riders, or more accurately, horse owners. I catch myself thinking that the riders are pompous and the horses are a vulgar, ostentatious display of excessive wealth. Especially so if the rider is a child. I catch myself feeling that the child's parents must have bought every other status symbol they could think of, but they can't buy Darling Emma a car because Emma is too young to drive. They can spend thousands of pounds a year on another half-ton conveyance however, this time with a mind of it's own. That'll definitely get them noticed down at the golf club.
I've probably got that fiscal envy.
bonj said:Not all the time they're not!
I've seen a horse in a large group of horses rearing up and the rider was struggling to control it, it wouldn't stop rearing its front legs up and waving them about.
This was on a canal towpath, and it was doing this before I approached, so it wasn't me that caused it. I pulled in the side and held myh bike on the verge as close in to the hedge as I could while they passed, and they still frowned at me as they passed.
This although anecdotal is not atypical of the attitudes, and just this one little thing can make you angry as you continue your journey and take away faith in humanity's propensity to be nice to one another, and removes all respect horses.
But it's perfectly reasonable to expect a cyclist to "be there". Simply being there, or even moving along slowly, quietly and considerately, doesn't constitute 'behaving in an aggressive manner', and if this is deemed too aggressive for the horse, then there's not really much else the cyclist can do about that, short of not 'being there', and if this is the case then it's the horse that has got the problem, not the other way round, and therefore in my opinion it's the horse that shouldn't be there.
I'm not wanting to have a go at you linf, and I'm trying not to make this an ad hominem argument, so if you're a considerate horse rider who trains your horse well, is tolerant of other road/bridlepath users and appreciates courtesy rather than frowns when it is afforded to you, then I've no problem with you whatsoever. My beef is just with the fact that if you are those things, then unfortunately according to my experience you're in a minority, and your fellow equestrianists are letting you down as they're doing your side no favours with their bad attitudes..
Tetedelacourse said:Yes they should be allowed on the roads, but without discourteous brats who shout at slow cyclists on their backs.
I do object to the big piles of shite they leave though. Heard all the excuses before, it's not toxic, difficult to tell when it's happened etc etc baws, you go out on a horse on a public road you should clean up after it. A drip tray at the very least.