Originally Posted by Berlin (Post 1822433)

Sorry Arty lady but why?

Why should I stop? I was riding as cautiously and courteously as possible. If the horse is still spooked, it shouldn't have been there. Full stop!

The very, very last place to try exposure therapy is on the public road. Its dangererous bordering on the idotic.

To take a horse that is known to be a risk, is completely unpredictable and cannot be controlled onto the road is blatant stupidity and irresponsible.

Its like me loosening the front wheel of my bike and going out on the road expecting absolutely everyone else to make allowances because it could come off at any time.

If a horse has been through full police training, then it can go on the road. If it hasn't it is a liability that shouldn't be allowed.

... and if my girlfriend reads what I'm writing, I'll probably be single :)

Dizzy, I ride past horses up to five times a day and go through the usual drill of clutch in, slow and as far over as possible. I'd passed several others on the same ride. Never an issue. But these two today were just taking the **** if they'd been blokes, I'd have had them off the horses and thrown them over the bridge.

C

Originally Posted by missyorkie_chris (Post 1822446)

Hmm, I stand corrected. Although I have seen many horses on the road and never 2 abreast, always single file :smt102

Originally Posted by Berlin (Post 1822454)

I'm a live and let live kind of bloke. I try and live by never upsetting anyone and always try and leave everyone I meet in a better mood than they were when I met them.

But it boils down to this:

If you are not 100% in control of the method of transport you are on, then you shouldn't be on the road regardless of what that method of transport is. As a horse has it's own brain you are not 100% in control of it. You can suggest it does something but there's no gaurantee that it's going to do it and you have no control if it decides to do something of it's own accord.

Its like a bike that has a control system that is free to do whatever it wants on a random basis. Should that bike be allowed on the road? Should a bike with a thottle that suddenly snaps open or closed becasue there's a carrier bag in the hedge be on the road? Or brakes that can suddenly choose to work or not work. Or tyres that suddenly deflate.

No one would allow a bike like that on the road and yet horses, with their own control system are.

The place for exposure therapy is a field. Maybe a field next to the road. You take the hazzard, whatever it may be to the horse, not the other way around. Use a CD player, Cymbols, a chainsaw or whatever else you need, away from the highway. Away from a situation where it can affect others. Its common sense.

c

Originally Posted by hob (Post 1822456)

Police riot horses is what you need, those bad boys don't seem to get spooked.

Originally Posted by Balky001 (Post 1822467)

[....]

Horses are bloody tall though, you come off your bike and you have a couple of foot to fall if you're lucky, a fall off a horse can kill you, my best mate's wife broke her back on an almost stationary horse even though she was wearing protection. She's still having operations 5 years later. Thinking of the consequences of your actions is hard in the heat but you'd be gutted right now if you caused an injury.

Originally Posted by Magnum (Post 1822505)

Whats the appeal in riding a horse on the road anyway? Shouldnt horses be off road animals, i thought that was the whole point.

Originally Posted by Baph (Post 1822507)

ArtyLady back on form. :cheers:

Originally Posted by gettin2dizzy (Post 1822437)

Just a bit of courtesy. How else can you teach your horses to be relaxed with traffic without exposing them to it. When you went out on bike lessons with a bright jacket and L signs, people gave you extra room. Why does this differ?

Originally Posted by Baph (Post 1822509)

So please explain how they're supposed to get to the different fields they wish to use if they don't use roads. :confused:

Originally Posted by Magnum (Post 1822505)

.....
Theres a guy near me who rides around my roads in a cart behind it. He is obviously a pikey, and i hate the fact he takes up most of the road and it's never safe to overtake it incase the horse gets scared. The poo isnt nice to ride over either.

Whats the appeal in riding a horse on the road anyway? Shouldnt horses be off road animals, i thought that was the whole point.

Originally Posted by ArtyLady (Post 1822525)

.

There is no appeal of riding on the road - a necessary evil as there aren't enough nearly enough bridleways :mad:

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde (Post 1822527)

there will be appeal when there's no petrol left in the world and all that is left is a load of roads and a load of horses;)