I know there are many on here who own horses but might not be on FB, but this is doing the rounds and increasing in size every day.
What is it, a petition to help our safety while riding on the road and change the law to protect us, it's quite long but watch the clip in the link.

I'm sure some will disagree to this topic, but for the magority of car drivers are good when passing but many just don't know how too or what would happen if a horse decides to spook at say a drain on the side of the road ( mine used to but not any more) or a sheep the other side of the hedge decides to move or a plastic bag blowing in the wind!

I ride my old girl on a B classed road to get to 4 bridleways, there is no other way of getting to them from my home but I always wear my hiviz coat and now have a hi viz for the horse, so no excuse for the car driver not to see me....yea right...
The other day 3 cars passed far to fast and one of them nearly went into the back of me as she was that close

The petition is not mine I'm just sharing to help the cause, I hope some on here will too.

https://www.change.org/p/goverment-law-par...m=copylink

Thank you Stan for this.  If it dont work.......burn it!

If the IId tool cant fix it.......burn the FF.

If the FF cant be fixed......buy a Land Cruiser!

If the LC cant be fixed..............................................BUY a horse !!

A worthy petition. Signed.  Si. <This is my name.

I eat rat poison.

A man ain't truly been insulted until he stands buck naked in front of a woman and she didn't even notice. Or care.

Thank you my friend, just hope something comes out of it. If it dont work.......burn it!

If the IId tool cant fix it.......burn the FF.

If the FF cant be fixed......buy a Land Cruiser!

If the LC cant be fixed..............................................BUY a horse !!

Signed wd. Love horses.

Signed, a deserving cause.

I'm always very careful when passing horses and was shocked by the drivers in the video. I've signed up.

I have signed this petition because if we don't try, nothing will ever change.

Unfortunately, (credit, Mrs Gump) stupid is as stupid does and in a nutshell, common sense isn't that common anymore!

Purely a personal view but all the time people break the rules whenever they feel like it, the arguments for driverless vehicles or for monitored or controlled usage gathers credence….conspiracy theory or doomsday scenario, you decide!

I've signed it, for all the difference it would make. A new law isn't going to give ignorant drivers a sudden injection of good manners any more than new laws stopped people using phones when driving etc. I'm not a horsey bloke but really, common decency costs nowt. Those drivers deserve prosecuting for driving like pr1cks. It's not just horses they pi55 off, they drive through villages like that with scant regard for folks walking dogs, kids playing, lycra-louts lycra-ing etc etc etc.

As I've said dozens of times, it doesn't need a new law, it needs actual rozzers out there enforcing existing ones, e.g. Dangerous Driving. That covers all issues to do with lousy driving, not just the one. But since that ain't gonna happen any new law is something of a toothless tiger. Probably more pertinent would be a petition to make the rozzers do what they get paid for, i.e. enforce the laws, all of them, not just the ones which help massage their crime figures.

Signed and shared

I've seen this and looked at it a fair bit on fb but I am a little concerned over the route it's taking. It appears very hard-lined in what they are asking and to create a blanket law does not take into account different situations. I am also a wee bit worried that the campaign does not put any onus onto the horse rider other than high viz / safety gear.

The reason for my attitude is this - when I got my ID he was scared of everything. It took 12 of us an hour to load him and anything that moved would have him more flighty than a flighty thing on a really flighty day!! 18 months on I am now training him to load himself - quite literally "Chris, come on son" and he will walk into the trailer and just stand waiting to be tethered!! When we hack through the village (lots of timber lorries plus usual cars / trucks / etc) I use him to shield others with more worried horses (or riders).

So, my problem is, the worst thing for making a nervous horse even more nervous (along with the idiots that pass closely at 70mph) are those that follow / approach / pass very slowly. Chirs is great but even he gets a bit worried along the lines of "where the hell is it then?" and he starts looking around for whats making the noise. If we're chaperoning a nervy horse / rider there is nothing better than someone passing at say 30mph but very wide - doesn't startle the horse but also gets the event over in a timely manner before the horse starts to panic.

I'm happy to support anything that makes our roads safer so along with the responsibility being put onto motorists I'd like to make riders more responsible for the situations they create. Experience teaches us what makes a horse spook so as an example drain grids - if you're approaching one and you can hear a car coming from behind either trot past the offending item or stop and wait for the car to pass long before it. I experience it so often when riders don't think / plan ahead then blame the motorist for a situation they could have prevented. If a rider is nervous then they should know their limits and avoid anything that puts themselves (and others) in danger. A horse reacts so differently depending on who's riding. If a horse is on a single track road with nowhere to pass perhaps the rider should turn the horse to face the "big scary dragon" so it can see what is going on - this also makes the face to face contact between rider and motorist easier.

Perhaps, to make us all responsible, we should include an exam for horse riders before they are allowed on the public highway? We've all seen those incredibly bad drivers who are scared of everything and are an accident waiting to happen - imagine if that driver was on that horse you're about to overtake

On a lighter note I once had a sports bike (too fast to see what it was & I'm a bike fan!!!), without a stupid loud exhaust, pass me so fast we only heard it as it went past - I'm not talking 100mph here - more like 150mph. Chris jumped with all 4 feet off the ground at once but the bike was already well in front of us. His reaction certainly made me laugh
I'm in no way condoning this sort of behaviour but this missile gave me less problems than some of the old grannies doing 10mph.

I think what I'm trying to say (through all the waffle) is that there is a happy medium which needs to be found - nothing too hard line either way!

Tin hat fitted and ready!! Back in a Defender!!

Very eloquently put Steve, more concerned that you have a ID called Chris

I do agree there with what you say, no need for the tin hat, its very difficult to get this one right for all but something must be done, fair play to the woman who started the petition.
Imo 15 mph could be too slow for some horses and too fast for others, you know like us horse owners, its down to the rider and how the horse has had the experience of the scary things out there.

My old girl on her first hack from my home after I bought her and a week in the field was a ' whats that, don't like it' and they where the drains and BT covers, but I did keep back when cars where either going to or approaching to pass, now she will walk and trot right passed with not a bother, even go on the covers/drains. shes not bothered about any kind of car, lorry, tractor, coach, even we where been pushed along by a tipper 8 wheeled truck 2 months back, as soon as I could get on a grass verge he passed nice and slow......old girl was not bothered in the slightest, that's experience and as a rider not panic.
You could pass us at 30 to 40mph and she wont spook either as I guess many older horses will, but younger ones will spook.......but one day their might be say a paper bag flapping in the wind that's shes not seen and jump in the middle of the road as a car passes at say 30 to 40......end result ....you get the idea.

What most drivers don't know is if you as the rider tense up due to something your not sure of or you think the horse going to do something stupid, the horse knows it before you even realise your tense up then the horse knows something is wrong and does the same and thinks scary on its way.....you as the rider feel this and makes you worse......and the cycle goes on!

A really difficult one to pin point whats best as every horse out there is soo different.....and riders to boot.

Oh I always where Hiviz and the horse has here own too now, I would never not ware at least a tabard in summer and in winter the hole lot goes on......that need to be addressed, BE SEEN be safe.

oh I like the idea......

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=...YzLLUoFEhg


Ps thanks for sharing and signing guys, all helps  If it dont work.......burn it!

If the IId tool cant fix it.......burn the FF.

If the FF cant be fixed......buy a Land Cruiser!

If the LC cant be fixed..............................................BUY a horse !!

Signed by us as well.

About time something was done, even if it only helps to educate drivers.!

Just watched this with my wife. She no longer keeps horses but might again some day.
We both had slightly different views on the video. She is almost always on the side of the rider where as I feel some horses shouldn't be on the road if they are that jittery and liable to spook. (I did think at least 2 of the drivers should be banned).
I'm the same with joggers and bikes, that's just me... But I hate people not even making an attempt to slow down for horses, that's just ignorance.
I feel 15mph is just a stupid figure to try and legalise. 15mph is far too fast in some single lane passing and just rediculously slow on a main road with nearly 2 lanes between you. If 15mph were law, you might find yourself having to do an emergency stop when coming round a corner and seeing a horse on the other side of the road. I'm not sure you can dictate a max speed.
I think it comes down to training. Drivers need to understand that horses can spook and need room.
My wife would sign the petition but I wouldn't based on the 15mph. Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

Hi all. Probably going to be berated for this but I have a hard time with this sort of thing I raced motocross for many years in years gone by and there was a law against me riding the unregistered , uninsured , no lights or brake lights motorcycle being ridden on the road. I took exception to this because I lived only a mile plus from my practice area , however my only legal option was to trailer the bike which of course I did

No one can argue with the irresponsible driving in the vid and I would never condone such however this petition seems to be putting the cart before the horse ( !! ) would it not be safer for all road users if all roads were kept clear of any unnecessary slow moving vehicles / objects that could cause an accident or present themselves as a danger by their very presence

No offence intended to any horse owner or rider , this is my humble opinion and it does cover cyclists outside of major urban areas. ( if I'm upsetting one group , may as well bring the whole lot down on me )

I'll get my coat !! 2015 4.4 AB
GSXR 1000 K5
R1 1998