While some of us may not be lucky enough to have access to acres of rolling land to ride across, road riding is probably the next best option for most riders and their equines.
My property is surrounded in dairy land, and although the local farmers are good about having a couple of horses exercised through their tracks from time to time, there are limited opportunities due to constant electric wires, cattle stops and the general movements associated with dairy operations. Therefore if I am treat my horse to a leisurely ride outside of the dressage arena, I am largely restricted to road riding.
Once it wouldn't have been a big deal, but I am finding that the traffic on New Zealand roads is getting increasingly worse, that is, bigger, faster and more ignorant to other road users (including horses). Of course I am one of those riders who dares to tackle a State Highway, but even the quiet country roads can present dangerous situations at times.
A perfect example happened just the other afternoon when one of our hunters was being exercised along a quiet road close to home. The horse and rider were doing nothing wrong and made sure to keep as far left as possible on the verge of a sweeping corner. Suddenly a car came from ahead at a very high speed and instead of slowing when spotting the horse and rider, the driver decided to sit on the horn while speeding around the entire corner. Naturally, the horse was a little startled but carried on nonetheless, the rider however was very angry.
Another example happened again close to home when a milk tanker driver stopped his truck in the middle of the main road to tell the rider she was riding on the wrong side of the road. The rider had her horse correctly positioned on the far left hand side of the grass verge traveling in the same direction as the traffic. Puzzled and slightly angered the rider insisted she wasn't doing anything wrong and kept the horse moving. The driver continued to yell and shout at the rider while holding up a line of cars behind him. While the rider was doing nothing wrong, she was upset and angered, and even started to doubt herself. The sad thing about this is that the tanker driver was completely unaware he was so misinformed and obviously had little (or no) knowledge about road riding etiquette whatsoever.
These are only a couple examples of ignorant road users who are potentially putting riders and their equines in danger.
I often have young horses on the road for traffic training. How can I expect to give a young horse a safe and enjoyable experience on the road if we are in danger of coming across drivers like this?
What do people think about this? Should there be harsher rules for drivers and horses? Does anyone have any bad road riding experiences to share? Let us know.
I have mini horses that i like taking them out away from paddocks and get them use to other things. One day i had my nevous 2yr old out when a car raced up real close to her tooting, yelling and doing u - turns to do it again. they threw bottles at me, flashed lights, pretty much any thing in there car they threw at her. I was very angry and upset.. couldnt get the rego as my horse was not happy, these days i dont go out and now have to drive round a paddock to get her use to cars...luckly she is getting better but sad she cant go out for a stroll with out being nervous
Hi there Minigal, sounds like you had a terrifying incident. I have heard of other situations like this, it's crazy to think people would go to so much trouble just to frighten an animal. When I was working in England we would ride on the quiet roads and cars would often stop and even turn off their engine when they came across a horse on the road. Maybe it's just the NZ drivers?
Hi all, We at NZ Horse Recreation are lobbying local, regional and central government on exactly these sorts of issues. We have created a website "Horse Sense on the Roads" to highlight road safety for horses. The incidents described here are unfortunately becoming more common, as urban drivers are less and less aware of how to behave around stock or horses on the roads. If you are subject to such ignorance, take down the registration number of the vehicle - phones with camera ability are great for this purpose!! (or keep a marker pen in your pocket and scribble on your hand) Endangering a horse on the road is liable to dangerous driving charge, and we need to take these matters seriously and vocally if they are going to be addresses. We would also like to hear from riders about such incidents, to use them to support our calls for more off road riding and for educating road users about the requirement of sharing the roads. Vivien Dostine NZ Horse Recreation www.nzhorseriders.info
I think NZ drivers are very bad as far as stock sense goes. I'm doing my best to educate my 7 month old foal and get her used to all the idiot drivers so that she will be able to cope with whatever they throw at her over the years. She's coping well so far with cars and trailers, but motorbikes still freak her out a bit. They go past so fast there's no way I can get number plates - I don't think they know the road laws.
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