Mini's on the Road

[Lindi-loo]

I was interested in how many of you encounter problems with traffic while walking/driving your mini on the roads...Iv taken my mini mare onto the road many times with my grandaughter on board and most drivers are considerate and will slow to a sensible speed, but taking my youngsters is very stressfull..Im not sure if its because they think my new colt is a dog but theyr just not slowing down im having to put myself at risk and walking further out into the road so that they have to slow down...luckily hes very laid back n doesnt create.. but my filly the other youngster is a diff story..iv stopped taking her as im so worried someone is going to spook her and shes going to be hurt or worse..I dont walk them on busy roads just quiet rural lanes but the drivers just dont seem to respect the safety of my young ponies..does anyone else have problems?.. and how do you overcome them?

 

[Lil Eowyn]

Before I even think about taking my horses on the road, I work with them on the ground/in the arena. I make sure they're able to handle a tarp being pulled across their body, or a balloon being popped right by their head. Then I'll ride them (big horses) in our driveway (or walk my mini) and let them sniff our parked cars etc. My horses do really well on the road now, I have four big horses we ride down the road, and sometimes I'll take my mini on walks. One of my mares, Peanut spooks EVERY time we pass a sewer thingy in the sidewalk lol one time we were going along the highway and she walked over one and hopped. She's doing a lot better now. With my new green horse, I just started riding him on the road and right now, he bolts a little every time a car is coming from behind him, but he's doing better. When people slow down for me when I'm riding by, I wave and smile. Sometimes people are rude and honk their horns. No, I don't flip them the bird lol but I also don't smile or wave. One time someone rolled down their window and yelled "Howdy Partner!" (My dad and I were riding and we were wearing our stetsons) So my dad yelled back "Yeehaw!" lol

Good luck!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Get a flag on a stick and hold it out into traffic- wave it up and down if you think they are not paying attention!!

It is stressful, and it really makes no difference what size the animal is as I can remember having exactly the same issues with my Arabs- in fact, once when I was riding someone seemed really to be trying to see just how close he could get to me and seemed to think nothing at all of squeezing by leaving half an inch between himself (well, his expensive car) and my stirrup until I leaned over and whacked his car on the roof- that got his attention!!Remember that, in the UK, horses have right of way on the road BUT never, ever wear one of those "young horse" vests as this admits the animal may do something silly, thus voiding any responsibility on the car driver's part . It is up to the car driver to know the law so wear a fluorescent vest and carry a pole with a flag on it, and walk in the road, even when there is a good wide path- you can jump onto the path if you think you need to, but if you are already on it you have nowhere to go in an emergency.

 

[susanne]

I agree with rabbitsfizz about the reflective vest. While there are certainly many ignorant, disrespectful drivers, it's very possible that they simply don't see you and your horse. Unlike larger vehicles or even a full-size horse, you are seen against an often busy background and tend to blend in. If you are dressed in dark or neutral clothing, and unless your horse is especially flashy, you can be very difficult for a driver to see. You might even get reflective tail and leg wraps for your horse.

Then again, in some areas it is simply dangerous to walk along the road. Our county roads have no shoulder whatsoever and a plethora of idiots racing around blind corners in their white F150s. We were MUCH safer when we lived in the city with busy traffic and walked on the sidewalks.

 

[Lindi-loo]

Thanks for the advice thats a great idea with the flag

..I did consider getting a "young horse" vest so glad you pointed that out too..i do put a florescent vest on the ponies and i wear one myself but i really do think its just drivers thinking... "oh get out of the way"..i know alot of people think horses and ponies should stick to bridle paths off roads etc but i need to get them used to walking sensibly along side passing vehicles on the roads to get there...i have been thinking about maybe driving too in the future so I have to start somewhere...the roads are narrow single track roads with passing places and narrow grass verges which i tend to try walk on if i hear a car in the distance out of courtesy for the driver but sadly they see that as an opportunity to wizz by without slowing down.. Iv even had a caution horses signs erect by the local council but sadly we are still being ignored..such a shame there are people out there to take the fun out of it

 

[susanne]

Even if they are completely inconsiderate of you and your horse, they'd still have to consider the inconvenience of messing up their car and the hassle of the inevitable legal action if they hit you, so I highly doubt they drive recklessly because they think horses shouldn't be on the road.

 

[exsponies]

We've driven our drivers on our road for years. All of our neighbors know that we drive them there and slow down and pull over for us. A few of them will stop & talk with us. Of course, if they decided to be rude with us, we'd throw down a nail strip and they'll figure out that they all need to slow down.

 

[Lindi-loo]

OH WOW.. i guess they know you mean buisiness lol..

..I will have to toughen up with these inconsiderate few and let them know whos boss on the road..greatful for your experiances and ideas..thanks

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Use a bamboo pole- a bean pole- and if you think they are coming too close whack them on the roof with it! Make sure they can see the end of it , use a strip of fluorescent material, but stand your ground and don't walk on the verge, either- if they scare her up there you have nowhere to go, but if they scare her on the road she can jump onto the verge. It is illegal to walk a horse on a verge or a pathway- so, although no-one is likely to object, you can always throw that at the drivers that shout at you- and, once you start defending yourself, they will! Car drivers think they own the road, they should not have to slow down for anyone, not even if the other person has right of way. They are the ONLY ones that matter and everyone else should get out of the way stat- ask any cyclist!

 

[AnnaC]

I know what you mean by narrow single track lanes Linda - typical of the Welsh 'roads' when away from the main highways! Which side of the road do you lead on? As a 'starter' to road work could you try pretending that you are actually a walker with a dog and walk on the right, facing the oncoming traffic? This would put you between the horse and the traffic and also mean that you could 'squash' the little one into the hedge if there was trouble (all lanes in Wales have hedge boundaries!). Also remember to change sides if you are rounding a bend to give any possible traffic the best chance of seeing you - nothing worse than driving round a tight bend to come slap bang up against an unseen walker, although this is just good sense even if actually just walking yourself or walking the dog or pushing a child in a pushchair etc.

But yes, I would carry a pole with a 'marker' on the end if you are going to keep to the left hand side of the road, and just keep it pointing straight out into the road at a level with the minis back - you can always wave it up and down when hear hear a car approaching to draw the driver's attention to it.

Good luck - traffic can be such a problem at times for those youngsters at the start of their road work.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I would never walk on the right side of the road, Anna- even though, as per the highway code, it is correct, were you to cause an accident you would not have a leg to stand on, trust me on this! I always have the horse on the inside, even when on the left, this is correct, never have the horse on the outside.

 

[Margo_C-T]

In this discussion, it would be well to remember that Rabbit, AnnaC. and the OP are all from where everyone drives on the opposite side of the roads from in the USA...

I recently read a discussion on some driving forum(don't recall which; I participate in several!), wherein it was suggested,when driving a hooked horse, to use a 'flag' on a pole that extends SIDEWAYS out into the lane of traffic. This was claimed to help get drivers to SLOW DOWN and pass carefully, giving horse and cart proper space, better than about anything else...something about the psychological effect of fearing that the pole(should be flexible and not too heavy, for obvious reasons!)might 'hit' their vehicle!!So, goes along w/ the good advice from Rabbit and others, above.

I say..whatever WORKS safely for all concerned! I have read that it ISN't a good idea to use a 'Pass Wide and Slow' sign, as that could be construed as an 'invitation' to pass, and create legal problems for the horse driver if anything went wrong(similar to what Rabbitsfizz mentioned). DO work to be highly visible...and a smile and a friendly wave can work to build consideration on the part of many vehicle drivers.

Recently, a jeep of some sort HIT,then LEFT THE SCENE...>

of a man and his wife riding mules along 'my' road, but across the highway from me. There were injuries, but at least, not fatalities. This road is STRAIGHT and OPEN: NO excuse for such a thing to occur. Too many drivers are colossally inconsiderate JERKS, sad to say!

Margo

 

[rabbitsfizz]

The flag idea came from a thing you can get (or could get) that fixed on the back of a bike- it stuck out at right angles to a depth that cleared the whole of the bike and it's rider, but if it was hit it twanged back in as it was hinged, without upsetting the bike rider. I had one of these fixed to the back of my cart and found it really useful, but have since sold that cart (or possibly had it stolen!) and cannot find a replacement, maybe they are not made anymore?

The pole would only work on a cart if it were not fixed- if it were fixed it could be dangerous.....

Possibly a vest saying "SLOW DOWN" would help?

Or possibly not- there is, as they say, no fixing stupid, and a friend of mine had her very good driving mare's leg broken by an ***** car driver on one of these lanes- it took the Vet three hours to find her to put the mare down, and that was only after the police had found her as she had no mobile with her and the only car to come along had been the one who hit her and he was long gone.

ALWAYS have a phone on you, people- go back and get it if you forget it, if you cannot find it do not go!

 

[paintponylvr]

We've driven our drivers on our road for years. All of our neighbors know that we drive them there and slow down and pull over for us. A few of them will stop & talk with us. Of course, if they decided to be rude with us, we'd throw down a nail strip and they'll figure out that they all need to slow down.

Just had to take a second - ROFLMAO!!

Jason and I live in VERY different areas of the USA... and when I dropped a colt off and stayed for a little while on Tuesday, we were there about two hours maybe. I think a couple of cars went by and certainly don't know how fast but seemed like slower than here. You can see for miles ahead of you there - a lot of noticeable straight line roads with few, if any, trees. In one area, near their place but can't remember how far off for "real", all I could think of was "how cool it would be to drive ponies here!!". They are only 3 miles or so from their town - but you'd never know it. VERY LITTLE TO NO traffic!!! at least at the time of the day we were there.

Now - buzz over to our area of NC (almost 800 miles away from Jason's in IL) - about 20 miles North of Ft. Bragg (Army - 82nd Airborne) and 45 miles SW of Raleigh, the capitol of NC. We live in an agricultural/rural area - yet "farms" can be as small as 5 acres. Rarely are any one piece of property in our area larger than 20 acre "patches" and all seperated by trees growing out to and along the roadsides. I don't think any "NCer" knows what a straight line IS - you won't find many roads running for long in a straight line. Distance you can see, if lucky, is maybe up to a mile and on our particular road it's much, much shorter than that... When vehicles are traveling more than 60 mph - that's not enough time to see, recognize and/or move over from pedestrians, farm vehicles, bicycles or horses (wether led, ridden or driven).

Our particular road connects two highways -- each year they become busier and busier as FT Bragg grows. The road is 2.5 miles from Hwy 27 to our house and 3 miles to the other old Hwy - with a jog left and a jog right equaling about a 1/2 mile, you are on the new highway between Lillington and Sanford. Right now, I have my boys pastured along the road - we have anywhere from 20 - 50 cars, trucks, tractors, mail, trash, and Emergency Vehicles with flashing lights, go by - each HOUR depending on the time of day. It slows down some during the night - but lately seems to be growing in volume. It's great for de-sensitizing! Speed limit is supposed to be 45 mph (it's not a highway) - but even I'm guilty of traveling faster than that on my road. It's not fun or "calming" anymore to drive ponies or ride alongside our roads. The lanes are narrower than in other areas for the vehicle drivers, the shoulders are less and less each year and most home/property owners are highly offended if you are on their yard side of the sometimes narrow and deep ditches. And lately - seems like even locals are "having fun" playing "road tag" - I had a driver chase me across a ditch when I was speed walking my 3 miles last spring ... NOT FUN!! I've pretty much quit walking along our roads. Happens when out with the ponies, too, now, on foot leading or ground driving and sometimes if/when hooked to a cart as well.

I've often thought of a paint gun... I kinda like the idea of a pole with a flag that I could use to "strike" the car as it flies by. I've ridden one mare that would aim her butt and fire with both legs if a vehicle got too close. We hit more than one car - if they were locals they quit harrassing us. Others - some stopped and "raised cane" some just kept going - speeding up and honking their horns. She broke at least one window that I remember and caused plenty of dents -she was always OK. This was a few years ago when our daughters and I were riding...

I don't want my driving ponies trying to turn their butts to passing vehicles or kicking/bucking. Traffic laws say that horse drawn vehicles have the same rights here as cars/trucks but... I also have had local State Patrol and Sheriff vehicles stop and let us know that it's no longer a good idea to ride/drive out on our roads and we should haul out (on a daily basis??) to some of the riding trails in our areas. Lot of good that will do - most aren't set up for carts or wagons to be pulled on. SOOOO we do what we can on our property - do SOME leading, ground driving and hitched driving w/i 2 miles of our home - and now haul out a lot more than ever before! I have a couple of bicycle type flags to attach to my carts, I have the "slow driving" triangles that are reflective on my carts (not all yet), and the farm wagon has both head lights and flashing orange reflector lights (have some cars slow down to ask if I have signal lites, too, LOL)...

Two years ago, I was fairly comfortable taking ponies out on the road (s), now - I don't have any desire to take out my green mares - not even to get experience. My own mounting fear/nervousness is liable to make them upset and cause issues when vehicles come - fly - along!

When i go out and watch the YouTube vids of Barry Hook (driving horses/ponies overseas - think in England? can't remember right now), I get so envious. Both at the calm way his training horses handle the traffic and the way traffic respects and USUALLY slow down &/or move over... If you haven't checked them out, you should.

 

[exsponies]

Hey, we have traffic Paula. You just weren't here during planting or harvest time. That's when all those tractors, combines & trucks pulling wagons come flying by the farm.

 

[paintponylvr]

Hey, we have traffic Paula. You just weren't here during planting or harvest time. That's when all those tractors, combines & trucks pulling wagons come flying by the farm.

AHHHH - ok!

Sorry 'bout that... I do bet that your farm equipment is larger - your roads are wider so they can be too (OK, I do know that they come in standard sizes, but...). Was glad didn't have ponies out the day I saw my first tractor w/ equipment wide enough to span both lanes and wiped out a mail box on one side while me and the car in front of me trying to back up to a driveway somewhere behind us. We made it and the driver of tractor just kept going! I can't even imagine what a pony would have thought of that "BIG green beast"... I was in the big truck (well big to us) - and all I could see was BIG, BIG and BIGGER metal "teeth" (it was some sort of disk) taking up both sides of the road w/ almost nowhere for us to go.

Today - didn't have any emergency equipment go by. Kinda weird - especially since it started raining. Must be because there's no fog with the rain and it's only more or less sprinkling. STill "warm", no ice - so must have been no accidents for our crew to answer to. Ponies all bored - nothing to make them spook & run! Wow, traffic slowed down - only been about 10 vehicles by here. Must be time to go to bed - while it's quiet!

 

[AnnaC]

Jane, I totally agree with you in that horses should be led on the correct side of the road (left in UK) with the leader on the outside of them - with our riding horses we always did this when returning from a long ride (to give their backs a rest and have them arrive home relaxed), with us between them and the traffic.

In Linda's case, with a youngster who might not yet be totally happy being led from the 'wrong' side, then a short walk along a quiet lane on the 'incorrect' side of the road just to see a bit of passing traffic wouldn't do any harm imo. When we lived in Sussex we aways used to graze our youngsters in hand on the verge at the end of our driveway for several days for their first introduction to traffic before walking them the 'correct' side down the road some 500 yards or so to then stand on another grassy patch to watch the passing traffic on a much busier road. So we were lucky with our traffic training!

 

[Lindi-loo]

Thats what Iv been doing with Doodles Anna grazing him on the verge at the bottom of the drive and hes been very good and not paid much attention to anyone zooming by..but Dinky on the other hand refuses to graze and preferes to call to the others for reassurance i guess..shes great in the garden passing our cars horns beeping and engines revving I wouldnt dream of taking them on the roads if i thought they wernt ready..i spend a few hours a day with each of them if its not raining..but Dinks cant help herself..she gets totally stressed out n shows off..she prances around tail held high and as soon as she hears a car close by does a merry dance!!..she doesnt do anything silly and most drivers do slow down and wave and i give a very grateful wave back in return but the arrogant ones that drive like theyr on the M4 do worry me when Iv got Dinky trying to look like Britains top mini show pony along side me

has to be said its not the most enjoyable experiance in the world..Im going out with my friend next week..she has a big horse and rides passed my house most days so im gona tag along just to see if the drivers do actually pass alot slower..Iv heard her screaming

at passing drivers before so should be interesting