Bikes v Horses?

These are'nt the droids were looking for! wrote (see)

Cant amagine a horse wearing a high viz,

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"Force has no place where there is need of skill" Herodotus 450BC :burnout:

I'm not a horse fan at all, in fact after a horse turned and kicked my mate (who rode horses at least three times a week) several feet without cause I'm hippophobic.  That being said, I have enormous respect for horses and those who choose to ride them.

Keeping in mind that a horse is in control, and chooses to relinquish aspects of that control to the rider you have to show them respect as you never know how a horse will react - after all, there's no off switch on a horse!  All it takes is for one muppet to wheelie past a horse and you can end up with a huge accident on your hands.  Not only an accident involving the horse and rider, but the bikers who follow the muppet.

I don't know about you guys, but I tend to pull in the clutch when passing a horse to minimise the sound of the engine.  I always give horses the most amount of room I can and slow down in case something unexpected happens.  You can almost always see a rider above the hedgerows.  If someone's sitting six feet (or so) higher than they should be there's a good chance that they're not levitating.  IMHO anyone who powers past any animal has no place owning a driving licence.

I have a horse and a bike. I wear high viz on the horse because I want to make every effort to protect her the best I can. I have to use a road to get to a bridlepath. I don't have loads of land to ride her on, but work 12 hour days to try and afford it one day. Horse is unfazed by anything man-made, and usually lollops along without a care in the world, but seeing an unexpected stone in the verge can have her leaping to the other side of the road - on about 1% of occasions. Something I bear in mind when I pass other horses on the bike. 

Re road tax for horses - the forest used to require horse riders to pay a fee to ride there, but not cyclists, on the basis that there were too many cyclists to be able to police it effectively . Just penalising people they thought were rich IMHO. Road tax for horses would tax the honest folk, and the dishonest and dare I say irresponsible people you have issues with probably wouldn't pay it.

The only near misses I've had with traffic have been with cars. I can't think of any bikes that have ever caused a problem and before I got into bikes or knew anyone with one I always respected the manners/riding of bikers.

Funnily enough, most times I hear a loud sound system, high speed pimped up clio type thing with a hoodie in it, they usually slow down really nicely and wave back cheerily when I thank them. Seems unfair they get penalised on the insurance when it's the middle aged 4x4 drivers who think they own the roads that are the problem. Why do 4x4s force you off the road - isn't that where they're supposed to be?

Anyway, rant over, I sound really old. Thank you everyone who's been really considerate and ridden/driven past reasonably slowlyand giving plenty of space. I'm returning the courtesy now I'm on two wheels!