For Chrissakes, Slow Down!!!!!!

The BBQ Pit
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Driving down the street? See a rider on a horse ambling along the side of the road? What should you do?

Hint: It isn’t keep speeding along right next to the shoulder.

SLOW DOWN!!! SWING AS WIDE AS YOU CAN, DAMMIT!!! SLOW DOWN!!!

I am sick of being terrorized when I ride along a street – and no, I’m not there because I enjoy annoying motorists, I’m there because it’s the only way to get to a trail. My horse is “roadsafe” – he’s not bothered by traffic – and I get as far off the road as I can when a car approaches, but sometimes there’s only a foot of shoulder.

Do any of the Need For Speed idiots realize just how fast a horse can move when it’s spooked, say by something in the woods beside the shoulder? In a heartbeat that thousand-pound animal can leap halfway into the road. How’d you like to see THAT come crashing through your windshield, Road King?

Okay, okay, so a lot of people simply don’t know enough about horses to realize what they’re doing is unsafe. When I get a chance to explain (politely) to them, they’re apologetic and thereafter careful. And I’m grateful! But too often I meet drivers who regularly drive along horse-busy roads and ought to know the scoop in my horse-filled area, who deliberately speed up, give me the finger, etc. etc. It’s them I’m furious at, when I get my heart back out of my throat.

And no, horse people aren’t all a bunch of slime-sucking arrogant moneybags elitists who deserve whatever bad happens to them. A lot of us are just ordinary folks who work their asses off (like me, a proofreader) and make a lot of sacrifices so we can enjoy our particular pastime.

Please, it’s so easy, so simple, so much safer for everyone – drivers included. Please, slow down and swing wide!!!

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What’s your horse’s name?

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At the barn where I used to ride in Brooklyn, we had to go through a traffic circle and a park to get to our rings - one of our horses was spooked by the color green, which was, of course, the color of the garbage trucks. So he would spook when he saw a garbage truck. But that was the horse’s fault, and we tried to work him through it.

However, the assholes and fucknuggets in the park who would purposely throw a ball at the horses or run out in front of us on the trail when we were at a fast trot should have been smacked. I don’t think people realize that horses are not like dogs - they get spooked much easier than dogs do, and they have the potential to do a lot more damage.

I’m incredibly jealous that you have your own horse:). I’m hoping to have my own in another few years - but I live vicariously through others at the moment.

Ava

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NoClueBoy, I have two, actually, both geldings: Skip In Place, a/k/a Nick, The Magnificent Pickle, a 21-year-old chestnut Quarter Horse; and Bennie, a 13-year-old bay Thoroughbred.

avabeth, please don’t hate me for having two! :wink: I grew up in a nonhorsey family, with no one to share the madness, and it wasn’t till my 43rd birthday, when I bought Nick, that my lifelong desire was fulfilled. I’ve had him for over 11 years now, and Bennie since spring, after leasing him for a year. Can’t imagine life without them! :smiley:

I can’t imagine, avabeth, how you survived in Brooklyn, with all the fuckwits you must have encountered. Ignorance I can forgive, as long as the individual is willing to listen and learn. But the assholes who deliberately try to spook horses? Ought to be buried in a manure pile.

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Don’t feel bad about owning two - Joe Montana owns 30! Having more than one is a terrible temptation - overcome only by fear of poverty.

I feel for you having to ride in the street. The nice thing about living close to empty hills is that my daughter can take her horse on trail rides without worrying about lots of traffic.

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Well, actually, I own 2.5 horses. About a year ago, I bought a half-share in the yearling colt a friend of mine had bred – by a Percheron sire out of a TB-type mare. We don’t know who’ll wind up buying the other out, or whether we’ll sell him if he proves too athletic for both of us. Anyway, he’s on her farm in New Hampshire, so I’m only mucking, feeding, watering, grooming, exercising, and otherwise in servitude to my two big guys. I just wish I had Joe Montana’s resources so I could own more. But then, that would so much more work to care for them – when would I find time to ride?

And no, we haven’t figured out which half I own, and whether Moose is divisible across or lengthwise. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Hey, owning two is cool!:slight_smile: I adore thoroughbreds - they’re my absolute favorite horses! Quarter horses are gorgeous, too, though. My dream is to find a stubborn, but sweet, thoroughbred gelding. For some reason, I never seem to get along well with mares. We had one horse at the barn who hated me from the minute I got on her back and tried to make my rides miserable any time I rode her. And yeah, the assholes in the park were annoying, but luckily, the kids who got wide-eyed and oohed and aahed at the horses made up for it. These were city kids who wouldn’t really have a chance to see horses otherwise.

I’ve told my SO that we have the choice of my having a horse or us having a child. I still haven’t made up my mind yet;).

What sort of riding do you do?

Ava

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Hey EddyTeddyFreddy,

I’m one of those clueless car drivers that doesn’t know horses for nothing. Thanks to your rant I ll know to take caution at those places horses and automobiles meet.

Forgive me for the hijack but your rant reminded me of riding a horse many years ago.

I was visiting my uncle in Texas who owned a number of quarter horses and was riding one of the more mild tempered from his stable. We went to (in my ignorance I’m guessing here) a corral where the local kids practiced calf roping and stuff. I was content to sit quietly on “Sunset” while watching the local kids do dry runs at roping the wooden calf.

After a while I noticed that Sunset seemed somewhat agitated or quite possibly anxious. All of a sudden this calf (real one, running fast) shoots out from somewhere next to me, and ol’ Sunset goes from zero to very-fast-horsey mode in about ten feet.

From my many seconds of horse training I quickly realized that Sunset was expecting me to lasso the calf. No way did I want to put myself in a position with a worked up Sunset on one end of a rope and a totally freaked 250 lb calf on the other. I grabbed my rope (yep, actually had one on the saddle) and tossed it out in an arc in front of Sunset’s head, not aiming at anything in particular but making sure that the rope went nowhere near the calf.

Sunset suddenly went from very-fast-horsey mode to zero. I realized at that point that the ride wasn’t so bad but the sudden starts and stops could be painful. Sunset saw the calf run on and, I swear, he made some kind of growl and harrumph which surprisingly I interpreted quite correctly that he was not at all happy to be carrying somebody who couldn’t even rope a calf.

It turned out that I was set up. Sunset was a former star in the calf roping competition in that region. In fact, he was a standout as a competitor.

Everybody there knew about the calf. The other guys on the horses in the corral had slowly maneuvered me into position. Sunset knew he was at the starting line but I sure as hell didn’t. When they closed the back gate on the calf, Sunset, rodeo athlete that he was, geared up and took off within a millisecond of the gate opening up.

I could handle the laughs and guffaws from the local boys. No problem, I was a big kid and they knew I could thump them if they took it too far. But me and ol Sunset, well, I never could look him in the eye after that. He knew I was a greenhorn and he, a top athlete, had been taking advantage of by the locals. He took the joke harder than me.

End of Hijack

Bubba

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you could put a bumper sticker on the back of the horse, saying something along the lines of…oh, “this is a horse’s ass. Don’t you be one too! Share the road.”

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Ava, I take lessons with a dressage instructor, not to compete, just to become better at a sport where you never stop learning. My true love is trail riding, and both my horses love it. The QH was a show hunter in his youth, and the TB was a field hunter till I bought him. They both enjoy easygoing rambles about the countryside, with the occasional trot or canter where the footing permits. I’m a major safety bug – helmet, proper equipment, and so forth.

BubbaDog, you’ve made my day! :smiley: If even a handful of drivers take my rant to heart, the world will be a better place. :wink: When I’m driving, of course I watch out for horses, but also for bike riders and runners, and I give them the same courtesy I’d wish for me when riding. By the way, bike riders should call out when they’re approaching horses from behind, so as not to startle them by suddenly whooshing into view from the horse’s blind spot. Your story about Sunset is the funniest thing I’ve read in a long time – thanks! Mind if I share it with my equi-friends? I know they’ll get a kick out of it.

blessedwolf – ROFL!!! Of course, the people who most need to read it are the ones going too fast to absorb the message. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Ditto for Amish buggies. We always slow down and give them plenty of room when we pass.

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Oh, and aren’t the drivers that whoosh by and HONK the worst?!

For a couple of years I had no place to ride but a small arena and rural roads. Some of these honking maniacs were actually clueless friends trying to say Hi. I just learned to be hyper-alert to cars (and bikes, yes).

Bubba, your story cracked me up. I warm up our roping horses for my boyfriend and his son, and I know exactly how that feels. We have one who used to be a cutting horse, and if I happen to be riding her when I’m moving the steers, I just hang on and hope for the best! Fortunately, she’s not too tall, so when the inevitable happens, at least the ground will be pretty close.

Julie

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Yeah, I understand. I’ve had two bad accidents - one that I’m still partially recovering from, so I always make sure to wear a helmet - unfortunately, this last accident would have happened with a helmet, a vest, whatever. And I think dressage is absolutely beautiful - I would love to learn it:). You sound like you have great horses. They really are the most magnificent animals in the world, I think.

Ava

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Ava, magnificent is right. And a whole slew of other adjectives. I’m so sorry to hear you had a bad accident. I’ve been lucky so far; all my unplanned dismounts haven’t hurt much – well, other than the time Nick spun me off into a blackberry bush, with a clip from a hind hoof into my back as I plummeted. :wink: But a friend, who’s as safety-conscious as I am, had a bad fall recently. Her horse tripped and went to his knees at the trot; she went over his head and landed on hers. Wound up with a chipped shoulder blade, five broken ribs, and a dented helmet but intact skull. I love riding and I love horses, but there’s no denying it’s not the safest hobby in the world – even before the clueless drivers.

So you want a TB, huh? Well, until I met Bennie, I thought they were mostly pinheads. But he’s got a QH mind in a TB body – can’t hardly beat that. You’d adore Bennie, but you can’t have him. :stuck_out_tongue: A child or a horse? No contest for me. :wink:

I don’t have an online album of Bennie-pix (second child syndrome, you know) but here’s a link to one for Nick: Webshots - Wallpaper / Screen Savers

Gee, what’s become of my disgruntled rant thread? It’s turned into a pleasant conversation with intelligent people. In the Barbecue Pit? :confused: Maybe I should just shut up and not tempt fate…

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***Oh, and aren’t the drivers that whoosh by and HONK the worst?! ***

Bowert, they’re bad, all right. But try this: An area of trails where I used to ride runs near railroad tracks. One day a friend and I were ambling along a driveway running beside a long narrow field along the tracks when a trail thundered past. I waved at the engineer – and he blew the horn!!! :eek: Heh – our horses were used to trains rumbling by, but the horn blast spooked the daylights out of them.

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OMG, Nick is BEAUTIFUL! What a gorgeous boy! If you ever get to VA for a show, let me know - I’ll come 'round to see him perform!

:::::I wonder if I can buy a horse on Ebay::::::

Ava

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(Blush) Why, thankee, ma’am; I’m right partial to the boy myself. :slight_smile:

I’ve just uploaded a picture of Bennie – well, head and shoulders shot – to my “Portraits” album – Webshots - Wallpaper / Screen Savers – It’s in the lower left corner. Yes, that is me, the ridiculous human between the sublime Bennie and Nick. In the lower right corner you’ll see Nick meeting Moose, my half-horse, upon Nick’s arrival for a stay in New Hampshire at my friend’s farm. She’s been recovering from knee replacement surgery, and he’s been providing hippotherapy. He’s been there since June, and he’s coming home on Saturday – HURRAH!!