1 Horse Power

[Apial]

Only with a muzzle on.

When I lived in Hampton Court there was an incident where a young girl was riding a horse along a busy main road in the rush hour. It bolted onto a major roundabout (Sunbury Cross, where the M3 becomes the A316), causing an accident involving a bus and a car. The girl and the horse both died.

She was too young to be in charge of a moped, so why should she have been allowed to ride a horse in the same circumstances?

We have a horse BTW (with 3rd party insurance), and young children who ride.

If she was riding a horse she must have been a pretty experienced rider. Horses can bolt for many reasons. Even with an experienced rider a horse can bolt. Do you know why the horse bolted? The age of the rider might well have been imaterial in this case.

It might be a good opportunity to remind drivers of the wording from the revised Highway Code:

"Horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles. Be
particularly careful of horse riders and
horse-drawn vehicles especially when
overtaking. Always pass wide and slowly.
Horse riders are often children, so take
extra care and remember riders may ride in
double file when escorting a young or
inexperienced horse or rider. Look out for
horse riders’ and horse drivers’ signals and
heed a request to slow down or stop. Take
great care and treat all horses as a potential
hazard; they can be unpredictable, despite
the efforts of their rider/driver"

Yes, you might be requested to slow down and STOP!

As far as drinking is concerned the Law has this to say:

"Licensing Act 1872, which says being drunk in charge of a horse, cow or steam engine incurs a £200 fine and possibly jail for up to 51 weeks."

Oh and you can also fly an aircraft at 14 BTW.

 

[chelone]

MIL was going past a hunt on Christmas Eve behind two other cars, she heard a bang and looked in her rear view mirror to see a horses belly
The rider had tried to go past her for some reason and the horse had taken fright, gone up in the air and landed on the rear window.
Thankfully she didnt have the grandkids in the back otherwise there could have been some serious injuries.
Made the familly meal more bearable as we had something to talk about...... ever cloud has a silver lining

Was the horse alright?

 

[chelone]

Seems harsh , imagine if you didn't have fully comp insurance ...

The rider should be in control of her animal , if it damages your car , due to her failure to control it , why should i ( or anyone else ) have to pay for the damage ?

If you can't control it , it shouldn't be on the road.

Just for the sake of playing devil's advocate: Horses were on the roads long before automobiles. Who then has the right to tell them to get off it? I mean...just because a certain percentage of the population decide to change their means of transporation why should the rest of society be forced to comply? If everyone started to fly sleek new hover cars should your 'dangerous' old MB be forced off the road?

 

[Chattonmill]

The horse had a slightly cut fetlock, but nothing serious, it would have come down and immediately gone back up again I assume!

 

[BTB 500]

If she was riding a horse she must have been a pretty experienced rider. Horses can bolt for many reasons. Even with an experienced rider a horse can bolt. Do you know why the horse bolted? The age of the rider might well have been imaterial in this case.

But she could have been on a horse for the first time ever - that's exactly my point. There's no minimum age requirement to take a large/heavy/fast horse on busy public roads. Yet there is for a small/light/slow moped??

I don't think it was established why the horse bolted. I remember a Mounted Police instructor saying at the inquest that due to the size of the horse and the size of the girl she was basically a passenger from the point when the horse bolted, she had no chance whatsoever of stopping it.

Oh and you can also fly an aircraft at 14 BTW.

Not true, there is no minimum age to fly under supervision. IIRC 14 is the age at which dual hours can be logged towards a PPL, but you can't go solo till 16 and the minimum age for a licence being issued is 17.

 

[fyonn]

Just for the sake of playing devil's advocate: Horses were on the roads long before automobiles. Who then has the right to tell them to get off it?

to play devils advocate to your devils advocate...

just becauses horses have been used for transport on "roads" since tghe year dot, doesn't automatically make them still suitable to be on the roads now. so in answer to your question, the government has the right to tell them to get off it if they deem it is correct to do so. after all, horses aren't allowed on motorways and they are roads (albeit, special roads).



dave

 

[x332race]

Horses on roads.

Any horse rider will tell you that they would prefer not be be on a road....its just that the provsion of bridleways is not good and the location of bridleways and other off-road routes is such that riders have to go on roads to access, or link to, these rights of way.

With care and respect, we should all be allowed to use the road network as intended...that includes motor vehicles, horses, bicyclists, pedestrians etc.

 

[BTB 500]

The difference though is that horse riders are doing it for recreation, not as a means of transport. They don't "have" to ride at all, let alone on roads.

If my hobby was lawnmower racing, should I be allowed to ride a sit-on lawnmover on the roads without insurance etc.? And expect everyone else to slow down to a crawl to go past if I choose to drive it down an unrestricted road or dual carriageway