I had a major heart in mouth momemt at the weekend, I was sitting on my bike in the woods about to start the run in to a jump and dh trail when I saw two horses coming down the bridleway towards me. I waited for them to pass not wanting to spook them. The horse nearest me was a bit skitty as it approached and the rider was bringing it much closer to me that I liked, within a foot or so.

Then as it drew along side me it suddenly started to turn away from me so that I was presented with a horses arse in my face, I was convinced the thing was about to give me a good shoeing. I jumped off my bike sideways into the bushes at high speed and shouted something appropriate like "Crikey oh Reilly" or something like that.

Anyway, the rider was apologetic having contrived to convince me that I was about to be kicked into next Christmas, but it reminded me just how much I'd rather be on a bike than a horse, I've never come across a more skitty and hair brained creature with more power and potential to cause injury in my life.

Is anyone else super wary of horses? Or am I being soft?

yup, I fear the horse too. Fields full of bullocks upset me also. I though am soft.

My wife has horses, and they scare me too.

Jumping off the bike and shouting……….Darwin at work again 🙄

They make me distinctly nervous and I prefer to give 'em a wide berth if possible. In the situation you describe I'd have been in behind a tree/bush long before they got close.

When riding on the Dark Side and approach nags from behind I do sometimes rather enjoy the view of the other backside astride the beast 🙂

not scary at all. rode them from being 3 yrs old.

Jumping off the bike and shouting……….Darwin at work again

yeah, sitting quietly on his bike and receiving a kicking would have been much more sensible 🙄

I suppose if you have been around horses a lot then they will feel less worrying, but its the fact that when out and about and presented with things like a paper bag, a stick, a stationary bike, etc horses show an alarming ability to freak out or carry on regardless, and I can never tell which its going to be….

As for diving off the bike, it was the only way to get away fom the hooves with a bike between my legs and my feet flat on the floor. Even if I did have a snap like Jared Graves…. which anyone who has seen me at the start of a race will confirm I most certainly do not!

Bunch of pansies!

Not scary.

Just man up and give them a stroke while talking softly. At the same time you could pat the horse…..

(igmc)

Mmmmm, jodhpurs…. :dribble:

If the horses look a bit skittish, say something or take your helmet off – show them that you're a human

They can be tempremental you just have to think ahead. Instead of waiting for the horse to get within kicking distance and then jumping around shouting 'jesus bloody jones'. You should have really moved back into the under growth/away from the fire road or put you bike down and walked abit further away, this would help keep the horse calm and stop you get scared.

I was out on the bike last night and came rocketing round a corner into a crowd of cows. Now I'm not scared of cows, they seem rather docile and friendly. Until you need to ride down a path that they're walking all over. Start slowly riding the path but apparently "chasing" some with calves. Not good. 7 or 8 in front start sprinting off at disproportionately high speed to the threat of a guy panting on a bike but most of the group encircles the bike and start chasing it thinking it's delivering food. It was not. It was only a yard or two from several tons of burger-with-hoof convinced that I was the source of the next meal. So like one of the herd I just kept pedalling in the group until the herd came to the fence I wanted to cross. Phew!

MTFU. Yes, they are a bit bigger than you, but they are prey and that's the only reason they get skittish.

I used to live on a stables, my ex-wife owned a horse, and I used to look after the damn thing when she was hungover and/or had a "migraine", so i understand them to a reasonable degree. I've also been kicked by the bloody things and, whilst it does hurt a bit… Actually, it hurts a lot.

Bloody animals.

It was only a yard or two from several tons of burger-with-hoof convinced that I was the source of the next meal.

You would have been OK, post BSE they have gone back to be veggie.

I'm not convinced bullroar – they had red in their eyes!

alex222 I was right by the side of a very wide bridleway. I'm not sure why the rider allowed the animal to come right over so close to me, but the whole speed of the horse drifting over and then suddenly turning to prime kicking out position was faster than I was bothering to think at the time, it was damn hot…

Sounds pretty scary, easy to think that you diving off your bike was an overreaction, but in hindsight I think id rather overreact than have a horse kick me in the face.

Also sounds a bit like the rider was trying to antagonise the situation, but I suppose it could have been innocent.

No the rider was very apologetic afterwards, I think the horse was getting on her nerves as well.

Well at least that is something.

Worked with them for a while and Mrs Matt is a very good horse rider (I'm pretty cr4p) – have run and MTBd with her and horse a few times – lots of fun. Horses are quick up hills and on the flat but slow downhill so it sort of evens out.

Was first on scene when a posh thoroughbred Arab foal was born when I worked wit then – now that was messy. It was worth over £10k the second it came into the world!

Like with cows, you just need to know a few fundamentals and you'll be fine.

It's astonishing that some riders think it's OK to bring a half-ton out of control beast on a public path and then expect everybody else to calm down and stop in order to prevent it from going crazy.

I know where you're coming from, I just don't like anything with 4 legs full stop!

Dogs, cats, horses, bullocks, cows you name it – mates take the mick all teh tiem where we're out and about on the bikes as I tend to shy away / pedal like a man possessed whne we come across a field full of large 4 legged animals – just don't trust them 😆

giant organic vibrators, only just reasonable eating. glue?

the rider was bringing it much closer to me that I liked

and

the rider was apologetic having contrived to convince me that I was about to be kicked into next Christmas

you're making the assumption that the rider was doing this intentionally. i wouldn't.

It's astonishing that some riders think it's OK to bring a half-ton out of control beast on a public path and then expect everybody else to calm down and stop in order to prevent it from going crazy.

well, rightly or wrongly, that's the law as it stands. you are supposed to give way to horses on a BW. a bit of understanding on both sides usually goes a long way. of course there are cocks that ride horses as well as those that ride bikes ( i'm not calling you one, BTW! ).
HTH.

But it's a bit rich when you're riding down a proper country lane (b-road type) and some woman on a horse holds up her hand and says "Stop! – he doesn't like bikes" then later, after he had reared up she said, angrily "I told you to stop".

I don't think the rider meant to scare me at all, but I think she was wanting to turn the horse, so the combo of that and skitty animal meant it all got a bit close for comfort and I didn't know what was going on. I don't think anyone can be 100% in control of a horse, they are too crazy and flighty IMHO.

A friend of mine who's a horse rider once told me that horses have off days too. Most of the time her horse at the time would be docile and ignore cyclists. It would very occasionally be virtually un-rideable and would jump at the slightest movement or noise.

I live near Winchester so, over the year as a whole, see way more horses than cyclists and I always stop and if a horse looks skittish I remove my sunnies and speak very quietly so it knows I'm a human which has always worked.

I remember seeing a tourist, in the New Forest, trying to take a photograph of a pony and as she backed up she was approaching another pony from behind. The pony kicked out and she ended up with a broken arm!

BigJohn, I have a feeling the attitude of horsey types, and their legal entitlements, are maybe a leftover from the aristocratic past, where the righteous and honourable could jolly around the countryside extracting serfs' produce as payment for their pitiful existence on the baron's land.

Yep horses can just have bad days, my old pony was pretty bombproof but sometimes he'd just decide to spook at something like a plastic bag in a hedge, and set off down the road sideways! 😯 I think he liked to keep me on my toes! No one can be 100% in control of a horse (as with any other animal), but you can do a lot to calm them down, and you get used to reading the signals when they're not happy.
Also, young horses that are being trained and getting used to roads/ bridleways etc are more likely to be skittish than an older more experienced horse, so are likely to be more unpredictable. But they need to get the experience as part of their training.

I often wish I still rode horses when I'm knackered cycling up a hill – an uplift service via horseback would be great!

But it's a bit rich when you're riding down a proper country lane (b-road type) and some woman on a horse holds up her hand and says "Stop! – he doesn't like bikes" then later, after he had reared up she said, angrily "I told you to stop".

Sounds like some of the riders round here in the Peak, I regularly see one women out on a hunter she's barely in control of having a go at cyclists/walkers/dragon flies she holds responsible for her lack of control (last time I saw her the mountain bikers were on the main road through the village 50m in front of her but were the only excuse she could see).

Knowing where she lives and having heard a bit about her she's either too rich (and or stupid) to take any advice. The problem is that she is likely to take someone else with her when she gets her self killed

Not scared by horses, but then again not treating horses or any other animal easy either.

If you're coming up behind a horse, it's always a good idea to announce your arrival 50 or so meters in advance – they don't like surprises

I met a group of horses and riders while cycling slowly up hill on a bridleway.
The one at the front saw the bike and started prancing all over the place, which set a couple of the others off.
I waited until they had lurched over to one side and quickly darted through on the other side.
Later, I came back down the bridleway at high speed and saw the same horses ahead of me, unaware that I was behind.
I wasn't going to risk having one of the stupid things jump around in front of me again, so I hammered through and got past before they realised what had happened.
I could hear the shouting and commotion behind me, but I was long gone by then.

Horse, dog, bike or car. If you can't control it so that it's not a danger to other people, don't take it out in public.

I could hear the shouting and commotion behind me, but I was long gone by then.

I bet she shook her head at you

Anything that powerful that can go balistic over something as simple as an empty crisp packet shouldnt be allowed out in public!

See plenty of them around here followed by a queue of cars all trying to drive/genuflect and give the horse and rider 30ft of clear passing space at 5mph! Cyclists just get a handlebars width at 50mph if they are lucky.

The problem is the Nags are paranoid and think we are out to get them, see:

http://www.pushbikes.org.uk/advice/horses.html

Just read the article, confirms my suspicions, steer well clear of stupid flightly animals that weigh half a tonne! 😯

Mrs F has horses. The cost of them scares me – buying them, feeding them, shoeing them, vets, stables, fields, tack …

They can be out of control, but then quite a few bikers can be too – are we all in 100% control all the time? Never fall off? A bit of consideration and the world can be a nice place 🙂

I guess as we ride on bridleways we ought to be glad that horses get ridden. No horses = no birdleways.

Being practical, human + bike = 60 – 100 kg (say, ignoring Ton).
Horse = 350 -700 kg roughly, has 4 rock hard feet with knuckle dusters attached, and a propensity either to (a) kick first and ask questions later or (b) accelerate way faster than you as it tramples over you as it flees a plastic bag.
Options – argue about how wrong it is to bring a half-controlled lunatic onto bridleways, or make way.

+ 1 for Jodhpurs and riding boots.

Anyway I like seeing horses out, and am happy to wait for a minute while they pass.