Road Riding

This is an excerpt from my last newsletter.  I thought it deserved its own blog.

I’m hesitant to ride my horse down my road these days, even though I used to do a lot of road riding.  American drivers have forgotten how to safely pass horses.  Our rural farmer mentality is mostly gone and has been replaced with rural hot-rods screaming by, at or above the speed limit, while texting on their phones.  This gets especially worrisome on the two blind corners that I must negotiate going either direction down the gravel road in front of my house.     

For those of you who are not old farmers and are now wondering how you should pass a horse and rider if you come across one on a road, here are some hints. 

1. Slow down.  Like to about 10 miles per hour.  If a person is riding a horse on a road, it is probably a mellow steady-eddy that doesn’t care about cars, but you never know for sure—the horse might be inexperienced or having a reactive day.  The reactiveness might have little to do with your passing car; maybe a large dog has just run up aggressively barking and jumping up to bite at the horse’s hip (yes, this happens). 
2. Give a buffer of room so the horse can react if needed.  Move to the far lane if you can.  Pass wide.
3. Watch the horse as you go by.  If it starts jumping around a lot, stop.  Watch the rider.  Wait for the rider to wave you past.
4. Take your eyes off your phone so you can see the horse and rider up ahead on the road and you don’t inadvertently run into them (yes, this nearly happened to a friend). 
5. Why does it matter how you pass a horse on a road?  Because horses are unpredictable, and cars can surprise them.  They might spook (jump) toward the car as well jump away from the car.  They might dump their rider and run away if they get scared. And they are 1000-plus-pound animals, so if you hit them, or if they hit you, they will not only hurt your car and hurt themselves, they could hurt the rider or you.  Or worse.

Remember that horses are prey animals.  Their first instinct is to spin and run when surprised.  This is why horse people typically only ride on quiet roads, if at all.  But the quietness depends on the drivers of the cars.  Let’s look out for each other, be calm, be kind, and enjoy the lovely spring weather. 

Ride on!