Suicidal cyclists ?

Question

We went out riding yesterday and there is a very narrow part of the track where there are trees on both sides - well we met a cyclist there and she put her head down and rode staight into my daughter's pony - actually used his butt to push herself upright then almost ran into Fally and fell off. Bike and all right at his feet. My mate was shouting "Serves you right" and Harvey was reversing between the trees like he had eyes in his butt.

Then she took out her earplugs !

Gah - are some people born without any sense of self preservation ?

Anyway - here's the question-have you had any encounters with mad cyclists or pedestrians lately ?

Answer 1

yeah, that does serve her right! one time i was on the trail about a month or two ago with my trainer, her sons, and my mom. the horses were acting up cuz i guess it was 'scary' even though they've been there before a few times. anyways, we rode past a jogger and her dog. when she saw us approaching, she grabbed her dog by the collar and squatted down for whatever reason. when we rode on by my trainer's like, "you know, you'd be safer standing up cuz if one of the horses kicked, your head is at that perfect hight." jogger's like 'oh, ok' and grinned while standing back up. it wasn't suicidal like that biker was, but kinda stupid and funny.

people these days aren't born with natural instincts and common sense anymore are they?

the road i live on is very dangerous- hills, so you can't see if a car's coming until it's about 30 feet away, and people try to show off by driving 25 miles over the speed limit. well one time we were backing into our driveway, which is actually pretty difficult. as the trailer, with 2 horses in it, was in the middle of the road (the trailer was across the width of the road), a little red truck comes SPEEDING over a hill and has to slam on the brakes so that he doesn't hit us. inside the truck we're all like screaming at him to stop.

another time was when my dad was just starting to back up and we were in the middle of the road (not across like last time, but length wise, like the stripes were running from the back to the front of us). a car drives up, and stopped, so we're like 'ok, thanks', but then the car creeps up slowly and passes us. my dad started yelling at the woman 'what the h***! are you crazy? are you stupid?!' the woman smiles and waves at us for letting her through as she's passing. yeah, like we let her through! she almost scraped us and almost went into the ditch. my dad's like 'what the h*** did she do that for?! it's frickin illegal! people must yield to horse trailers.' crazy. she could've gotten seriously hurt or in trouble if a car came speeding up or if she wasn't able to get all the way through.

Answer 2

Never ran into one on a bike but 3 and 4 wheelers yes.    This may sound mean but who cares LOL i always wished the horse would kick the crapola out of them.

Answer 3

I haven't like bicyclists basically because they SNEAK up on your horse and all of a sudden there are THERE!  Most of my horses handle them rather well, BUT there's always ONE idiot.

Then there are the kids and their dirt bikes that think it's rather fun to watch a green horse spook on a horse trail.  

I've ALWAYS tried to find somebody with a motorcycle who will park it running next to my young horses, so they have no fear of them.  Bicycles, just sit there and don't make any noise unless they are ridden, unfortunately.

Several years ago, my best friend took her horse alone to a horseshow (She rode to it.) and encountered a BUNCH of cyclists coming straight at her as she tried to cross a bridge.  Fortunately, she made it past them, but they NEVER even slowed down.  There are times I wish I had my old CRAZY QH mare who had no FEAR and land in the middle of a bunch of those idiots.

She once landed in the middle of a couple of kids on dirt bikes who decided that they'd cross the trail behind her to watch her spook like they had the green mare I was riding an hour before.  HeHeHe...  They snuck up behind us, REVED their engines and before they could think about it, I spun old Squaw around and landed smack dab in the middle of 'em...HeHeHe

They didn't do that AGAIN!

Answer 4

Yes there are a lot of folks out there that have absolutely no regard for others.

This is a story of mine:

Yesterday I took my 3 yr old filly down to the river to put some outdoor miles on her. All and all, she's a good girl. We were out for about 2 hours no problems. I took her over by the gorge that borders along a country road when she started to feel ouchy to me. I dismount and check her feet and discovered a stone lodged between her frog and shoe rim (always good to carry a pick) as I am working this loose , I hear a motorcycle approaching. And its a loud one. Silky (Miss Silk Stockings) starts looking concerned, but doesn't move . The bike is in visual range, so I signal to him to slow down. He doesn't. Silky stares and blows. I signal to him again and nothing. He roars by us within 30 feet.

Silky doesn't bolt, but backs up so fast, she stumbles over the edge of the ridge, slides down 12 feet, flips over a log and into the river. Saddle, saddlebags...the whole thing.

Argh!!!!! People are so clueless!!!

Answer 5

I have trouble with drivers burning past us like they're on fire, and not giving us enough room when they go around us.  Where I live, it's illegal, as horses have the road rights, but alot don't care.

Answer 6

I'm a cyclist and a horse person.  There are asses in both groups.  I especially enjoy the jackasses with large pickups and horse trailers who run me off the road (or try to) - their little game of chicken can get me killed.

A little respect for everyone goes a long way.  I try to be careful when approaching horses on my bike.  I make a wide berth, try to make a small amount of noise so I don't startle the horse by appearing out of nowhere but at the same not try to be noisy, erratic or scary.  Common sense. We all have a right to use the road.

Answer 7

My horse, Optimus, hates strangers. He can't stand them, which is why I don't usually ride him on the road, but a few weeks ago, we were out on a hack, and it started to rain. We turned towards home, but we were already about 45 minutes out. I heard thunder, and decided that I had better get out of the forest in case of lightning, and so I found my way to the nearest road. I led Optimus so that he wouldn't spook from the loud noises on the road, and about 20 minutes later as I was approaching home, the rain stopped and the sun came out. I got back on my horse, and started to ride home so I could dry him off and give him a nice bran mash. Well, we were a few minutes from home when a cyclist came along with one of those little buggies behind him carrying his two children. I heard "Daddy, stop, look, a horsie!" and the man stopped, and before I could ride away, he had taken the two children out and brought them up to Optimus. Now, Optimus was already riled up by this point from the thunder, and as I was explaining to this man that my horse isn't fond of strangers, he tries to nip one of the girls. The girl started crying, and the man started shouting at how my animal was 'dangerous and should be put down'. In response, I calmly told him that I warned him that my horse hated strangers, I hadn't given him permission to approach my horse, and he shouldn't have assumed that my horse was good with kids. The man got back on his bike and left.

Left me wondering what kind of wackos are in the world.