Riding and Road Safety
The Highway Code ...
Be Seen ... Be Safe
Part 1 An overall view on how to reduce your risk and keep safe
on the roads
Hacking out, is for a lot of riders, the most
surfaces, potholes, blind corners that restrict
enjoyable part of their time with their horses, drivers vision and little passing room.
especially in nice weather and with friends.
Even the shortest journey on a quiet road can
have a significant risk. Visibility is often poor
In an ideal world all riders would be able to
leave their yards having access, that doesn’t
even throughout the the day, it doesn’t have
include riding on the roads, straight on to
to be dark to increase the risk of danger when
hacking on the road. It has been noted that
bridleways or suitable riding tracks. This is not
the case for most riders, they cannot avoid
drivers are far more likely to speed on rural
roads, there is also a higher risk of drink driving
riding on the roads, when hacking.
on these roads. The BHS believe there to be
In reality no rider wants their horse to put one
around 3000 road/horse related accidents per
hoof on tarmac, especially the rural roads that
are not maintained as well as urban roads
year in the UK, over half of them are on the
and motorways. Rural roads often have rough
rural roads.
“Visitbility is
often poor even
throughout the day,
it doesn’t have to
be dark to increase
the risk of danger
when hacking out
on the road”
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INFORMATION
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RIDING AND ROAD
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34
Everything Horse UK Magazine • February 2014 • Issue 5
Vital points to consider before hacking:
1. Preparation and Training
It is essential to gain as much knowledge as
possible about road safety, before riding your
horse on the roads. An important point to
remember is that you cannot predict another
person’s behaviour, or how your horse will react
to a situation, vehicle or object they have not
seen before. Even ‘bomb proof’ horses have off
days and get spooked.
2. Desensitising
your horse
Horses are herd
animals with a flight
instinct if they are
scared or upset by an
object or noise. The
taller something is and
the faster it moves the
more likely your horse
is to find it scary, horses
don’t really focus on an
object until it stops. So in a situation where a
big noisy truck is relentlessly approaching your
horse it may have a reason to want to escape.
When a horse gets spooked ‘I will get off its too
scary’ can be a riders reaction, however when
you have 100’s of pounds of frightened horse it
is much harder to control from the ground and
Some Top Tips to make it
safer whilst on the Road
• Make it a habit to wear high visibility and
safety clothing at all times.
• Always tell someone where you are going,
how long you expect to be out.
• Take a mobile phone for emergencies, never
use a mobile phone or have earphones in
when riding.
• Identification tags on your hat and your
horses tack, in case you become separated.
• Always be aware of what is going on around
you and what the potential hazards
might be.
Issue 5 • February 2014 • Everything Horse UK Magazine
you risk being dragged in to ۘ