boboff wrote:
But people who rise horses are considerate, and polite? Now why is that? ( I have no opinion, I just don't know!)
I am very surprised at this,but quite please that the people I have come across are not representative of the country. I ride and do not expect traffic to give me any more consideration ( animal wise) than they would to a person walking their dog.
IF and I mean a BIG IF I have a horse in training then I do use a support person walking out behind keeping traffic broad and that person would wear a tab-bard saying "YOUNG HORSE IN TRAINING" but generally speaking I do not expect the world to stop because I have gone out for a hack. Most motorcyclists are very very considerate,most lorry drivers do everything in their power to not use the air brakes and most car drivers are equally considerate.
Of-course I have had a few near scrapes. Once I had my stirrup clipped by a car wing mirror- well that was not acceptable. Once a (normally steady horse) took off ( after having given me adequate warning that he was very scared about something coming up behind him), he just got more and more spooked and then faster and faster ending in a good old gallop along a quiet lane , when I eventually got control of the situation and realised what was happening (I.e. could glance behind me) ... It was a normal flat bed trailer but it had huge roof pearling s on the back. so overall the picture was not "normal" to the horse. The driver seeing the horse spook thought it best to overtake us quickly when he "knew " it was a safe and fast / clear piece of road.-- I'm not sure who was most surprised at how fast this horse would go when being chased by a monster.. All ended well however when I realised I could steer out into the middle of the road (thus indicating to the driver - no you are not going to overtake) then peel off to the right, into a lane with recycling bins at the end.
The driver was not being mean he misjudged what to do but I know so many other horse riders who are incredibly rude. It 's like the please thank you thing gone mad. They stick their arm out and do the waving slow down gesture. If drivers slow and take a wide berth they do the big "thank you" but if not they stick their fingers up.
How is that polite? They did not need to direct traffic their horse was calm and used to traffic? I say to other riders "get over yourself" Once you see a car coming up behind you , you can be fairly sure they have seen you, the only traffic calming should be to advise them that the road is not clear ahead for them to overtake.
Oh and back to topic, could I get a (large) dog door (in my back door) that doesn't blow open and create a gale force wind though the house. If I wanted to leave a half door open I would not have spent money on a "Flap".
On the issue of animals for research "The question is not, 'Can they reason?' nor, 'Can they talk?' but rather, 'Can they suffer?'" Jeremy Bentham