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Caution - Horse and rider sign.JPGWoman suffers punctured lung and broken ribs as horse she was riding spooked by cyclist who undertook them without warning
A horse rider who was left with four broken ribs and a punctured lung when her horse was spooked by an undertaking cyclist says people on bikes need to be more aware of how to share the road safely with those on horseback.
The rider, whose name was given only as Karen, had almost returned to her yard after a ride on her horse Polly when the incident happened last Tuesday, the Horse & Hound reports. No details of the location were provided.
She said: “There was no traffic. I didn’t hear the cyclist and he didn’t shout to say he was passing – there were only inches between the edge of the road, him and me.
“He came so close he was just about touching my stirrup. Polly got a fright and jumped off all four legs across the road.
“There was a lay-by across the road with a parked car and Polly went into the car and I came off. I remember not being able to breathe or speak.”
An occupant of one of two vehicles that stopped at the scene happened to be a nurse who works in A&E and called for an ambulance.
“I could see the cyclist stopped but he never came over and then he was gone,” Karen continued. “He left me.”
Her horse, a 15-year-old mare, was found at the stables.
After spending four days in hospital, Karen is now recovering at home.
She said: “I’m very sore even on painkillers. I left hospital on Saturday evening and still have a raspy voice from the chest drain they had to put in.
“It’s taking me a long time to get dressed and showered and I have my daughter staying with me for two weeks to help me,” she added.
The incident happened two months after a man taking part in the Windsor Triathlon, riding in the cycling leg of the event, undertook a horse rider at speed, making contact with her as he passed.
Several other people participating in the event also passed the horse and rider without slowing down, and subsequently organisers Human Race confirmed that one man had been banned from its events for life and another for 12 months.
> Police probing triathlon cyclist's undertake of horse rider
The episode was captured on the horse rider’s action camera and after road.cc’s initial coverage the story was picked up by the mainstream media.
The incident was also being investigated by Thames Valley Police, whom we have contacted for an update.
Rule 215 of the Highway Code, among other things, instructs road users to “Be particularly careful of horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles especially when overtaking,” and to “Always pass wide and slowly.”
More extensive guidance on how cyclists and horse riders can share the road safely has been issued by the British Horse Society (BHS) and is endorsed by British Cycling, and is covered in a road.cc article that can be found by following the link below.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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167 comments
No thats a different time and place. This was in Warrington
To people wanting evidence of this undertaking cyclist, the video has been linked to from road.cc and mainstream media. It is or was on youtube.
I want some evidence or it never happened. Sounds like the sort of shit your child makes up when they've spilt orange all over the floor and the cat did it.
Horses really should not be on the road. If a human had a medical condition in which they got 'spooked' and proceeded to spaz out they'd never be allowed to drive ......but yet horses are fine to be out there. I hate horses. Riders are usually jolly hockey sticks twats as well.
Brace yourself.
I like the cut of your jib.
So far all I can see is some quotes in a propaganda rag dedicated to horsing around. A pic linking to an article about how cyclists should behave has horseshit all over a cyclelane symbol. It isn't screaming 'objective reporting' or 'reliable witnesses' to me.
Must dash - off to take hundreds of kilos of shitmachine to do its business all over the road and shared-use paths and not bother to clean any of it up.
Your really are a plonker a horse is a LIVING THNG it gets scared by things, you know like you AND I get scared when some dick in a car/lorry flies passed giving you 2 inches of room!! You get a fright your direction takes a deviation, as someone who rides both a bike and horses beenscared/spooked by both.it is not a pleasant experience fall of the bike 2/3 foot drop at most off my horse looking at nearer 5/6 feet, if your foot gets stuck in the stirrup and the horse bolts doesnt bare thinking about.
My bike is under my control. My car in under my control. My motorbike is under my control.
Horses appear to bypass this element which other road users have. I'm not completely unaware of horses and their little foibles as my ex had one. It didn't like phone boxes and would veer all over the road when I rode behind her. Great. Imagine if your car had a mind of it's own and steered to side at random intervals (besides Tesla).
To be fair, I've seen cars behaving like that.
My bike is under my control. My car in under my control. My motorbike is under my control.
Horses appear to bypass this element which other road users have. I'm not completely unaware of horses and their little foibles as my ex had one. It didn't like phone boxes and would veer all over the road when I rode behind her. Great. Imagine if your car had a mind of it's own and steered to side at random intervals (besides Tesla).
[/quote
I cant believe that your comparing your bike / car to a horse. The mind boggles with some of the forum comments on here.
People point out the absurdity of sitting on a massive, unpredictable animal, and your problem is with the observers?
I'm off to surf dolphins in the Channel. If anyone shouts at me, be sure to have a word with them, won't you...
I'll remember to bring a sack of dolphin shit back to put on a path. I'm sure it's not as bad as some other animals', so allgoodyah.
surely that's exactly the point. The things are radically different and we make great allowance for unpredictable animals to be allowed on the road.
I think some people are putting the cart before the horse here (I can't bear for a bad joke/pun to go un-said).
Roads were first made for the benefit of horses and carts. Then bikes came along and lovely modern tarmac roads were developed and built. Then cars came along and potholes were extensively developed.
Horses on roads are part of our connection to the past and come the inevitable Brexit/zombie/robo-pocalypse, we might well need to use them again.
Hmm. On that note, it seems a lot of cyclists have got on their high horses over this.
indeed - the supermarkets will be empty...
My apologies, i misinterpreted your comments and after reading through them again i realised my error.
Yeah, but enough about car drivers, this thread is about horses.
Think we need to apply some mature and thoughtful judgement. Whilst apportioning some blame to the cyclist appears reasonable, so questions as to the horse riders precautions are conspicuously absent. My wife and daughter have ridden horses for years and falls happen, but never with this level of injury. The British Horse Society recommends use of body protectors to minimise injuries and can’t help but wonder if she was wearing one. As others have said horses spook easily and if it was not the cyclist could easily have been a plastic bag.
Regardless of what your wearing if you get thrown by a horse and side swipe a parked car your going to get injuries.
Victim blaming at its best.
The argument of "if a horse can be spooked then it shouldn't be on the road" sounds very worryingly like the argument "if a cyclist has to avoid a pothole then they shouldn't be on the road".
Providing no one acts like an idiot (close passing horses/cyclists by cyclists/motorists), there isn't an issue.
The mind is a wonderful thing, don't insult yours.
Or simllarly, in the past, after I was close passed by a Taxi at speed, the cabbie argued "Did that scare you? Then you shouldn't be on the road". It is exactly the same argument.
Yes, I'm sorry, but no-one gets an automatic pass just because they're on a bike.
I spent the last few weekends riding some lovely trails and met people on horseback three or four times. In every case I did the same thing, slowed to an almost dead stop, talked to the rider and then passed when they were ready.
No stress. No conflict, just pleasant interactions between them and me.
I've ridden horses and you have to accept that they get startled just like we do.
How many hours of training do you think a police horse gets, at goodness knows what massive cost? Never mind being expensive and well bred animals to begin with. Hardly a reasonable comparison.
Well , the fucking monsters they used at Orgreave weren't easily spooked, that's for sure. Kind of colours my view of horses - big , heavy scary things with metal shoes, probably ridden by people who don't really care about their social inferiors. I try desperately hard to give the things as wide a berth as possible, because they terrify me. Also, what is it with using the roads and paths as horse toilets - if I let my dog do that, folk would be raging at me?
That’s because dog poo harbours all manner of pathogens, because dogs eat raw meat. Horses eat vegetation, so their poo is much “cleaner”.
It's still a great big pile of shit, though. There's a shared-use path near me that always has dollops of it, and because they always shit next to the gates and stiles, it's impossible to get through them without stepping in shit. When it rains, it becomes shit-mud. It's covering a path in shit-mud and making it horrible to walk or ride on. You avoid the paths and stretches of road nearby are as slippy as... well, as if a massive animal shat on a wet road.
Before we even get to toxicity, it's a hobby that involves dropping piles of shit all over paths, which is pretty antisocial in itself. I'd've assumed, if only for PR purposes, there'd be some effort to tidy the shit away.
I think sitting on animals while they walk is a fucking weird thing to do, but I get that it's an established hobby and I'm glad I don't get to say what people should and shouldn't do, just because I think some things are fucking weird. But when a side effect is dropping mountains of shit in public areas and there isn't even a shrug of the shoulders - that's twattish behaviour.
I hate to break it to you, but literally everything is covered in shit of one form or another. Some is more problematic than others. Dog poo is of considerably more concern than horse poo. I can live with riding round the odd bit of horse poo, and if I can’t avoid it I’d rather ride through it than ride through dog poo. The smell alone is enough to tell you that one is considerably more dangerous than the other.
You really should have quoted 'shit' there.
I'm not keen on dog shit either - so what's your point? That a hobby having a side effect of producing piles of shit in public places and not clearing up is OK because there are worse sorts of shit?
You're a shit apologist.
Very true - I can remember my granda and others coming out into the street after the horse and cart had made their deliveries - no pun intended - to pick up the poop and take it to their allotments. Its a naturally good manure.
It might be less loaded with harmful bacteria etc, but it's certainly not cleaner.
Not sure why it's socially acceptable for them to just leave it in the road, or even worse on a path, if they're not going to clear it up properly they shoulc at least stop and sweep/shovel it into the nearest hedgerow.
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