Sunday, 2 March 2014

Horse sense - a safety message


 

Email received 02 March 2014 

12:29:50


Dear CC Hackney

I was given the name of your club by a cyclist I met in our area. I am a horse rider who has no choice but to use the road to get to bridle paths etc. Often we are unable to have conversations with cyclists for obvious reasons, but this guy had pulled over. I asked him if he was a member of a club, he wasn't but he knew of the clubs that frequent our area.

Basically, I am emailing all local clubs that possibly ride in my area to promote safe passing of horses on the road. You may already be aware if this danger and inform your members how to do this safely. 

My stables are in Chigwell and we ride down MANOR ROAD/LAMBOURNE ROAD Chigwell to get to Hainault Forest. Do you members ever come out this way? 

Most often cyclists overtake us widely, which is great but mostly DO NOT warn us that they are coming, silently creeping up on us then whizzing past us at speed, which can spook a nervous horse. 

What we ask of cyclists is that they shout "morning" or "coming through" as they approach, giving the horse a warning that something is coming. This simple act could in fact stop a nasty accident for horse and rider.

Can I ask if this is something you could make your members aware?

Thanks very much,

Best Regards,

JD 

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