A few facts:
While these facts may be simple to read, they include stories of both human and animal misery. This misery can be avoided by better education of both drivers and riders.
Lets face it...
Horses can sometimes seem like a bit of a nuisance when you are in a hurry to get the kids from school, make it to an important meeting or simply going for a drive.
Even though you might sometimes feel this way, horses have as much right to the road as drivers. After all, they came first!
In an ideal world, riders would prefer to ride on bridle ways and tracks well away from roads all the time, but it's often necessary to use roads to gain access to these tracks. With this in mind, it makes sense to share the roads safely – a horse might delay you for a couple of minutes, but an accident can delay you for hours, months or years.
There are around 8 horse related accidents on the road every day - and five riders killed every year...
If you have a dog, you will understand that animals do not always behave in the way you would like them to, no matter how well trained. A major difference between horses and dogs is that horses are much, much bigger and 100's of times stronger!
Another difference is that horses are often quite nervous, if they get frightened they will try to escape from whatever it is that worries them. This might be your car, or any movement or object at the side of the road... Litter blowing in the wind, road signs, trees or anything at all.
Horses take exception to the strangest things. There ability to twist their ears also warns them of dangers. The diagram on the right gives you an idea of what horses can see.
Just because you are in a position where the horse can see you it doesn't mean that it will be happy with your presence.
Single (monocular) vision makes it difficult for horses to measure absolute speed and position of things around them. This makes it common for horses to overreact to things behind them and beside them.
Because horses are not as controllable as motor vehicles, their riders sometimes follow different rules. You have to watch out for signals from the rider and act sensibly when you see them.
Riders will usually use signals similar to the arm signals for drivers illustrated in the Highway Code (download pdf from the Highway Code site).
Riders will normally keep left, even when turning right - horses would be very nervous with traffic on both sides.
Although riders are advised to travel in single file, there may be times when it is safer for them to ride double.
This could be because one of the horses, or riders, is unused to the road or is nervous.
It's understandable that sometimes riders (like cyclists) ride two abreast in order to force traffic to slow down - this should never be necessary in an ideal world, but unfortunately some drivers seem to have no comprehension of the danger.
But remember this... A horse on your bonnet will write off your car; a horse bolting can cause multiple vehicle accidents. A frightened horse can also write off you and your loved ones. You don't have the right to drive like an idiot just because a rider is being irresponsible!
The most sensible course of action when dealing with any livestock is to give a wide berth and drive slowly. Although you should always be cautious, special care should be taken when passing horses ridden by children.
The following guidelines are published by the British Horse Society
The signs shown below are the most common 'official' signs relating to horses. However, you should also look out for 'unofficial' signs which may be erected near riding schools or other places where horses are found on the road.
Signs for farm shops, caravan sites or other rural businesses could indicate horses, horse boxes, children, lorries, slippery road (due to horse muck!) or any other problem associated with horses.
The equestrian crossing is similar to any other traffic light controlled crossing, but in addition to provision for pedestrians (as at a Puffin Crossing) and/or cyclists (as at a Toucan crossing), the equestrian crossing makes special provision for horses
From a drivers point of view, the crossing works in the same way as ordinary traffic lights; while trying to beat the lights is always dangerous, it is especially dangerous at a Equestrian Crossing due to the nature of horses.
For riders there is a 'high level' push button to operate the crossing. Because this is placed on the traffic-light support, the horse has to come very close to the road in order for the button to be pressed. So be careful!
The British Horse Society have produced a video outlining the dangers around horses on the road. They also produce printed information and run road safety courses for riders: http://www.bhs.org.uk/
RoSPA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) provide information and literature for riders and drivers.
The following horse links (Equiworld) offer advice to horse owners, riders and drivers.