GaaaaH !!! Horses

[WIZARDOFOZONE]

Fiunny, as a "city boy" most of my life I always thought it looked neat in western shows to see horses acting up,bucking, etc with a rider mounted up but not so in real life ... my first build seemed much louder than my new build but this new motors tone or the muffler must scare horses ... I passed 4 horses in the bike lane as they walked over 10 yards to my left on a wooded path. One went absolutely insane ! I was actually terrified for myself and for the rider. Bucking, side walking, spinning around, it was NOT like any movie I can say. Worse, I veered right out of the bike lane out of reflex smack into the middle of the road with no idea of traffic and no rememberence of doing the reflex action. Do yourself and horse people a favor and cut the engine as you go by !! Geez ! call me a tenderfoot and lock the corral !

 

[5-7HEAVEN]

That's where the centrifugal clutch and/or freewheel sprocket gets appreciated. whenever i'm approaching another biker or jogger/walker, i always get off the gas, slow down and pedal past them for 10 seconds. this is so as not to scare or intimidate the other person.

maybe you should be ready to press your clutch lever when passing animals/people.

 

[DougC]

You're supposed to slow down about 100 feet away, and make some noise--vocally or ring your bell, until the horses turn and look at you. Then you pass slowly, keeping as far away as you can.

Both my bikes have bells, I have a bell ready for the motorbike when I get it running, and horses is the reason. 'Course, they got a little compass in the middle too, but that's just an added advantage.

Slowing down around horses is a bummer if you want to go fast, but if there's a lot of horses around then it's best for you to just find somewhere else to ride. Pi$$ing off the riders has got nothing to do with it; if a horse decides you're too close they can decide on their own to turn and kick you 10 or 12 feet further real fast.
~

 

[WIZARDOFOZONE]

I've always done this on my motorcycle, and my storage facility is next to a horse trail and I always hit the kill switch. I just didn't see these 4 horses through the trees even though they were only 10 yards away.The section of road was on an uphill climb so I was at 3/4 throttle. What a scary site that is to see (900,1000,?) pounds of horse acting up.

 

[srdavo]

I grew up around horses.....even the calmest riding horse can be spooked by the darnedest things....bicycles w/o engines, cars, puddles of water, railroad crossings, to name a few.

Horseback riders have the same rights on the road that "we" have. (and are probably as misunderstood )

Some good advice in this thread...give the animals a lot of room & pass as quietly as possible.

 

[Dockspa1]

Thats good advice considering we are in control of our mechanical horses and when the real horses get spooked, the rider has no control.
My neighbor had her 3 horses in the front yard and I didn't realize it untill I was pulling into my driveway. Took awhile to get them back. Now they are used to hearing it, but it took awhile.
Doc