makes no difference what I do, every time I get a mouthful from her. She has threatened me with cops, used the horse to try block my path (in a confrontational face off type setup), etc etc etc
I also always tell her horse just left 30 lbs of sh1t back there, can she go pick it up.
There is a gal riding a horse on the connector trail from Altadena drive to the asphalt road leading to the ken burton fire road, El prato at night who caught me off guard. My son and I were descending down the poop laden trail for an evening ride when suddenly I heard someone yelling, "Say hello to my horse".
It was pitch black, and she was climbing up the trail to Altadena drive. I wish her horse had a reflective vest of some sort or how about reflective clothing for the owner.
Ah yes.. Grumpy horse ladies. There is one here in Orange County as well (Santiago Oaks). She (or one of her friends) even joined a forum to get into debates. I'll try to dig some threads up, comical.
That blows. Just like any sport, there are bad participants. I ride after work in a City park a few miles from my house and it gets a lot of equestrian use. I slow, ask if they want me to stop or if their horses are okay with bikes. That usually does the trick. Last thing I want on a ride is to get kicked by a horse.
The hardest part for me is when they are riding in the same direction and refuse to let me pass - very rarely happens, but when it does I find it really disrespectful. Next Spring when the park does initiation for new trail patrol personnel, I'm going to volunteer and ask what the proper protocol is in that case. I know we are supposed yield to horses, but there has to be some give in that case.
So far all of the horse people have seemed real nice. Ive only come across 1 group going the same direction and before I could finish my thought of "hmm how do i pass nicely" they moved over for me. What I find kinda funny are the people who literally jump off the trail into bushes as if i was a speeding train, when Im only doing 5 mph and warn them with my squeaky brakes 100ft away.
Didn't you have like 180 rep power the other day Tone's? Must have dropped some ultra heavy **** on the mods, the dems, republicans, lessos, drug users, arms dealers and TLJC??
Doesn't the woman at Santiago Oaks also ride a white horse? I've only run into her once and she told me her horse would kick me if I tried to go by. I went by and didn't get kicked but gave her lots of room.
I saw her the other day. I rode up next to her and she said, "You shall not pass!" I was able to capture this picture of her on my gopro hero 2 HD though.
What is the deal with trying to get tons of rep? Is there a contest of some sort? Do you become better at climbing or descending with more rep on your MTBR account?
I really hope the people talking about tazering a rider and their horse are kidding because that is great way to get arrested.....
Though the idea of wearing a GoPro and recording any encounters one may have is a good one, especially if the MTB rider is polite and tries to do the right thing and the rider on horseback is being rude, threatening and disruptive, then you can provide some video evidence to the local rangers or whomever patrols those areas and let them handle it.
What is the deal with trying to get tons of rep? Is there a contest of some sort? Do you become better at climbing or descending with more rep on your MTBR account?
I really hope the people talking about tazering a rider and their horse are kidding because that is great way to get arrested.....
Though the idea of wearing a GoPro and recording any encounters one may have is a good one, especially if the MTB rider is polite and tries to do the right thing and the rider on horseback is being rude, threatening and disruptive, then you can provide some video evidence to the local rangers or whomever patrols those areas and let them handle it.
I train horses, part time for a living. Horses can be trained to be calm around just about anything. The problem is most people, like 95%, don't know how to train a horse properly or have an older horse that wasn't trained properly or was abused. And to train a horse properly from start to finish, takes a lot of time, which most people don't have. But, bottom line, if a person has a horse out in public that is acting up, the only one to blam is the owner. But when training a horse, you also have to push the envelope to get anywhere. We are lucky, in that we don't have to train the bikes that we ride.
This is a generalization!
Horses are naturally nervous as they are prey animals. You can train it out of most of them.
Horses will also sense their rider's nervousness and react to it.
An inexperienced rider on a horse not used to mountain bikes can have a tough time controling their horse.
Edit: I was typing while Shawn posted.
What you said is pretty much true. You just have to figure, as a MTB rider that any horse you come across is going to be affraid of you and may do something stupid.
I like to see them (horses) out there, just like I like to see runners, hikers, wildlife, an so on. We happened upon some people who were unloading their equine from their trailer while on a ride this past weekend. We stopped and talked to them because they had massive draft type horses, 3 of them. One of them had never been out on a trail among other trail users and they were kind of nervous about it. I hope it went OK.
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