Never seen anyone so petrified from a horse before!!

[chance encounter]

I live in a very quiet village and to get to the main road I have a single track lane with laybys. I was driving down it and I could see two riders coming with their hi-viz jackets on so slowed down and went into the layby. Next thing the little coloured at the back spun round and trotted up the road again with a car coming. The girl spun the pony back round the right way and was laughing her head off. She was with an adult on a huge horse.

The driver and the passenger both got out the car and started shouting to the riders so when they went past I rolled down my window and asked the rider if she was ok as the pony just wasnt happy. She was still laughing her head off and said that those people were shouting at us so I just drove on but couldnt get past because of the other car.

The lady was in a right mess shaking like a leaf whilst the driver was talking to the driver in the car behind. She was hyperventilating and I had to take her hand to try and calm her down. I asked if the pony had damaged the car she said no but it just came trotting towards them and it gave her such a fright. I have never seen any non-horsey person to be in such a state. The pony wasnt close to the car so it wasnt a close call. I asked the driver if he had a bag in the car as the lady really needed to breath into it to get her breathing back to normal and to stop panicking.

The two riders just disappeared and I did feel that the girl should have apologised but they were off. What annoyed the lady was the rider was laughing her head off and thought it was hilarious. I think she thought the pony was going to jump onto the car and through the windscreen so she jumped out of the car! I have never seen anyone in such a state of panic!!

[Smoke on the Water]

Aw what a shame. It's hard to understand it when you are so horsey yourself isn't it. It's easy to forget that others aren't.

[black crow]

Poor woman!

Was saying to Jase just last night that so many riders are inconsiderate on the roads, and seem to find it a jolly to text/listen to music/ ride alongside the other horse JUST to chat, yet dont give a **** who's behind them and have been waiting to get past, or simply just are so careless. I wouldnt be ****** laughing at all. It can be a way to release your own nerves, i laugh when im nervous, but theres a way about it.

Also said to Jase that many people are so daunted by horses because they're so big. Just like he was when he met Spud :lol:


Well done to you for helping her though!

[Catg]

I agree with you Chance I think the girl should have apologised anyway but there's no way to know this person was scared of horses.

A similar thing happened to me recently. I was cantering zeb along a grassy verge of a bridleway which is split up from the main path by a grassy mound running the length of the grass verge. A couple were walking towards us on the main path so I slowed and made sure I was in walk by the time we passed them. I smiled and said hello and the guy jumped down my throat. He was white as a sheet and quite obviously scared of horses but I had no appreciation that a pretty, finely built, 14.2 pony could be so intimidating! It was a real shock. I felt bad afterwards that I had upset someone.

[My Crazy Clan]

People for you, I think riders should have more respect for the road just like drivers for horses, glad you werre there to help.

[eeek]

I had a friend to stay recently who is abnormally gutsy, she has travelled extensively on very tight budgets and had to rough it in various dodgy and frightening locations around the world - and yet she absolutely refused to go anywhere near the horses. She wouldn't even go into the same field as them! If Vinny was in his stable she wouldn't touch his nose over the door, if he was tied up in the yard she didn't stray further than a few feet from the front door.

Weird!

[chance encounter]

My sister is the same. When we got our first pony and lived in Scotland we hacked him up to her house. I said to her come out and see him so she stood miles away. I said to her come and clap him but she got her finger and poked him on the bottom and said there Ive touched him!!

I know many people are frightened of horses and have a hard time walking past them. This lady was in a car but I think it was the fact she thought the horse was going to trot into the car. It did spin right round and start trotting towards the car fast so I think that was what she was more shook up about.

[chance encounter]

Im a bit like that too BC, when Im nervous I sometimes laugh too.

[Teej]

My Mum is 'abnormally' terrified of horses, she's convinced that if they turn to look at her, that they are planning their attack :lol: I could imagine her panicking and jumping out of the car ! So I do understand that fear even if it does seem irrational to those of us who love horses.

The girl on the horse that spun around in the road was bound to be a little wound up herself as that sort of behaviour on the road does give you a fright. Her laughing could also partly have been nerves.

[K8E]

aww poor woman.

Some people riding horses are inconsiderate. people like that give the rest of us bad press.

The girl could have been nervous herself but it would have been nice for her to apologies.

[CityLights]

was a little inconciderate of the girl not to applogise but was also rude of the people to start shouting at her, if im riding something naughty i always applosigse if it starts prancing infront of cars as they slow down and wait where as some drivers dont have the courtosey to do that

[nic]

Oh dear.

I will say how exactly would the girl on the pony have been able to apologise? If she had got any closer, the panicing lady may have started screaming, thrashing and spooked the pony....I suppose the rider could have shouted sorry to the people in the car but then they may have just thought she was shouting abuse...but then I wasnt there so cant really comment, The rider may have thought she had done nothing wrong.

Very strange situation for you to be in CE!! Cant say ive ever met anyone who doesnt like horses that much!!:sleep:

[chance encounter]

She was at the next layby where I was by the time the people had got out of the car. As I say I asked her if she was ok and she said she was. I also asked her why they were shouting and she said she didnt know and if the pony had damaged the car she said no, so left it at that. I would never have expected her to take the pony back. There is cows coming along the road so could only think that it shied from a cow. I did explain this to the lady when I was holding her hand.

The girl going back would not have helped matters as if a pony is frightened from something then it will do as it pleases I was just more shocked the condition the lady was in than anything else. I think the best thing was for the girl to keep the pony moving out of the way and I honestly wouldnt have thought that the girl would have known the state the woman was in either.

Edited to add:-

I should say at first I thought that the pony had damaged the car and that the rider hadnt realised and had just walked away because that was the only reason I could think of when the driver and passenger had came out of the car but the pony hadnt.

[Loony]

Oh bless her. The rider should've at least stuck around to apologise to her! Sounds like she might have some driving or horse phobia to react that badly..

[chance encounter]

You could be right Emmalou in the driving phobia. I was in a really bad accident last year and took panic attacks and stuff afterwards. Still to this day if something comes quickly up the right hand side of me in my car I jump out of my skin. Even black bags stuck in a hedge blowing in the wind can make me jump when Im driving.

[Susan]

I think some people do just get very upset if something happens driving. My Mum and her friend were being driven by the friend's daughter a month or so ago, and they were stationary at a roundabout when the car behind bumped into them. It was incredibly low impact, about 5 miles per hour and the bumper wasn't even scratched, but the girl who was driving just started screaming and wouldn't stop, she continued like that till the police arrived, my Mum was mortified but said the girl was just hysterical and couldn't control herself.

[Cinders]

Bless her!

I've never heard of a horse causing so much panic but a lot of people do seem wary of them! A couple of times molly's caused a bit of drama on the road and brought traffic to a stand still by her freaking out, i deal with it as fast and effectively as i can but always feel rather guilty as from sat in a small car a horse pratting around must look pretty intimidating. I think sometimes non-horsey people genuinely don't know what to do when a horse messes around on the road. I do think the riders could have been a little more considerate though. x

[ness]

Maybe the woman was just proe to panic attacks-she probably would have had a fit if she had seen a spider too!
Maybe it was annoying if the girl was laughing, but as others have already said, sometimes laughing is an involutary thing, I often do it too, if Kissie misbehaves!
Its well known that all horses can be unpredictable, that is why drivers shoud give them a wide berth and riders should have priority! We should all be courteous to members of the public, but if your horse is having a fit, its hard to be the soul of courtesy!

[Katie Morag]

I had to read this a couple of times to understand why the woman got out and shouted. It seems one big misunderstanding. I usually laugh a Mo when she spooks, like a nervous laugh, but it calms us both down.

The rider wouldn't have realised the woman's fear and to be honest I wouldn't have hang around either is some shouted at me. If she was afraid of horses, why get out the car to confront two riders anyway?

[Squid]

If the woman was clearly upset by it I would've apologised and certainly not continued laughing :s Chubbles did this a few times when he was younger but luckily there was no-one behind us at the time, just a great massive lorry coming towards us!

Talking of people being scared of horses, I hacked out yesterday and met my boss (i pass his house on the hack) and he shouted hi, so I trotted up to see him and he looked **** scared! Chubbles followed him about and he was like 'he's not going to rear up on me or anything is he?' i laughed and said no the worst he would do is head butt you or stand on your foot :p anyway we continued talking and chubbles was scratching his nose on his gate. As I tried to leave Chubbles refused to go and kept walking backwards so I hit him with the stick behind the leg and he bucked and farted a cracker and cantered up the road :D haha he must've thought I was a looney :P

[Pirouette]

I hope she is OK. I can quite understand people being scared of horses (well they are big and everyone knows that one end kicks, the other bites and the middle can be somewhat tricky to stay on :cheekywink:
It is also common for someone to be in a state if there is nearly an accident. My Mum (who is scared of horses) was driving along an unlit lane one night when a dark-coloured horse jumped over the hedge into the road from an adjoining field. She only just managed to miss the horse and was very shaken afterwards.