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Safety

Riding your horse on roads is dangerous, but we realise there are times when you have to. These tips are here to make that journey as safe as possible. You make the decision to take your horse on to the road, and for the sake of your horse make that journey as safe as possible. You have a right to use Britain's roads – a right to a safe and enjoyable travel. But you share this right with the motorist, and need to remember that there are over 26 million licensed vehicles on the road.

Facts

• There are over 2.4 million riders in Britain
• There are over 3,000 road accidents involving horses each year, which works out as 8 accidents a day involving horses
• Over half of all road accidents involving horses happen on minor roads
• On average 6 riders are killed each year

Don't Become A Statistic Before you go onto the road, ask yourself if you are a competent rider? How good is your horse? Untrained riders or riders of inexperienced horses should never be allowed on the roads alone. Neither should they venture on to busy main roads, until they have become used to traffic on quieter roads.

Try to go out with an experienced rider and horse, so they can pass on their experience to both you and your horse.

	Insurance Motorists have to take out at least third party insurance to cover damage to someone else's property. Riders do not have to, but in this day and age of litigation it is a very good idea to be insured for legal liability in the event of an accident or incident.

Be Seen - Buy Yourself Time The sooner a motorist sees you, the sooner they will start to slow down. Drivers have become conditioned to seeing high visibility clothing worn by Police, Fire Fighters, Road Engineers, Mounted Police Officers and their Horses, and an automatic response of caution is triggered.

Florescent clothing should be worn in daylight or poor visibility, and reflective clothing worn at night. Ideally a combination of both (referred to as "high visibility") should be worn to ensure you will never be caught out.

If you still think high visibility clothing is not for you, then at least put something on your horse. Remember your horse is not as fashion conscious as you, they only want to get home in one piece. Make sure your horse wears reflective leg bands - they won't break the bank and research shows that leg bands are the highest single factor in getting other road users to see horses and slow their approach. Better still, wear a high visibility work sheet - the horse is far bigger than you and therefore can be better seen from a distance.

Wearing lights is also a very good idea. There are many on the market, some are made for horse riders and others for pedal cyclists or pedestrians. They can be attached to you and your horse making you more visible to the motorist. Many of the lights can be seen from a 1,000 meters or more!

All this equipment buys you time. A car traveling at 30 mph covers 13 metres a second ( 44ft ). At 35 mph the car covers 16 metres a second ( 52 ft ) but is twice as likely to kill you and your horse. At this speed, for every second you waste the car gets 16 metres ( 52 ft ) closer. You don't have much time to assess and react to a developing situation.

Research suggests that the motorist can see a rider wearing high visibility clothing, approximately 11 seconds sooner than a rider who is not wearing any. 11 seconds does not seem much but that's 176 metres (572 ft) for the driver to slow down and take avoiding action that could save you and your horse´s life.

	Adverse Conditions The best rule is to avoid riding on the road at night, or in bad weather when visibility is poor. If you find it necessary to ride in these conditions then do as the Mounted Police do - "Be Seen, Be Safe, Be Aware"

Riding Safely You must be aware of what is happening around you on and off the road. You must never switch off. Use both yours and your horse's senses. Look. Do as the Police drivers and riders do, look well ahead and behind. Look further than your horse's nose; look