Fuming, just witnessed (and nearly been in) an accident

I was driving home tonight, just coming steadily round a blind bend (which I always take at no more than about 15mph because you can't see very far round it), when what should appear right in front of me, on the wrong side of the road? A chav riding a horse full gallop on the main road. I had to slam the anchors on, grumbled under my breath, and then continued the last few yards to my house, parked up and got out. Then I heard the horse coming back our way, again at full gallop, a taxi was also coming along, and BANG! chav squealing on the floor in pain, horse, frightened and possibly injured, legged it and is now for all I know running in blind panic through the streets.

Thing is, I don't know what I'm meant to do now. I heard it, and I saw the immediate aftermath, but I didn't actually see the collision. Am I meant to tell the coppers or something?

Technically I wasn't at the scene of the accident so I haven't left the scene (I was just getting out of my car at my house when it happened), but I really don't want the taxi driver to suffer for it, and more than that, I think the chav should be prosecuted for animal cruelty, because apart from the blatant negligence, every equestrian sort knows that you simply don't gallop a horse on a hard surface, as its a sure way to smash their joints in, and if they slip, they can sustain fatal injuries.

 

tell the law what you saw and leave it up to them but big hugs what a horrible experience that poor horse

 

Blimey Dave, yes, go with what Kaz said and take any relevant pics that might explain what happened later.

Then have a stiff drink to calm the nerves.

 

^^^^ what zigs said!

 

Phoned up, no accidents have been reported apparently. Surprise surprise. The taxi driver (who as far as I could see did nowt wrong) isn't going to want to risk his job, and the chav isn't going to want to risk coppers asking awkward questions. That just leaves the poor horse. I just hope its turned up somewhere intact.

 

Can the Law impose a ban on a rider thus preventing him from doing anything as stupid as this ever again?

 

how awful like you say hope the horse is ok, and you too Dave go have a cuddle with the OH and be great full that you ok

 

When the Horse comes home with no rider.... Well, we've all seen the Westerns, so we know what will happen next.

 

If the rider is prosecuted, he can be fined, and banned from keeping animals, potentially for the rest of his life. Unfortunately that's never going to happen, and even if it did, lets consider the effects of those two punishments:

1. The fine. Most likely this is an unemployed chav, in which case he would have to pay maybe £2 per week towards his fine.

2. The ban on keeping animals. Anyone who has such a blatant disregard for animal welfare, as well as a blatant disregard for road safety, as to gallop a horse on a hard surface, is not likely to honour any legal imposed obligation to not buy another horse for £100 no questions asked.

 

As usual, the unfortunate, innocent (taxi driver, with a possible dent in his car) gets no justice.
And the guilty,even if proven, get away with it - yet again.

 

I've just emailed our local MP. I know its not much, but I can't see that I can do anything about any of this, but at least if I tell the MP the sort of thing that's going on, maybe he can lean on whoever he can lean on to start to tackle the issue.

See this incident was inevitable. Its not a one off for people to ride around with no regard for anyone or anything. Sooner or later there was going to be an accident, and it seems fate chose this evening to cash in.

So, I've emailed the MP, told him what's happened, and that it was bound to happen sooner or later, and will happen again, unless something is done about the irresponsible owners/keepers. Its not like it would be difficult. According to our local newsletter it is already acknowledged that there are a number of horses being illegally tethered around the area. Surely you just get the RSPCA to un-tether and take them away to a rescue centre. Problem solved, then you just keep doing that every time a new one appears on the scene. Horses are far cheaper to buy than they should be, but they're still expensive. Nobody could afford to just keep replacing them every time they got taken away.

 

horses may be cheap to buy but they are expensive to mantain and demand hours of care and attention every day.

 

I can tell that you are like most, in that you would care enough to treat them right. Unfortunately the minority of people we are talking about here just pay a couple of hundred quid, tether their horse on the local recreation ground, and then ride it full gallop on main roads. You can bet that they wont be forking out for vets fees for routine check-ups, worming, smithies fees for new shoes and hoof trims, de-lice powders, expensive feed supplements etc etc.

Also, I don't know if things have changed in recent years (I've been out of equestrian circles for a while now) but it used to be far too easy to 'dispose of' a horse that was going to be too expensive to put right. Going back quite a few years now to when my family kept horses, we were fortunate enough to never get a seriously ill or injured horse, and if we did, I'm sure a proper vet would have handled the situation, but we knew people who had taken poorly horses to a back street abattoir to end up in a tin of dog food. Even if the law has changed (I don't know if it has or not), I still bet its just as easy to cheaply dispose of horse that has got too expensive to keep.

 

There is a woman here who takes her dog on a long lead for a walk whilst riding and texting on her phone ,being a previous horse owner i know her or her poor dog and horses days are numbered..some people think they are invincible and have no thought for others safety either.
Glad you are ok clueless and you was right to report it even if they didnt

 

One of the peculiarities of the UK Road Laws are that it is implied that horses have equal right to be on the road as motor vehicles.
Kids of 10 or younger can be seen around here on horseback, riding on the road, using Pedestrian crossings, riding through road junctions at busy times of the day etc.
These kids are not allowed to drive, but can mix it with traffic on a Tonne of horsemeat on a daily basis.
The theory is that the have - and expect - priority over all other traffic. They are - in my opinion - an absolute nightmare to come across on urban roads at peak traffic times.