got yelled at by horse riders

P

prorcracer87

New Member
I am new to this mountain bike thing, but ive been to allaire about 10 times and i do know the rules.

2 friends and I were on the way back out to the parking lot after a 2.5 hr ride. We came out of a corner 1/2 mile from the parking lot and saw 2 horses and we stopped right away. I actually locked my brakes up because i didnt want to get too close. by the time i locked up, there was still about 50ft between the horse and us.

The lady riding the horse yelled at us saying that "you never come up on a horse!". I knew this, which is the reason why i stopped. There was no way for us to see the horses until we came out of that turn, and we stopped right after.

Then she proceeded to give us a lesson, she said "ill be fine but you'll be dead a longggg time". i apologized telling her that none of us saw her and rode back to the lot.

Anyone else have encounters with horse riders? If i saw her earlier, i would have stopped 100% no questions asked. But just the fact that it wasnt our fault either, and got yelled at, felt kinda unfair. Oh well, just wanted to rant.

-Cliff
 
Sounds like you did nothing wrong. I had a similar situation, except that I was not as apologetic as you after receiving the lecture:cool: And I wish I was a monkey, as I would have flung some poo!
 
I cross paths with equestrian on a regular basis at Allaire. Never got anything but smiles, "thank you for stopping" and "have a nice day" from them.
Sounds like you made every effort in your power to do the right thing. She probably didn't realize this.
Perhaps she and her horse have had previous run-ins with inexperienced riders therefor all MTBers are reckless in her eyes. In that situation, it's just best to bite your tongue and move on.

I wouldn't worry about it. The majority of equestrian play nice.

-Eric
 
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Skidding to a stop may have made her feel like you were out of control. I have ridden there for many years and can count the amount of times I had a negative encounter on one hand. Look at it this way, you got one done now and just move on. Everyone has a bad day.
 
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Maybe her saddle was riding up her crack??

I woudl chock it up to some people are grouchy (read: bitches).
 
I guess as Frank suggested the skidding to a stop spooked her.
I have almost collided with horses on the backside of the IMDB trail and after I get off the bike the riders are mostly cool.
I did have an issue last year with a horse that did not like bikers.. it was only as the rider on the horse got next to me that the ride leader announced this fact...nice huh?
 
it was nice for her to say that next time my horse will kill you, even when you tried to be polite.....if you have a 2000
+ lb animal that's not trained well enough to deal with slight interactions mabee you shouldn't bring it to a well traveled public park.....if i had a 100lb dog that would get spooked and bite i sure as hell wouldn't take it public places untill i was 98% sure it wouldn't hurt people....but still be nice to these people because they will be the first to write letters and try to get mtb'ers kicked out...did she have a helmet ? please ask her politely to take it off
 
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Out of respect I would edit the c**t part from this post. Frank does alot to pave the way in Allaire and statements like that dont make us look very respectful.
 
gt2brew said:
Skidding to a stop may have made her feel like you were out of control. I have ridden there for many years and can count the amount of times I had a negative encounter on one hand. Look at it this way, you got one done now and just move on. Everyone has a bad day.
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I think Frank nailed it. The sudden loud noise of skidding may have negated the fifty feet of cushion between you and the horse. When I am around horses I make my movements slow, smooth and predictable; rather than sudden or quick.
 
al415 said:
When I am around horses I make my movements slow, smooth and predictable; rather than sudden or quick.
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excellent point !! And it is always good to talk calmly as well so they know you are human because horses are skiddish in the best of situations. Try to remember that they are prey animals and are ALWAYS afraid of being attacked, so you will never really have a bomb-proof horse.
 
mike_243 said:
I did have an issue last year with a horse that did not like bikers.. it was only as the rider on the horse got next to me that the ride leader announced this fact...nice huh?
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Sounds like the folks from Circle A which is next to Allaire. These people get paid to take folks out on the trails and NEVER give back to the park. :mad:
 
gt2brew said:
excellent point !! And it is always good to talk calmly as well so they know you are human because horses are skiddish in the best of situations.
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+1- I always pull over, and start the idle chit chat as soon as I know I can be seen. A few years ago at Allaire I was riding and a woman on a horse was coming at me. We were on one of the straights so we both saw each other well into the distance. I stopped, pulled off the trail and as she got closer gave a friendly "good morning". Her reply was odd, she said, " just keep talking to me". Being the smartass I am I say, "I really dont know you to know what we should talk about". She laughed and proceeded to talk with me on how the horse will be calm if it knows the rider is calm and I didnt come off as a threat to either of them.

Since then, whenever and wherever I may be, I always do the random chatter with a passing equestrian.
 
The same thing happened to me and a couple of my friends. We pulled off the path to let the riders go by and not one but 2 people actually stopped in front of us and lectured us.. They were not as polite and one of the jackasses actually told me next time not only will I be broken, so will my rig... "That sounded like a personal threat..." (which he did not deny) So I pressed charges for making the threat.... nice that a fellow rider as well as I am in law enforcement...... :D
 
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Elchulachaser said:
The same thing happened to me and a couple of my friends. We pulled off the path to let the riders go by and not one but 2 people actually stopped in front of us and lectured us.. They were not as polite and one of the jackasses actually told me next time not only will I be broken, so will my rig... I took it as a personal threat (which he did not deny) and took the guy to court... nice that a fellow rider as well as I am in law enforcement...... :D
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This happened at Allaire?? These instances are highly unusual.....unless there are some new horses-asses riding at Allaire.:rolleyes:

were they wearing helmets?
 
FFT said:
Out of respect I would edit the c**t part from this post. Frank does alot to pave the way in Allaire and statements like that dont make us look very respectful.
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I curtailed my post.
 
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