# HORSES HAVE PREFERNECE ON PUBLIC ROAD



## moneypit1 (16 November 2007)

As title really.  Didn't know if everyone was aware. HORSES HAVE PREFERENCE ON PUBLIC ROAD OVER ANY MOTOR VEHICLE!  Thats it.  You can however be convicted for riding in a dangerous manner up the highway"  (ie., at full gallop.)  This is an old bye law that has never been changed. Think of this,  you have RIGHT OF WAY.  - BE SAFE .xx


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## 121272MDV (16 November 2007)

great to know 
	
	
		
		
	


	




thank you


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## the watcher (16 November 2007)

What is your source for this information?


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## Happytohack (16 November 2007)

I thought the "horses have a right of way over other motor vehicles on the road" was a bit of a horsey urban myth.  My understanding is that horses have as much right as any other user of the public highway.  I will be happy to be corrected if I am wrong.  Perhaps Peter Natt will enlighten us?


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## YorkshireLass (16 November 2007)

Ah, but driven horses have right of way over ridden horses


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## the watcher (16 November 2007)

[ QUOTE ]
Ah, but driven horses have right of way over ridden horses  
	
	
		
		
	


	





[/ QUOTE ]

Really?

I am fascinated by all this and am waiting patiently for a quote from legislation or maybe an interesting stated case.


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## PennyJ (16 November 2007)

Where did you get this information from?  Can you quote Acts of Law, that sort of thing?  Only interested so that if I ever need to, I can go kick *rse at the Police by quoting Act names and dates at them, I've found in the past they sit up straight and start writing if you do that...


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## YorkshireLass (16 November 2007)

Horses are on the road by ancient right, cars etc are on the road by liscence.

It is a bit like the "steam gives way to sail" rule for boats.  In the same way that you wouldn't go windsurfing in a shipping lane... you don't assume that motorised trafic will respect horses.  

Driven horses have preferance over riden horses because they are less manouverable.  Also if a horse is in draft pulling a load up a hill it must not break pace... or it could end up going backwards and ending up in a heap at the bottom.  If a horse in draft is made to stop and start again it does its shoulders no good what so ever.


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## the watcher (16 November 2007)

And I say again, where is any of this written down with any authority - not that I disagree with the concept, but to state an opinion as though it may be a fact is a dangerous business.

It doesn't really matter who has precedence, or the right of way - as many road users have found to their cost over the years, it is all very well being right, but if the other person doesn't respect that you could find yourself being dead right.


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## alicedove (16 November 2007)

And I love it when they poo all over the road and two days ago, outside my neighbours house, they cleaned it up within the hour!   OOOOps!


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## Donkeymad (16 November 2007)

I have always understood this to be the case. However,pedestrians have priority over horses!!


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## Cahill (16 November 2007)

i did hear once that horses can go through red lights.dont know if its true or not but not much good if all the other poeple at the lights dont know about it??????


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## custard (17 November 2007)

[ QUOTE ]
Only interested so that if I ever need to, I can go kick *rse at the Police by quoting Act names and dates at them, I've found in the past they sit up straight and start writing if you do that... 

[/ QUOTE ]

Do they really? 
	
	
		
		
	


	





It may well have been law when cars were steam driven but can't say I've seen it in the Road Traffic Act 1988. I think you'd struggle to make it stick nowdays.  It's a bit like black cab drivers having to carry a bale of hay...........


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## moneypit1 (17 November 2007)

The police told me that this is an ancient bye law and is still valid to this day.  I don't know which act etc it is, will try and find out on internet.  If anyone else is good at finding these things out please do and let us all know.


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## PeterNatt (17 November 2007)

No single transport group can claim greater rights on a surfaced road  than any other - except pedestrians.

There may be local bye laws in a specific area that give horse riders priority such as the new 'Quiet Lane Scheme' where pedestrian, cyclists and horse riders have priority over motorised vehicles.
http:/www.quiet-roads.gov.uk/site/index.htm


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## moneypit1 (17 November 2007)

Have just found this, will keep looking.

Can I ride my horse on the highway verge?
Under common law, pedestrians, horse riders and carriage drivers have public user rights over the whole width of land designated a highway. Usually this is between the hedges and fences on either side of the carriageway and this area may include verges. These rights may, however, be restricted where limitations are imposed such as the provision of a footway, along which only pedestrians have user rights. This and other legal requirements effectively limit the width for vehicular users to the made-up carriageway, what we call the road. Horse riders can lawfully cross a footway, say at a road junction or verge-crossing, and ride along the verge at the back of a footway if it exists. There are exceptions to this, however; for example, if a Traffic Regulation Order or local bylaw exists specifically forbidding horse riders the use of the verge. You would know of such an Order by the display of signs indicating the ban. For further information on horse riding/carriage driving on the highway see our Equestrian Stategy.


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## custard (17 November 2007)

Youre right about the verges, I did look this up when I got sick of local people adopting verges to mow them, put rockeries in them etc.


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## the watcher (17 November 2007)

[ QUOTE ]
The police told me that this is an ancient bye law and is still valid to this day.  I don't know which act etc it is, will try and find out on internet.  If anyone else is good at finding these things out please do and let us all know. 

[/ QUOTE ]

If you dig deep enough you will find a good deal of fairly ancient legislation that has never actually been repealed, and local by-laws too. Doesn't mean that it has any application these days.

I'll save you looking - there is nothing anywhere giving horses priority over motorised vehicles on the average road - all road users have an equal duty of care to each other, and a duty to do whatever they can to avoid an accident.

Which comes back to my earlier comment about having precedence and how it really doesn't matter. If you are a car driver on major road, and a car pulls out of a minor road into your path you might well consider that he should have given way to you and that you have a cast iron defence if there is a collision. Wrong!

If you could have stopped or slowed or avoided the collision you can still be prosecuted, even though you had the right of way (obviously the other driver could be prosecuted too)

Which comes back to the point that precedence doesn't matter when it comes to your safety, and that you should never rely on it to keep you safe - it is no more than a rule of the road.


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