These are our riders' stories in no particular order of importance or severity.
They are illustrative of the common themes in road user behaviour and decision making that are putting lives at risk on New Zealand roads.
Please remember, for every near miss, there is always the realisation that it could have been a lot worse.
These stories were shared with Julia McLean in 2024 over a period of a week, and it’s what led to the understanding that there is an untold amount of suffering happening within New Zealand’s recreational horse riding community.
“My best friend was riding her horse on the road when it spooked and a car travelling at 100km hit her. The horse was put down immediately, and my friend was in ICU for three days until she died.”
“I had a close call with a truck. It refused to slow down when I was waving frantically at it to do so. The driver finally did when my horse started to bolt onto the road. The end result was me being thrown off onto the road in front of the truck which had finally stopped. I don't ever want to land a couple of metres in front of a truck again. This is why we need education and understanding about horses sharing the road. The driver had at least 150-200m to react, I measured this later in my van. The driver had no clue about horses and what someone frantically waving at him from horseback means. There's about 50-100m where we can't get off the road and I always try to trot there. I didn't have time to dismount safely.” June 2024
"My friends and I had another awful experience with a truck this afternoon. This time a XXXX truck. Firstly, he showed no sign of slowing down until he was on top of us. Did not stop at all in spite of being asked to please stop. Then opened his window and abused us saying if our horses couldn't handle traffic they shouldn't be on the road and then called us stupid bi***es by which time all 4 horses were reacting. Mine had turned and tried to bolt downhill, lots or rearing and turning etc. He then beeped his horn as he took off down the road. We called the police straight away. I was shaking all the way to my paddock. He did everything wrong and made it as hard for us as he could. Everyone else today was brilliant and slowed and gave us room.” August, 2024
“I was out riding my endurance horse on a quiet rural road. It was the middle of the day in Summer. I saw a car coming towards me at speed. My horse turned as I saw smoke coming from its tyres. Its brakes locked on and my horse was hit from behind. I was thrown 6m onto the middle of the road. My horse died at the scene. He had his leg ripped off. He cried out as he tried to get up, and then died before any services arrived. The 18-yr old driver was charged with careless driving causing injury and death and dangerous driving. His two passengers and himself were uninjured. Police determined the vehicle was travelling at 162km and hit my horse at 116km. I’m sharing my story because since my accident 20-yrs ago, there hasn’t been an improvement in road safety for horse riders.”
“We were in a small group of 3 horses riding on a 5-metre-wide grass verge. A Ute towing a trailer full of wrapped baleage (the plastic loose and flapping in the wind) whizzed past us, presumably doing 80km or more. It DID NOT SLOW DOWN. My child’s pony got a huge fright, reared and my daughter fell off. The driver continued on his merry way. Didn't stop to see if she was okay”.
“My daughter and her pony, along with my friend on her horse with her two children with ponies (on leads) were waiting to cross South Eyre Road to go to the local arena. A truck went past and blasted his horn. My daughter’s pony jumped sideways. She was bowled over. My friend was able to grab the pony before things got really bad”.
“I was out riding with my friend and our two children on ponies. The local hay contractor was in his tractor, with his big hay rakes swaying around and he was not slowing down for us. My friend decided she’d move into the middle of the road so he was completely aware that we were there, but he ignored us. He went on the road verge around us tanking along without a second thought to us and the kids. Following behind him were about 3 of the local volunteer fire fighters going nice and slow and just shaking their heads at the insanity”.
“Road riding on rural roads and I have been verbally abused by motorists when I’ve signalled for them to slow down.”
“We were out riding and had a 400m stretch along the state highway to get from one farm gate to the next. The same company (who surely should have learned by now) were coming at us, there was shade down our side of the road so I stepped my horse out on the road and waved my arms so they could see us. They initially slowed, but then the leading truck sped up again about 100m out, got alongside us and sat on his horn! The horse at the back leapt into the scrub. Luckily the second truck driver had their wits about them and slowed to a crawl. I filed a complaint with Police. Police have informed me no charges will be laid because the driver interpreted my hand signals as waving, not slowing down …” July, 2024
“I have had my leg brushed by a car twice in the last 20 years, and had numerous close calls with other trucks and motorists. I have rung the trucking companies and made complaints and have been given the standard apology from the front men, but as far as I can see, nothing has ever been done about the behaviour.”
“I’ve been overtaken at speed on unsealed roads and on one occasion I was riding with a friend and we could hear this car approaching at speed. We were in a dip and knew we needed to get out of the way (there was no verge). But before we could he came screaming over the brow of the hill, we were at the bottom. Instead of slowing down and passing widely he tried to speed past us at, at least 80kms. My horse started to back up which made him brake sharply and then tell me I shouldn’t be on the road! The sad thing was he had push bikes strapped to the back of his car and his kid in the front seat”.
“In general, I experience drivers who are unwilling to slow down and pass wide on a daily basis when riding from my own home in Albury. I wear Hi-Vis because I totally believe we riders need to be doing what we can to keep ourselves seen and safe and my horse is very good in traffic.”
“I have had a number of encounters from people playing chicken and seeing how close they can get to the horse. I also have had people making their cars backfire to deliberately scare the horses.”
“Vehicles going too close and too fast past horses causing the horses to spook violently.”
“e-bikers racing past and ringing their bell as they got level with the horses!”
“My husband’s horse was spooked by a car going too fast on a gravel road causing his horse to bolt. The woman driving the car continued to follow the bolting horse at speed and then overtook again. After about 800m my husband got to a road junction and his choices were to bolt through a cattle grid or turn sharply, which he did, causing the horse to fall. He did not ride again for 6 years and the horse was rehomed as a paddock mate.”
“I have had a car speed past me so closely that their wing mirror clipped my foot and the wing mirror fell off.”
“ I left my place for a 2km road ride down to the river. The road was typically not that busy so I felt it was an appropriate route with a lovely river ride at the end of it. Part of the route included going down a gradient on the side of an escarpment with a right turn at the bottom. As I was coming down, I heard a truck coming up the other way. He slowed down and went at an appropriate speed up towards me. As he was approaching, I heard a car come from behind and never for one moment did I think they would try to pass me while the truck was coming up the other way as there was not enough room. You can imagine my surprise when the driver squeezed her car between me and the truck clipping my stirrup with her wing mirror. My heart went in my mouth and I waited for the pony’s reaction which didn’t come. I was amazed she just kept plodding down. It would have taken the car driver 6 or 7 seconds to slow down and go round us safely. Poor driving decision right there.”
“Rosie was my 10-year old daughter’s pony. She was white and adored by my daughter. In June 2020 we were walking our ponies down the road from a paddock they were grazing at to the neighbours. My daughter was leading Rosie and I had my pony - an old pig hunting pony. It was later than I would have liked (probably about 5.30pm) and getting dark. We didn't have hi viz gear on (something we do now). Rosie however was a bright white colour! The section of road that we walk is about 50-metres and has a clear vision to the North of about 500 metres. There is a good two-metre verge on the side we walked on.
On this day we were walking the ponies back and could see a large truck coming behind us (from the North). It wasn't slowing down. My daughter said “it’s not slowing down” and was panicking, so I tried to take her pony as well and run both of them into a nearby driveway to get out of the way. But both ponies were panicking by this stage. I got twisted in the ropes as the first truck went past us at 100km and fell over. The ponies bolted. Unfortunately there was a second truck from the same trucking company following close behind and as Rosie tried to bolt home, she crossed the road and got hit by the second truck and flung in the air. She didn't die immediately, rather it took 20-mins whilst I sat with her and tried not to think of how my 10-year daughter was doing just having seen her pony tossed through the air and killed.
I didn't report it as I hoped it was just an accident and I know that we did things wrong too (late at night, no hi viz). However, in the limited times I have ridden on the road since, I have seen trucks not slow down for horses (including my own) quite a few times. I would really like truck drivers to understand that horses can be really scared of trucks and as they are travelling past they have no idea if the horse is going to be scared or not. They also have no idea if there is an experienced person leading / riding the horse, and I always think back to that day and if I hadn't taken the ponies lead rope would the pony have dragged my 10 year old daughter onto the road as well in front of the second truck? What would have happened if we were riding them?
I have heard it said that any horse that is on the road should be tolerant of trucks, but you can’t get tolerance if the horses haven't had good experiences with trucks and generally horse people stay off the roads unless they really have too. The woosh of a truck going past at 100km an hour is frightening enough when you are just standing by the road, let alone if you are an animal.”
I live on the outskirts of New Plymouth in a rural area that is close to urban streets. I regularly ride a circuit on the road. The roads are 50km. I am regularly abused and tooted at. And when I say regularly, it’s nearly every ride. The demographic is young males in cars and involves passengers and drivers. They are new faces each time, not regulars. They say things like “get off the f***ing road” . I’m 54-years old and it doesn’t make me feel good and especially when I am doing nothing wrong. My horse is quiet and well behaved. I have a disability which means travelling in a float to ride elsewhere isn’t an option.
“I am a volunteer firefighter. I have had to put down 10 horses in my time that have been hit by cars. 7/10 drivers survived after hitting a horse.”
“I was riding and leading a horse on a wide grass verge when a car approached and thought it would be funny to have its bumper touch the back of my horse. My horse reared and I went through the windscreen.”
“I have been riding since the age of two. I’m 49-yrs old now and I will not ride on the roads anymore. The risk isn’t worth it. Since COVID drivers just don’t care about other people.”
