FROM STUD AND STABLE Riding Horses On Roads Can Be Hazardous Task

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31249, 22 December 1966, Page 4

FROM STUD AND STABLE Riding Horses On Roads Can Be Hazardous Task

Controlling a thoroughbred in training and ready for racing can at times be a difficult task, particularly for trainers and their staffs, who are required to use the roads to ride horses from stables to race-tracks today.

There is no regulation which allows horses or riders any special concession. On a street or road which is sealed right across they are required to abide by the laws which govern traffic in general.

So the people riding horses in traffic of pre-sent-day volume just accept it as one of the hazards of their occupation.

Most motorists are fairly considerate. Many will stop when they see a rider in trouble and most will leave plenty of room when passing a team. The sensible driver poses no problem at all.

The drivers who cause trainers and riders concern are the ones lacking “horsesense.” These apparently consider a horse just a machine. They pass with only a few feet to spare and often at a speed which would make a collision inevitable if a horse took fright and veered to the right No doubt, many of the drivers in the latter category drive as they do only because they lack knowledge of horses. They probably come from all walks of life and normally are responsible people. The action of one such res-

ponsible person inadvertently could have turned a pleasant walk home into turmoil last Tuesday morning.

Wrong Approach The driver was an officer of the Transport Department in a patrol car. He approached a team of horses from behind and as he drew level called over the car’s loud speaker system, “Keep those horses well to the left.” The horses walking in pairs—one ridden and the other led —and on a loose rein, had been ambling along. For a moment all was confusion until the riders got the horses under control. Racehorses associate voices from a loudspeaker with only one thing. Suddenly it was race-day again and they were ready to go. Some of the led horses swung out and lashed at the car, but missed. The car did not stop. The horses were being ridden as far to the left as was possible without being'forced on to the rough shingle verge on the side of the road. At

the time two of the pairs were passing a parked car. In general officers of the Transport Department who work in the area understand the problems of trainers and riders. The officer in this incident was a junior officer outside his own area. This probably accounted for his misunderstanding of the unpredictable ways of racehorses.

If he had felt it was his duty to castigate the riders for infringing the law he could have been expected to drive ahead, pull up, and get out of the car. When this matter was referred to Mr A. Goldsmith, a senior officer of the Transport Department, he agreed that, in the circumstances, the officer concerned should have taken that course.

W ell-Behaved Most horses are accustomed to traffic and are normally well-behaved on the roads. But even the best of them take fright at times. That the accident-rate in

the Riccarton area is low must seem to riders to be largely a matter of luck. There have been two instances in the last few years where vehicles and horses were in collisions and the riders were killed.

After one tragedy the Canterbury Jockey Club provided the land and constructed a chute next to Yaldhurst road. Now trainers whose properties are on Yaldhurst road between Racecourse and Carmen roads have only to cross the main highway and walk their horses on racecourse property all the way to the track. But the many trainers whose stables are in the built-up areas north and east of the racecourse have no hope of a similar facility. Until some other solution is found they will have to continue using the roads.