Got lectured by a horse rider on my run today...

They startle easy wrote:

I run trails where horse riders frequent. What I have learned is that they can be easily startled and in most cases I slow way down especially if passing from behind where they can’t see you coming(don’t want to get kicked that’s for sure). Could be the rider thought you were going too fast.

This. Just make yourself known ahead of time. No big deal.

Had to laugh at the "horse slavery" comment. Hopefully, the poster wasn't serious.

You should always give a verbal warning when approaching anyone from behind, especially a horse.

Star wrote:

You should always give a verbal warning when approaching anyone from behind, especially a horse.

Your mom kind of likes it when I surprise her

Do you even ride, brah? wrote:

hoss whispererer wrote:

He was not yelling at the horse. Anyone that clueless would not be out riding alone. A horse is not a dog. No-one uses verbal commands to control a horse they are riding. You control a horse beneath you with reins and feet / knees.

Um, lots of people use verbal commands.

Earned my living working cattle off the back of a horse 12 hours a day for about 5 years and never once encountered anyone who spoke commands at a horse no matter how novice or horse-backward they were. Cursing or praising the horse perhaps, but "you dummy" isn't a command. I cannot imagine a person aboard of a horse crying out "halt!" in lieu of hauling back on the reins. But then who knows, maybe this incident happened in England or somewhere like that, in which case all bets are off.

you know running/bridal trails are a notorius breeding ground for man/man hook ups, halt, although crude might have been his way of a introduction. Gives whole new meaning to "bareback"

May the Wilburforce be with you....

At least you weren't a dB...Change With the Changing Times

yepiknewit wrote:

you know running/bridal trails are a notorius breeding ground for man/man hook ups

No man, that's highway rest areas you are thinking of. They're the bath houses of the 90s for many, many, many gay men

It is difficult to hear commands when you are a little hoarse.

hoss whispererer wrote:

Do you even ride, brah? wrote:

Um, lots of people use verbal commands.

Earned my living working cattle off the back of a horse 12 hours a day for about 5 years and never once encountered anyone who spoke commands at a horse no matter how novice or horse-backward they were. Cursing or praising the horse perhaps, but "you dummy" isn't a command. I cannot imagine a person aboard of a horse crying out "halt!" in lieu of hauling back on the reins. But then who knows, maybe this incident happened in England or somewhere like that, in which case all bets are off.

Or you know in non cattle country which is likely where most equestrian stuff actually happens. I'm sure you have actually heard someone say "woah Daisy" or "easy there Thunder". You don't have to actually lie.

Yeah, a lot of people at the highest levels do still give verbal commands or use sound to communicate with their horse.

hoss whispererer wrote:

Do you even ride, brah? wrote:

Um, lots of people use verbal commands.

Earned my living working cattle off the back of a horse 12 hours a day for about 5 years and never once encountered anyone who spoke commands at a horse no matter how novice or horse-backward they were. Cursing or praising the horse perhaps, but "you dummy" isn't a command. I cannot imagine a person aboard of a horse crying out "halt!" in lieu of hauling back on the reins. But then who knows, maybe this incident happened in England or somewhere like that, in which case all bets are off.

You know you can teach a horse to stop on "woah" without hauling the reins? No, it sounds like you don't.

Question for the riders then: wouldn’t yelling “Heads up!” from 50 feet behind spook the horse also?

I’ve only ever come across people on horseback going the opposite direction. Each time I leashed my dog and gave them some berth (on narrower trails sometimes wide berth wasn’t an option). Always just got a howdy and a thank you. The horses couldn’t have cared less about me or the dog.

It's not your fault if his horse startles. Just like it's not your fault if you startle someone who is wearing headphones.

If he doesn't want his horse to startle at other trail users, he should either be watching for said users himself, or take his horse to some private property where he can be alone.

You should have verbally let the rider know that you were approaching from behind. Trail etiquette is typically moutain bikers yield to pedestrians and everyone yields to horses. Horses can get spooked easily, especially if you are coming from behind. It would not have signficantly affected your tempo run to yell that you were coming up from behind, move off the trail (which you did), and slow down a bit until you passed them. I run almost exclusively on trails and share them with both equestrians and mountain bikers. I find that many times it is easiest for me to move for them, but often the moutain bikers and equestrians pull of the trail if they see a runner coming so I don’t have to move at all. I also always appreciate it if they verbally let me know if they are coming up from behind me so I can move over or off the trail for them, since sometimes it can be hard to hear them approaching. I find that generally if I’m polite to them, then they are polite in return. Another thing, it is possible the equestrian has had some really negative encounters with other runners being jerks so he assumes all runners are jerks and he took it out on you.

Next time just spook the horse and watch the rider get his sh!t rocked. One less dbag equestrian in the world.

Hobbyjoggin Henry wrote:

Next time just spook the horse and watch the rider get his sh!t rocked. One less dbag equestrian in the world.

And then stomp the dbag hobbyjogger!

Horse owners have a lot of money. They can buy access to the best trails and automatically get the right of way. Our state parks even have special "horse-only" camp spots for these people.

Did the horse have a name?

It sounds like the general consensus is that I should have yelled out a warning as I was approaching, in addition to moving off the trail. I'll start doing this from now on.

I have a little more trouble accepting that I also have to slow down, or altogether stop running, as I pass. I should've qualified that these trails aren't out in the boonies: They're in a semi-urban environment, right next to cars and cyclists. I agree with several other posters who said that if someone is going to take a horse out in a place like this, they should accept that a spooked horse is going to come with the territory, or at the very least not get indignant about others' presence.

Thanks for the replies. Appreciate the advice.