TRF Forums

At first I felt sorry for them but then reality caught up and I thought 'now you know how we feel'.

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/hor ... leway-row/

It is a real shame as we met many horse riders today and we did not have a single issue nor sour look. What is wrong with their leadership?

Might not do any good but I think that we have to keep the pressure on wherever and whenever we can.

Please support and turn up to the Castleton event next Sunday 4th August 2013.

Hugh.

I do feel sorry for them, after motorists, the equestrians have recieved the worst reduction in access since the mid 1800's with the bulk of it as a result of abuse of the Definitve Map since the 50's.

Looking at commercial maps from the 1900's to ww2 reveals swathes of access that is now denied to equestrians, it having been under recorded as footpath and subsequently obstructed with stiles.

The drive to rectify this was hobbled when cyclists were given concessions to use bridlepaths by the 1968 countryside act. This decreased motivation to see routes recorded at their correct status so as to free up cycling routes. The same act introduced a suitability test for RUPP reclassification which was abused and saw many carriageways downgraded to footpath after they were found to hold vehicular (thus equestrian) rights. Had the reccomendations of the Gosling report been accepted then carriageways shown as RUPP's would've been removed from the Definitve Map altogether and dealt with as UCR's. Instead the BOAT was introduced as a remedy for the misuse of the DM to record carriageways. The subsequent failures have resulted in much equestrian access being lost due to central goverments exacerbation of problems.

CROW provided yet wnother blow to equestrian access with nothing given to them in return for the 2026 cut off. Ramblers got Access Land (none of which has been given equestrian rights despite the facility to do so) and landowners got - well, lot's really.

NERC was a massive blow to all except the extremist ramblers that want to ban us. The Act contains provisions which prevent historic use by motorcycles being used to record them at correct status AND bridlepath/restricted byway status. The Equestrians probably lost more to this act than any other.

With the current system so broken it's little wonder that some equestrians are tempted to take the easy route by seeking to ban us rather than conserve rights on incorrectly recorded bridlepaths.

As for BMW's stopping up of the bridlepath, the problem lays with lack of safeguards in this process which is dealt with by magistrates courts not expert in ROW matters.

The system needs changing so that the protagonist of a stopping up/diversion order picks up ALL the costs of doing so - including the fees of those opposed to it.

Should BHS wish to challenge this further it could produce a favorable (to all forms of access) judgement. I suggest it would be a good idea to consider financially supporting BHS should they take this further.

BHS in East Sussex have a long history of constructively working with TRF to conserve ALL forms of access.

I suggest it wouldn't. We need all the money we can for our own fighting fund. In what way would supporting an appeal against this judgement do anything for vehicular rights of way (ie higher than horse rights of way)?

Burgers....

To be fair I don't have all the details but...

Any successful country needs a strong manufacturing base to provide jobs and wealth....

Mini/BMW is one of those in the UK that is on the list, a list that is far too small...

If they want to expand we should support that....

So if they want to build over a Bridleway/Byway/Footpath/Children's home/or puppy sanctuary then so be it.

Some things are more important...

As for horses, most riders I meet are OK but don't forget:

Dr Karen Hinkley
Peak Horse Power
Fox Hunting (Disgusting activity which a lot of riders support)
Horse boxes (Because we all need a 1985 Bedford horse box traveling at 15mph chuffing out black smoke)

Because the process for stopping up via magistrates is currently weighted in the landowners favour. This needs changing.

Peak Horse Power isn't the BHS - it's a fringe group that had to break away from BHS to pursue their extremist anti motoring agenda.

Fox Hunting (or trailriding) - traditional and proper countryside pursuit with a rich heritage, practised by a minority, banned by extremists. Just because a handfull don't like it doesn't mean it should be banned.

Horse boxes - no more polluting than my '72 VW camper, want to ban that too? I'd rather see a horse box than a bus full of ramblers on the minor roads any day.

The horse box one was a joke (PS I love camper vans so no)

That said I spent this afternoon on the A303 stuck behind Horse boxes and Caravans!

But please don't put Fox Hunting and Trail riding in the same bag.......

I can not and will not be associated with these people.

Don't get me wrong I'm country boy (you don't much more remote than growing up on Dartmoor) I not some Guardian reading liberal (I'm not even vegetarian) but I can't tolerate blood sports and that especially includes fox hunting...I'm not an extremist, I'm a human and humans unlike animals have compassion and should know better.

Don't forget the saying "people who kill animals for fun are one step away from serial killers"

Also don't forget many GLEAM members are rich landowners who want to keep Oiks like us off their land so they can kill small fluffy things!

By the way, one of my oldest friends and fellow riders grew up on a farm on Dartmoor, he like me has a similar stance on Fox hunting, he however has seen the vandalism and utter disrespect these people have for other people's property.....f*cking land vandals.

I haven't heard much of Karen Hinkley since she made her looney outbursts on the Countryfile episode about the Peak District.

Her place seems to have been taken over by Patricia Stubbs of Peak Horsepower who claims to represent BHS North and is inserting her cronies into the BHS structure in the Peak District to spread her rural myths and other assorted nonsense.

We have tried to contact Mark Weston of the BHS to highlight the disrepute that this will bring to their organisation but to no avail. In the meantime, as has been mentioned already, 99% of encounters with horse riders out on the lanes are wholly courteous and pleasant.

A ton of nervous horse flesh is a formidable thing and well worth being very careful of, but I do worry that horses are very sensitive to the emotions of their riders and a nervous rider makes for a nervous mount. Given that anyone can ride a horse on the public road without so much as a basic lesson, is there not a case for riders to have to go through some kind of training ( a horse CBT?) before being allowed out?

We sometimes have unbroken (wild) horses overwintering in the field behind our house.

they seem unfazed by motor traffic, and take no notice of my motorbikes.

They do get 'set off' by other horses which are ridden past 'their field' on the road.

So, from that, it would seem that horses should be banned from rights of way because they upset horses.



But in all seriousness the point above about the riders is the right one. Horses have immense 'emotional intelligence' and can easily sense the moods of people around them...they are very like dogs in that respect.

If you do encounter a 'twitchy' horse, take your helmet off and click your tongue and talk to it...'call it forwards'. If it sees you are friendly and confident, it will feel the same too. Easy.