BOTH Siobhán English and Anne O’Connor have had their fair share of frightening incidents with horses and other road users over the years.

Following a recent incident with some ponies where a serious accident was narrowly avoided, Siobhán took to social media to vent her anger, only to be then contacted by numerous owners and riders who’d also had ‘near misses’ – and sometimes worse. It sparked a huge conversation on the topic.

It was there and then Siobhán decided to set up a national survey to get a full picture of the issue in Ireland. She called on support from Anne O’Connor, who set the questions using her vast experience in this area.

Anne has been a ride and road safety trainer and examiner with the Irish Pony Club and the British Horse Society for many years and was the SME on behalf of Horse Sport Ireland in the publication of the Road Safety Authority’s book Horse Road Safety.

Siobhán said: “I had a lot of people saying that we should do ‘this and that’ but it’s all very well just talking about it. I felt it was time to do something and a survey was a good place to start to gauge the extent of the problem and give people a chance to have their say.”

The response was tremendous. “We were delighted and grateful that so many people (1,731) took the time to fill out the survey and give us useful material going forward. We also acknowledge Hive Insurance Services for endorsing the survey.”

Siobhán said that while the problem may never go away, steps can be taken to make the roads safer for everyone. “What so many road users do not realise is that horses are flight animals and could actually jump sideways into the path of a vehicle, cyclist or pedestrian if startled. There is nothing more terrifying than sitting on a horse that you know is road safe but could be frightened at any time. You always have to be ready for the unexpected.”

Sharing roads safety

Having also ridden racehorses on the road and presently employed as a racing secretary, Anne can see how horse road safety impacts all equine sectors and not only horse owners, but employers and employees.

“I constantly hear the comment ‘the roads are too dangerous for horses’ and will reply “it is not the roads that are dangerous, it is the road users’ action on them – there is no reason why all road users cannot share the roads in a safe manner,” she said.