You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Good to see the Peak District National Park Authority emphasising that there is no justification for unauthorised closure of rights of way and that the tracks and paths in question should be available to local communities for exercise and commuting use.
Also, police forces have been issued with new guidelines on the enforcement of the lockdown, which clarify some of the stuff around driving to exercise and stopping of cars, road blocks etc:
How many of these one persons does it take before it gets to be too many?
I’d love to be told that driving even 15 miles to ride is OK, but I can’t see how it is. How can you expect to be the only person to do it?
As long as it is less than the amount of people they would see at the local park, or on local pavements, then there is surely a net benefit?
Solo activities are exactly in the spirit of the law. Driving on your own in a car anywhere, is still adhering to social distancing.
What is the argument to the contrary other than 'there might be other people around'? Which I can absolutely guarantee if I go for a walk locally.
I don't see the logic.
The updated guidance is interesting and good to see that we can travel a bit to get to spot to ride, however I'd worry that it'd lead to a repeat of the scenes we saw of overcrowded honeypots which could then lead to a tighter restriction on what we can do.
The updated guidance is interesting and good to see that we can travel a bit to get to spot to ride, however I’d worry that it’d lead to a repeat of the scenes we saw of overcrowded honeypots which could then lead to a tighter restriction on what we can do.
It's just become a no-win situation.
People are just going to be driving to wherever they like under the guise of exercise, parking all over the roads (because many places have closed car parks) and causing havoc.
Shame, I was enjoying the quieter roads on the bike.
People are just going to be driving to wherever they like under the guise of exercise, parking all over the roads (because many places have closed car parks) and causing havoc.
I doubt it. Derbyshire Police will be calling in drone strikes on anything moving into the Peak District National Park and using Stingers to discourage 'lycra-wearing leisure cyclists' like you 🙂
Having common-land and a few quiet roads on doorstep I thought could get out and walk the dog without bumping into folks. Same with cycling from the doorstep. So went out yesterday and it was like how I imagine Victorian-times to be in any small town. ie everyone and their dog were walking around. Have never seen it so busy at this time of year. I pretty much know at least by sight all of the people who walk here within a one mile radius (away from the town-centre) mostly on account of Brits generally drive everywhere, so walking is unusual and fellow-pedestrians few and far between. Not so now!
Went out for an hour, hardly any cars (one young buck in his hatchback doing 50 in our 30 road, plumes of black smoke from the exhaust as he revved past me) - but LOADS of newly-discovered walking humans, all looking a bit lost. Have never seen any of these faces before in 15 years!
I made about a dozen avoidant u-turns and wide-berths until got fed up and headed home, making sure to avoid alleyways. It was like dodging zombies. Quite a few of them wanted to stop and talk. Seems like one week of ‘lockdown’ is enough to convince some that they are latter-day Robinson Crusoes who have had no human contact for decades. So they shout across the 6 foot void. Shouting pleasantries. How to get away from the new roving nutters who have just discovered life away from their cars? I can stick to the turbo-trainer but my dog cannot. Have to resort to taking him for night-walks but he’s half-blind and doesn’t enjoy them so much often just refuses to budge. Gah. Nutters. Seems like banning ‘ unneccessary driving’ has made people Go weird and want to walk when they never did before the virus.
Normally I’d welcome that change in culture, but Mrs Rider (like many others) is at great risk in this. On the way back from the pet store to buy food we took the dog out (in the car) to a little country lane miles from anywhere. Parked near a lane we knew that has a no ‘motorised vehicles’ sign. It *was* a pristine little spot, untouched and no litter even. Have only ever seen badgers there. Now I find that there are other people walking there. Also new litter, including discarded tissues and surgical gloves ffs. Arghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Can’t wait for the car-ban to be lifted and/or for this virus to **** off. Either would do right now as, there are too many people wandering around in proximity.
Shame, I was enjoying the quieter roads on the bike.
It's been glorious. So good that I'm not missing all the bone dry trails I'd usually have to drive to.
Thanks Jambo! Common sense prevails.
So they shout across the 6 foot void. Shouting pleasantries.
You're right though. My estate is full of shambling folk who would never have dreamed of leaving the house until someone told them they couldn't.
So now we are into a state where we are stopping the spread of the virus.... By not stopping the spread of the virus.
Good work all.
would never have dreamed of leaving the house until someone told them they couldn’t.
This is but one reason why humans are weird. Reverse-psychology. But if that’s why they are out of the house walking, then they were also told not make ‘unnecessary journeys’ in their cars, so then why aren’t they all out driving around the block like there is no tomorrow?
This is but one reason why humans are weird. Reverse-psychology. But if that’s why they are out of the house walking, then they were also told not make ‘unnecessary journeys’ in their cars, so then why aren’t they all out driving around the block like there is no tomorrow?
Confirmation bias?
Also everyone who previously went to the gym, sailing, climbing, yoga, bowling, the pub, shopping, pottery class, swinging, track days, or even just MTBing in their spare time has now been told they can only walk/run/cycle locally and not drive. They're just observing the rules.
The only car's I see out on rides are boy racers in hatchbacks and people in battered estate cars taking their dogs somewhere 'nice and quiet' to walk, judging by the clusters of cars around the same few gateways these 'nice and quiet' places are probably busier than the villages they left.
Yep. Riding locally on the trails is busier than ever. Normally, I can do a two hour ride barely encountering anyone, and these are semi-urban trails north of Leeds. Now, I'm forever slowing, stopping, stepping into th brambles to preserve social distancing.
Did a longer, gravel ride the other day. The road sections are wonderfully quiet. The more distant 'beauty spots', where the car parks have been closed, almost deserted. Bliss.
Can see all sides of this but just popping out to 'that quiet place' is either OK for everyone or OK for no one?!
Guess just because people don't normally go to these places doesn't mean they are not aware of them....
Interesting to see the government advice is still communicating the "once a day" and "not necessary to travel to exercise" lines.
I've been adjusting my normal 1-1.5hr routes to avoid canal and park paths. These are just way too busy to eb able to maintain 2m distancing. Even the path closest to my house at 8pm the other night had 4 people on it. One of whichw was walking at a fairly open bit, spotted me on the narrow bit of path and just carried on walking toward me. I ended up nearly in the hedge to give her enough room.
The roads and lanes however just has a few cyclists on them, or people walking.
The carpack at the canal near my house is full though.
:-/
Dicks will be dicks. The ones who can't figure this out for themselves are the same ones who aren't giving you any space in the supermarket. It's not very difficult. If there's a ton of cars at your chosen spot you just move on.
I just posted this up on Facebook to all my cycling mates and have shared elsewhere. I was very much in the camp of "well we're inside the rules, i need some fresh air, and we'll go steady and not do anything stupid":
Ok, so last Thursday night I went out with my two lads for a gentle bike ride in Delamere Forest. We're a family group, so within the social distancing rules at the time, and we said we'd take it very steady so as not to put ourselves at risk.
Down a path in the deepest forest, chatting as we went, I was flicked over the bars. Not a problem, would normally have laughed, dusted myself off and carried on. Not on Thursday i'm afraid.
I pitched sideways and fell into a ditch, headfirst, falling about 6 feet onto my head. The pain in my back was unbelievable - so much so I can't really describe it.
It took 2.5 hours for the emergency services to reach me - and required three ambulances including the local HART (Hazardous Area Response Team) team to get me out.
X rays, CT scans and MRI revealed 4 broken vertebrae. I am very very lucky to have full movement of my arms and legs - clearly my back is in a bad way so mobility will be a problem for a while....but I will get there.
I was in the Countess of Chester for 5 days - the staff and support was absolutely unbelievable - I cannot thank all of them enough for what they have done for me. I'm back home now, in serious pain, but thankful to be here and in one piece.
But if there's a lesson in this for everyone, it's that you must follow the advice - please don't take the guidance lightly - I managed to place a huge, and totally un-necessary load on the NHS at the worst possible time - we can all go and enjoy ourselves later when this is all over but for now, please stay indoors as much as you can, and keep your exercise to things that are unlikely to lead you to A&E or worse......I was purposefully being careful, but look at what happened to me
The photo was taken by one of the wonderful physios just a few moments after I stood up for the first time on Sunday afternoon, that's why I'm smiling......
....I am definitely NOT smiling because I am enjoying myself
[img] 
[/img]
Well, I fell off myself last night on the TPT. Slow speed around some freshly laid gravel laid to bypass a swampy bit. Dark but had lights. However, it appears there was a kind of groove or lip in the gravel and when I turned my wheel a little right for balance purposes, the wheel was caught and didn't turn. Cue me falling on my side into a load of mud. Thing is now my rotator cuff is aching on the shoulder where I had surgery years ago. It's very hard not to instinctively put your arm out as you fall over. Having had a lot of problems there I could easily have blown it out. Thankfully it appears a fairly minor strain this time.
I recall having a conversation with one of their rangers and he mentioned that some 60% of accidents on FC land are cycling related. So statistically…
Statistically, most accidents occur in the home.
Good to finally hear some sense from police chiefs, hopefully this will shut the bootlickers up for the time being.
Lovely ride out today, short and sweet, the people I encountered were all polite and distances maintained as best as possible (sometimes difficult on a v shaped bridleway). Only one old boy in the high risk group took umbrage about me riding across the field, I was about 5 metres from him giving him a wide berth and he waved his stick at me for some reason so I smiled at him which only seemed to wind him up even more.
But if there’s a lesson in this for everyone, it’s that you must follow the advice – please don’t take the guidance lightly – I managed to place a huge, and totally un-necessary load on the NHS at the worst possible time – we can all go and enjoy ourselves later when this is all over but for now, please stay indoors as much as you can, and keep your exercise to things that are unlikely to lead you to A&E or worse……I was purposefully being careful, but look at what happened to me
Glad to hear you're OK, heal up quickly.
One thing I'd say though is that accidents like that quite routinely happen when you're " being careful". You don't have the usual speed to balance and carry you through stuff, you're not 100% committing to a move, you're not used to doing it that slowly etc etc.
Anyway, I'd guess that admissions to A&E are well down at the moment. No sport - so none of the usual school sports day or pub 5-a-side injuries. Vastly reduced driving so fewer crashes, pedestrian injuries etc. No nights out, clubbing, drinking so none of the usual alcohol related fights and drunken falls. And far less general outdoors activity. Mountain Rescue, across the UK, had 4 callouts last weekend, they'd normally be up in double figures.
This threads ripe for a feature in the mag by @stwhannah now we have our first injury and waste of the NHS's time (glad to see your ok @velocipede).
Hope this comes across as well intended and not grumpy.
Current guidance for treatment of injuries if they are NOT life threatening is no surgical treatment even if non surgical treatment is likely to lead to a worse outcome.
So if you do fall off the NHS is likely to say here's a plaster let's hope for the best, and if the result isn't great it will have to do.
I work for the NHS, I am doing nothing but very, very easy rides as if I go in injured I will be told tough luck unless I need life or limb saving surgery. It really isn't worth it.
And Velocipede glad you're OK and keep dishing out the (very sensible!) advice...
Absolutely agree with taking it carefully and not taking risks when out riding. Which suits my usual pootling style down to the ground, frankly. But I've still not heard or seen anything from the NHS officially about not doing x or y to avoid putting extra strain on the system?
It falls under Rule 1, obviously, but I'm just a bit surprised nothing seems to have been said officially, or have I missed it?
my post crossed with jet26 - so is that policy being made publicly known to try and deter daredevils or hedge trimmers up ladders?
MoreCashThanDash have been press statement from associations released and surgeons on Twitter/Social Media but may not be as well publicised as should be.
Current guidance is non surgical treatment even if that raises likelihood of a worse outcome, then try and salvage it later if you can...
This threads ripe for a feature in the mag by @stwhannah now we have our first injury and waste of the NHS’s time (glad to see your ok @velocipede).
We going to have articles in the paper about all the accidents at home, which occur much more regularly about how they tripped and fell down the stairs and wasted the NHS' time?
Velocipede was doing nothing gnarly, just a totally unfortunate accident where the chances of it happening was super remote.
You can badly injure yourself just going for a walk around the local area, we going to start to hound them for wasting the NHS' time?
The risk of the accident occurring is by far made null by the physical and mental positives it brings, so lets not scare people into going out shall we.
….I am definitely NOT smiling because I am enjoying myself
Yeeezus that sounds stressful. Get well soon!
I've got form with stupid accidents.
Broken radius whilst riding DH with Switchbacks in Spain, deserved that one.
Broke the same radius (snapped the bone around the end of the plate) on a fire road at Swinley ~18 months later......
Broke the same radius 4 months later taking it easy on the road bike, almost standstill at a give way line waiting for a gap and there must have been a big puddle of diesel as the bike just disappeared from under me. Broke in the same place and bent the plate! Took 6 weeks just to get surgery on that last one as the surgeon was on tour in Afganistan!
Settled into a routine of alternate days of hard turbo sessions (doing the tour of Sufferlandria so some are 2+ hours or back to back) and riding on the road for a bit of recovery and to relax my mind a bit on the alternate days.
Larry - not hounding anyone - just trying to make sure info is in public domain so people can make choices - for some a bad off may be a career threatening injury.
Hand surgery society have been tweeting lots of videos saying don't do DIY or use power tools for same reasons....
In a polite way makes no difference to me what choices are made, but a poor outcome from a bad injury due to 'old fashioned' treatment may make a difference to that individual. May not also but it's a choice to make!
But if there’s a lesson in this for everyone, it’s that you must follow the advice – please don’t take the guidance lightly
What did you do that went against 'the advice' exactly?
Healing vibes Velocipide, please don't beat yourself up though.
It's a numbers game and, as above, the vastly reduced number amount of hazardous activity leading to a lower burden on A&E is the main thing.
There will still be a few casualties, and unfortunately you are one of them, but you should have a clear conscience as long as you weren't sending it.
Healing vibes Velocipide, please don’t beat yourself up though.
Yes quite. It does sound like you were just unfortunate. Get well soon!
So, can I drive to the FoD this weekend for my government sanctioned exercise or not? It's 40 miles each way, if that matters. If that's too far, How about Cleeve Hill? That's only 14.5 miles and would allow me to exercise the dog as well, killing two birds with one stone. Both are things I did regularly, pre-lockdown.
Half the posters on here would have you believe that it's OK because it isn't specifically forbidden and the other half would have you believe it's not it's OK because it isn't specifically allowed. I'm stuck between people interpreting the rules to suit their argument and people interpreting the rules to suit their argument...
STAY AT HOME
Do you live in Cinderford? Coleford? If not, you know the answer really doomanic.
We going to have articles in the paper about all the accidents at home, which occur much more regularly about how they tripped and fell down the stairs and wasted the NHS’ time?
That's rather misleading. Being in their home is probably most peoples most common 'activity' or 'location'. It's not very surprising that so many accidents happen in the home.
How many people die playing Russian roulette each year? Not many in the UK. So:
Being at home is more dangerous than firing a loaded revolver at your own head?
doomanic
Subscriber
So, can I
If you have to ask................
Run through this thought experiment.
You're unlucky and the police stop you and tell you it's not essential to travel to the FoD, and give you a ticket.
You appeal because your visceral need to shred some sweet brown pow is essential in your eyes.
Ends up in court, you're playing a numbers game with a jury who let's face it are probably less sympathetic to your need to shred some gnarr than the average STW'er.
Unlikely to happen, but you're really asking is "if a dick is a dick in the Forrest and no one is around to see it, is he still a dick".
Or maybe I'm just jealous because Swinley's closed due to dicks be'dicking and ending up in an ambulance so the whole place is closed.
doomanic. I would honestly say both of those are too far and are not in the spirit of the guidelines & I am one of those saying that you are allowed to drive. But local is local & to me those distances don't count as being in 'my neighourhood'.
The lady from Public Health England just said they're seeing a concerning rise in vehicle traffic so I'd say no. But that was the answer anyway
I'm sticking to not using my car unless I absolutely need to. That means all exercise is from my front door. I think that's fair and avoids the situation where some folk are seen to drive out somewhere quiet, then every man (and his dog where applicable) decides to join in and we have a situation like a few days ago around Snowdon and in the Peak.
Then we get properly locked down and I can't do my local exercise. Selfish of me? Not so much as those who want to swan off to a nice place in their cars (IMO of course).
I'm so conflicted.
Having been well and soundly flayed for my belief that i should drive a short distance to somewhere quiet to walk the dog. I've had a stern word with myself, convinced myself that as 99.9% of people think I'm a dick I must be wrong, and I should just walk from the house instead
I took the dog out just now.
I had to stand aside on the path 15-20 times to avoid coming within 2m of people. Some of them seemed to make no attempt to stand aside themselves, which is odd because being one of the 99.9% that are doing the right thing I thought they'd know what to do. I did my best though, even though it's harder with a dog on a lead trying to stand against a wall and keep the dog out of their way too. I hope no-one else touched the walls of the alleyways I have to walk down to get to the open space before me.....
And finally, stepping into a bramble patch to avoid a runner coming towards me I have now put a neat series of bramble gashes on my shin. Still, I was doing the right thing, so if they get infected I'm sure the health service will welcome me with open arms.
I feel so smug for not being a dick and driving a short distance even if it would have avoided all those hazards.
Half the posters on here would have you believe that it’s OK because it isn’t specifically forbidden and the other half would have you believe it’s not it’s OK because it isn’t specifically allowed.
No. If there's a divide on here it seems to be between people who believe that if we ride bikes, we'll have the right to ride bikes removed from us, so we shouldn't ride bikes at all in a Catch 22 sort of way. The village had to be destroyed so it could be saved.
And, at the other not very extreme, people who think it's okay to ride from your front door in a reasonable, careful way avoiding other people and not crashing yourself to bits in the process.
The real, for-out extremists, might argue that it's valid to drive a couple of km if it genuinely means you can avoid contact with people and go for a walk somewhere quiet.
In reality, the people flouting the rules big time aren't on here. And the way the modelling for social distancing works, there's an assumption that some people are not going to comply 100% because we're human, so the model builds that in. Obviously it doesn't mean you shouldn't try as best as you can to conform, and I think most people on here do, but equally it will still work even if there are some people not doing exactly as they are supposed to.
It's not a binary outcome, just as the risks around transmission of the virus are not binary, but quite nuanced. You are far more likely to catch the virus through prolonged close proximity to another person in an office or on a train than you are from walking past them momentarily on the street for example, but I think anxiety understandably has made us jumpy. Mostly in everyday life we don't deal with things that quite so obviously have the potential to kill people, it's quite scary. Scares me anyway.
My question was intentionally absurd, I was interested to read the responses it generated. Until there are clear guidelines about what is acceptable I will doing all my exercise from home, no matter how boring. And no matter how many people I'll see in the local park doing the same thing...
My question was intentionally absurd, I was interested to read the responses it generated.
Fair enough I guess. As a longstanding bystander and occasional contributor to this thread, that seems a bit mean. People are genuinely very anxious about all this with some justification, so I'm trying to be kind. It feels like normal forum terms of engagement have mostly been temporarily suspended. Stay safe 🙂
Graph from press conference on Twitter - it's interesting. Day on day reduction in car use for 14-15 days. Now suddenly going back up again - guess it will depend if it keeps rising as to what comes next...
Can't think of an obvious reason why would have increased for businesses etc, unless due to further cuts in public transport meaning car use for work?
I have been running and walking for my daily exercise.
My dodgy knee has not appreciated this. Thankfully it's not aggravated when cycling. As I don't ride on the road the countryside is where it's at.
Can’t think of an obvious reason why would have increased f
Because the officials and the police vindicated those who were on the fence yesterday bowing to those who were vocally upset about not being able to drive their car to their exercise and dog walking spots.
Were at 20% of normal car use up to yesterday and that's nominally up to 40% today so they say.
Can’t think of an obvious reason why would have increased for businesses etc, unless due to further cuts in public transport meaning car use for work?
Mainly because you can delay/suspend some activities for a while and then you need to do them again.
All those folk who stacked their cars full of groceries a couple of weeks ago will have used a lot of them (especially fresh stuff) and will need to make trip to restock.
Some folk will be "popping into the office" to pick up something they left behind when they decided to work from home - or they just need more paper.
If you have someone at home feeling a bit ill, you'll maybe need to pop out for some Paracetamol etc
It's not hard to come up with a list of genuine, justified reasons for making a car journey.
Because the officials and the police vindicated those who were on the fence yesterday bowing to those who were vocally upset about not being able to drive their car to their exercise and dog walking spots.
Were at 20% of normal car use up to yesterday and that’s nominally up to 40% today so they say.
I believe as posted elsewhere, the car usage stats are a day in arrears. [ref: Kelvin in the 'Heavy Handed' thread] So yesterday's usage was up on the day before, and unless everyone saw the news and promptly thought 'great, let's go for a drive' then it's not that.
It might be of sinister cause - eg: that people are bored of lockdown already, or that they've seen others doing it and thought 'sod it', or it may be less sinister like it's 2 weeks since lockdown now, you can't get a delivery for love nor money and everyone's now running out of food.... but we need more data before it's a trend.
Went out on the bike this afternoon for a pootle in the strong breeze. Hardly a car on the roads. I did spot a quad bike with 2 neds on it. Don’t think you can social distance as a pillion passenger. To be fair they may well live in the same house.
Got a pass on dog walking yesterday so did a loop of the woods. It was noticeable that the few people I did meet were much more reluctant to respond to my cheery hello and most didn’t even want to look me in the eye. I suspect because they were feeling guilty about driving there, not, I hope because it’s all about to go every man for himself. There’s some signs of discontent rising in Italy as the economy crashes and people start to get desperate.
I was just out for an hour spin on the roads, saw maybe three of each of casual cyclists, roadies and MTBers - all gave me a proper wave and eye contact which is not usual for the roadies 🙂
I personally think the car use blip was simply people who are splitting the week part working from home and part having to go in. Monday being conveniently tagged on the weekend as wfh.
I pedalled in 7am Monday and it was noticeably quiet - didn't get overtaken by a single car in the first 3 miles (would usually be 10 plus cars in the first mile and that is the quietest bit). Same time and place the last two days was busier (but still less than half the volume you'd expect during school holidays).
Will be interesting to see if the pattern repeats this coming Friday / Monday.
Graph from press conference on Twitter – it’s interesting. Day on day reduction in car use for 14-15 days. Now suddenly going back up again –
Sorry, I had to go food shopping!
Just to clarify, MrsMC had to go into the office today, so I'm doing the weekly shop tomorrow to avoid distorting the graphs.
Now suddenly going back up again –
Roughly corresponding to an increase in coverage in the media of the police being overly zealous / giving and indication they can't be anywhere. Fear of consequences drop and the use of cars increases? Or people have just been out for a shop.
Car use may keep rising if people think the car becomes an extension of the house and go full pensioner - drive out drink tea return home.
It was noticeable that the few people I did meet were much more reluctant to respond to my cheery hello and most didn’t even want to look me in the eye.
Exact opposite around here, everyone out seems extra freindly at the moment.
Exact opposite around here, everyone out seems extra freindly at the moment.
Same here
Awful lot of doom and gloom around one day's traffic figures. Let's see how the trend goes
Awful lot of doom and gloom around one day’s traffic figures. Let’s see how the trend goes
I might go to the garage tomorrow and brim the tank. Diesel is now down at 112.9 in a couple of garages near me.
Exact opposite around here, everyone out seems extra freindly at the moment.
Definitely this. TBH I think some of it is that the trails are generally quieter so meeting another person is a bit more unusual. The lack of visitors also means that every is a (near) local. We live in an area that is a real tourist hotspot so it certainly feels a lot different at the moment.
I saw the usual horse riders when out on my bike yesterday. Not sure thats allowed, to my eyes that seems very dangerous and needlessly risky at this time. I suppose they might have thought the same about me!
Horses do need exercised. You can argue about how and when that takes place but paddocks can be too soft and messy (especially at this time of year) to just be lunging them nearby.
Of course, illegal closures of bridleways (and other tracks in Scotland) will put more pressure on those that are still available.
paddocks can be too soft and messy (especially at this time of year)
Very dry here and horses can get enough exercise trotting aboutva field without a rider. I'm not overly bothered by it, but I bet the posh horsey types dont vilified in the press.
There's been a couple of posts on my local FB page from horsey types justifying driving their horses to go for a ride.
Apparently the horses get bored in the field and need a proper ride....hmmmm, nothing at all to do with you wanting to ride out Mrs Horsey lady?
I wasn't going to mention this because someone will say that by going out I take unnecessary risks such as these, but on my last (quiet, early hours) 45 minute loop from home my only traffic related incident was a minor left hooking - not a full on endo braking face in the back window but close enough to get a virtual face palm (no touching mind) - by a 4x4 with 'I slow down for horses' in the back window.
I would make up a song about it but I'm not sure if it is ironic (and it doesn't scan either)
Does riding my ebike count as my daily exercise?
Apparently the horses get bored in the field and need a proper ride….hmmmm, nothing at all to do with you wanting to ride out Mrs Horsey lady?
The quieter roads around here mean that the owners have just been walking the horses along there on their way to bridleways, hills etc. Seen more horses being ridden down the roads in the last 2 weeks than in the last 2 years!
Much less traffic = much safer.
And horses do need exercising, they get easily bored and they also tend not to actually do a lot unless they're being ridden. Kind of like how people will slouch on a sofa while thinking they should really do some exercise but they'll do it tomorrow!
my mate who works for the NHS finished his shift yesterday, had his bike in the car so stopped off for a blast round the woods as he was driving past, saving himself a boring 5 mile road spin from home - was accosted a busybody footbandit and criticised for making a non essential journey.. wish i could have seen her face when the ID badge and scrubs came out!!
I've been out on my Govt approved daily exercise, although being indoors on my own for 22-23hrs the rest of the time is hard I'm finding. Met a few of the regulars I tend to see on my pre-covid riding days, and we've stopped to chat (at a safe 2m you'll all be pleased to hear) One is a horse rider and she was also having guilt trips about riding, and mentioned the same things as above (horses get bored, fat and lazy when not ridden) and another fella with 5 standard poodles who had got it in the neck for driving to a closed NT car park with them in the back of his car by another dog walker doing the same thing but with only one dog...His dilemma was should he go out 5 times with one dog or one time with 5...
I think most folk are looking at the restrictions and trying their best to comply, as others have mentioned, they're designed with the idea that you won't get 100% compliance, but most folk will tend to do what they think is best, I think largely, most folk are managing.
horses get bored, fat and lazy when not ridden
Not a dig but so what, people get dead when they catch cv19. Who cares if some nag needs to go on a diet in a few months, if it’s in a paddock that’s enough, if it’s solely in a stall then fair enough a short walk. I thought the natural state of a horse was not having someone on its back.
Not a dig but so what, people get dead when they catch cv19
Same as selfish bastard dog owners, walking their pooches numerous times a day. Walk it in your garden, you enormous bellend. And just don't feed it as much.
Horses being exercised two at a time around here, second horse on a lead rope. Seems a wise way to reduce excursions, and keep ‘em ticking over. There are health risks to horses, beyond them just getting a bit porky, if left to do nothing for weeks (months?).
Of course, if horse owners have the land to exercise their horses away from the public, that’s best, but don’t assume they all do.
i could have seen her face when the ID badge and scrubs came out!!
I doubt the scrubs bit happened did it?
And horses do need exercising, they get easily bored and they also tend not to actually do a lot unless they’re being ridden.
Thats patent bollocks, how do all the ones not saddle broken survive?
Horses being exercised two at a time around here, second horse on a lead rope
Same around here.
Not a dig but so what, people get dead when they catch cv19. Who cares if some nag needs to go on a diet in a few months
Because animals, like humans, develop all sorts of related ailments if they're not looked after properly. Leaving a horse in a field, even if you're still doing the basics of feeding it, is basically animal cruelty, it needs looking after like you'd look after any other pet.
It's just a bit bigger, more unwieldy and more expensive than most pets!
If a horse needs some special care that needs to be done, fair enough (seems a bit Darwinian that they can’t survive without input from another species). My cat seems to manage just fine with me supplying food and being left to it’s own devices 😉
Going riding on it seems more like a selfish excuse to just keep doing what one fancies doing. YMMV
To be honest I'm mainly not driving to local spots because I know they will be rammed by other people doing the same, not because I think there is anything inherently wrong with driving a short distance to then get some exercise.
I'm fairly lucky, within about 2 minutes from my door I can get to some really quiet green* spaces with some easy trails that at least put some dirt under my tyres.
If it was the other way round and everything nearby was rammed and I had to drive 10 minutes to get some "isolation" then I wouldn't have an issue with it. It makes no logical sense to me to see it otherwise.
*Its a remediated landfill site so "green" is a stretch, but there are some trees