By Marianne Hockema
Spring Valley, Minn.
After a near miss this week on a gravel road between me at 145 pounds, my trusty gelding at 1,050 pounds and a MULTI-TON fuel delivery truck… I’m writing to ask/implore/beg for more courtesy from drivers for those riding or driving horses on our country gravel roads.
Please, please, slow down… as I do for you when I encounter you driving your tractor, planter, combine, or those totally scary high-clearance sprayers, your bicycles, motorcycles, dirt bikes, ATVs, pickups pulling whatever, etc., and these days maybe even your semi barreling down our country roads. It’s not just the billowing clouds of dust that mirror a rocket launch, or the terrific rumble of the truck that almost hit me and my horse, it’s the gravel you spray on my legs and my horse’s legs when you fly by at 60 mph.
So, please – if you see someone on horseback, slow down, get over and give the rider time to get the horse under control and down in the ditch if need be. If you see the rider having difficulty controlling the horse either on his back or by his side, slow completely – don’t just keep barreling by. And if the horse breaks loose from the rider – DON’T just keep driving parallel with the horse who is now loose and running down the road. Yes – this happened.
So, some may say – “Get off the road with your horse.” My response – I pay the same taxes you do to use the roads, plus, I extend every courtesy I can to you when I encounter you in any type of vehicle on the road. I’m just asking that you extend the same courtesy – as the great majority of my neighbors do – to me and my horse – to ensure safety for all of us.
I’ve ridden horseback on these roads for almost 65 years – and I’m not quite ready to hang up my spurs. Thank you in advance for being just a bit more careful around me and others who are riding or driving horses.
Happy trails.
Anonymous says
You may pay the same taxes as everyone else, but also need to take responsibility for your own actions. Horses are fight/flight animals, and if your horse is not accustomed to traffic, you should take the time to make it so.
marianne hockema says
Maybe you’d like to rethink your nasty and mean-spirited comments since two beautiful Amish children were killed and two are in critical condition this very morning from someone not slowing down and rear ending their buggy. They were driving on the very road on which I was imploring people to slow down and respect horses whether ridden or driven. I don’t need to post my comments anonymously . . as I authored the article. You, on the other hand, had best continue to hide your cowardice.
Anonymous says
Marianne Is a control freak…why she cannot control her horse is quite beyond me.