Within the last couple of years, the British Horse Society and many other organisations have got together to address the issue of Horse and Rider Safety. There are an approximate 3 million horse riders in the UK, most of which would have ridden on the roads at some point, but many now feel that the safety issue is in desperate need of a review. This has come about due to the increased publication of accidents involving horses and cars.

The British Horse society now has a basic ride and road safety test, which they encourage all riders, that use the road, to take. However even after taking the test there is no certainty of safety whilst on the roads, this is why many riders have joined in the campaign for horse and rider safety and this is my contribution, a website informing both riders AND drivers of the possible risks taken by both parties when on the road. All we need to do, is take notice and respect each other.

Think! has teamed up with the British Horse Society to produce two TV and radio adverts that warn drivers how to avoid accidents when confronted with horses on the road. http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaign.../horsesense.htm

Horse riders are one of the most vunerable road users and many like myself, hope that these television commercials will help us to acheive safer riding. No rider WANTS to ride on the roads, but due to certain circumstances many have no other choice. Horses can be unpredictable and become scared easily, hense the televsion campaign to raise drivers awareness.

National Horse and Road Safety Day occurs in October each year. Organised high profile rides take place all over the country and leaflets are handed out to road users. Riders are encouraged to make clear signals and to wear high-visibility clothes, while motorists are urged to give horses more room when overtaking and not to make sudden or loud noises as they overtake. National horse magazines usually promote this, keep an eye out for any rides in your area - you could even organise your own!

Horseways in Scotland is a campaign trying to encourage a high level of safety awareness in as many horse and pony riders as possible. To this end a set of instructions have been designed to try and simplify the different manoeuvres that must be learnt in order to increase riders' safety on our roads, which can be found at http://www.horseways.org/riding_and_road_safety_news.html

Think! has teamed up with the British Horse Society to produce two TV and radio adverts that warn drivers how to avoid accidents when confronted with horses on the road. http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaign.../horsesense.htm

The British Horse Society runs Riding and Road Safety courses and examinations for riders around Britain - to find out more information about your nearest examination and training centres visit http://www.bhs.org.uk/Safety/safety-tests.htm

The BHS also produces leaflets and posters (which can be found at http://www.bhs.org.uk/Safety/safety.htm) for riders & drivers, and collaborates with other road safety organisations on the horse safety aspect of campaigns. Horse-related accident statistics are also collected by the BHS - you can find the form to do this at http://www.bhs.org.uk/Accidentreport.htm .

Many local councils also produce their own leaflets and poster campaigns for riders and drivers in your area - if you haven't seen anything from your council, get in contact with them and see if there are any plans to do so - you could direct them to this website and others linked on this page for some pointers.

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