IN a one-year period between February, 2016, and February, 2017, 426 road incidents involving horses were reported to the British Horse Society, which resulted in the death of one person and 21 horses.

Overall, 2510 road incidents have been reported since 2010, in which 38 riders have died and 222 horses have been killed at the scene, or have subsequently had to be put to sleep due to injuries, a BHS report said, and it added that 81% of incidents were caused due to drivers not allowing enough room between their vehicle and the horses.

One in five incidents were caused due to cars colliding with horses. The society also said that 40% of riders had reported being subjected to road rage or abuse.

Recorded road incidents involving horses have increased, but the BHS believe this is due to people being able to report them on the BHS website, and due to its ‘Dead Slow’ campaign, which educated drivers on how to safely pass a horse on the road.

The society also partnered up with the Department for Transport to produce a ‘THINK!’ video, which urged drivers to slow down to a maximum speed of 15mph when they meet a horse and rider on the road, and to leave at least a car width between their vehicle and the horse, passing wide and slow, without revving their engine or sounding their horn.

Director of safety at the BHS, Alan Hiscox, said: “We strongly believe that this increase is due to more people being aware of our horse accidents website.

“However, it’s unacceptable that horses and riders are still dying on our roads.

“When we launched ‘Dead Slow’, a number of riders reported to us that they’d noticed drivers being more considerate, but we still have a long way to go.

“We will continue to work with our partners to ensure safety for all road users, including horses and riders.”

One such victim of these incidents, Julie Farquharson, from Longforgan, near Dundee, claimed that although campaigns are in place, drivers still do not slow down, and even refuse to after being asked.

She explained: “One day I was out on my horse, and my daughter, who was five at the time, was riding a pony a little ahead of me.

“We were only about 200 yards from out road end, but on the bit of road we were on, there is room for one car only, so you can’t possibly pass a horse safely.

“The next thing I knew, a car had come right up behind me and was extremely close to my horse’s backside, and because the driver couldn’t get past, they started to rev their engine, which, of course, made my horse jump up.

“After telling my daughter to ride on back to the house, I got off my horse and asked the driver what on earth she thought she was doing, to which she replied that we should get off the road because she had places to be and then she honked her horn, which made my horse jump up again.

“This time, she landed on my shoulder, which was left bruised. After that, the woman simply drove off and I couldn’t believe it!

“I contacted the police, who took four hours to come out to visit me, but because I hadn’t managed to get a note of the woman’s registration plate, they couldn’t do anything about it.”

Mrs Farquharson also explained that she is not the only person that incidents like this happen to, on a regular basis, and that more needs to be done to educate drivers on how to drive safely around horses.

She added: “The incident was really scary, and people need to realise that the slightest thing can upset and spook a horse.

“I was lucky, because my horse was quite road smart, but if she was a little nervous, it could have been fatal!

“It should be a part of your driving test that you must be able to safely pass a horse on the road. That way, incidents like this would be far less frequent.

“At the moment, not enough is being done, and it’s a shame that the government won’t do more.

“Regardless of the campaigns that have been made, people are still ignorant of the rules and safety, and I still often witness cars driving past horses at between 40 and 50mph, and it is so unsafe!”

Mrs Farquharson also added that it was not always just cars and vehicles that were ignorant of horse safety on roads, but that cyclists were also a problem.

“You don’t hear cyclists coming, so quite often they appear suddenly, out of the blue, which really spooks the horse, and so cyclists also need to be made aware of the problems they could cause for riders.

“I just think it’s such a shame,” she added. “Horses have been on the roads a lot longer than cars, and I don’t understand why people won’t just slow down.

“Yes, accidents could still happen, but drivers taking their time and giving us enough space could certainly reduce the number of accidents on the road!”