Trail Riding Etiquette

Im a pretty new rider and have done a bit of trail riding. I knew most of these unwritten rules but there was some I hadn't heard of before that make great sense. Nice to just read through a list like this.

Some great coments. When I was hacking out in england I used to pass a lady walking her two dogs,every time she saw us coming she would hide behind a tree or bush! Well it would take lots of leg to get close enough to screem at her to come out, I tried too tell her how a horse knew she was there and its worse if they carnt see them,but on deaf ears this fell, and now im in the usa were I have to ware bright colour so the hunters wont shot! Oh the great outdoors.

Thank god the founding fathers were smart enough to protect the right to keep and bear arms.

Wearing bright colors during hunting season is a small price to pay for liberty.

To quote the late Barry Goldwater, “I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

And another Barry Goldwater quote, “Equality, rightly understood as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences; wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism”

These rude, ignorant, bigoted comments are starting to irritate the hell out of me.

RiosDad - Where have you been?

I thought you had gone to pale blue skies of yonder.

We've kept your paddock warm for you.

B G

Hunting has nothing to do with protecting liberty or the RTKBA, It's also pretty smart to wear blaze orange in the woods during hunting season as a safety item to keep from getting shot. In fact it is required by law in many plces whether you are hunting or not. So now that person is ignorant ? Blaze Orange is SOmething even other hunters wear. Your not wearing orange to keep from falling on your head. Like it or not it is a don't get shot safety item.

Tennessee recently passed a right to hunt bill. It was passed to protect liberty and ensure future generations hunting. So, hunting is now a right in Tennessee.

My issue with the right to hunt bill is, now that it's a right, can they continue to tax (license) it?

Orange is always a good idea during hunting season. I do change my riding plans to accommodate the hunting season, and usually don't ride in the Cherokee during the short time big game season is open, not out of fear, but out of respect for those who want to hunt.

As a Brit, I’ve been reading this thread with amusement.

Over this side of the Great Pond, life in some ways is very different but we too have: the wild and unpredictable, the irresponsible and irreverent, the out of control and dangerous, the naïve and unsafe, the fearful and incompetent. You can’t really tell the one from the other until it is too late.

Noone is allowed to carry a hand gun of any shape, size or bore. Noone! Highway robbery is very rare these days, except by the tax man which is universal robbery, (Petrol is now almost $9 a gallon)

However we do have a wide range of modern paraphernalia to spook the horse, There are lawn mowers, chain saws, barking dogs lurking behind hedges, dustbins, paper bags, donkeys, cows and game birds, cars, motor cycles, lorries, tractors, low flying aircraft, helicopters and mothers taking their darling kids to school down single carriageway country lanes with high hedgerows and old aged pensioners walking their dogs on extended leads. Plus cows going ‘moo‘, donkeys going ‘hee haw’ and goats ‘bleating‘. Meeting another horse is the least of our worries. The biggest hazard of all is a cross country racing pedal bike which comes up quietly behind and zooms past at speed without a sound bearing heard.

Incidentally , the horse rider is not charged for medical treatment at the accident and emergency hospitals. If you can get there in time to make a difference, treatment is free of charge.

PS It is not mandatory to ride the horse on the left hand side of the road.

By diesel63: "now im in the usa were I have to ware bright colour so the hunters wont shot! Oh the great outdoors."

Read more: Trail Riding EtiquetteHow is this rude, ignorant, and bigoted?

I've lived and ridden in many places in the USA. Some places/states were heavy into hunting (as in guns, bang bang) areas, some very restricted hunting allowed, and some were heavy into fox hunting.
In places where riders have to contend with year around hunting, there is a very real danger of being shot... riding or not.

I'm not from PA, but I currently live here in a heavy hunting area and during the heaviest activity seasons my child cannot even play out side for fear of being killed. Every single year a child or person gets killed by a "stray" bullet.
I can't even recount the dealth tolls on the local livestock by the sober hunters, let alone the drunk ones.
Several years ago while I was on the driveway waiting for the bus to drop off my son from school, a hunter shot my house. He was too busy trying to get the bird he was aiming at and didn't even pay attention to the fact that my house was on the other side of the road. Yup, he missed the bird.
The track of the bullet missed me by about 25 to 30 feet.

During the various hunting seasons I cannot even walk to the mailbox without having to wear a bright orange hat and coat, let alone ride anywhere else on my OWN property. I really don't appreciate having to buy those items since I do not hunt animals in any way, however I like getting shot less.

Every year I also have to run off illegal hunters on the backside of my property. The same ones who are incredibly shoot happy and don't care that they are tresspassing and hunting in my pastures, next to my livestock and equines. They certainly don't stop to think about what they hit when the bullet misses the deer, quail, turkey...etc.

For some of us in the good "ol US of A, the threat from hunters is very real. Doesn't matter if we were born here or not.

My point was politicians like to throw "hunting" as the reason for the second ammendment. And any gun not used for hunting civilians don't need. Hunting and keeping arms are separate issues.
I felt the same way about deer hunters and stayed out of their way so they could do their thing. Basically trail etiquette, you know its deer season so you stay out of the area, however in many area the seasons are months long and the traditional no Sunday Hunting laws are being overturned not much you can do but dress up like a traffic cone and hope for the best.