One of the routes I take when mountain biking in San Diego is multi-use, with hikers, walkers, bicyclists and people on horseback sharing the dirt track. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember, and I’ve generally not encountered any issues.
Until yesterday.
While passing a horse who was consumed with eating a patch of golf course grass growing beyond the fence, an older lady felt compelled to call to me and explain I must give a heads up before passing horses, and then when passing only to do so quite slowly. She seemed passionate, and so I listened as long as I could stand and then lamely said something like ‘will do!’ as I started pedaling away with her in mid-sentence. Unfortunately I was in the middle of a looping subsection of the trail, so 15 minutes later I came upon her from behind again, this time with them slowly sauntering along. I shouted out my presence, clearly startling her, but she recovered enough to determine I was going too fast and so barked out ‘slow! slow!’ to me as I passed. I smiled and waved but kept pedaling this time. Regrettably our paths crossed a third time, thanks karma, with similar results. If she hadn’t hated me after our first encounter, she certainly did after the last.
I get it, with horses. No need to spook them unnecessarily, and create unnecessary drama. But a few observations: these horses are for the most part utterly defeated, middle-aged animals who are resigned to their fate of cramped, hot, spartan captivity, and being occasionally ridden by (mostly) middle-aged women who thought horseback riding might be a really cool hobby. Two, I am a middle-aged, generally not-athletic guy who does not pedal much faster than 8 miles an hour on level ground. The horses probably hear me several hundred yards away, and my blazing speed has never elicited more than a bored glance from them. And, perhaps more to the point: it’s your horse, just like for dog walkers it’s their dog. If you can’t control them around entirely predictable interactions with other people and bicyclists, perhaps you should choose a more isolated trail.