Welcome To
WHAT A HORSE SEES!
Meeting a horse and rider on the trail
(See our blog for the latest updates.)
When you meet a horse on the trail, make sure it knows you’re a mountain biker, not a mountain lion. Here’s how:
- STOP — Horses spook easily, and may perceive movement, especially quiet movement, as a predator — and bolt.
- TALK — Human speech is reassuring and comforting for the horse. Continue to talk until the horse has passed.
- MOVE DOWN to the low side of the trail. If horse gets spooked, you don’t want it going off the steep side or horse and rider can be injured.
This trail etiquette — stop, talk, and move down - to the low side of the trail — is based on the experiences of hikers, mountain bikers, and horse riders over many years, and is illustrated in our film What a Horse Sees!
So before your next ride: visit www.HorseSees.com — and email the What A Horse Sees! announcement to your hiker, biker, and rider friends, too. The more the merrier — and safer and more enjoyable for everyone.
OR just copy the following into an e-mail:
Hi – Great info on meeting horses and riders on the trail, so everybody stays safe and happy. Check it out before your next hike or ride — www.HorseSees.com.
Happy trails!
Everett Lewis
Hiker, Mountain Biker, Horse Rider
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How This Film and Website Came About
With the increased hiker, mountain biker, and horse activity on trails, it is helpful to have a good understanding of what to do when meeting a horse and rider on a trail.This became apparent to me when my wife and I were returning home after a ride in a forested area. Her horse saw a slowly gliding object off her left rear. As the horse instantly spun to get a better look, my wife landed in the gravel road, wind knocked out of her, not seriously hurt.
After that incident, I decided to do what I could to get the word out to more people about how to safely share the trail — and the Internet seemed like the answer. I hope the film and the web site are helpful in raising awareness of more safely meeting horse and rider on the trail — so we can all enjoy our great outdoors. Get out there and have fun!
Happy trails, everyone.
Everett Lewis
Everett Lewis is a horse rider, a mountain biker, and a hiker. A member of Back Country Horsemen, he helps maintain trails in the North Cascades Tree Farm, and helped create the 1,200-mile Pacific Northwest Trail from Glacier National Park in Montana to the Pacific Ocean. Everett and his wife, Karen, live in Arlington, Washington, with four horses and three barn cats.
