I have a lovely big yellow poster stuck to the back of my horse trailer:
“If YOU can’t see my MIRRORS, then I can’t see YOU!”
Since I put that up, I’ve had noticeably fewer tailgaters. It’s get the point across… no point tailgating (to push me to go faster) because I obviously can’t see you doing it. Most everyone backs far enough away to be visible in my mirrors, which means they are at a much safer distance from the arse end of my horse!
I think I owe an opology to all the good and decent cops out there who put their lives on the line every time they stop someone driving like an idiot. Sorry fellas/ladies.
However, to the cop who stopped a BC farmer travelling to Lynden for some farm equipment in his BC legal farm vehicle carrying marked diesel - “You must be looking for some brownie points from the boss… %#@*”
In BC we can travel off the farm with marked fuel. In Washington, not allowed off the farm.
Nobody up here knew the rule - fewer still knew it in Wa State it seems. Even Horse Council did not know. This poor fellow had to pay $1,000.00 in fines. We have been travelling south to horseshows for ever and never knew it was against the law. Until one smart cop noticed the licence plate started with “GO” indicating farm vehicle and realized he had a winner.
Foxtrot’s it is standard in pretty much every state in the U.S. that dyed diesel can not be used in on-road vehicles and most anyone who buys dyed diesel knows that.
Over here, if you tow going faster than 60, you’re going to get a ticket. That’s the law. I usually do 50-60, depending on the conditions.
As a side note, there was a story in the paper today about a family of four (Two parents, a six year old child and a five month old baby) who were killed when someone crashed into the back of their small car. The idiot who crashed into them was driving a transit van. Maybe if someone had reported him for tailgating, it wouldn’t have happened.
rodawn
[QUOTE=rodawn;4366609]
I have a lovely big yellow poster stuck to the back of my horse trailer:
“If YOU can’t see my MIRRORS, then I can’t see YOU!”
Since I put that up, I’ve had noticeably fewer tailgaters. It’s get the point across… no point tailgating (to push me to go faster) because I obviously can’t see you doing it. Most everyone backs far enough away to be visible in my mirrors, which means they are at a much safer distance from the arse end of my horse![/QUOTE]
i really like that sign.
i really like the snarky ones, too, but this one i think gets the point across. i think i’m going to get that one:)
[QUOTE=kookicat;4367146]
Over here, if you tow going faster than 60, you’re going to get a ticket. That’s the law. I usually do 50-60, depending on the conditions.
As a side note, there was a story in the paper today about a family of four (Two parents, a six year old child and a five month old baby) who were killed when someone crashed into the back of their small car. The idiot who crashed into them was driving a transit van. Maybe if someone had reported him for tailgating, it wouldn’t have happened.[/QUOTE]
60 kph or mph? If it is kilometer, that is real slow!:lol:
Another bumper sticker suggestion
I know someone who had a bumper sticker on her straight-load horse trailer that said: If you can see this, you are what you see.
I thought that was a great message to send to tailgaters. :winkgrin:
[QUOTE=tkhawk;4368163]
60 kph or mph? If it is kilometer, that is real slow!:lol:[/QUOTE]
MPH 
Nothing I hate more then a tailgater when I’m towing. 
Typically I drop it a gear and drive significantly under the speed limit until they back off.
The difference between hauling and not hauling is if someone is tail gating me when I’m just driving I will absolutely dare them to rear end me…but if they rear end my horse trailer those are my horses not the back of my car. :no:
Some people have no concept of aggressive and dangerous driving and what it takes to drive a rig and keep the horses contained, safe.
I just came back from a trip down south.
I had a guy on 87, pull up in front of me, slam on his brakes, which of course caused me to swerve and brake, and then he moved over into the passing land and slowed down to be next to me to look at me and laugh and make a few hand gestures.
This is the second time this has happened to me in the last few years.
Honestly, I don’t think its me, I think they have road rage and especially at horse trailers.
I think they know they are mostly driven by woman, and when they swerve in front of us and brake, it causes our animals some major movement. I think in a sick way they get joy from that.
So, please folks, be careful, remember to drive responsibly, and your actions could affect someone else to get back to another unsuspecting person driving a horse trailer.
Driving a rig with a live load is not the time to be a toughie imo.
Worse than tail gaters are those who pass and deke right back in front of your trailer…and then turn or slow down…aarrgghh
The only time tail gaters make me take…um…slightly aggressive action is when I get tailgated on the provincial highway close to my house. There is a park on one side and at dusk and dawn…it is like playing deer pinball. Those deer are on a suicide mission. So I drive a speed that will allow me to both see and avoid deer…and some brainiac feels obliged to ride my tailgate. Should a deer jump onto the road…all three of us are going to get it. Me, the deer and the tailgater.
At this point (not when hauling a trailer, of course) I will move ever so slightly to the gravel shoulder and grace the tail gater with a gravel shower.
Works like a charm.
I tell myself this is OK as an RCMP officer told me I about this trick…
[QUOTE=marta;4357575]
I didn’t even tell my SO about this bc he already thinks Im going to get killed (or get him into a fight) for my attitude while driving 
But messing w/ me is one thing, however you mess w/ my pony’s welfare and I will not hesitate to use that manure fork in ways it was never intended to.[/QUOTE]
:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
I ride with a couple that owns mules, I have been riding their extra mule and going
to the parks and riding. We also go to Eminence MO twice a year wich we will be leaving
next week for the Oct ride.
Their trailer is a big red goose with living quarters in the front. The trailer door on the
back is a solid door. On this door they had a friend of theirs paint this:
“If you can read this…you are to close to our ASS’s” in real big lettering
with a cartoon pick of a mule with his head over his shoulder and his ass sticking out
at you. They have really never had a problem with tailgaters.
Tailgaters do bother me specially when hauling, but what bothers me more is
when idiots decide to pass in a “No passing” zone. Now that really ticks me off.
There is a reason for it to be a no passing zone but some people disregard sanity
and become total morons and pass anyway.
Reviving this because I found a perfect reflective sign for the trailer: Hold Your Horses! :winkgrin:
What kind of warning sign can someone put on this stunt?
I was sitting at a red light at a busy intersection this past lovely weekend, two horse trailer hooked up and waiting for the light to change on my way out into the country for a nice ride. Lots of traffic, pedestrians on the road and such, and I did my usual scanning of the vicinity, taking things in. To my right was a large fuel tanker truck, making a protected (had the signal) left turn into the single lane next to me, but that was fine as I of course had left lots of space behind the line and the trucker smiled that “yeah, we’re hauling buddies” smile people who have things attached to the back of their trucks often do. Or perhaps it was just because I was female and looking at him.
Out of the corner of my eye I notice a 30-something guy, a little grungy, could use a shave, walking. And he continued to walk, right into the intersection. I guess my mind kind of dismissed it as eh, guy’s an impatient you-know-what, but there’s nobody behind the tanker so I guess going behind it isn’t going to hurt anything.
Next thing I register is said guy getting down on his hands and knees, and then ROLLING his body calmly under the tanker like some scripted action scene. ACK!
Tanker dude throws on the brakes, and my eyes bug as this guy calmly completes his roll, brushes himself off and walks on, ignoring the “hey!” coming from the trucker and several other watching people. Tanker dude composes himself, tells me he almost had a heart attack through my open window, and completes his turn with a shaking head. I wait for the light to change and continue through, watching scruffy guy walking along the road beside me again very carefully, hoping he doesn’t have an odd desire to hitchhike the back of a horse trailer next.
What the heck are people thinking???
[QUOTE=jengersnap;4435368]
Next thing I register is said guy getting down on his hands and knees, and then ROLLING his body calmly under the tanker like some scripted action scene.
What the heck are people thinking???[/QUOTE]
Ummm … Tom Cruise wannabe?
[QUOTE=Skeezix;4357998]
Having been rear-ended three times I really don’t like tailgaters. This is also the biggest reason I usually follow the trailer in my car so I can protect the back from asshats like that.[/QUOTE]
January 31, 1987 my dad was hauling a 2 horse trailer with a nice little mare in it down 75. Some guy in a CHEVETTE rear ends the trailer so hard that it flips the trailer off but not before it managed to drive the driveshaft up into the front yoke. THe mare was just banged up and stove up, and reloaded into another trailer just fine, bless her heart. The cops were amazed at 1. the mare living and 2, the fact that it was a CHEVETTE that did the damage. Trailer was totalled.
I despise tailgaters, and don’t even like to stop too close to the rear of someone in front of me.
Gnalli I can relate.
I was rear ended once- heard a screech and never thought to look behind me until it was too late. Now I always leave lots of room in front of me so I can move and watch my rear view.
Wasn’t all bad though- they totalled my car that was still driveable, and I used the $ to buy my horse.
[QUOTE=mp;4365829]
News flash – It’s not up to the majority on the road to decide the minimum speed on interstate and federal highways. It’s posted right under the speed limit. Those highways have multiple lanes to accommodate different speeds.
If I’m hauling, I’ll be damned if I’ll go faster than 55-60. I stay in the far right lane. I don’t pull out in front of faster drivers, and I speed up or slow down to make sure I don’t block traffic merging on to the highway. People going faster than me can pass me on the left. That’s why they’re called passing lanes. On two-lane roads, I’ll pull over and let other drivers by. If that poses too big of an inconvenience or if you’re in that much of a hurry, take a plane.
PS – I also go 55-60 in my car, too. I’ve improved my gas mileage by about 10%.[/QUOTE]
BINGO. We’ve put it to the test, it it works.
One more thing and then I will hush. For everyone that thinks that if the speed limit is 55, then they HAVE to drive that, not so much.That posted limit is the maximum speed allowed under perfect conditions. If I am not mistaken, in rain, that posted limit is to be reduced by 10 mph for the MAX you are supposed to go. Falls under just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
I think calling 911 was extreme… why not wait until you get home then ring the local cops. Someone with an actual life threatening emergency could have been trying to get through.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
