Amish Buggy

[davehirst]

I live in Lancaster County PA, home of alot of Amish, horse and buggy Amish. Last night the wife and I were returning home from a ride, and I saw a buggy approaching. As the horse approached it saw my Spyder and panicked. It reared up and started to climb the bank. The driver tried to get control but was losing. I managed to quickly get past him, and looking in my mirror I saw the driver was still trying to get control, but finally got back on the road. I have passed many buggies, but never had a horse react that way. Could have been really bad both for the horse and the driver, but thankfully, no one was hurt.

[ARtraveler]

Similar situation here--but not Amish buggy. Two people riding their horses down my road--we were going about 10 mph and one of the horses balked and almost threw the rider off. No warning, no nothing.

I now give horses a lot of space and slow down as much as possible. They are on our five mile stretch of road. Beyond that, I have not seen other horses.

[spyderider1]

We have Amish communities here in Wisconsin. I haven't met a buggy with the Spyder yet but have often with my other vehicles. I always slow down and give them a wide berth whenever possible, as much for the people as well as the horse.

On a related subject; I wouldn't care to hit the "used food" from the horse on a Spyder at any speed.

[ARtraveler]

We have Amish communities here in Wisconsin. I haven't met a buggy with the Spyder yet but have often with my other vehicles. I always slow down and give them a wide berth whenever possible, as much for the people as well as the horse.

On a related subject; I wouldn't care to hit the "used food" from the horse on a Spyder at any speed.

Bingo, bingo. When we lived in Madison--we visited New Glarus a few times. Lots of Amish around there. Horse, Moose, and Bear "scat" are common on the roads here also.

[davehirst]

We have Amish communities here in Wisconsin. I haven't met a buggy with the Spyder yet but have often with my other vehicles. I always slow down and give them a wide berth whenever possible, as much for the people as well as the horse.

On a related subject; I wouldn't care to hit the "used food" from the horse on a Spyder at any speed.

Yes we have to dodge road apples alot. With 3 wheels it makes it a challenge.

[JayBros]

Nothing more than a skittish horse but I would feel for the driver trying to maintain control.

Have bicycled many hundreds of miles in Lancaster County. On our tandem I would aim for the road apples and my wife would get the skid marks up the back of her jersey. She never saw the humor, wonder why.

[Docster]

I live in Lancaster County PA, home of alot of Amish, horse and buggy Amish. Last night the wife and I were returning home from a ride, and I saw a buggy approaching. As the horse approached it saw my Spyder and panicked. It reared up and started to climb the bank. The driver tried to get control but was losing. I managed to quickly get past him, and looking in my mirror I saw the driver was still trying to get control, but finally got back on the road. I have passed many buggies, but never had a horse react that way. Could have been really bad both for the horse and the driver, but thankfully, no one was hurt.

That area is one of my favorites for riding. I'm surprised because S Pa. has many motorcycle riders around all the time. When I rode a Harley there was often a group of 5-10 bikes sharing the road with Amish buggies yet I never saw an incident. I came to believe that the Amish and their horses were well adapted to bikes. Maybe your experience was a new horse or new buggy operator.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I live in Lancaster County PA, home of alot of Amish, horse and buggy Amish. Last night the wife and I were returning home from a ride, and I saw a buggy approaching. As the horse approached it saw my Spyder and panicked. It reared up and started to climb the bank. The driver tried to get control but was losing. I managed to quickly get past him, and looking in my mirror I saw the driver was still trying to get control, but finally got back on the road. I have passed many buggies, but never had a horse react that way. Could have been really bad both for the horse and the driver, but thankfully, no one was hurt.

Do you think it might have been the Spyder itself, or your headlights that spooked the horse? I wonder how a horse would react to my modulated headlights.

[Culpjp]

I also live with many Amish. They have never been spooked by my Spyder, but horses can get spooked by anything. They are animals after all. Cars will spook them even other horses. I just try to be careful passing them, many around here don't use hand signals when they turn. Yes dodging road apples can make for a fun ride. I'll still take them over dodging self tapping screws dropped from RV's. Lol

[SpyderAnn01]

We ride through some Amish communities in MO last week and I felt for the horses that were running on the shoulder of a 4 lane divided highway with a speed limit of 65 mph. I slowed way down and moved as far to the left as I could. A long time ago I rode horses and mine would have dumped me and headed for the barn if I ever tried to ride on a busy highway.

[stmike 1800]

Mennonite's live in my community ,( i was here first ) why they do not get killed with there horse and buggy's on the roads and highways is beyond me. In most cases the horses are well trained ,and i think the horses are to tired to make a fuss .They ( the drives ) do not respect traffic rules ,they pull out in front of transports ,with no signal and live to tell about it .We have all kinds of signs ,beware of horse and buggy's but it should be the other way around beware of cars and trucks .There have been a few accidents ,but no deaths YET. I road horses for years ,they are an animal of flight ,it is hard to train that out of them.
As far as road apples ,they use them to fill holes in the roads .

[slick999]

Wow Dave,Wife and I did all our riding thru Lancaster county and often thought about what happened to you.We never had any problems with any buggies but wondered if the spyder would spook horses.Glad you got past without any collison.We have seen a few buggy accidents with cars and they are never pretty.

[Bob Denman]

When dealing with animal-drawn carts: it is often best to simply pull over, and shut down...
Let them get past you, and everyone goes away happy!

If you approach one from behind: slow way down.... move way over, and if the animal looks as if's spooked: either stop if you're still behind, or get past them as quickly as possible if you're already alongside them.

[Zip]

I live in NY but visit Lancaster about once a month will be there this weekend. I have passed many buggys on the spyder with no issue. I do slow down and give a wide berth. Maybe the horse was having a bad day, or was new to being on the road.

[davehirst]

When dealing with animal-drawn carts: it is often best to simply pull over, and shut down...
Let them get past you, and everyone goes away happy!

If you approach one from behind: slow way down.... move way over, and if the animal looks as if's spooked: either stop if you're still behind, or get past them as quickly as possible if you're already alongside them.

If I pulled over for every buggy I would get no where. I may pass 15 to 20 on any given day, especially on one of their holidays, which seem to fall every other week.

[Bob Denman]

Then just give them all the room and time that you possibly can.
Look at it this way: you'll be stuck there a heck of a lot longer, if an accident occurs.

[AeroPilot]

Whether the paths are paved or not- walkers or runners yield to horses, and bicycle riders yield to walkers and horse or mule riders.

Walkers with dogs need to have animals on leashes and in control.

Any conveyance rapidly approaching an animal (or person unaware) can cause quite a flare up. Seems to work well.