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Fast cars on Crescent Bay Road worry mom

Just because a road is paved does not mean that you can fly on it.
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Crescent Bay resident Charlotte Ruse said she would love to take her son Hunter and his pony Gallahan on trail rides but is too worried about traffic.

Just because a road is paved does not mean that you can fly on it.

As my neighbors know, most of the Crescent Bay Road area has now been paved, much to our disapproval. What some fail to realize is that just because it is paved does not mean that there are no longer people on it! There are some signs along the way, maybe not enough of them, that have a little picture of a person on a horse. Yes, people, this does mean that there are people on horses in the area.

What the sign is lacking is the following: horses are NOT vehicles. The brakes do not always work. Sometimes the horse on the road is fearful of traffic and loud noises, so when you rev your engine beside me you are toying with my personal safety and that of my horse.

Some of you are nice enough to move to the other side of the road, others somehow seem to miss the lack of other vehicles and enjoy riding up my horses butt. This goes out to all you dirt bike, 4-wheeler, loud toy drivers. If you see my horse freaking out when you are a block away it is probably a good idea to idle or turn off your engine until the horse is safely past you. Then there are the people that slow down and wait. Thank you! Your efforts do not go unnoticed.

I feel the lack of knowledge when it comes to horses on the road is a threat to the safety of all us horse riders out there. Granted, there are some horses that are fantastic and don’t care much about anything.

Unfortunately not all horses start of this way. It is spring; it is time to get our babies and young horses out and about so they too can learn to deal with all the situations that make them good horses. The training of our young horses is crucial; if they learn to fear traffic because of some idiot with a loud engine, then we are creating an animal that only few could ride. This makes a horse way less sellable or enjoyable.

Please take note of this: there are a couple of horse trainers and many horse riders that live and work in the Crescent Bay area, and throughout Nakusp. We would all appreciate a little more common courtesy when it comes to sharing the road. This is a rural community. If we all can work together to spread some horse awareness we will all benefit. It only takes one accident to make it a major issue; I am hoping that this brief note will prevent that from ever happening in the future.