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Riding around horses article.

I live in an Ohio Amish area and pass horses pulling buggies on almost every ride. There are also many other individual riders in the area.

The advice on your thread is generally quite good. The "road" they show is more like a riding/biking trail than any public road in Ohio.

Most BMW bikes are relatively quiet. My experience is put as much distance between you and the horse as possible.

I've not found reasonable speed to be a problem as long as you are not accelerating too quickly and increasing engine noise when you pass.

I always check to see if there is a place they could be turning into before passing. Horses and buggies don't have turn signals!
 
Most BMW bikes are relatively quiet. My experience is put as much distance between you and the horse as possible.

I've not found reasonable speed to be a problem as long as you are not accelerating too quickly and increasing engine noise when you pass.

I always check to see if there is a place they could be turning into before passing. Horses and buggies don't have turn signals!

Ditto. I have also found that BMW's are sometimes too quiet (especially if you are approaching an animal from its blind side). Most of the Amish have "road smart" horses, and not too much excites them. I have spooked bears, moose, cows because the bike is quiet. I'll still take quiet over being obnoxiously loud.
 
Riding the ridges in central PA requires being comfortable with the Amish. Been doing it for 40-yrs (the last 30+ on BMW's) and the Amish horses aren't a problem. Non-Amish riders scare the living daylights out of me. I've seen non-Amish riders take spirited rides in unknown directions, several times. Thank God, it's no longer fashionable for these folks to ride their poorly trained pets on the paved roads.
 
I've not found reasonable speed to be a problem as long as you are not accelerating too quickly and increasing engine noise when you pass.

I also don't chop the throttle near horses. The sudden deceleration can startle animals.
Plenty of Amish near us and I ride by at a steady reasonable speed and have not had a problem.
Same thing with tractors, I watch for field entrances they may turn into.
 
Great Comments!

Thanks everyone for the added insights. I occasionally see horses in Texas but they are usually pretty far from the road. Maybe folks going to the rally will see some in the western states.

Best regards,

Chris
 
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