A carriage driver who was passed by a motorcyclist “pulling a wheelie” after she asked him to slow down says she is lucky no serious accident occurred.
Ella Wilkinson and her partner Lisa, from Lancashire, were driving seven-year-old 13.3hh John-Joe along Burnley Road in Altham on 24 October when they heard a motorbike approaching.
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Posted by Ella Wilkinson on Thursday, October 24, 2019
“Lisa had the reins and I could hear the bike coming really fast so I put my hand out to ask for it to slow down,” Ella told H&H.
“The driver revved the engine as loud as he could and the bike went on to its back wheel and pulled a wheelie as it passed us. It’s a long straight road and you can pick up quite a lot of speed. He didn’t slow down at all and as I looked round I could see he was still doing the wheelie.”
Ella said John-Joe “thankfully took it in his stride”.
“He can be a bit wary sometimes of loud engines but he really did us proud,” she said. “I was in shock; if it had been one of my other horses we could have crashed.”
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Ella said she has frequent negative experience on the roads.
“Two days earlier I was driving up a hill and a Land Rover behind us got impatient, overtook and hit an embankment. As it happened dirt and debris came off the embankment and sprayed all over us,” she said.
“It really does put me off going on the road, I worry one of these days there will be an accident. People don’t realise horses are animals and not battery-powered – they’re putting us in danger. There is no consideration for horses and it’s not fair. I’ve worn high-vis saying ‘young horse in training’ and had buses tooting their horns and people shouting abuse.”
Ella posted about the incident online and has received support from other owners.
“The video has been shared more than 300 times. People have got in touch to say they hope we are ok and that their horses wouldn’t have coped so well.”
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.
