At 13:22:09 on 17.01.11, Flicka wrote:
I think some of us have discussed this before, hic, but the boozy issue of drinking and riding has reared up in the US thanks to a new ad. Read the blog and then have your say :)
http://blog.trotontv.com/2011/01/sobering-case-of-drink-riding.html

At 18:36:23 on 17.01.11, NMH wrote:
I believe there is an old law in the UK which says you can be had up for being 'drunk in charge of a horse', whether you could get out of it by saying the horse was in charge of you, I don't know... This surfaced many years ago on a riding hol in the Scottish borders, when whisky was produced at lunchtime picnics & some of us were the worse for wear in the afternoon, I dimly remember approaching a hunt jump & really having no option but to leave it all to the horse!!

At 18:55:08 on 17.01.11, EmandBlueX wrote:
its really dangerous to be in charge of anything like a car or a horse while drunk because unlike in teh ad , unfortunatly HORSES WILL NOT STOP AT TRAFFIC LIGHTS lol :) x it really depends where you are , who you are and the horse and whois around and where you live really and as a 14yr old i dont really have a veiw as i cannot legally drink yet :)

At 00:24:24 on 18.01.11, BandEsupermom wrote:
It depends on what you are doing on the horse really, should you get smashed and go jumping? Well, obviously not. Should you work cattle while intoxicated? Well for safety's sake I would hope that most people are smarter than that. However, if you have a good horse that knows where home is, he will return there on his own free will. So really a good horse that knows where home is is a much safer alternative to driving a car home! Not that I have ever done this, but I would trust any of my horses to get me home safely any day. And I think that EmandBlueX brings up a good point, horses don't know what traffic lights mean, so should you ride your horse to a busy city night club and expect him to get you home safe? I think not.

At 06:29:08 on 18.01.11, PawPaw2010 wrote:
ON A LIGHTER NOTE....I live in the rural area in Australia and regularlly ride my horse through a drive threw bottle shop on the way home from hacking...but only for a coke... the tourists sitting next door at the pub get a laugh and the lady in the kitchen is now in the habit of bringing out a carrot for my gg.

At 08:31:43 on 18.01.11, Flicka wrote:
Ha ha, you must get a video or photo of that for us! Maybe we should all start doing videos of us doing day to day things on our horse like we would in our cars!! Our campaign to switch to real horsepower. Back to the being intoxicated part of the discussion-NMH mentions approaching hunt jump slightly worse for wear (been there!!) and just leaving it to the horse. I think because drink takes away our inhibitions it makes us more relaxed and less controlling which isn't always a bad thing where horses are concerned-just better to get that feeling sober- but you may discover the next day that you decided to do it naked and then really regret it lol!!

At 20:17:55 on 18.01.11, bmc06239 wrote:
I've never meet a horse who likes a drunk !

At 03:00:09 on 19.01.11, Part Arab wrote:
I would never ride out on the road without (a) a helmet and (b) high viz gear - sober or not - I would also be concerned for my (and any) horses safety on a road designed for and used by motor vehicles. That is what struck me about this ad. It might be legal to ride a horse under the influence of alcohol in Montana but is it safe?

At 13:07:14 on 19.01.11, Flicka wrote:
Well it all depends whether you're a little bit tipsy or fall down drunk-it might be better if your friends carted you home in a supermarket trolley lol! As for horses not liking it-I think its down to whether you are a merry drunk or an aggressive one.

At 13:23:11 on 21.01.11, xpressive9 wrote:
Personally, I think it's unacceptable. Studies have shown that even while a little bit intoxicated your judgement is altered, and it'd probably be very easy to accidentally hurt your horse in this condition. That snap on the reins probably seems harmless to you while you're up in the saddle, merrily drunk, but the horse most likely feels very differently.