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Hold your horses? Pineview rider says it's drivers who should slow down

Some horse owners in Pineview, a neighbourhood south of Prince George, are tired of calming their spooked horses as cars and trucks speed by.

Caitlin Radsanowski is one of them. She wants the Ministry of Transportation to put up signs reminding drivers to slow down on the roads shared by vehicles and horses.

"Every now and then you just get somebody flying down the road, … it's happened to me quite a bit. It seems to be getting worse in the community," she told Radio West host Audrey McKinnon.

Radsanowski owns two horses, and she says getting to any of the trails in the community means doing at least some riding along roads.

But when vehicles go by too fast, that scares the horses, she says, and then they behave unpredictably and can even go into the middle of the road.

If that happens, she says, the rider, horse and anyone in the speeding vehicle is at risk.

"They have minds of their own … If they get spooked, they're going to react," she said. "Hitting a horse is like hitting a moose."

Radsanowski says the main roads are the biggest problem areas because there is more speeding and because riding arenas are located near those roads.

In an emailed statement, the Ministry of Transportation said it had received Radsanowski's request for new signs, and plans to install some near riding arenas.

With files from CBC Radio One's Radio West

To hear the full story, click the audio labelled: Hold your horses? Pineview rider says it's drivers who should slow down