They say it's the 95% of lawyers that give the rest a bad name. Something similar happens for motorcyclists. Those with loud exhausts, dazzling headlights and poor road manners give the rest of us a bad reputation. This week I saw something similar with horseriders.
Horses can be quite temperamental and easily startled, and they're not excellent in traffic, so those of us with motor vehicles are taught to pass them wide and slow. Last week I was on Dartmoor in my sports car. I was on a winding road with a 30 m.p.h speed limit and I was already going slower than that when I saw a horse coming the other way. My exhaust is loud so I switched off the engine and put the car in neutral to coast past it. My brakes and tyres can be squeaky so I decelerated gradually and coasted quietly past the horse at around, I would guess, 10 m.p,h.
The rider, rather than waving her thanks to me, was red faced, gesticulating wildly, and shouting at me to SLOW! DOWN!
Richard "Reputational Damage" B