To the editor:

I live and own a stable on Day Road next to Manzanita Park. The west end of Day Road has a community of horse owners that travel up the road to ride in the trails through the park, myself included. I am constantly amazed at the lack of courtesy and downright dangerous behavior shown by the drivers on this road.

Occasionally, drivers show good judgement, slow down and give the horse a wide berth. More often they are completely oblivious of the horse and go past with little or no berth and certainly don’t slow down. I think I can recognize 35 mph, which is the speed limit, and the vast majority of drivers are going much faster.

Yesterday we had an incident which I am surprised hasn’t happened sooner. A young woman was riding her horse down the road and a big truck went roaring past, spooking the horse. It fell over backwards into the ditch and ran off into the woods.

It was lost for three hours during which the entire neighborhood was looking for the horse on horseback, on foot and on mountain bike. The horse eventually found its way out of the woods and ran home.

The story has a happy ending. The young woman only had a few scrapes and the same for the horse.

The story just as easily could have had a catastrophic ending. Having a horse fall over backwards on a rider can be lethal and the same goes for the horse running down the road riderless.

These rude oblivious drivers should realize that their lives could be at stake here, too. Imagine a 1,000-pound animal crashing through your windshield after you have terrified it by driving too close and too fast.

It is like texting and driving; nobody thinks the accident will happen to them.

If even a few of the Day Road drivers read this and take it to heart it might save a life or prevent a terrible accident. Please heed my words!

JANET GRUNBOK

Bainbridge Island