WARNING: This article contains profanity. Discretion advised.
It takes a lot to get the executive director of the Whitemud Equine Centre riled up enough to go on Twitter to call someone out. But what happened on Monday did it.
It was an unfortunate run-in for the Little Bits Therapeutic Riding Association.
“Just want to say a big ‘We Love You!’ to the cyclist who told a group of kids with disabilities on horseback to f*** off because we asked him to slow down,” a tweet from the centre’s account read Monday.
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Leaders take kids with disabilities out on horseback with a group to keep them safe. Part of the journey is about 500 metres from gate-to-gate in the back of the equine centre along Keillor Road.
That portion of Keillor Road also serves as a pathway for cyclists. On Monday, one cyclist was at top speed.
“The instructor very politely called out: ‘Thanks for slowing down.’ And the guy just shouted: ‘F-off’… Screamed it, basically, as he rode by,” executive director Diane David said.
Little Bits runs a pair of 10-week sessions each year and David said a confrontation like this happens two or three times a session.
“You know, it’s not kids, it’s not young people,” she told Global News shortly after the Twitter post. “They’re always very supportive and slow right down.
“It’s adults who just think they’re entitled to go as as fast as they’d want to — to, I don’t know, get up to the top of the hill without breaking a sweat.”
David said park rangers are informed when things like this happen, but there’s little else they can do.
“We shouldn’t have to. I just think that swearing at a bunch of kids out for a ride… that’s just low class. I went on Twitter because I thought: ‘Really?'”
There’s also safety concerns.
“Let me tell you, if a horse decides to kick or spook, the cyclist will lose every time. A horse is a big animal and they’re not going to back down.”
David’s Twitter message concluded with this message: “You sure showed us. Your mother must be proud.”