Thanks for all the support, ladies. Let me clear up a couple things. The horses were behind me about 10-12, up to 20 ft. The riders were tailgating and making myself/the horses miserable. The one rider spoke to her horse and said, "Get used to it. You're going to see a lot of them", meaning bike riders; then, she just went back to talking to her friend. I actually flagged them to go ahead and the one said, no, that they were fine behind me. Just blantent!
Now, I will say other horse folks we met up with that day were great and we all thanked one another for "sharing" the trails...

The guys...I'm not mad at them for not coming back in as much as they are just guys who are into their "ride" just like we all are...
but, us girls do check up on one another a lot better. And I agree that their brain-logic does not registrar the same as ours

However, to their credit, one ride this spring, a wind picked me up and moved me a foot to the side of a trail that had a drop of about 2 stories (it was a slope and I would have slided/rolled) They saw what happened and said, "We have to turn back because the wind will carry you off like Dorthy". They insisted on going back even though I thought I was OK to keep riding/not scared...guys.

So, Irulan the hubbie was concerned with the ski pole because, of course, you could take care of yourself...sigh...at least he got some instant feedback from an outside oberver. Guys...
Terry