To think that horse owners as well as dog owners should have to take their animals poo home with them?

[deaconblue]

I live in a suburban, residential estate. Recently a woman has started riding her horse through the housing estate. Consequently big piles of horse poo are left on the road. Everyone locally takes their dog poo away so aibu in thinking she should have to collect the horse poo? (obviously would not be safe to get off horse and bag it up but horses with carriages have poo bag arrangements tucked under their tails that she could try)

[Snorbs]

So nobody cares that horse dung on the road is a hazard to people on bicycles and motorbikes?

[jade80]

Snorbs, I've come across it on a bike and it was no trouble to just go round (or over, you would just gto straight through). Doesn't last long, soon flattened by cars anyway? Motorbikes I would think would be in the middle of the lane, surely? Whereas most horses are close to the kerb? It degrades pretty fast so I can't imagine accidents because of it are that common? Or do you have evidence otherwise? Perhaps if you were turning hard or braking hard and hit a fresh patch, it could contribute to an accident, but speed would also be a factor. I'm sure there has been the odd accident, but I'm sure the same can be said for mud or oil, no?

[jade80]

maighdlin, some people have no option but to ride on roads. That's just how it is. Rich people might have acres of fields but that's not the real world for most horse riders. You don't 'have to look' at it. Just walk on by. It won't be on the pavement anyway, as horses should be on the road. Maybe on footpaths in the country, but there will be sheep poo and cow poo too!

[leafbird]

i have horses and dogs, if my dogs go in the street i always pick it up, but if im on my horse there is really not much i can do about it! Allot of people with horses have to ride on roads to get to fields and bridleways and have no way to pick horse pop up, and as people have said it would not be safe to stand in the middle of the road with a horse whilst you do it.

[OTheHugeManatee]

Now unicorn poo, on the other hand, doesn't need to be picked up. It sparkles with little shimmery rainbows as it biodegrades, and is actually beneficial for children if eaten.

[CaveMum]

The anti- horse poo brigade would have 50 fits in my town.
I live in a town with 2,000 racehorses using the roads and pathways every day - a string of 8 horses go past my house without fail at 6am every morning
It's not a normal day if there's no poo on the road

[nijinsky]

Posts like this sadden me because they make me realise just how far removed from any aspect of rural life or even basic practicality so many people are. I feel so sad for them, in their little concrete box houses, always walking on pavements and driving little tin boxes, no understanding for any other way of life than their own.

What I really wish though is that they wouldn't build their damned housing estates on what used to be nice countryside so that people like me who used to keep our horses at home have to keep them at livery yards miles away just to be able to ride safely.

Perhaps the OP woudl prefer horseriders to go around in a car, collecting horse poo while polluting the environment and endangering any rare children who might actually be outdoors playing?

Alternatively, she could do what humankind have been doing for centuries and still do in the rest of the world, and collect the horse poo and use it as fertiliser, always assuming of course that she has a garden in which things are actually permitted to grow.

[nijinsky]

And by the way, I'm an ex Ironman triathlete who still cycles twice a week, and I've never been troubled by horse poo on a bike ride in all the miles of training I've done, despite living in quite a horsy area.

CaveMum do you live in Newmarket? Or Richmond?

[jade80]

Nijinsky... the voice of reason!

Also coincidentally, Nijinsky is my horse's grandsire.

[nijinsky]

While I'm on the topic, can I also say that I wish the people who now live in the housing estates that have been built near me would pick up their own rubbish, instead of throwing it out of their car windows as they pass by. Today alone I have picked up MacDonalds containers, crisp bags, carrier bags and various pages of a newspaper from the verge outside my (now semi-rural) home.

They are human, is it really too much to ask of them to clear up their own waste?

ps horse manure really works. I simply threw it on my tulip beds at the end of last summer, did nothing to it or the tulips and this spring had so many beautiful tulips that I was seriously considering contacting the local supermarket to see if they would buy them!

[Snorbs]

Wet horse shit is very slippery and I've seen it all across roads, not just at the kerb. I've had a bike skid while crossing it and it was more luck than anything that I managed to keep control.

And motorbikes don't just stay in the center of the lane. In a right-hand corner you should be positioned well on the left of the lane to gain maximum sight-lines around the bend.

But you're absolutely right in that mud and oil represent similar hazards. The difference seems to be that dropping mud and oil on the road is recognised as a hazard and as such you can be prosecuted for allowing it to happen. For example, farmers are told that they should hose mud off their farm vehicles before driving them on the road. There have been several campaigns to get lorry drivers to double-check the integrity of their fuel tank lids to minimise the risk of them spilling diesel on the road.

The users of motorised vehicles are legally required to take steps to avoid causing a hazard on the road. So how come horse riders are allowed to leave piles of crap all over the road and bollocks to anyone who gets injured as a result?

[usualsuspect]

Are pavements not for walking on?

You can justify it all you like, its still shit

[nijinsky]

Snorbs should you not be riding your motorbike slowly and carefully enough in areas where you are likely to encounter horses so that you can also spot hazards, such as horse poo, in time to slow down and either avoid it or go across it at a speed where skidding is unlikely?

[jade80]

I suppose you've been unlucky then if near you it is commonly all across roads and on bends/braking points where you are likely to skid. I wouldn't say most places have that as a frequent problem though, certainly not anywhere I've driven regularly.

The thing is, there aren't any other options other than roads for some horse owners, and for the reasons people have said above, collecting it is massively impractical.

There may be regulations against mud and diesel issues, but that doesn't remove the problem- I often see both on the road. How on earth would farmers hose vehicles leaving a field with no water supply? I know many farmers who have land several miles from their farm, who drive on the roads from site to site. A field in the middle of nowhere won't have a hose.

I don't really understand your anger to be honest- it isn't that riders think 'bollock to anyone' it is simply that there is no practical way of scooping horse poop- unlike dog poo!

[TheDailyWail]

Manatee - I live within a housing estate and saw a horse going past my house - it was as surreal as seeing a unicorn!

[jade80]

Yes, usualsuspect, pavements are for walking on. Horses are ridden on the road. If they are on the pavement, they shouldn't be. A footpath is frine, pavements not. So you shouldn't come across horse poo on a pavement unless a rider has been on it for some reason, which i would hope is not regular.

[jade80]

Oh and btw, I'm aware it is shit. I'm just not sure why it's such an issue for you! I can see it from a motorbikers viewpoint, but you just seem to have a bit of an unconsidered viewpoint.

[Eversoft]

I can not belive you have wasted your time in putting this on a website for people to read and even comment on. Horse poo as its called is hey at the end of the day and does not smell anything like dog poo. please comment on things that matter in this world and not the fact you live in perfect house were horses ride past when the most of us live in the city/town. come on!!!!!!

[CaveMum]

Nijinsky, I'm in Newmarket. Fabulous place to live of you love horses, not so much if you don't like the poo

[Snorbs]

Horse dung catcher

[jade80]

They are for horse drawn vehicles snorbs. I've never seen one designed for a riding horse. I would imagine they would be dangerous to canter with, even if they were available for ridden horses.

[CaveMum]

The thing with horses is that most of them will object VERY strongly to wearing a nappy - it takes a lot of time and effort to get a horse used to wearing a saddle let alone something round it's arse!

I dread to think of the potential for accidents if the nappy slipped off and became entangled in the horse's legs.

[jade80]

Poncey, insurance is not compulsory. Most sensible people will have it, though, as owners are liable for damage caused by their horse. Even if some fuckwit opened a gate and shooed horses onto the road, the owner of the horses would be liable.

Bit rude of your friend!

[raspberryshake]

shoppingbagsundereyes you must live near me!!!

I too live in a suburban residential estate, there has been horse poo on the streets here lately; mind you we also have a serious dog poo problem!