To think that if you have a Horse...

[Piglet28]

you should have to scoop up their crap! If you had a dog that messed on a pavement there would be outrage if you didn't pick it up, but if you are riding your horse and it craps everywhere you can just ride off and leave it?

What do you think?

[Tchootnika]

Hmm, could be mileage in that one, Maisie. Maybe one of us should be design a large spatula for riders to remove poo once its been flattened into tarmac by a few passing motorists.
A version also for drivers to come and pick up roadkill too? (With hazard sign thrown in, of course, so as not to cause a major RTA in the process...)

[Thingumy]

Dropped litter fucks me off more than anything.

Horse shit? It does no harm other than dirty your car tires or shoe, should you so daft to step in a considerable sized mound of it.

[Pendeen]

It's not unreasonable to ask pet owners to remove their mess.

However most horse owners will dismiss the fouling as "it's not harmful" or "why worry, it will wash away" or some such platitude.

Nothing more than selfishness really.

[Meteorite]

It's harmless and biodegradeable. Agree with Thingumy litter is far more unsightly and hazardous.

[MuthaInsuperior]

My brother used to hide behind bushes and as the horse rode past he'd jump out and chuck massive lumps of horse poo at the rider whilst screaming "shit faces" at them. I think he has ishoos about horse shit as he stood in some on his way to a job interview - never got the job and insisted it was because he stunk of shit.

[SuePurblybilt]

Oh honestly. If something eats grass, its poo is just squelchy grass. Only meat eating animals have really nasty poo.
I quite like the smell of horse poo anyway

[Thingumy]

Great idea to ask a rider to dismount ,hold onto a horse on a possible busy byway while trying to clear harmless matter off a road...

I'm sure the majority of vehicle owners will love to wait for the road to be cleared .

What about cow shit? shall we ask for farmers to clear the roads/lanes of it when moving from field to field or back to cow sheds?

[OTheHugeRaveningWolef]

If horse poo on the roads bothers you, move to a nice city where you can complain about pitbull poo from the local gangsters' dogs instead

[Tchootnika]

The older I get, the more I feel like leaping out from behind hedges waving a pitchfork and grunting scarily at day-tripping town dwellers. Then maybe they can bugger orf back to them there heavily Detolled town houses and stop fussing... Oh, and maybe if my timing's good enough I'll save them the trauma of stepping in a wee bit of horseshit.

[Pixel]

"My brother used to hide behind bushes and as the horse rode past he'd jump out and chuck massive lumps of horse poo at the rider whilst screaming "shit faces" at them."
How very responsible, jumping out from behind a bush and screaming, and this was when he was old enough to be going for interviews? It's lucky he didn't cause a nasty accident. Your brother sounds so sensible, polite and charming, what a surprise he didn't get the job!

[Maisiethemorningsidecat]

Tchnootnika - that wasn't about horse crap in the road, it was about horse crap right outside your front door as in the case of daimbardiva. I was presuming by that she didn't mean to vault the pavement and head straight for the road. Like your idea of a shovel though.

Don't know why it's such a big deal tbh - we used to ride our horses away from the suburbs and towns (town was too far away, so not really an issue) and certainly didn't let them crap on pavements. That's not fair on the folk who live there and who want to be able to manoevure prams without scraping it off the wheels or older people who don't have the ability to leap the stuff.

[cricketballs]

I agree with you op! Where I live there are loads of horses and no pavements. Therefore in order to walk my dog, ds and I have to navigate the horse shit (which often means walking in the middle of the road) as I really don't want shit trails on my carpets.

[AlpinePony]

cricketballs Have you considered taking your shoes off before trailing "the outside" all over your house?

[Eve]

Don't live in the country then if you are not prepared to be tolerant of a small amount of inconvenience that someone enjoying their time may cause you!

Bit like someone who moved into our village and complained about the combine harvester on the road! Where did they think it would go... Down the motorway???

[cricketballs]

oh sorry alpine I never thought of that so I'll chop the dogs paws off as well shall I?

What about the shoe cleaning as well etc? Will the horse riders do that for me?

I have no issue on picking up my dogs mess and I understand that horses' muck is not dangerous and there is a lot more to clean up, but sometimes it really drives me nuts that I have to walk in the middle of the road so I don't have to tread all in it...

[MitchiestInge]

who has dogs and carpets and lives in the country though? surely it is not just horse poo that gets on paws, what about all the mud?

[OpenMouthInsertFoot]

They could always wear nappies

[catgirl1976]

As every other sane person has pointed out - do you really expect riders to get off, hold thier horse, shovel and get back on? How dangerous that would be.

Its horse poo - its a non issue. Just pick it up if it bothers you. I don't shovel up after mine on the roads. I don't usually ride on the pavements but if the traffic is bad and / or there are idiots driving past and it is the only safe option then I will if I need to.

[Tchootnika]

cricketballs - if there really is that much horse shot on the road, and it's right outside your house, and it's as easy to pick up and transport as you say it is, then if I were you I'd count this as a blessing: it must be dead easy to shovel it into a bucket and stick a sign up offering fertiliser for sale, or for free if you're more community than business minded.

How do you manage in the countryside with a dog? All that badger and fox poo for it to roll in...

[SuePurblybilt]

. When my dog comes back from a walk on the roads through my (very rural farming) village, he is mud up to his belly. And he's a big dog. Nothing to do with horse shit - dogs will trail mud and muddy water into houses unless dried beforehand. I'd be willing to bet they do in towns too.

Off to shout at all the farmers driving through, there's straw blowing off the trailers and mud falling off their wheels.

[Saggyoldclothcatpuss]

I live in the country. What pisses me off more than anything, (besides the ten mph sightseers), is stupid townies driving round blind bends at ninety miles an hour, hurling their litter out the window as they go. I'd rather see a pile of horse shit, than leftover mcdonalds wrappers!

[OpenMouthInsertFoot]

I live in the countryside too. I find the opposite - it's the locals who drive like bloody maniacs, while the tourists go round the narrower roads at five miles an hour, straddling the white line and looking terrified

We have the mcdonalds rubbish problem too. You have to drive about 10 or 12 MILES to the nearest mcdonalds. There's none round here. So why why why, when they are clearly in a car, can they not just keep their rubbish in it? I mean - they're going home in the end, right? where there's a bin, right? so why throw rubbish out of the bloody car?

[JillySnooper]

" My brother used to hide behind bushes and as the horse rode past he'd jump out and chuck massive lumps of horse poo at the rider whilst screaming "shit faces" at them"


If some moron had done that to my horse they'd be eating iron horse shoe.
When will some people realise that frightened horses are can kill you, very easily and very quickly.

[Tchootnika]

Off to shout at all the farmers driving through, there's straw blowing off the trailers and mud falling off their wheels.

Quite right, Sue... you tell those feckin' bumpkins with their self-centred, straw-strewing ways. The sooner we all get them farmers shifted and some naice little barn-cottage conversions done the better.

And maybe we should pave over some of those stinky fields with their scary livestock, too. Astroturf would be so mauch nicer, no?

Will also be feeding all horses in the neighbourhood Immodium from now on, so as not to allow offence to the smart new neighbours.

[Tchootnika]

Don't say it, Jilly, you'll frighten orf the townsfolk. Think what damage you're doing to property prices.