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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have just shouted at a horse rider outside my house

999 replies

BigRedBall · 04/03/2014 13:40

Have namechanged for privacy.

I am so angry right now. We sometimes (twice a year at most) get horses going past our house as we live around the corner from a small private farm. We live in a city, so it's quite a novelty when we hear the sound of "clip clop" outside.

About 20 mins ago we heard the sound of clip clop and I took DS to the front room to look outside. As we watched the horses go by one stopped and kind of turned around and SHITTED RIGHT OUTSIDE MY DRIVEWAY. Not a small bit...a big arse full of horse shit. And the rider laughed at her other horsey friends.

As soon as I saw it I put my shoes on and ran outside and the rider was going on her way again. Her friends had gone up ahead. I ran up to her shouting "excuse me" and she wouldn't stop. I shouted at her if she was going to clear up the horse poo outside my house and she replied "stop shouting at me" without even turning around to see I had a toddler in my arms.

I couldn't go any further because I was holding my DS and had left a sleeping baby inside.

Now I have a pile of horse shit outside my house, and I want to actually KILL this horse rider. Our road is a school route and I don't want children stepping in it but why the fuck should I have to clear it up? I am so pissed off. I want to get into the car and hunt down the fuckers and pull them back by their ears and tell them to clean it.

OP posts:
MajorGrinch · 04/03/2014 16:22

If the horse is that bloody timid maybe it shouldn't be out & about in public eh?

I always pass as quietly as I can in car or motorbike but always say "MORNING" loudly as I cycle past, as invariably the road/lane is quite noisy & no-one has died yet (the master or slave)....

I think the "Lovely Shit" brigade are a bit too sensitive!!

kentishgirl · 04/03/2014 16:23

'Well I didn't know I could've scared the shit out of the horse (pardon the pun). And if horses are such delicate animals then maybe it's not a good idea to ride them around behind a built up area where a lot cars drive through for a short cut to the main road.

We're near a hospital too so loads of ambulances and air ambulance can be heard throughout the day. What do the horses do then?'

Well, now you know. Horses are flight animals. They can be trained to ignore things that would frighten them. But only to some extent. Even the safest horse will sometimes react to something. And of course, they only get desensitised to traffic etc by exposure to it - young horses are ridden with older more experienced horses to keep them calm and provide a good example. Mine was perfectly used to tractors, big machinery, lorries, motorbikes, cars, trains and sirens, but might have a silly moment over something quite minor.

Each 'thing' is different to a horse. Many are safe with traffic and vehicle noises of all types. But could see a person running towards them shouting, as a threat. Different types of stimulus. The general rule is never run around horses, and never shout around horses. It is something that is likely to spook them. I understand that many people don't know this about horses. If you don't grow up in the country or with other exposure to them, there's no reason to know.Although common sense might tell you that if you ran up shouting behind a dog, you might expect it to react, but you don't say people shouldn't take their dogs for a walk. Horses are animals too, not cars or robots.

It's not so simple as to say don't ride on roads. People who have plenty of land to ride on, right by the stables, are very lucky. Most have to ride on roads first to get to the bridlepaths/areas where riding is permitted.

The shit is harmless and will be gone in a few days.

AveryJessup · 04/03/2014 16:24

YANBU because of the attitude of the riders, the way they laughed and then ignored you. It was foolhardy of you to run up to the rider and shout at her but she could have been polite and acknowledged you and then asked you to please not shout in case you frighten her horse. Sounds like she just ignored you like a sulky teenager so she was being rude. OTOH maybe she was nervous or a new rider and wasn't confident handling her horse so maybe you shouldn't take it too personally either!

I wasn't aware that horse owners have no obligation to clean up their horses' messes if they're on private property. Haven't had many dealings with horses but I do know with dairy farmers, cows will leave cow dung on the road and there's no obligation to clean up. If a cow broke a fence though and rambled through someone's garden leaving cow pats all over the place i. e. On private property and the owner complained to the farmer, I think most farmers would offer to clean it up in the interests of being a good neighbor. Don't see why horse-owners should be any different.

The way you remonstrated with the rider was not good, OP, but I can see why you were annoyed by her attitude and having a big pile of manure on your driveway. Good thing it's not a regular occurrence!

NigellasDealer · 04/03/2014 16:27

I always pass as quietly as I can in car or motorbike but always say "MORNING" loudly as I cycle past, as invariably the road/lane is quite noisy & no-one has died yet (the master or slave)
you sound quite dotty, how is shouting 'morning' passing quietly?
and what's with the master/slave thing?
why are people so weird and chippy about horse riding?

Gunznroses · 04/03/2014 16:28

Well i've seen it all now. It's the OP that's apparently being aggressive, not the passive agressive arrogant and entitled horse rider who couldn't be bothered to at least stop and apologise to the OP, but sauntered on after laughing and casually said 'Stop shouting at me!".
Oh yes the OP should shut her gob up! Hmm

PigletJohn · 04/03/2014 16:28

"RIGHT OUTSIDE MY DRIVEWAY"

do you mean in the road? not IN your driveway, and I hope not on a pedestrian pavement?

TillyTellTale · 04/03/2014 16:28

I've thought about it and decided that both horses and motorised vehicles are means of transport.

Horses are powered by hay, and produce manure as a by-product. Motorised vehicles are powered by the internal combustion engine and produce exhaust fumes as a by-product.

At least manure decomposes and you can dodge it!

LessMissAbs · 04/03/2014 16:28

Oh how I can't stand ranters. Ranters - that special breed who think their problem is of such magnificence that they launch into a loud mouthed screeching screaming tirade of self righteous indignance far worse than the generally legal activity they are attempting to control.

The clue is in perfectly legal activity OP. You might not like it, but personally I hate ranting in public more. And you could be arrested for breach of the peace or harassment, while the horserider could not be arrested for letting her horse poo.

Why not set the example to your children your parents evidently didn't set to you of (a) not screaming and shouting in public and (b) being reasonably practical around animals even gulp in the city.

nennypops · 04/03/2014 16:30

Morgouse that's okay then. Let me go and jump in it and then walk back in my house and leave a trail of it everywhere. I won't go blind, so that's ok

So far as I can see, Morgause nowhere suggested you jump in it. How difficult can it be to avoid walking through a pile of horse dung? I wonder how you think the British population survived in the days when every vehicle was horse-drawn and there were piles of dung all over the streets?

I'm not in the least horsey, by the way, but even I know it's not a great idea to shout in the vicinity of horses. And I'm wondering how you thought the rider should have looked back at you given that she also had to control half a ton of horse and look where she was going.

limitedperiodonly · 04/03/2014 16:32

usualsuspect33

All shit is not the same.

I refer you to my previous shit-eating posts.

ormirian · 04/03/2014 16:33

what tilly said. Cars product much nastier shit

Coconutty · 04/03/2014 16:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LessMissAbs · 04/03/2014 16:35

How do people get so excited about these things anyway? What with people calling their houses by their locations and other people driving bigger cars, what time is left for doing fun or interesting stuff.

Kind of a warning not to spend too much time on the internet and have a life! and personally I'd rather have the life of someone who rides horses than who watches the road outside her house like a hawk and berates people who do not conform

ohmymimi · 04/03/2014 16:36

My Dad used to keep a bucket and shovel behind our porch and was out like a shot when horses appeared in our lane. We had lovely roses. Some people just don't appreciate Nature's bounty.

Pawprint · 04/03/2014 16:36

The rider was very rude and should have cleaned up after stupid, shitting horse.

On the other hand, horse manure is very good for gardens. I have a friend who runs out after horses go past to collect the manure with a spade and bucket.

TillyTellTale · 04/03/2014 16:36

Essiebee When horse riders contribute road tax then I will accept their apparent God-given right to slow/stop the traffic and deposit disgusting messes on roads and pavements where people walk, as frequently happens in the village where I live.

There is no such thing as road tax. Roads are funding by general taxation. If someone can afford a horse, they will be earning enough to pay tax.

You are thinking of car tax, which is calculated on how much carbon dioxide your car emits.

ipayroadtax.com/

pianodoodle · 04/03/2014 16:38

You say this happens twice a year at most?!

How can you live your life under siege like this? Grin

limitedperiodonly · 04/03/2014 16:38

The police use horses for crowd control. So they can be trained to be bomb-proof as saintlyjimjams and others have said.

Or are the police as stupid as the OP?

ThePinkOcelot · 04/03/2014 16:38

That would piss me off tbh! I don't think horses should be rode on public highway etc as they are not insured etc but that is a whole other thread.

SnookyPooky · 04/03/2014 16:39

Christ on a bike, over reaction much?

TillyTellTale · 04/03/2014 16:40

ThePinkOcelot I assume you'll be willing to pay a tax to fund a wider network of cycle- and bridle-paths, then, to keep the horse off the roads?

Shepherd3011 · 04/03/2014 16:41

The rider was not rude, she didn't ignore the op she asked her to stop shouting at her. The reason she probably didn't stop is that she was concentrating on keeping her horse going forward so as not to spook at someone running and shouting at it. The rider was being responsible unlike the op who put a lot of people at risk including her own toddler.

Original poster
BigRedBall · 04/03/2014 16:42

Well I just looked outside and it's gone. Someone's removed it.

OP posts:
morchoxplz · 04/03/2014 16:43

70 years ago you would have been fighting your neighbours off so you could put it on your ,veggies,roses .
If you like the clip clipping you have to take the down side. YABU

TillyTellTale · 04/03/2014 16:43

Gone in three hours? Guess it's true, gardeners really do get excited by it!