To think that riders should have to clean up horse mess?

[CarriesBucketOfBlood]

You can get a £120 fine or whatever it is if you don't pick up after your dog. As a dog owner, I think this is absolutely right. Dog mess is antisocial and poses a health risk. I think it can cause blindness if ingested (?)

So why don't riders have to do the same? At the end of the road (suburban, we are a couple of miles from the nearest stables but they do occasionally make it this far across some farm land) there is a trail of horse mess that stretches about two metres across pavement and road.

It's rained multiple times and not been washed away, we don't have street cleaners that will come and clean it up. Why should the rider be able to leave it? It's just as disgusting and anti-social as a dog.

I mentioned to Dsis about it (she use to ride) and she semi agreed. Just made the point that they would need big bags to pick it up.

AIBU to think that riders should be forced to pick up after their horses?

[Bulbasaur]

YANBU.

They sell manure catchers for horses that are easy and discreet enough to use during a ride. You can barely see them and you can empty them at the end. We have horses here in the city and have never had a problem with shit all over the side walks.

If you're going to have an animal, the least you can do is be responsible and not force other people to deal with your animal's shit (pun intended).

[nagsandovalballs]

I'm an event rider who has to do fittening work, involving galloping for short stretches, cantering and trotting up hills. Thanks to the closure of all the closest fields, I now have to ride along quite a few roads to reach an appropriate space. There is no parking so I can't box over. Our nearest racing gallops are nearly an hour away, so it's not practical for me to get there as I fit everything in between work and family life. How on earth could I do my gallop work with a giant diaper on the back?!

[merrymouse]

Nobody tells me where to shit!

[nagsandovalballs]

Also, I would LOVE to see drivers' faces as I made them wait while I got off, then dealt with a poo, then tried to get back on my very fit and enthusiastic mare, which would involve finding something to climb on as a mounting block, because im short with dodgy knees. We'd then see outraged threads on mumsnet about how "I was made to wait ten minutes while some posh rider messed about picking up poo in the middle of the road with a clearly dangerous horse, and I had to wait when I had a sick child/granny/dog that needed attending".

It's amazing how in some ways, mn professes to be incredibly tolerant and liberal, yet when confronted with a hobby or practice that isn't understood/isn't done by that person, intolerance (ban horses from roads! Why bother riding? Horses are just pets! My dog isn't allowed so why should your completely different animal and circumstances be allowed!) flourishes.

As someone said upthread, horses give mobility, independence, freedom and comfort to all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds. I myself suffer from quite severe mental health issues at times, but going and riding and competing keeps me on an even keel. W e have a para dressage rider who trains at our yard. She has to have special assistance when mounting. I'd not like to see her have to pop on and off her horse out hacking. And her horse is a relatively sensitive dressage type (she's aiming for Rio paras) so poo bags or nappies are definitely not an option. Should she be forced to just go round in and round in the school every day, day after day, because she isn't able to drive her horse somewhere more suitable, or because she is unable to remove its poo?

Ridiculous thread. And I'm definitely over-infested now.

[lavendersun]

This thread is almost on a par with the 'you are a murderer if you kill a pheasant on a country road thread'. Anyone remember that?

That was absolutely bonkers too.

[lavendersun]

over infested -

[GoblinLittleOwl]

T OP: yes, yes, yes, yes.

[GoblinLittleOwl]

Or even, To OP: yes etc.

[TwmSionCati]

" I'm definitely over-infested now."

have you tried louse powder?

[BartholinsSister]

I don't think we want bags of horse poo hanging off trees and hedges as well as the dog stuff, do we?

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

I love seeing people out riding. I get very excited (as do dcs).
It's especially lovely when either the horse is a racehorse and all shiny with rippling muscles, like you see somewhere like Middleham, or else the rider is a child on a very big horse. A little bit of poo in the road is a small price to pay IMO.

Plus, if there were no horses there would be no mounted fancy dress at agricultural shows, and the royal wedding themed one I saw where the boy was dressed as Prince William and the horse as Kate Middleton was the funniest thing ever. It still makes me happy remembering.

Am hooting at the idea of carrier bags of horse manure swinging from the trees. It's the obvious thing to do because you could pick it up on the way back without having to dismount.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

BUT

The ironcial thing is, horse owners do pick up their horse pooh.

In the field.

[Gabilan]

I'm just thinking about the steaming pile of horse shit I edged round the other day. It was a large dollop right in the middle of a narrow pavement.

Horse riders have no right to be on a pavement or footpath so your argument for curtailing an activity that millions of people enjoy is based on the actions of a few people doing something that's already banned anyway. What makes you think that a further ban is going to work any better?

As for the example the OP gave, if I were that bothered I would contact local riding schools, explain politely what the issues were and ask nicely if they could clean up. If that failed I'd contact the council although given recent austerity measures, I'd understand if they did not consider it a priority.

I would also, in trying to tackle the problem, ask how and why it is that some riders seem to be doing something that's illegal i.e. riding on footpaths. The answer might be to enforce the ban more strictly but I suspect you'd have more joy if you provided better facilities. I have only rarely seen riders on footpaths but I did occasionally see them using a footpath on the A38 near Exeter. That road bisects many old bridleways and given the choice between not hacking out, staying legally on a dual carriageway or having a quick illegal trot along a little-used footpath, some riders opted for the last. Nobody seemed to give a shit care.

As a leisure activity, horse riding is dominated by children and women. It gives freedom, power and mobility to groups who are often pushed out of public spaces. Thus it's disheartening to realise that on a forum called "Mumsnet" so many people seem ignorant about and vindictive towards an activity that brings pleasure to many of the very people the site is supposed to be for.

[Gabilan]

Thanks Georgie

[sparechange]

I live in central-ish London, and see quite regular dollops of horse poo on the roads and in the parks near me.
All of it comes from either police horses or the Household Cavalry horses

I would LOVE to see one of your self-righteous posters suggesting they need to dismount and shovel up their poo, and then carry it around for the rest of their shift/exercise.

Weird how in several thousand years of horse poo being on roads and paths, no damage has been done, but some line has been crossed in 2015 which means we need urgent and immediate reforms to force people to pick up this heinous hazard before it kills the entire human race

[horseygeorgie]

wow, is this still going!!?

Horse owners pick up poo in fields because it is detrimental to grazing land to leave it. It can cause problems with worms and make the pasture horse sick. It has no relation to a single pile of the brown stuff left out hacking.

I work with very fit horses who cover some serious mileage. Someone PLEASE tell me how I am supposed to do fast work and interval training with the horse in a nappy! I don't think the posters who are advocating this method fully appreciate the level and speed alot of horses in the UK work at. I don't get hunters and event horses fit by walking around the lanes for an hour! It is an hour and a half of hard work, most of it done at speed. And yes, poo collecting bags would chafe badly. Would you want to wear one!?

[ExitPursuedByABear]

I know horsey - I was merely pointing out the irony that we will spend hours collecting shit in the field...........................

[Scremersford]

Bulbasaur They sell manure catchers for horses that are easy and discreet enough to use during a ride. You can barely see them and you can empty them at the end. We have horses here in the city and have never had a problem with shit all over the side walks.

Thankfully, "they" aren't so stupid here. I suggest you buy yourself a shit catcher as an experiment and wear it for your daily tasks to get a feel for it, including going out for a run. Who cares if you "can see them" or not? Theres no way my horse is wearing a shit catcher swinging about his back end to appease someone who is so disgusted at the site of poo they have a virtual fainting fit. They should be banned on horse welfare grounds.

As for these pavements and roads with streams of horse shit running down them, where are they? It sounds like the local authority there has done a supremely bad job of urban planning. Newly built rural cycle paths should have a grassed area at the side for horses to use. If there have been established rural businesses involving horse riding in areas where new build housing estates have caused much of their former recreation areas to be paved over, then that's a problem of lack of foresight from the urban planners.

Otherwise, the wishes of a very few who cannot cope with horse shit and who wish to live in a sanitised world are in the minority in this country and there is no requirement to lift it. There is also no justification for harassing riders about it either (I believe the previous thread was about a poster doing this to a rider).

[TwmSionCati]

" The ironcial thing is, horse owners do pick up their horse pooh."

That is pasture management, done with a wheelbarrow and shovel. Quite a silly comparison really.

[Scremersford]

Actually, looking at Bulbasaur's photo again, I know its just a snapshot, a moment in time, but neither of those horses are standing right at all. The further away one has its hindlegs right under it at an odd angle, and the nearest one has its hindlegs very far apart. Neither of them are standing in a relaxed or alert way normal for horses. Both of their tails are low and clamped down. I'm concerned they have actually suffered muscular or skeletal damage due to having a sack of shit stuck between their legs, due to altering their gait to compensate for it. The angle of the far away one's back end is all wrong and it just doesn't look comfortable.

I assume this photo was taken in North America, and like the example given above of Marrakech, I think its safe to say that horse welfare standards are lower there than in the UK and its not an example to emulate. And I will continue to say that until they outlaw the appalling practices involved with Tennessee Walking Horses, rodeos and live transportation in inadequate transport over long distances to slaughter.

Not even commenting on the riders' lack of hard hats or the small horses used for what is mounted police work. They probably won't be able to go out of a walk because of the shit collectors, so at least that's something.

[TwmSionCati]

I agree Scremersford, neither of those horses look happy do they? they are not standing comfortably at all.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Pardon me for being silly.

Fuck off.

[TheNewStatesman]

This is such a non-problem.

Horses are rare in urban areas, so horse shit is rare on urban roads too. And it's on the ROAD--why would pedestrians be walking through it?

Places where you DO see a fair bit of horse shit in places where people have to walk are rural bridleway type areas, where it is muddy and dirty and covered in sheep shit anyway. Anyone walking along such a path in their best smart shoes and expecting them to be clean by the time they get home is loopy.

Horse shit is not bad anyway--just slightly smelly mud, basically. It is nothing like dog shit which is absolutely toxic stuff.

[Twatters]

Here is a picture of a poo catcher that has been worn awhile, not a brand new one for advertising purposes,

The rubbing will only get worse, eventually it will rub all the skin off too.

I agree the posture of the horses in the photo before is not natural. Also the photo is taken from a distance so any sores or rubbing can't be seen,