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?

When I was a child old ladies used to rush out after the milkman had been to pick up the manure his horse left so they could put it on their roses.

Can you imagine telling the Household Cavalry to pick it up after their rides and even processions in Central London , fabulously bonkers.

Wow, I definitely didn't expect this issue to run to so many pages.

For all the posters saying I must expect to live in a hyper sanitised world, you honestly couldn't be further from the truth. I've actually just moved back from a country in East Asia where there is a huge national debate over whether kids should be allowed to poo and wee on the floor of metro carriages. I'm sure you can all guess where I stand on that issue.

I think during the time I was away I had really romanticised the cleanliness and politeness of us Brits.

Although I still think that if horse riding was invented new tomorrow, riders wouldn't be allowed to leave mess everywhere. I do appreciate riding is a part of our heritage though, which does change things.

I've actually just moved back from a country in East Asia where there is a huge national debate over whether kids should be allowed to poo and wee on the floor of metro carriages. I'm sure you can all guess where I stand on that issue

Does it involve sainsburys carrier bags?

YouBastard sadly not. It does involve avoiding wee as it swills around on the train floor though.

Living in the New Forest this all seems very strange.

I know that its a lot of poo, but surely all it would take was a couple of sainsburys bags, pick it up like you do for a dog, and hang it off the saddle when you continue

This has to be a wind-up. Nobody would be so ridiculous as to think this was a practical solution (or at all safe), would they?

Firstly, horse manure really isn't such a problem. Secondly, there is no practical, safe way to collect it.

There is also no requirement (as there is with dogs) to collect horse manure from roads- probably because it is recognised that it is not necessary, is massively impractical and quite possibly dangerous- how any rider would carry implements to pick it up whilst riding, never mind hold the horse + bag and be able to shovel the poo in whilst also keeping control of the horse/an eye out for traffic/other potential hazards. Mind boggles.

I've ridden horses for over 30 years. I've lived in horsey areas for most of my life (short stint in London, rest of the time in towns/villages/cities near horse areas). In that time I've seen a horse ridden on a pavement once. I was so stunned I nearly stopped the car to ask them why. (Riding on a pavement looked so dangerous - for the horse - I thought there must be some reason).

So I don't think horse poo on pavements can be a huge problem.

What about cows being moved around for milking? Fox poo? Pigeon droppings?

Most of Britain isn't urban and even urban Britain has plenty of wildlife, not to mention cats.

I think during the time I was away I had really romanticised the cleanliness and politeness of us Brits.

In that context, may I mention the open and unabated sneezing and coughing that goes on in public transport? Now that's a disgrace.

People spitting on the ground.

People having hot food and the smelliest sandwiches on earth on the tube.

going to find out now which country the poo/wee issue is debated in

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=cdn3.volusion.com/sqjxc.ekbtg/v/vspfiles/photos/BB2CB-2.jpg%253F1431868411&imgrefurl=www.workinghorsetack.com/Catch-It-Manure-Bag-Horse-Diaper-p/bb2cb.htm&h=800&w=800&tbnid=UYYgkxVGbokL2M:&docid=67TyDb4OrmEI1M&hl=en&ei=NY_4VcPGMejKmAWC4LGYAw&tbm=isch&client=safari&ved=0CCkQMygMMAxqFQoTCIO127n_-ccCFWglpgodAnAMMw" rel="nofollow" target="blank">www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=cdn3.volusion.com/sqjxc.ekbtg/v/vspfiles/photos/BB2CB-2.jpg%253F1431868411&imgrefurl=www.workinghorsetack.com/Catch-It-Manure-Bag-Horse-Diaper-p/bb2cb.htm&h=800&w=800&tbnid=UYYgkxVGbokL2M:&docid=67TyDb4OrmEI1M&hl=en&ei=NY_4VcPGMejKmAWC4LGYAw&tbm=isch&client=safari&ved=0CCkQMygMMAxqFQoTCIO127n-ccCFWglpgodAnAMMw

There you go. Something like this is used for cab horses in Marrakech and Melbourne.

Op and similar others don't move to or holiday in the New Forest, I don't think it would be your cup of tea!

Echt do you have any thoughts for animal welfare at all? Do you think its in any way natural or comfortable for a horse to have a bag containing poo bouncing around on its bottom? Aside from the poo that will presumably bounce out, the runny poo that won't neatly drop in but will instead smear itself on the horse's bottom, that attachment is strapped to a part of the horse which moves and will cause chafing sooner or later.

And that isn't a "cab horse" - its wearing a saddle. My guess is some kind of Western trail horse for tourists that don't want to go out of a walk. As soon as you trotted, the poo would bounce all over the place.

And since when did what happens to horses in Marrakech become something to emulate?

Sorry On a roll now.

How about opening your front door to that ? And don't think you can escape the horse shit down the pub...........

Screamersford, I posted merely as a point of information, not recommendation, so wind your neck in.

I posted a photo of a saddle horse because that is the kind of horse riding that is being critiqued.

I mentioned both Melbourne and Marrakech because I've seen cab horses with diapers there. I did not suggest emulation, but there seems to be widespread ignorance of the fact that something can be done about horse dung, and has been happening for years.

Wow, quite a debate

basically as a horse rider / driver of some years .... car driver, pedestrian, ex pushchair user and often pusher of wheelchairs

agree ... horse poo far more biodegradable and less of a biohazard than any other "pet" that routinely defecates on roads or any other byway shared by humans ( I have reason to have to know this !)

agree .... cars squish it not skid in it !!!

agree ... rarely come across horse poo on pavements

NEVER seen a slimy one ...well only once from very poorly horse unlikely to be fit to ride.

Having said that......

I have well trained / habituated horses and if for some unforseen reason one of them pood on a pavement then yes, I would get off (and have done) and kick it somewhere out of the way. Would not if in road... it decomposes / washed away by rain / pickedup by poo fairies within days

I am actually a firm believer in habituating all horses so they not frightened of flappy things and to stand stand still when I get off and to have all sorts things attached to saddles. I still cannot see me with multiple plastic bags of different denomination attached to my saddle on return from my , these days, infrequent rides. It is a rural area.... its part of the deal and horse is more eco friendly !

and ........., far from being a rich toff I run a little place where people with learning difficulties learn to look after rescue animals ... including two horses and a pony. When people start to use stereotypes and name calling / swearing then the value of their opinion in a discussion plummets !

Ok, I haven't rtft, but to me, a steaming pile of horse manure on the lane outside is a perk of living in the countryside.

If goes straight on the compost.

No one rides on the pavement here.

I have agreed with quite a bit you have said scremesford but ask you to ponder a wee bit re echts link to the pic of the manure collector.... maybe consider not saying its a welfare issue / harmful.

Playing devils advocate .....

would this cause any more pressure / bumping / rubbing etc than any other piece of tack ( or even a rider). Driven horses breeching is in the same place, saddlebags bounce around !

Like any other new tack horse would get used to it.

For those reasons alone In principle no reason not to use it ?

many many more pieces commonly used gadgets I object to as causing harm on a daily basis tbh

dont mean to sound short but taking ages to type as its cusror jumping around as I type gggrrrrr dont know what wrong !

I have no definite idea tazzle but I don't find it acceptable when we are supposed to be moving towards better standards for animals to promote horses carrying around poo because a very few people find it distasteful. If it is illegal for horse poo to lie in public areas, then yes do something about it then, but not because some people make a big fuss.

As for the comparison with breeching, what is shown is not breeching but some kind of large sack under the horse's tail to catch the poo. I cannot see how the more poo that collects, that it will not get heavier and swing about as the horse moves. Breeching is made up of thin straps which will chafe if not oiled and cleaned regularly, whereas a large solid piece of material which will attract sweat and poo on the areas of contact with the horse, in contact with the underside of the tail which has no hair, seems to me to be a recipe for discomfort for the horse. Every piece of harness on the driven horse has been designed over centuries to distribute weight so as not to cause pressure points (for instance the collar is rounded and heavily padded, the breeching is attached to particularly strong points along the horse's back) and if some safe way of collecting poo while the horse works were possible, I'm guessing it would have been done by now.

Since tack and harness chafing is one of the biggest welfare issues in countries which don't have such high animal welfare standards as the UK, I cannot see the sense in promoting something like this.

Added to that, it would be impossible to use if the horse ever went faster than a walk, as the movement would cause the collecting sack to swing about. I guess you could train some horse to tolerate that but I can't see how it would be possible for them to move properly unless you managed to train them to waddle like a duck!

My dog hoovers up most horse shit with his mouth, job done! Everyone happy

tomato my dogs love to roll in it. I've come home on more than one occasion with a shit-crusted-happy-as-stinking-larry chinhuahua and had to douse her in a bucket of warm water before plucking the bits of congealed hay out of her fur so it doesn't end up matted into my carpets. For a tiny sassy princess she's a little stinker!

My dog sniffs it, if fresh it gets eaten. If not, it's ignored. He certainly won't eat a cow pat though.

We regularly walk near wild ponies (gasp) - no poo nappies there. Tbh the cows are more of a problem than the ponies (I'm much more cautious of the cattle)