AIBU - Horse riders pick up poo?

[kaz2810]

First time asking on here so here it goes!

I'm bloody fuming, we live in a fairly large town but are lucky enough to live by a lovely canal. First 1/4 mile or so is a concrete path wide enough for 2 people to walk side by side. I'm walking along this afternoon and in the distance there are some horses & a women with a buggy feeding ducks. One of the horses poo's and as normal keeps going leaving a steaming pile all over the path meaning that anyone with a pram, wheelchair etc cannot get past unless they lift over or roll straight through it. ( bushes one side & water the other side of path) this is a daily occurance and I'm totally fed up of dodging it. Surely when on a concrete pathway the riders could show some consideration to others?

Of course it's twatty to leave horse shit on pavement. As a rare occurrence it could be excused as happening when the rider had to dodge dangerous driving, couldn't dismount at the time but returned asap to move it. At a guess I'd say most riders only go on pavements as a temporary safety measure due to the sheer amount of drivers with no clue about the highway code, and would always return later if they couldn't move it immediately. Others are probably the same people who would also park on dropped curbs, on zigzags at school, ram their pram into others, cycle through red lights, leave dog shit etc.

Some riders are twats, just like some parents are twats, some drivers are twats, some dog owners are etc.

But that has nothing to do with the precious attitude of those complaining about horse shit in places horses are legally allowed to be.

panic what is the rationale then?

No obviously it's not a reason to not walk to school and we do sometimes, weather permitting. But it's very annoying to encounter horse shit, when at various places there's also dog shit. It's just yucky, especially when I have to keep an eye on where my DDs are putting their feet as well as me.

Of course it's twatty to leave horse shit on pavement

Why? It’s healthy, doesn’t carry any risks, wouldn’t be big enough to block the pavement, and anyway it would come off the wheels / shoes of anyone who did go through it.

Isn’t that right?

At a guess I'd say most riders only go on pavements as a temporary safety measure due to the sheer amount of drivers with no clue about the highway code, and would always return later if they couldn't move it immediately.

In our village, there's barely any traffic, so nothing to do with bad driving. There are a lot of stables on one side of the village, and the shore on the other, so it's a bit of a thoroughfare, which is why the riding and shitting on pavements is a big problem here.

To the poster who said the thread had surpassed their entertainment expectations, mine too!

Perhaps we could do an exercise in understanding the other point of view where the non rider has to try riding a horse, dismounting in traffic and shovelling poo and then getting back on again, and the rider has to try pushing a pram on a bridleway past some poo 😀 I'm a rider but I'd still prefer the latter

I understand the wheelchair argument though in original post (it's not come up where I am as I don't think you could get a wheelchair through the terrain on the bridle paths where we are) so perhaps if it's affecting disabled access on this route horses or bikes shouldn't really be there anyway

As a rare occurrence it could be excused as happening when the rider had to dodge dangerous driving, couldn't dismount at the time but returned asap to move it.

As if. None of that applies to these riders. Why on Earth do they think that riding on a narrow pavement is justified when there's no traffic on a wide road?

bears because a pavement is for pedestrians, unlike a shared path which is for everyone.

Wheelchair users, pram users, clean shoe users etc should all be able to use pavements without dodging horse muck because it's every day life, and 'their' space. Whereas avoiding the handful of off road places open to horses is a choice available if you don't like muck.

Why does anyone think that now the space is shared with pedestrians the riders should have to conform?

Well, I don't think riders should have to conform. However I think it would be sensible for riders to consider that if there is not a bit of give and take, there is a very real risk of further limitations being imposed on equestrian access. If a path is heavily used by pedestrians, narrow, and fairly urban - like a tow path - it is possible for its status to be altered - from bridlepath / open access to pedestrian only footpath. That's a massive loss for the horse riders who use it.

I think it's sensible to try to avoid that situation by not leaving droppings all over the path, or by returning to remove them after riding. Even if that's not always possible, it's better than the "annoyance" factor to other users is reduced as far as possible.

Similarly, there is no reason for horses to be on pavements, other than in exceptional circumstances (literally, avoiding an imminent accident). If I put one of my horses on a pavement and it left droppings, I would try to swing by and pick it up on my way home from the yard.

On a road, [mud-type] bridleway, or similar, I have never even considered picking it up. Even where that bridleway is a narrow path on which pedestrians also walk - because it's a bridleway and pedestrians should anticipate encountering a horsey presence there.

Class based hypocrisy I'd imagine.

kaz I'll hazard a guess they fit into the twat category in your case. If it's any consolation there'll be members of the local horse community that are equally disgusted by their fellow riders.

It's possible that for some it's a learned habit if so many just hack permanently on pavements. Used to be a yard near my friend that attracted first time owners with little experience, only took a few idiots to ride on the pavement and soon they nearly all thought it was the norm, despite the abuse from other local riders.

It's highly unlikely they are all riders recovering from a bad traffic experience, or all riding horses who are.

Only other thing is if maybe the houses/pavement/road are more recent than the yards and there is some clause allowing historic rights, but tbh it is v rare and iirc there's usually some means of informing the locals.

Interesting as well that it is apparently impossible to dismount to move horseshit from shared paths, and too much effort to return or move it, yet on a pavement it is miraculously an option.

Also much easier as a wheelchair user to “dodge” horse shit on a pavement than on a narrow path with bushes on one side and water on the other.

However I think it would be sensible for riders to consider that if there is not a bit of give and take, there is a very real risk of further limitations being imposed on equestrian access. If a path is heavily used by pedestrians, narrow, and fairly urban - like a tow path - it is possible for its status to be altered - from bridlepath / open access to pedestrian only footpath. That's a massive loss for the horse riders who use it.

This thought had occurred to me too. According to a survey by the Canal and River Trust only 3% of tow path users are horse-riders and only 1% as the main use. Doing something that pisses off the 97% of other users doesn’t seem like a sensible plan to me.

bears again, that's because horses shouldn't be on the pavement so it is a reasonable obligation to go out of your way to clear up if for some reason you do end up on one.

I lost my dog a few weeks ago because I took her to the yard and she ate some, a couple of hours later she was rushed to the vet and she was pts the next morning. I now believe the poo contained Ivermectin wormer. There is shockingly little awareness of this. Although it's very common none of the vets she saw knew about it and the chances are if they had they wouldn't have told us to put her to sleep.

I’m very sorry to hear this. This is widely spoken of on horse/dog forums. My vet says the only reason we keep the horses in after worming is to stop the chemicals killing the dung beetles.

In Vienna for the first time I saw the bags the horses have who are providing carriage rides. I would never have thought of them as an idea but they seem sensible.

Scabbersley: Logistically not possible, not inconvenient

Yawning801: Well it IS inconvenient, but it's also impossible!

??

I don't go on roads anymore with my horse because I barely trust the general public when driving my car. I am not going to put my horses life at risk to go for a hack incase some twit decides to drive faster than they can manage and hits us. Happened this year where someone went round a corner too fast, slid on the wet road and plowed into two horses that were going around the corner. People at my yard have been yelled at by motorists for apparently riding incorrectly on the road when they weren't. I have zero confidence in anyone on the road anymore and am always looking for that idiot that will cause an accident, and that's just when I'm driving. But I can't protect myself or my horse out on the road, we have no protection.

But I wouldn't be moving the horses poo if I did for the same reason. I don't know if someone will manage to hit my horse while I dismount, and find some way to move poo off to the side and then find a way to get back on. Unless you come up with a way and are prepared to demonstrate how we do this, with a horse and you riding it, your suggestion is unreasonable and stupid.

I don't know if someone will manage to hit my horse while I dismount, and find some way to move poo off to the side and then find a way to get back on.

What would your horse get hit by on a towpath?

@DullAndOld That’s right by my yard. Hmm,

What would your horse get hit by on a towpath?

I'm meaning on a road. Going on the assumption that people will want us to find a way to clear poo off the roads too. I have actually heard people complaining about horse poo on roads too getting their tyres dirty, dunno if that's happened on this thread yet.