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?

grannytomine Unless it’s a private road the riders are as equally entitled to use the space as anyone else. You could walk a different way

granny if it's too narrow for a tractor then they aren't blocking you by riding side by side. Far more likely they are riding defensively/ slash blocking in a nervous horse because drivers like you keep trying to dangerously squeeze through if they ride in file. Hence the mayhem and signs, idiot drivers making their road training take so much longer.

And if there are so many alternative paths then nothing stopping those on the school run using them. I imagine any residents are incredibly grateful to anything that puts people off driving to school that way.

You really shouldn't live in the country if you are of the mind that animals are spoiling your naice country walks.

I’m not insisting hogfathrer, although I do wonder how a split path would work on a narrow path. Just pointing out the inconsistency between people here saying it is impossible, and others saying they do it, and also BHS Scotland advocating it.

There will be situations and individuals who are unable to do this. But it doesn’t seem unreasonable to have a policy of “if you can, do” rather than just telling people to put up or shut up in spaces where they have as much right to access as the riders.

I’m getting the impression ‘a suitable lane’ is one that you don’t want to use granny. If people are enjoying ‘country walks’ - they surely have to expect horses are by outside the realms of possibility, especially near stables.

I doubt they’re doing anything to ‘make a point’- usually fairly dangerous doing something just to make a point on a horse.

Out of curiosity does anyone know why Scottish towpaths are all open to riders when English ones aren’t? If more were opened up but with the same guidance as BHS Scotland wouldn’t that be a good thing?

bears wider path maybe? If it's only as wide as a horse then it sounds pretty useless for anyone, passing would be impossible.

Scotland has different access rights to England across the board. I believe the general right to roam is possible because it's less densely populated, also different land use. Could be wrong on that though, might just be Scotland cares even less about the difficulties it causes farmers than England does.

Granny
As I said in an earlier post there are two women who seem to take delight in causing problems.

That would be very inconsiderate.

they sometimes bring kids out with signs (flapping by the way) on the horse saying things like "inexperienced rider" or "nervous horse" and cause mayhem.

Yes, how dare they. Informing people to please be careful for the sake of everyone involved (horse, rider, pedestrians...)

Devilish they don't need to use the main road, they can ride without going from one end of that lane to the other as there are plenty of suitable lanes they can use.

If there are other suitable lanes... couldn’t you use them as well? And more importantly, this sounds extremely unlikely. If the other lines were more suitable and they were allowed to use them.... I honestly can’t imagine that anyone would prefer to to take a (genuinely) nervous horse past a school at 3.30 where surprise surprise children are pouring out of the gate making a noise, running about etc

And it’s extremely unlikely that they’re doing it to make a point.

Who the heck would make a point on a spooky horse surrounded by screaming children?

However, why don’t you just use one of these ‘suitable lanes’?

I think that there have to be different solutions for different circumstances. Pavements and footpaths, horses are banned from - rightly so. Roads and bridleways are fair game for horse riders to use and shit freely upon. Shared usage paths may be better segregated if there is space - this would work for many urban bridleways - but a tow path is likely to be too narrow to achieve that. So you either leave the shit, dismount if possible or return to pick it up as soon as is practically possible. I think, if the tow path is routinely used by others - particularly wheelchair users - it would be most courteous to do either of the latter options. As a rider and owner, I would certainly try to do that in the very niche situation that the OP describes. Or I would avoid that track.

it must be a misery for people in the cottages who constantly have piles of poo in front of their houses

Genuinely the most bonkers comment I've read. Horse poo on the road in front of their country home must be so distressing. I can't imagine how they feel about the array of excrement spread on the fields around them

This sort of attitude is utterly pathetic - you live rurally, you accept that horses are part of the countryside and it's - quite literally - tough shit if you encounter droppings on your "country walks". As for people training their horses (and child riders) to handle situations by exposing them to new experiences on the road, that's a good thing - that's how you get a good horse who will get on with his job.

Yes, how dare they. Informing people to please be careful for the sake of everyone involved Informing people doesn't mean you can stop children being noisy and excited coming out of school. If the horse or rider is genuine nervous, inexperienced or whatever why not wait half an hour till the chaos is over?

If there are other suitable lanes... couldn’t you use them as well? They don't go to the school but if they are out for a ride they could use other quieter lanes. The lane going past the school doesn't go far, you reach a big river so then they would just turn round and come back, they aren't "going anywhere" if you see what I mean. People picking up from school do need to go to the school.

It is hard to explain but this is a small very old village which is now in the middle of a built up area on 3 sides with a river on the other side. There isn't really anyway of improving access, there would have been at one time but the way the town has grown up round it it is now just a little island which is surrounded with a big of land between the village and the river and some lanes with cottages to one side where the town hasn't infilled yet although there is planning permission being applied for at the moment. That might improve things if they make a new road into the village so that you would go through the new housing estate with the village (and school on one side) and the bigger lane leading up to the main road on the other. My GC leaves the school in July and I hope I never go there again once pick ups are over so I haven't taken much interest in what is planned.

The two women are inconsiderate, as the village is small the majority of the 200 children come from the town into the village so there are always lots of cars, parents and children there between about 3.15 to 3.45. It is only 30 minutes but they must deliberately choose to go there at that time, I would never choose to go through the village on foot or by car at school chucking out time as I know how chaotic it gets. I have seen many a screaming match going on as it gets grid locked and it isn't unusual for the Head to come out to try and untangle it all.

Roll on July.

Genuinely the most bonkers comment I've read. Horse poo on the road in front of their country home must be so distressing. I can't imagine how they feel about the array of excrement spread on the fields around them But it isn't country as you are thinking, it is a little island in the middle of a town and there aren't any fields round them to spread excrement on. Don't let it stop you making up stories though, I mean you don't even know where it is but you clearly know it better than I do even though I go there five days a week.

However, why don’t you just use one of these ‘suitable lanes’? Because they don't take you to the school, I only go there to pick up from school.

I’m getting the impression ‘a suitable lane’ is one that you don’t want to use granny. If people are enjoying ‘country walks’ - they surely have to expect horses are by outside the realms of possibility, especially near stables. There are wider lanes so people would actually be able to steer round the piles of poo. A very narrow lane leading to a school at 3.30 pm is a mad time to make a point of going there.

Why do you assume they are making a point of going there. Presumably that time suits them? Maybe it’s the only time of day that suits them. Anyway if you’re moaning about horse crap then it will be there whenever they ride. Unless they’re only allowed to ride immediately prior to heavy rainfall.

You really shouldn't live in the country if you are of the mind that animals are spoiling your naice country walks. I don't live in the country, I live in a town with factories, and supermarkets, and a hospital and a college. This little marooned village is where my GC had to go to school as the closer school was fun. I don't want to go there for "naice" walks, I go there to pick up kids like all the other mothers/father/grandparents.

i suspect School traffic causes residents far more problems than the horses.

My kids were at an urban primary down a narrow lane - no horses but idiots picking up they’re kids (& apparently unable to walk more than 5 yards) caused all sorts of daily chaos and problems for nearby residents.

Devilish it wouldn't stop the poo issue but you really don't understand what it is like and these women coming past the school at 3.30 and then screaming and shouting at people because cars, you know the ones who pay road tax, are daring to be there. If they were going down to the school they wouldn't be using the little lane where the poo is such a nuisance. The funny thing is school changed coming out time last year and made it 15 minutes earlier. The two women seem too have had a change of schedule as well as they now come past at, go on guess what time they come past. Yes you're right, they now come past 15 minutes earlier.

I'm pretty sure they are making some point.

granny if it's too narrow for a tractor then they aren't blocking you by riding side by side. Sorry it is confusing, there are two lanes, the little narrow lane that a tractor couldn't use and the bigger lane it leads to where they ride side by side. The side of the school is on the little lane but the entrance is on the bigger lane.

you know the ones who pay road tax

Nobody pays Road tax....

You could walk a different way I've explained that the only other way is much longer and is along a busy road with no pavement. Why should parents with young children have to risk that? The parents are perfectly reasonable to use the lane to get to the school, even the police would tell you that. They aren't going to somewhere special so don't need to make it harder for everyone and then blame the parents for being there.

*Nobody pays Road tax" Well they pay to use the road unlike the horses. The car drivers also have to pass a test and have a licence to use the road, unlike riders.

Well, to be fair, you did say cottages and lanes, which suggests a rural location. I'm really not sure how the situation you describe works, but even if you buy a cottage in a village which has been enclosed by a city, I think you have to accept that there will be evidence of village life, rather than just city life, and I really can't get my head around the idea of horse poo in the road outside of your house being so awful.

cars, you know the ones who pay road tax

Nobody pays "road" tax, actually...

No they pay emissions tax for the pollution they produce. They do not pay to use the road.

Shame the horse owners don't pay a poo tax.

i suspect School traffic causes residents far more problems than the horses. The school has been there for 150 years, I don't think anyone lives in the village who predate the school, the riding school however is a more recent addition.