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?

Horse poo isn't causing climate change...

Granny

I agree. The screaming makes it seem like they’re trying to avoid the noise and chaos. So them being 15 mins earlier as well seems genuinely insane (I’m assuming that this is indeed a common occurrence...?)

Yup, sounds like they’re twats. Sorry...

I’ve screamed at people when I was still riding btw. Simply because there were people that thought that letting a dog run around and under a fucking horse was a good idea.

And she definitely wasn’t the calmest of creatures... but I screamed because someone getting hurt or worse was actually not a particularly unlikely outcome in this situation.
(Also, people that think it’s smart to walk right behind the horse. Has only happened once but Jesus Christ!)

Never given it a thought but now you mention it, dogs nah your a terrible owner, horses free pass

I think a high percentage of horse riders probably do have cars which they tax

The two women described above riding past school do sound odd - why would you want to? I usually ride out really early to avoid traffic!

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.

It is hard to explain, I don't know anywhere quite like it but I assume because there is a listed church and a listed house in the village it meant planning permission had to go round it further complicated by the river down one side. It sort of gives an illusion of a country village but it isn't. I assume that seems attractive to some people. I find it weird but each to their own.

granny it isn't a road tax to give you priority. Whether you mean vehicle duty or general taxation, riders also pay.

No wonder they get pissed off if people with your selfish and dangerous attitude are trying to fit your car alongside their horse in a space narrower than a tractor. I'd be pretty annoyed if you were making the decision on my behalf as to whether the horse would react badly. You do realise if you're driving too close you are putting yourself at great risk too? 'But I'm on the school run' won't make you any less dead if a horse comes through your windscreen. Nor will 'yes my inability to stick to the highway code killed your mother/ wife/ daughter but I pay road tax' be a suitable explanation.

Bit confused, if all these other quiet lanes exist on either side leading to the same place how can it also be surrounded by town/ urban sprawl and not lead you to the same place?

Maybe the cottage residents pay them to piss off the school run brigade who must make it a nightmare on such a narrow lane.

The two women described above riding past school do sound odd - why would you want to? I usually ride out really early to avoid traffic! I don't ride but I would assume it would be much more pleasant to avoid it, I am longing for July so I never have to face the chaos again. The thing that convinced us they have an issue was them changing their time when the school started to come out 15 minutes earlier. The Head never actually said why they were changing but I imagine the hassle they add to the inevitable coming out chaos was probably at least part of the reason.

I live near a school, we tried to get GC in there when they didn't get their local school, and I often delay going out by 15 minutes if I realise it is school chucking out time. Well only if I'm driving, no problem if I'm walking, but even on our road it gets difficult. One of my children got hit by a car outside school once so I am very wary of kids running out.

You should survey the residents and ask them whether the horses or people picking kids up from school are more annoying and which impacts on their life more.

granny just read your update about the lanes, so apologies for my rant that you are driving too close, didn't realise you meant in a wider lane.

TheHogFather, where to start. Did you miss the bit where I said I, and other people picking up children walk down this little lane? The reason people drive round the longer way is because of getting past the poo, horrible pushing buggies and wheelchairs through it.

The other lanes don't lead to the school but once you get past the school it doesn't lead anywhere so they have no "need" to ride that way, if they are just out for a ride they have other lanes to choose from.

I know one of the cottage residents, she's another gran on the school run and I can assure you that parents walking past her cottage doesn't bother her at all. The cottages don't have front gardens to the pooh is sometimes virtually on their doorsteps and yes they get fed up of it.

You should survey the residents and ask them whether the horses or people picking kids up from school are more annoying and which impacts on their life more. As I said the school has been there 150 years. Guess how many people who live in the village were there before the school was built? If people could walk down the narrow lane there would be fewer people driving so I think the residents would be really pleased with that.

Thehogfather, don't worry it is confusing. I've never seen a similar situation before. I think the planners 30 or 40 years ago who let it develop like that didn't think it through. At that time they could have down a better road access but now it would mean knocking down lots of houses so don't think that is going to happen.

People could walk down the lane. Horse poo doesn’t stop the vast majority of people ime. People always want to park right outside the school. No horses anywhere near my younger kids urban primary but utter car chaos from people too lazy arsed to walk more than 5 yards.

To be fair, I actually have more sympathy with them if it's a Riding School rather than a small number of privately owned horses. If that's a decent sized RS who take out numerous horses most days, that's a lot more equestrian traffic - and therefore poo - than you'd expect from normal use. The BHS advise that RSs and large yards organise for grooms to clear shared areas of poo routinely for precisely that reason. It's not comparable to private owners, partly because those horses are being used in the course of business.

Unless these two riders are on Mumsnet and can explain why they use that route at that time, there’s not much anyone here can do to solve the problem.

Devilish, yes we could all wear wellies and walk through it. My original point was someone, maybe you? saying you can always steer round the poo and I was explaining that it isn't always possible as it isn't on this lane. I know you just want it to be people being unfair to riders but honestly people like these two ladies are bad PR for riders and no amount of trying to "prove" that you know the set up better than I do is going to change that.

Anyway I am off to do something more productive, didn't realise saying you can't always steer round poo would lead to this level of interrogation but you can believe it or not but sometimes people with buggies or wheelchairs can't and that is a fact.

As I said I also live near a school and do know people are inconsiderate, park badly etc. However, the police come and ticket them occasionally, horse ladies seem to get a free pass.

Sorry I just can’t imagine a situation where someone with a buggy cannot steer around (and I had a large off-road double buggy for a number of years). If I really couldn’t steer around it then I guess I would walk a toddler or use a sling or keep some wipes with me (or more likely just chuck the buggy in the car with horse poo on the wheels - cleaner than the dog after a run in the woods).

Wheelchair users may well have more of a problem but having had too much of my time with wheelchairs I maintain there are far larger problems. And with a blue badge you can ask to park in the school anyway (I did when I had ds1 with me).

Ditto devilish. I was always aware of the 'try & drive into the classroom brigade' but usually parked away & walked & dd was in wrap around. By chance I became aware it was common to arrive 45 minutes early to get a good spot. And the parents who decided that if some parents had permission to use the staff car park for disability reasons, they too should have the right to park there. Or even half hanging out the entrance if their lazy chums had already used every other square inch.

I have a blue badge and have to pay £9 a day for after school club because I can't park in the school car park due to non disabled staff and parents using the two blue badge spaces. The head refuses to do anything about it as it's not his role.

Oh god yes I had so many looks of anger when I used ds1’s blue badge.

Otherwise I parked at the end of
The lane and walked. Taking life in your hands some times as some
Seemed to think it was necessary to
Drive their enormous cars at great speed down the lane. The idiots actually blocked an ambulance once.

That’s terrible Valerrie - letter to governors?

Valerrie

That’s unacceptable imo. Yes, letter to the governors?

It is terrible. The head left this term, so when the new one starts in January, I'll be bringing it up with her first, then if I still can't collect my child, I'll write.

That's disgusting val Could you just park across them and hem them in? Or if that still wouldn't be safe for you find someone like me who would be delighted to block their cars in with their great big battered heavy car for as long as it took to grab your ds too and bring him to wherever you had managed to park?

Or just pick him up once you can park, i.e. late, and refuse to pay for after school club?

Wheelchair users may well have more of a problem but having had too much of my time with wheelchairs I maintain there are far larger problems.

With respect Devilish that may be true for you that’s not the case for everyone.