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?

I don’t ride horses but I’d hate to think I’d left a wheelchair user unable to get back to their house or get to the shop or school to collect their child.

hoho doesn't matter whether horses shit, it's a bridle path, so just like a road horses are allowed on it, and to shit on it. Plenty of paths aren't open to horses if you have such a big chip about riders.

20 years ago this path led to nothing but fields

It's like a metaphor for MN

So a wheelchair user going along the canal path for leisure trumps a different person using the path for leisure? Be that cyclist or horse rider? There are also ducks, from the OPs first comments, so there is very likely to be lots of duck poo all over the path. Has anyone strapped a plastic bag to the ducks' arses so as not to offend the professionally offended?

Those poo collection bags would only work if the horse is going a short journey and will only be walking. Any other speed and it would be banging about all over the place, terrifying the poor beast in the process.

Kaz, I didn't call you entitled, more the horse riders entitled. This thread shows why they are entitled. They don't care that their hobby causes others inconvenience as long as they themselves aren't inconvenienced.

According to this, a tow path isn't a public right of way
It's a 'permissive path'
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/cycling/cycling-faqs

And most horse riders would prefer to have nice quiet bridle ways, rather than the choice between a road and a shared space. And would also prefer not to be responsible for putting someone in a wheelchair when Tarquinius runs up behind the horse and gets trod on/ knocked over while they are kicking poo aside.

Bet someone will now say horses shouldn't be out in public unless they are safe enough for dear Tarquinius to harass.

thehogfather thanks for that very helpful suggestion - when you invent a bike suitable to transport wheelchair users around in please do let me know.

I'll be honest, I usually knew when my mare did a poo as she was very windy with it. We'd trot along with a parp chorus accompanying the evacuation. That was on 'proper' bridle paths or country lanes though so people knew they would have to swerve a bit of manure.

Like me she wouldn't have reacted well to having a strange sack nestled up to her arse.

Yes exactly hogfather.

I don't think there's a rider in the whole country who would rather ride on a road or other public space than some actual grass in the quiet countryside. However, more and more bridlepaths are being closed as more and more land is being built upon.

Flyingflipflop - no offence taken, as I've said before I don't know what the answer is but this is obviously a complex problem which is never going to please everyone. This may have just been a bridleway 20 years ago but nowadays with all the development taking place I just think that everyone should be mindful that it is not just them using the path. Someone else mentioned duck poo - yes there is some but its a lot easier to step over lol.

"Horse poo is valuable stuff"

Is indeed. We sell it.

Horse poo can be extremely dangerous to dogs, especially Collies. 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. A couple of links.
equimed.com/health-centers/first-aid/articles/whats-the-poop-about-dogs-eating-horse-poop
wagwalking.com/condition/parasitic-drug-ivermectin-poisoning

Thehogfather - these riders are choosing to leave the bridleway to ride on a path that takes them nowhere - they just go to main road and turn round.

lacking what, like these?

www.sunrisemedical.co.uk/wheelchairs/quickie/wheelchair-hand-bikes

There are plenty of wheelchair bikes/hand bikes etc around. Have you never watched the London Marathon before?

Thanks for breaking me in gently for my first post - its been entertaining reading all the comments. Unfortunately this old bird needs her beauty sleep so thanks & I will read again later.

And most horse riders would prefer to have nice quiet bridle ways

OP says there are at least 6 other bridleways near to this one that they could use.

@Nobody I think that horse riders and wheelchair users are equal. Both should be allowed to use the path and neither should leave shit lying around.

Leaving poo of any kind allover a path is obviously very anti-social. However our society is rooted in classism and people who ride horses for leisure are not traditionally working class so an attitude of entitlement has arisen whereby people who ride horses think that them being inconvenienced by having to dismount to move the poo trumps the right of a wheelchair user not to have to ride through shit.

Quoted for truth.

These entitled morons really think people should have to walk/wheel through shit to indulge their hobby.

nobodyknows How ridiculous are you. I am not the wheelchair user and are you seriously suggesting that is a suitable mode of transport for a weekly 50 mile round trip for somebody in their 80s? If not, then stay out of it rather than trying to back another poster up just because you have the same opinion on fucking horse shit.

Faez i never knew that! So sorry for your loss. My sister has a collie and my dad let’s land out for horses. I’ll make sure to say to her.

In Killarney, (Ireland) the horse driving the buggies wear nappies. There was war. But it works fine and is bearly noticeable.

I think that would be reasonable op. Why the hell should other path users have to step through a pile of poo? Yuck.

'...an attitude of entitlement has arisen whereby people who ride horses think that them being inconvenienced by having to dismount to move the poo trumps the right of a wheelchair user not to have to ride through shit.'

But what if the rider is also a disabled wheelchair user?

faez very sorry about your dog and thanks for highlighting this.

Some talented horse trainer needs to develop a technique to teach horse to swish their poo in the desired direction with their tails