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?

fuzzy - hopefully you're taking the mick
I recently lost my job and am working a zero hours contract and managing to keep my horse. I'm not rich in any way at all and have never earned over 25k a year

Maybe you should campaign for a law that it has to be picked up. Good luck with that.

Maybe the manure came from a horse towing a barge - the very thing the path was built for.

I no longer ride but there is no way I could carry a shovel, dismount, clear up the poo and get back on the horse would have wandered off. That's why I rode on bridle ways. If you want to avoid horse muck avoid bridle ways. It isn't hard.

1. Not all riders are entitled pricks. And not all entitled pricks are riders

1. I’ve admittedly never been bothered by horse poo. But I do understand that other people have a different opinion and that it could be hazardous for people with decreased mobility.

I do believe that this shouldn’t be an issue on bridleways (unless some people are trying to make the point that bridleways shouldn’t exist?). But on pavement / shared paths?
A manure bag seems like the best option.

Yes, quite a few horses would spook. But if wearing a manure bag was part of their training / just like wearing a bit etc...? I’m fairly certain that most horses would be able to deal with it.

As for the argument that this works only during a walk... that’s probably true.
But it doesn’t need to work during a trot or gallop. The issue is horses pooping on pavement / ‘hard ground’ isn’t it? So why would you gallop on these?
Put the bag under your horse’s arse when you’re riding on pavement, remove it as soon as you’re out of the town. Seems like the best solution to me personally. Or have I missed something?

Clearly there is an air of entitlement here - oh, it's impossible to do anything about it, just get over it. Well clearly that's not true, "nappies"are perfectly viable, as demonstrated in Killarney, or you could at a minimum follow the eminently reasonable guidelines issued by the Scottish BHS.

Btw, if the horse was dewormed. Their dung is apparently toxic to dogs...

I’m not bothered when my bike goes through horse poo on my cycle ride....by the time I get home there’s no sign of it on my tyres and seeing as I know it’s all digested grass I’m not bothered about germs. Dog poo would be very different, even if no visible trace remained I’d be worried about germs and wanting to disinfect the bike tyres before bringing it inside......so very different things.

IMO horse poo and dog shit are worlds apart. Horse poo is fabulous earthy manure and decomposes easily and feeds the soil. Dog shit is vile stinky foul poisonous stuff that stinks to high heaven and can make your kids blind. You tread in dog dirt and it follows you around for weeks. Horse poo on your boots is inoffensive.

I live next to a bridle path, it's rare you see horse manure the day after its left, dog poo stays there for days.

What is this idea that horse riders have that they couldn't possibly carry a shovel?

It doesn't sound like the pathway is designed for horses

CBA, it is probably designed specifically for horses! Tow paths are called that because they were so horses could tow the barges along.

And what about other riders who use the roads? Mounted police at football matches etc, would they be expected to dismount and pick up poo? Drivers of horse-drawn carriages at wedding and hearses at funerals?

And it would rather spoil the splendour of the trooping of the colour if the cavalry regiments were constantly hopping on and off to clear up after their horses.

I don't think horses should be allowed on pavements/shared pathways because of the shit issue, not fair on wheelchairs/prams.

Practically this doesn't work but I think it's a valid point. Dog owners have to pick up poo, so why not cat or horse owners?

Also, what happens with riders who are unable to dismount and then get back on again?

On the rare occasions I ride, I have to use a block to mount these days (dismounting is fine, gravity is on my side then). Perhaps someone could design a quick-assembly flatpack mounting block for people like me?

Riders know when their horses have pooped, as they will feel their backs rise just a little under the saddle.

On a two-hour ride a horse can easily have four good dumps... but with horse poo being much less nasty than dog poo, I would only feel awkward about those landing on narrow footpaths where pedestrians can't easily step around it. I think the glove idea could work for such an occasion (as riders heading out ought to be able to safely dismount and re-mount in most situations), except that on the towpath my worry would be dismounting and having the horse side-step right into the canal.

I would imagine riders using that path have no alternative as it would not be my first choice of route for a ride!

Jarhead123 this has already been covered numerous times in this thread. Have you not bothered to read it?

Dog poo is toxic and dangerous especially to small children.

Cats generally try to bury their poo anyway but even when they don't - cays are legally considered to be wild animals anyway and their poo is no more controllable than that of badgers, foxes etc.

The poo of a herbivore is not that different from ordinary mud and is nothing to fuss over.

Horses have been using this path for a hundred years or more, pooing all the while. So now that houses shops and concrete are encroaching it is the people with pushchairs that need to live with the fact that this is a path that comes with horse poo. They do not have any right to expect the horses and riders to be inconvenienced with poo-catching bags and shovels just so they don't get any mud on the wheels of their stylish bugaboo.

and how exactly are cat owners supposed to run around after their cats to pick up their poo

Surely the cats could wear a miniature version of the sack that horses can wear?

Francis - as other posters have pointed out, the use of tow paths have evolved somewhat since the days of boat pulling...

Horse poo doesn't smell offensive and it doesn't harbour dangerous pathogens in the way that dog poo does.

I would rather encounter horse manure than an single sloppy dog shit in the middle of the pavement.

It doesn't sound like the pathway is designed for horses someone needs to pick up a book then!

This again. Horse poo isn't anywhere near as gross (or dangerous) as dog poo.

Dog owners are legally obliged to pick up or face a fine. Horse riders are not.

as other posters have pointed out, the use of tow paths have evolved somewhat since the days of boat pulling...

They may have evolved but the assertion that horses is not what they were designed for shows a certain ignorance.

Only the quietest plodder would be safe with that poo-catching nappy arrangement.

Imagine trying a canter (or even a trot) with that flapping around behind you!

They may have evolved but the assertion that horses is not what they were designed for shows a certain ignorancel

But they weren’t designed for leisure riding either, were they?

Yet another example of the country side being made to run by metropolis rules. It is not neat and clean it is a working environment not a rural Disneyland. Shit happens, literally.

In the old days when the cart horse would poo in the street we’d all run out with shovels to get it for our gardens.

I noticed as a teenager riding, the streets with the newer houses and younger people didn’t not recognize the brilliance of horse shit and it would still be there when I rode back, but the older streets with older people, the pile would be scrapped clean by my return journey.

IT IS NOT DOG SHIT for heavens sake! It is lovely stuff.

It's cat pooh that angers me most where I live. Several pairs of shoes ruined and it's bloody everywhere, including my garden. I can't even let me kids go on any of the grass outside and it stinks to high heaven. Horse pooh i can deal with as it smells kind of healthy and I grew up in the countryside. However I can see how it would annoy you like my neighbour's 10 cat's poo does.