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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Horse riders should pick up their poo!!

569 replies

Instagram · 13/12/2021 21:14

It’s surely a potential hazard leaving horse manure on the road!
Tractors are required to clean up excess mud they leave on the road, dog poo is collected by their owners.
So why can’t horse riders be required to show common decency if they are to use the road.
Apparently an outdated law from when horses were the main mode of transport allows this and prevents action being taken.
With the number of accidents never mind inconveniences caused by this negligence surely this should be amended?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
AandWsmum2 · 14/12/2021 21:42

@Instagram

I’m sorry but you can’t just turn around now and pretend like you are the horse expert and are acting in the horses best interest. There are many people that have to take their horse on a road for various reasons and know far more about the best interests of their own animal.

The sheer fact that you keep Ming back with all this stuff that’s obviously been Googled proves you are determined to prove your point and aren’t actually interested in what others have to say, even if they were a professional in the equine industry.

Just admit you don’t like Horses/Horse riders and move on.

AandWsmum2 · 14/12/2021 21:43

*keep coming back

DuesToTheDirt · 14/12/2021 21:50

If you choose to buy a horse it would be more beneficial for the horse to be located in an area that has access to dirt tracks.

Believe it or not, horse riders would mostly prefer to be off road. Sometimes, to get access to those dirt tracks, you have to go along roads... We don't ride on roads thinking that's the nicest place to be. But you know, there are many considerations when choosing a yard, like distance from home, facilities at the yard, number of horses, turnout and a billion other things.

Capricopia · 14/12/2021 21:50

[quote Kendodd]**@Capricopia
have never seen a ‘nappy’ for a riding horse.
Here you go.
www.workinghorsetack.com/catch-it-manure-bag-horse-diaper-p/bb2cb.htm
Myself and many, many others on this thread would greatly appreciate riders using them. I understand it would take I little bit of getting used to for the horse but if they can be trained to take a ten stone human being sitting on them they can manage this.
Please, out of consideration for other road users including wheelchair users, children and (it seems, much hated) cyclist, try them.[/quote]
That is attached to a western saddle, not an English saddle. I can’t see how it could attach to an English saddle. It also looks pretty spooky and uncomfortable.

Sorry, but there is simply no prospect of me ever trying one of these. They look dangerous and hard to use, and way more inconvenient than you moving one foot out of your way to avoid a horse poo 🤷‍♀️

IWouldntHavetoWorkatAll · 14/12/2021 21:50

Grab yourself some free manure and thank your lucky stars.

WiddlinDiddlin · 14/12/2021 21:54

@Instagram

Next time you are sat on the beach with young children paddling in the small sea water pools bear in mind when the horses ride through and leave their piles of poo. Horse manure can contain the eggs of strongyles, roundworms and other internal parasites. If it's not properly handled, the eggs (or larvae that hatch from them) can cause contamination. Pests. Manure piles are prime breeding grounds for stable flies, face flies, houseflies and several other types. They can also become cozy burrowing sites for rats. Water quality. Excess nutrients and other contaminants can leach from poorly managed manure into streams, lakes and ponds, upsetting the ecological balance and causing complications. 🤔
Next time YOU are sat on the beach, please sit long enough to admire the tides, as they come in, washing the sand, and go back out, taking all manner of filth with them. They do this several times a day.

Please also note that unlike small children, who do indeed mess about in tidal pools, horses neither play nor shit in rock pools. They find it quite hard to climb over the rocks and don't have hands to hold buckets to put captured crabs in.

Furthermore - the worms horses carry are on the whole, specific to horses, so unless you or your offspring are actually horses... again I fail to see the issue.

Manure piles are indeed home to all manner of fun things, I don't see how these huge piles are sitting anywhere any length of time except where humans purposely pile up weeks worth of manure... I suggest these are not suitable playgrounds for children and I don't see what relevance this has to poo left on roads or beaches.

AandWsmum2 · 14/12/2021 21:56

Please also note that unlike small children, who do indeed mess about in tidal pools, horses neither play nor shit in rock pools. They find it quite hard to climb over the rocks and don't have hands to hold buckets to put captured crabs in.

@WiddlinDiddlin

I properly laughed out loud at this 😂

NeedsCharging · 14/12/2021 21:57

It has been well documented that concrete, tarmac and hard surfaces are bad for horses joints due to the impact

This is the only thing you have said that I agree with.
Sadly roads, tarmac and concrete have taken over so sometimes the only way I can get to a safe field where they have big litter trays is via a road.

Capricopia · 14/12/2021 21:58

@Mytwopeneth

Just out of interest, why can't you toilet train a horse? You can train them to pull carriages, jump fences while carrying a rider, walk backwards, sideways and trot on the spot (dressage), run with dogs and stand calmly around while they rip foxes apart.

I even trained my pet rabbit to use a litter tray.

Or are horsey people the same ones who send their children to primary school still wearing nappies, expecting someone else to sort that problem out?

Horses are grazers. They need food little and often through their digestive systems. Any kind of blockage can be literally fatal to them. Training them to hold their poo until a more convenient time is therefore not an option.
NeedsCharging · 14/12/2021 22:01

They can also become cozy burrowing sites for rats.

I admit I haven't watch any David Attenborough docs recently but do rats frequent the beach?

Catching a tan?
A break from the plague of life maybe?

Mytwopeneth · 14/12/2021 22:04

@CapricopiaThat is attached to a western saddle, not an English saddle. I can’t see how it could attach to an English saddle. It also looks pretty spooky and uncomfortable.

Sorry, but there is simply no prospect of me ever trying one of these. They look dangerous and hard to use, and way more inconvenient than you moving one foot out of your way to avoid a horse poo 🤷‍♀️

Surely it's meant for the horse to wear, not you?

Capricopia · 14/12/2021 22:06

[quote Mytwopeneth]@CapricopiaThat is attached to a western saddle, not an English saddle. I can’t see how it could attach to an English saddle. It also looks pretty spooky and uncomfortable.

Sorry, but there is simply no prospect of me ever trying one of these. They look dangerous and hard to use, and way more inconvenient than you moving one foot out of your way to avoid a horse poo 🤷‍♀️

Surely it's meant for the horse to wear, not you?[/quote]
Very funny… Wink

I did say ‘trying’ not ‘wearing’!

liveforsummer · 14/12/2021 22:10

@Instagram

It has been well documented that concrete, tarmac and hard surfaces are bad for horses joints due to the impact. Traditionally roads were not made of concrete and were more natural so were less harmful for horses wellbeing. If you choose to buy a horse it would be more beneficial for the horse to be located in an area that has access to dirt tracks.
It's bad for human joints too but we continue to run on it, what about encouraging kids to run on concrete? Park run should really be banned
DdraigGoch · 14/12/2021 23:07

@XenoBitch

I used to ride a motorcycle, and I did have a few close calls with horse poo tbh. But it wont be practical or safe for a horse rider to stop and pick it up. I just saw them like slippery drain covers... you watch out for them and go round. Pretty much everything is out to get you when you are on two wheels.
Good point. I'm a cyclist and have never slipped on horse poo. Manhole covers can be lethal though.
NeedsCharging · 14/12/2021 23:12

Manhole covers can be lethal though.

As DP says they are slippy mother fuckers Grin

Kendodd · 15/12/2021 09:53

This thread has really changed my opinion of horse riders. I don't think one of you has shown even the slightest bit of concern for other Road users and the difficulty you create for them. We had wheelchair users describing how they have to pick your horse shit out of their wheels and young children running through piles of it. Not one of you cared.

VestaTilley · 15/12/2021 10:23

Wrong. Horse poo is just grass - it’s good for the environment once it rots down and isn’t a toxic waste hazard like dog poo.

Have you just moved to the countryside, OP? Hmm I’d gently suggest not criticising your neighbours and their horses if you’ve moved from a town!

Horse poo and any other kinds of poo are completely different (and no, I’m not horsey and no, I don’t own a horse).

FrogFairy · 15/12/2021 10:30

This post has taken me back to the 70s. My dad was into gardening and would happily go out with a bucket and shovel to scoop up horse manure to fertilise his garden.

Shiteshow100 · 15/12/2021 10:40

This is the sort of person who buys a second home in the country (very common in Cornwall) and then moans about the noise from the cows from the farm next door. Get a life seriously.

user1497207191 · 15/12/2021 10:41

@VestaTilley

Wrong. Horse poo is just grass - it’s good for the environment once it rots down and isn’t a toxic waste hazard like dog poo.

Have you just moved to the countryside, OP? Hmm I’d gently suggest not criticising your neighbours and their horses if you’ve moved from a town!

Horse poo and any other kinds of poo are completely different (and no, I’m not horsey and no, I don’t own a horse).

It's still a hazard in the few weeks it takes to decompose, especially when a horse rider has ridden on a pavement!
HelloCovid · 15/12/2021 12:37

@Kendodd

This thread has really changed my opinion of horse riders. I don't think one of you has shown even the slightest bit of concern for other Road users and the difficulty you create for them. We had wheelchair users describing how they have to pick your horse shit out of their wheels and young children running through piles of it. Not one of you cared.
Oh come on. What can they do about it? If mumsnet had its way there would be no horses, no dogs and no trans people.
TheOriginalEmu · 15/12/2021 12:57

@Kendodd

This thread has really changed my opinion of horse riders. I don't think one of you has shown even the slightest bit of concern for other Road users and the difficulty you create for them. We had wheelchair users describing how they have to pick your horse shit out of their wheels and young children running through piles of it. Not one of you cared.
That’s because there really isn’t anything to be done about it. Horse shit is not like dog poo, it’s not toxic and doesn’t even smell particularly. I keep horses and have a Lane to my yard that horses ride up and down literally dozens of times a day, and there are not great steaming piles of manure on the lane as it disintegrates, I’m also a wheelchair user and I often have horse manure in my wheels, it comes off dead easily.
takenforgrantednana · 15/12/2021 13:06

@Jinglebellsoncake

😂😂😂 Do you expect them to carry around a shovel and a bucket on their ride?

Horse manure is plant based and not dangerous, unlike dog poo

tell that to the motorbike rider who comes across a pile of it on the road then! yes i agree they should be made to clean it up, but i can see the problems involved in asking them to do so, of getting up and down from the horse etc maybe even sweeping it to the side of the road would be a start using a telescopic handled brush
Wintersonata · 15/12/2021 13:08

This thread has really changed my opinion of horse riders

Kendodd you said in an earlier post that all horse riders were posh so as far as you’re concerned they’re the enemy. So how can they sink any lower in your estimation?
Do you really care about horse poo or did you spot an opportunity to have a go at ‘posh’ people?

MorningStarling · 15/12/2021 13:29

To be honest I'd never considered this a problem before but actually there are simple solutions:

  1. Horse nappies
  2. Rider carries a backpack and a lightweight folding shovel. When the horse does a shit, the rider can collect it and, if there isn't anywhere suitable to dispose of it, take it home in their backpack.
  3. Horse riders could be obliged to be tailed by a cyclist or pedestrian who could shout to them to stop when the horse craps over the road. A similar thing to car drivers having to be preceded by a man with a red flag on foot, but in reverse.