More city people use horses as transport than country people.

[Davidsdaughter]

My biggest surprise moving to a city, was to find how many people use horses as a method of transport instead of cars. I would have expected it to be none, but in fact it is significantly more than in the countryside.

Am I in the only UK city where this is the case? Is this an increasing trend?

YANBU - horses are a valid and common city transport method
YABU- you live in the only place where this happens

That isn't chaos though, they are causing fewer problems than the cars. I like to see them, and I hope they are increasing.

In Wimbledon and Dulwich, there are riding stables which organise ‘pub rides’ in the summer months.

People pay to ride a horse from the stables to a pub, have a drink, and then ride back.

It’s not a regular mode of transport, it’s a novelty activity for a nice summer evening. It’s about £60 a go as well!

I can’t believe OP honestly is being serious with the thread title
It’s a bit like seeing people doing Go Ape and starting a thread asking if people have noticed swinging tree to tree being the best way to get around.

Why?

It isn't very nice. They often have no shelter, only have a tiny patch of scabby grass to eat, water not topped up often enough, close to traffic and sometimes in poor condition.

Sometimes the RSPCA leave notes saying if the owner doesn't get in touch within 24 hours for a bollocking because they're supposed to check on them that often, they'll remove them but sadly they don't have the resources to deal with all the poorly treated horses there are.

I'm not going to post any photos of other people's property without their permission

One persons 'slight inconvenience' is another persons 'chaos'.
Horses may cause some chaos if they're using the same part of the carriageway as cyclists who may need to swerve round piles of horseshit.
Another sighting from Pennsylvania - tourist horse-drawn carriages in Philadelphia all had some sort of bag contraption to catch the shit, that seemed like a jolly good idea in an urban environment, not sure there's any such thing possible for ridden horses.

I think you jumped the shark with horses living on south London roundabouts 😂

The kind of people who keep horses in London and tie them up on roundabouts and grass verges are very unlikely to be part of the demographic that posts on Mumsnet.

Ponies on housing estates, usually tied up on public land, is a thing in some cities. It tends to cause animal welfare issues. They're not really 'used as transport', more as pets/recreation, and the people who ride them aren't usually trained riders.

Wimbledon? It’s the only place I’ve seen traffic lights for horses before.

I remember someone on a woo thread on here once describing how she’d seen a troop of phantom, mostly-riderless horses trotting silently down Oxford St at dawn, and she got very cross when I pointed out that it was the Royal Horse Artillery on their way back from early exercise in Hyde Park — she had googled and decided it was because of the anniversary of some WWI battle…

This. There are no horse facilities in supermarkets or multistory car parks that I'm aware of.

I worked with a woman who got banned from driving and started coming to work on her horse. It didn't work out so well and she was asked to stop.

I wasn’t expecting to read this today. ?

South London is pretty big. Is this out in Greater London?

I know people who go to tesco in their barge but I’ve never seen a horse that’s not police or pulling a hearse within zone 4. Zone 6 seen plenty of horses but none being used for transport

I am in zone 4, as is the pub on my street, which had two horses tied up outside it last night. Both are there regularly. I have seen many others horses in zone 4 and zone 5.

There are horses tied up outside my local pub every Sunday but I live in a village. I have also seen a horse and cart regularly tied up in the High Street in a nearby town so I know people around here do use them. Also lots are used for weddings and funerals. In the city there used to be horses pulling drays of beer etc but I'm not sure if that still happens.

I'm in Basingstoke, and I very occasionally see a guy going up the road on a trotting cart thing (is that a sulky? Two big wheels and a tiny seat and that's about it?) By occasionally, I mean once every three or four years.

Traffic jams existed in London before motorised transport, so I'm not convinced more horse-drawn vehicles would necessarily be calmer, especially mixing modern transport with horses.

Most places I've seen horse drawn vehicles in have been touristy places, like in New York and Spain (can't remember which city, maybe Cordoba?) Or one-offs for weddings or funerals.

I have always been intrigued by a sign on the dual carriageway on the A27 that prohibits racing with horse drawn vehicles.

The opposite side of London but only travellers use them for transport, others just ride for pleasure on hacks. Not lots.
btw Tilbury will blow your mind further…

Why would driving a pony cart cause chaos? They are no bigger than cars.

Because they race each other on the duel carriageways. And they're not actually carts, they're just 2 wheels with a sloping platform to sit on.

most drivers don't race, in cars or by horse, and why does the shape affect you? I think they are better than cars - less environmental damage, it would be good to see more of them

Growing up we used to take our horses through the drive through at McDonalds.

It’s not transport it’s just people who ride on a Sunday going out to the pub for the day. If you’re somewhere like Wimbledon village it makes sense.

We don't live in London but I use the horses semi regularly in the summer for the school run or holiday club pick up. DD takes all her riding gear with her and we ride home. 😊 We also have taken Dpony to the pub with us as she's socially acceptable but not my feral beast as he would just mug everyone for crisps ......🙄

I frequently see people finding penny-farthings in my town, is this common in other towns?

or am I just seeing two people who do this as a hobby a getting the wrong end of the stick?

It isn't 2, there are 40-50 horses locally, I would estimate, all owned by people without cars, and often used as transport.

Well, the houses with horses don't have cars outside or near them, so I am guessing they have horses instead of cars.