Why are horses allowed to shit in the street when dogs can't?

[JacknDiane]

Just seen a horse and rider going down our road, we are near to open fields. The horse stopped and left a massive dump in the middle of the road. Then the rider made him walk on.
Now this is a busy street we live on, with kids out on their bikes a lot and generally people coming and going.
Why are horse riders allowed to let their horses do this?
Im not stupid, I haven't a clue how the rider could clear it up. But it still seems totally wrong.

Love all the posts saying it’s vegetarian etc so doesn’t matter, but when it’s in the middle of a path used as a school route, it still ends up on the kids shoes so isn’t exactly great

Yes you're right but I think we covered the legal aspect thoroughly as in it isn't toxic etc etc so the moral/ethical/courtesy side of why riders leave piles of crap in their wake is also being discussed if that's ok with you.

The answer seems to be they just don't care which isn't a surprise, I've always found riders to be an entitled bunch just admit it and stop with the excuses.

Horse poop is mainly grass hay and some oats ect which is why it's used as fertiliser, dog poo is nasty because they eat meat and meat derived foods which makes their poop like human poop, not nice and full of bacteria 🦠 that's why horses are allowed, I mean do you want the rider to climb off the horse on a country lane where cars blast past and expect to keep a horse calm and scoop poop it's rather unreasonable and the differences between the two are impossible to compare

As long as you wear gloves and use a scoop and poop bag you are safe wash hands thoroughly after. Because pregnant people own cats too and they may need to scoop litter too

A quick google -

Why it must be picked up: Dog waste can carry parasites like Toxocara canis, which can cause serious health issues, including blindness.

No it’s not. Horses eat grass and hay.
straw is purely bedding

Well you’ve got your answers to your burning question OP. It’s not toxic. It’s not on the pavement. It’s totally impractical to pick up. Horses are considered livestock.

Why link it/compare it to dog poo when it’s so obviously a different issue? It rather smacks of a whingefest about the requirement to pick up dog poo. I hope that’s not what OP’s getting at as that would rather mark them out as an an antisocial so and so.

Thats what you took from this?

Not the 'it puts everyone at a much higher risk of injury or death if riders are getting off and fannying about, in the road, whilst holding on to half a ton of easily panicked animal on the end of a 5/8s inch wide leather strap, and putting their attention on a pile of shit and a bag, not the four legged panicky death-beast'..

Noooo 'they just don't care'.

Horse shit is not toxic and in fact good for plants etc. Ppl used to collect horse shit back in the day and sell it. Horse shit is mainly on the roads where the only thing to go over it is car tyres and if a bit of shit goes on your tyres then it doesn't matter, you aren't bringing your car into your house and onto the carpet each day.

Dog shit is toxic and can cause blindness. It carries parasites which other dogs can then catch. Dogs usually shit where ppl walk they rarely shit on the road but on pavements, paths and in grass where kids play and parents push prams or ride bikes which you do take into houses.

Maybe we should all just throw our veg peelings into the road I mean it's just veg and it will all rot down and people who want it can go and shovel it up for their compost. Might save the council some money on waste collection.

How many horses are there in the UK compared with humans? If every human in my street threw food out daily it would be absolutely covered and swarming with flies and stinking. I’ve never in my entire life seen horse shit anywhere in my town. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen a horse for about a decade!

Motorcycles are very susceptible to sudden changes in grip. Horse poo on corners has killed bikers before.

Mine does rot down, in my compost heap, so I am saving my council money.

Horse poo is lovely.
Dogshit is vile.

As some others said they eat grass so their poo is seen as okay, dogs/cats are toxic for several reasons all of it smells gross I think only bird poo don’t smell

Bird poo definitely can smell - it's just it's usually in small quantities.

Horse manure is brilliant for the garden. In most residential streets there would be two people racing with a shovel to be first to grab it.

Dog poo contains dangerous bacteria. Any dog owner who takes their dog outside for a shit is supposed to be in control of what their dog is doing and is therefore responsible for cleaning uo the shit.

The humans that cats live with are not supposed to be in control of what their cat is doing. The idea is laughable. Cats are wild animals who have worked out a canny way to get food and a warm place to sleep. Like foxes and other wild creatures, they will shit wherever they want. The don't like an audience and you usually can't prove which animal made which turd. Cat poo us also bad for the health but cleaning it up has to fall to each land owner

Well seeing as only 1.2 % of people own horses in Britain, that is not a very valid comparison.

Also, to all of the people on the thread saying they wouldn’t expect horses to be on a road or there is no need for them to be there:

1. Believe us when we say we don’t want to be on the road either but sometimes it’s necessary to get to the green space we want to ride in, because a lot of bridle paths have been destroyed.
2. That being the case, we need to train horses to be safe on the road and guess what, you can’t do that without actually being on the road.

Honestly, it makes me a bit depressed when I see these sorts of posts.

If you live near green fields op, surely you expect to see horses and other animals nearby? And horses and other animals poo!

Why didn’t you choose to live in a town if you want to live in a pristine environment?

The countryside is full of animals and manure.

Horse shit everywhere?
When does that actually happen?

As a former biker, horseshit was dangerous to me. Did not matter what it was actually made of.

Yes because thats safe🙄
Absolutely mental.

Horse shit is solid pellets. It doesnt spray.

Dog shit is absolutely disgusting. It can smell revolting. Horse shit is far less offensive.

Oh I see!

It’s ok to make a negative judgement about a diverse lot of people based on the fact that they own one type of animal?

Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?

Do you think all hamster owners might be paranoid for example?

Maybe all parrot owners are prone to jealousy?

Or perhaps owners of ferrets are particularly hospitable?

Leaving that aside, the reasons that horse riders are allowed to leave “piles of crap in their wake” as you put it, is nothing whatsoever to do with morals, ethics or courtesy. The reasons are entirely factual and practical:

~horses can’t be trained to poo on command and therefore they poo at liberty, sometimes while being ridden on roads and their owners do not have any control over this whatsoever

~it’s entirely impractical for them to get off in the middle of a road and clear it up because it’s not terribly easy to hold the reins while also holding a bucket and shovel and also it could be dangerous to other traffic users to cause a hold up

~if it were possible for us to clear it up, where do you suggest we park our horse while shovelling?

~if there was anything about it that was dangerous or toxic then we would be required by law to pick it up and there isn’t.