Poo picking in residential area

[Chuckieee]

I hack round a really pleasant residential area. The people who live in the area enjoy seeing us and I often stop and talk.

It is a lovely spot. Everything is beautifully manicured and I definitely get the impression that appearances mean a lot in this village. I would also say that it is home to a lot of people who are not country folk.

I am as courteous as possible, giving way to cars as much as I can in order not to hold-up traffic. But this all got me thinking........what should happen if my horse decides to go to the loo outside someone's house? Fortunately this has not happened yet but if it does then I will be the prime suspect as I think I am the only horse rider that visits the area.

I have ridden for years and it has never occurred to me to pick up my horse's droppings but this is a "towny-type area" and i really do not mean that in an offensive way. I really get the impression that a resident would not be impressed with finding dung outside their house. I spoke to my non-horsy husband and he said that I should return after my ride to clear up my horse's mess! I suppose I am worried that if I do not then I might find myself not as welcome in their village.

I think I would return to clear out outside the school but I was really not keen to clear-up elsewhere. Can you tell me what you all think? Or am I being daft?

 

[be positive]

If there are any keen gardeners in the area I suspect they will be more than happy to pick it up, it might be worth speaking to a few people about it if you are concerned and see what their views are, you may find that one or two would come to the yard to collect some manure, otherwise if you are really worried go and pick it up.

 

[JFTDWS]

If your horse goes to the loo, you don't really have a problem, do you?

If he leaves his droppings where he stands, as is their more normal fashion, it should be on the road, and I wouldn't worry about it, as it's unlikely to be in anyone's way, and I don't think it's hugely offensive a sight on a road.

If it were on an urban bridleway / shared usage path, I might well go back and pick it up for the sake of public relations.

 

[eggs]

A while ago my friend and I got chased down the road by an irate householder when one of the horses pooed in the road. We finally managed to placate him by saying we would come back to pick it up when we got home - about 10 minutes away - as he was demanding that we got off then and there and picked it up - no idea of how he thought we were going to manage that. Anyway we did go back only to find that someone had already picked it up for their garden!

 

[SEL]

My father would think it was Christmas and be out with his spade before the horse had finished! See if you can train him to poo near a house with lots of roses!!

 

[cauda equina]

If my horse craps in the village I go back in the car and sweep it up.
Horse droppings are inoffensive to us, but not everyone feels the same way, and I feel it's a small thing to do to keep the peace

 

[Orangehorse]

Yes, I think go back and clear up. A pony I had left a deposit outside the Post Office one day and I went back and cleared it up. You might find a keen gardener would rush out and claim it, but fresh manure it isn't that good for gardens anyway.
Sounds as if your horse doesn't do too much depositing, fortunately.

 

[Celtic Fringe]

I would pop back and clear up if you are in a really urban area. My youngster once did the biggest poo imaginable in the driveway of the local nursery school when we ducked in there to let a large lorry past. I went back as soon as we had finished the ride and picked it up - the owner seemed quite grateful that she didn't have to deal with it!

My gran lived in Edinburgh when they still had horses pulling the milk floats - this was into the 1980s. She swore that the horse on her local round was 'very regular' and was poised with a shovel each morning to scoop up any 'offerings'!

 

[[100323]]

I live in a small village and used to go back and pick up droppings on the small estate and on the school road. But not on the main busy B road or other roads or tracks.

 

[Hexx]

I was driving to work the other day and saw some horse poo on the pavement on one of the main routes into the city - used by many people. I think if that had been my horse, I would have definitely gone back and picked it up as it was right in the middle of the path and the horse obviously kept walking, so was a long trail.

 

[stormox]

I wouldnt pick up horse poo off the road. I might get off and kick it off if I was on a pavement as its not legal to ride on pavements. Would depend how big my horse was and how easy to get back on. But we cannot sanitise everywhere, people have gone too far from reality these days. Half the kids in our local school dont know milk comes from cows- or sausages from pigs.

 

[Chuckieee]

I totally get that Stormax and we all need to get a grip and not become the snowflake society that people talk about but I think I will make this effort for this village. I guess that their hospitality means a lot to me and it is so pleasant speaking to them and chatting to the kids.

I would be mortified if people turned on me because I didn't pick up my mess.

However I am dreading having to do this as I would have to return in a car and my horse is so large that I might even struggle fitting it all in one supermarket bag! Might have to bring a bag for life with me!!

As some people have said, it is a small ask and I think if people see me, it will go a long way.

 

[Keith_Beef]

I wouldn't get off a horse to pick up muck in the road.

Horse muck is much, much less offensive than dog mess, there is no legal requirement for a rider to collect the muck, and trying to do so is (to my mind) an accident risk for no benefit.

I live across the street from two yards, there are another dozen within five minutes' walk, and horse muck is much less of an inconvenience than dog mess.

And as others have pointed out, there's probably a keen gardener who will scoop it up to rot it into fertilizer.

I sometimes ride through the gardens at the Chateau de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and the rule there is that muck must be picked up. But this is a requirement for getting a permit to ride at a particular time on a particular date; I've never seen another party riding at the same time, so if we didn't have a somebody following on a bicycle with a rake and bag, it would be obvious who was at fault, and our next permit request would be refused.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

for the sake of PR I would go and pick it up-or drive over t a coupld of time . I live in a place thats covered in cow or sheep ***** year round now and its rural, so people arent so far removed from what comes out one end. But when I rode alot in my last village I would go back and pick up-skip and hand shovel doe the job. Horse manure is no good as fertiliser unless composted very well.

the days are gone where people would follow you with shovels, someone being seen picking up after their horse and being pleasant to residents equates to people liking having you around and being considerate on the road when meeting you (and I know they should be anyway).

 

[Keith_Beef]

Oh, and that other thread about the swearing on mumsnet... take a look at this.

She asks if it's unreasonable to run outside into the street, carrying a toddler and a video game, while leaving a baby asleep inside the house, in order to scream and yell at a horserider...

She gets put back in her box by a few of the other people on there.

I've not read past the first page of that thread; at the bottom, it's marked "This is page 1 of 40 (This thread has 1000 messages.)"

 

[EventingMum]

I think for the sake of good relations I'd go back and pick it up - a tubtrug in the car that can be washed out is the easiest way to deal with it. We have a cycle way we can ride on and everyone leaving my yard knows that they must deal with droppings - either dismount and kick them into the side or if not possible go back and deal with them. We often pick up droppings from horses from another yard just so no one complains. I fought long and hard for permission for horses to use the path so I'm certainly not going to jepordise using it because of some droppings.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Oh, and since I wrote those two replies, I stumbled upon this little gem, from thh BHS.

Horses are not ridden out for the purpose of defecating, as is often the case with dogs.

Apparently people ride out on their dogs with the specific intention of getting them to poop! Hoodathunkit?

 

[Hanno Verian]

OMG - I read part of the Mumsnet post, I nearly cried laughing quite apart from some nutty woman running out to scream at a horserider for allowing her horse to poo on the road, there was the gem from a woman who was worried about her child playing in the road and getting covered in horse poo. When someone suggested it wasn't a good idea for her child to play in the road, she offered the information that she lived in a house on a country estate with stables on the estate. Hey great choice, bet the stables were there before she moved in...

 

[Littlefloof]

If I tried riding ASBO dog, having a poo would be the last thing on her mind...

 

[EventingMum]

Oh, and that other thread about the swearing on mumsnet... take a look at this.

She asks if it's unreasonable to run outside into the street, carrying a toddler and a video game, while leaving a baby asleep inside the house, in order to scream and yell at a horserider...

She gets put back in her box by a few of the other people on there.

I've not read past the first page of that thread; at the bottom, it's marked "This is page 1 of 40 (This thread has 1000 messages.)"

Just started reading the Mumsnet thread - it's hilarious although I'm not sure about the video game?? Unless you mean DS which, I think, is short for dear son not a Nintendo game! I'm glad some posters are pointing out how dangerous chasing a horse would be. Interestingly my son is adamant if he has children they will be encouraged to play in the muck heap to build up their immune system as he reckons that's why he's pretty healthy

 

[Chuckieee]

Yes, I get all of this and it’s an alien concept for me as a rider of over 35 years to now have to clear up after my horse BUT I really think that there are more and more people living in the countryside who are like the folk on Mumsnet......running out with the child and PlayStation , effing and jeffing because a horse has pooped outside their house.....I think that some people find that moving to the countryside is a cost effective option maybe and they might not be used to having horses in the area.

Keith Beef, you clearly have links to horses so ‘get it’ but non horsy people might not and they will see poo as poo wherever it has come from. If some people don’t even know where their meat comes from then there is no hope of them knowing the difference between horse/dog poo from a bacteria point of view.

I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing this in the past but I think needs must in this village and I just feel that if I don’t make the effort , I might find drivers in the same area become less considerate.

I’m with you, it’s daft but I feel that I’ve got to do it and a Trug in the back of the car is a fabulous idea!

 

[Mrs B]

I too absolutely get it and I too always go back if horse has poo'ed on the pavement or on a passageway BUT beyond that, no I won't.

For the simple reason that if you begin to remove links between the countryside and urban living by sanitising the reality of life outside a cosy, Dettox'd, Ocado'd, Mumsnet bubble it means you can't go back. The same as putting meat it little plastic packets without educating people about where it came from and how it came to be there.

It's also why I will keep riding on roads. Every breaking of the bonds linking rural and urban life is a step towards a place where only urban ways will be seen as acceptable or tolerated.

And IMHO, that is a far from healthy place to be.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Just started reading the Mumsnet thread - it's hilarious although I'm not sure about the video game?? Unless you mean DS which, I think, is short for dear son not a Nintendo game!

ROFLMAO!

Yes, I was thinking of a Nintendo DS, rather than "Dear Son".

Keith Beef, you clearly have links to horses so ‘get it’ but non horsy people might not and they will see poo as poo wherever it has come from. If some people don’t even know where their meat comes from then there is no hope of them knowing the difference between horse/dog poo from a bacteria point of view.

Even before I joined the ranks of the horsey people, I knew the difference between horse, sheep, cow, rabbit and dog poop... I think it's not so much difference between horsey and non-horsey people, but a difference between educated and uneducated people.

I mean that, not in the sense of what you learn in school, but of what you learn from parents and grandparents, and what you find out for yourself while you're young, through natural childhood curiosity.

It looks like the vast majority of the replies on that thread on Mumsnet are from reasonable and intelligent people. But the OP seems to be one of those who, even if she is normally intelligent, seems to have switched off her brain in a moment of anger.

 

[stormox]

I cant see it being a practical thing to go back in a car and ' pick up'. What horse stops to poo? All mine just go while theyr walking or trotting so it is lots of small bits covering 10- 12 yards. By the time Id finished my hack, done my horse and driven back all the little bits would be squashed into the road flattened!! I certainly wont be scraping my horses muck off the road even in a smart posh tidy village!

 

[Landcruiser]

We have a neighbourhood online message board. Someone recently complained about horse poo on the road at the bottom of their drive (in the village). In the ensuing discussion someone quite seriously admonished riders for spending money on fancy tack but neglecting the essentials, ie HORSE NAPPIES! He said these are frequently worn by horses on roads in the United States....He said we were all selfish and he'd never seen a single horse wearing on in the whole time he's been in the village. I wonder why...

 

[Cecile]

We have a neighbourhood online message board. Someone recently complained about horse poo on the road at the bottom of their drive (in the village). In the ensuing discussion someone quite seriously admonished riders for spending money on fancy tack but neglecting the essentials, ie HORSE NAPPIES! He said these are frequently worn by horses on roads in the United States....He said we were all selfish and he'd never seen a single horse wearing on in the whole time he's been in the village. I wonder why...

Slightly off topic but still cr*p related.
A well spoken woman arrived at my gate last week with 2 dogs on leads, she was really upset, this is how it went.
*I have just been told off, I always pick up after my dogs as I don't want children to tread in it (She then proceeded to wave empty dog poo bags at me), well I don't want to be carrying filled dog poo bags all over the place so on the way home I throw them in the bushes, a woman who lives up there (pointing somewhere in the distance) opened her bedroom window and asked me if I thought that it was appropriate to be throwing bags in the bushes near her house*
She went on for a bit and my eyes glazed over and I went back to my parallel universe

 

[Darbs]

We live in a small quiet village, I wouldn't pick up poo left on the road, as it is a common 'normal' part of village life.

The only time I have been back and picked poo up was when my daughter rode her pony home from school last year. A combine harvester appeared and our pony was a little bit concerned by it, so my daughter walked him backwards up somebodies drive, where he pooed on their doorstep! (One of his nervous 'panic-poos' as we call them!)

I fled home, got the poo-picker and managed to get it all up with no evidence of it being there. Thankfully it was a dry poo, if it had been any sloppier I would have been in trouble!

 

[Reacher]

We have a neighbourhood online message board. Someone recently complained about horse poo on the road at the bottom of their drive (in the village). In the ensuing discussion someone quite seriously admonished riders for spending money on fancy tack but neglecting the essentials, ie HORSE NAPPIES! He said these are frequently worn by horses on roads in the United States....He said we were all selfish and he'd never seen a single horse wearing on in the whole time he's been in the village. I wonder why...

That is hilarious!

I sometimes go back and move poo out of the way (don’t take it home with me though) however when I get there it has often been driven over making it harder to clear up

 

[Chuckieee]

Perfect......I’ll get some horse nappies lol. That would look funny and when my horse spooks from having to use one and runs into the side of someone’s car, that’ll give them something to really complain about!!

On a serious note though, our villages are changing. The landscape of the people who live in them is changing and maybe pandering to them in the way that I was suggesting might just make it all worse.......

 

[Chuckieee]

However it is interesting to see that even on a horse forum, views are mixed.