So people on a dog forum were saying riders should poop and scoop.. your thoughs? - Chronicle Forums
watch with interest...
Well, actually, people who are "horse people" say good trail etiquette for equestrians is more like "poop and kick."
A Google search for
trail etiquette kick horse droppings
brings up some web sites that say something along the lines of "on a multi-use trail, good trail etiquette includes having a rider move off the trail when a horse needs to relieve itself. If stepping off the trail is not possible, the rider should kick the droppings off the trail."
That isn't from folks in a dog forum. That's from places like the West Virginia Equine Association; Equestrian Trails, Inc; Kin Krest Saddle Club; and The Maryland Horse Council - all of whom I assume are passionate supporters of horses and riders.
My guess is those folks, who love horses, are concerned that if horse riders continue to leave piles of horse poop on multi-use trails, sooner or later the horses will be banned from the trails.
If you are riding a horse on a multi-use path, and you know that other users of the path might someday get all horses banned from the path if riders clean up your horse's mess, why in the world wouldn't you either follow the good trail etiquette guidelines suggested by all those "pro horse" groups or find some other way to keep the trails clean so everyone can enjoy the multi-use trails?
If those folks who ride horses on multi-use trails find a way to either keep "road apples" off the trails or get them moved off to the side pretty quickly, they'll probably get to continue sharing the trails for a long, long time.
It may not be fair, and it may not be "right," but if horse owners leave enough piles of horse poop on multi-use trails, horses are likely to sooner or later be banned from those trails.
It does not matter how inconvenient, unsafe, or even unnecessary that clean up may be. During the 4 mile walk that prompted my original post, Tessa and I were on "multi-use" portions of the trail for about a mile and a half. We saw several dozen people walking the trail, 8 to 10 people jogging, about a half dozen bicycle riders, over a dozen piles of horse poop, one deer, and no horses. Horse owners are such a small minority of the population that when the walkers, joggers and bicycle riders decide they don't want to deal with horse poop on multi-use paths, horses will be banned.
Look at all the green spaces in urban areas that are surrounded by "no dogs allowed" signs because so many irresponsible dog owners failed to clean up after their dogs, and there are a lot more dog owners than there are horse owners.
So, perhaps instead of posting in the horse forum about "dog owners are telling us we have to scoop up horse dropping from any trail we're on," it would be more accurate to say "dog owners are warning us that if we don't keep multi-use paths free of horse droppings, the walkers, joggers and bicyclists will get us banned from horse paths the same way dogs are being banned from so many parks and public spaces."
Tessa and I regularly walk past dozens of large green areas surrounded by "No Dogs Allowed" signs (one area promises a fine of up to $500). Almost every time I walk by, I think "we can't go in here because so many idiots didn't clean up after their dogs."
It may not be fair. It may not be right. But if you're one of those folks who rides a horse on a multi-use path and leaves horse poop on the path, there will probably come a day when someone on horseback rides up to entrance of a multi-use trail, sees a sign that says "no horses allowed," think to himself "we can't go in here because so many idiots didn't clean up after their horses," and be referring to you.
So instead of looking at dog owners who don't recognize how unnecessary, inconvenient, unsafe, difficult, or downright stupid it is for horse riders to clean up the mess their horses make on multi-use trails as folks who are want to get you banned from those multi-use trails, consider us folks who are pointing out a problem and hoping you get it fixed before the walkers, joggers and bicycle riders get you banned from multi-use trails in the same way we're being banned from so many of the green areas our dogs would love to play in?
Have a GREAT day!
Rob