Over the last couple of months I've noticed horses have been riding on the best bits of singletrack in my local woods.
This makes me furious, as the surface is all torn up - but I realise it's a bit hypocritical of me because I'm not supposed to be riding on these tracks myself really.
So should I accept that what's good for the goose is good for the gander, or should I start rigging up piano wire at horserider neck height?
Is it forestry land? Just because in some places forestry sell permits for horse riders to ride, which means they are allowed anywhere on that land.
Joe
yes.
Frustrating but yep, don't think you've got much of an argument really.
if you want pristine trails, go to a trail centre
if you want pristine footpaths, walk on a pavement
complaining about mud in the countryside is like signing a petition against clouds.
Perhaps it's the land owner, or someone they've given permission to?
or should I start rigging up piano wire at horserider neck height?
I hope that's a joke.
a petition against clouds.
show me the dotted line and i'm signing that 😮
can i get a link for that petition about clouds
winds me up how much mess horses make.
anyone who thinks bikes do as much damage needs thier heads looking at.
a tonne of meat with crampons for feet ffs!
like dogs, they are working animals, not pets. grrrrr
however, sadly, youv'e no leg to stand on 🙁
i suppose technically hypocritical, but understandable.
ill sign a petition against clouds, insolent fluffy sods
if you want pristine trails, go to a trail centre
if you want pristine footpaths, walk on a pavement
If you want predictable comments, come to STW.
I hope that's a joke.
What do you reckon?
I'm fully aware of the irony of my getting cross about someone else taking the same liberties with the access rights to the (Woodland Trust) land as me.
I just wanted to vent about it.
Live and let live?
As an aside, pretty sure I'd rather roll through horse manure than dog faeces. (And I've been chased by an angry horse as a child....)
I was running on some Woodland Trust land on Sunday and nodded to a horse in a very odd place. Gave me a good idea for a new line. I think you just take it on the chin, no?
my favourite area in herts which i've been riding around for 20 years has been totally destroyed in under a month...some arse managed to get their 4*4 in there. That upsets me. Got over the horse issue in hertfordhire years ago, still, they do get to me a times
yeah you are [but I agree it is annoying]
If only they could be persuaded to "plough" some new trails.
it annoys me how horses get away with causing so much damage, imho they are the most selfish of all countryside users because they render a track utterly unpassable for anyone else whether on foot or wheel.
I've nothing against horses or their riders but the bridleways around me are wrecked for three quarters of the year thanks to them. They churn up the centre, walkers and bikers go round the mud, hey presto, a two-metre wide bumpy mess. But I still stand aside for them and say hello.
I do think horse riders need to be more aware of the damage they cause. It really is ridiculous in some places. A huge amount of trail damage is caused, and they have to be sensitive to others needs.
think yourself lucky, i spend a lot of free time (of which i have precious little) clearing trails in my local forestry block (in an area we are allowed) only to have the local redsocks find them and claim them as their own they then carefully lay logs/debris/general rubbishy windfall over said tracks to annoy/cause injury to.
horses are the very least of our problem!!
think yourself lucky, i spend a lot of free time (of which i have precious little) clearing trails in my local forestry block (in an area we are allowed) only to have the local redsocks find them and claim them as their own they then carefully lay logs/debris/general rubbishy windfall over said tracks to annoy/cause injury to.
I have exactly the same problem mate.
I'm used to it now though, all part of the fun.
They are a bit of a Nuisance, especially round near me as some rogue horsey people started putting logs across the trail for neddy to jump, only problem is you couldn't see the bloody things and they were often a horse stride from a puddle making lifting over them rather hard.
If they are accessing the land legally then we have to put up with the damage if they are not legal then (almost certianly) you aren't either. If it's bad and you're walking contact the local rights of way officer and give him/her the heads up.
I live near Winchester in Hampshire and the ROW officer for my area is very good and fair. He'll sort out farmers and horse riders who destroy rights of access wether they are footpaths or bridleways.
corroded - Member
I've nothing against horses or their riders but the bridleways around me are wrecked for three quarters of the year thanks to them. They churn up the centre, walkers and bikers go round the mud, hey presto, a two-metre wide bumpy mess. But I still stand aside for them and say hello.
I thought MTBs were supposed ot be able to go through mud?
I quite like riding though mud. I have to admit that i can't remember the last time i saw a path trodden up by horses,it's too long ago to remember what it looked like,but walkers and MTBers can also chew up paths pretty badly in my experiance.
Just cycle faster to go through mud. 🙂
Pedal harder,you know what i mean.
but walkers and MTBers can also chew up paths pretty badly in my experiance
Horses are far far worse. One group of a dozen horses can totally wreck a trail in the wet. So that's it for the year then - buggered for all bikers and walkers from then on.
True,you do seem to get deep holes in the mud from horses.
To be honest when i've come across the odd bit that's been trodden up by
horses it's not seemed that bad,but i suppose a whole path like that could get annoying.
I honestly have seen paths nearly as badly trodden up by walkers as i have seen by horses though on some mountains i've walked on,when the mud has been deep and sticky and you can see where feet have gone in and been pulled out again,so the mud looks pock marked.
I guess we all have to share the outdoors with each other in the end.
Agreed Tim, but the damage wrought by a small number is spoiling it for a much larger number of others. It's disproportionate.
You can't complain about an area you're not supposed to be on yourself!
Like a burglar complaining about a house been burgled before he could do it himself!
No, because we're not doing damage. I don't ride in places where I'll destroy the trail - horse riders should do same. Along with 4x4 riders and MXers.
Trail destruction is bad, mkay.
Horse riders trashed my local bridleways at my old place, then MX bikes trashed the footpaths. They reached a stage where you just couldnt walk down them as they were 1ft of mud most of the year round. People stopped using them at all, so a year or so ago I tried them again - ace, back as they used to be!
No, because we're not doing damage
Oh but you are, just apparently less than horses. Trails get used, they cant remain in perfect condition forever, thats like expecting your brake pads to last indefinitely.
its a bit of mud, mud is NOT damaged earth, it's just one of the many different types of dirt!
you have no legal right to be there, how can you complain? think yourself lucky that they haven't decided to breed Norwegian attack bantams on the land!
I remember being 'spoken to' a few years ago by fc person in our local woods as I was riding a 'blue' not 'red trail', which my evil mountain bike was obviously going to make mincemeat of. The fc person on this particular bog-fest of a trail had got just out of his landrover (making further bog of the edges of a trail it was a bit too wide to be driving up) and waded over to chat to two people on horses.
Sometimes 🙄 emoticons are really not enough.
And yes these are the same woods as f-m-h mentioned earlier with the logs and trail debris. Although you can tell its dogwalkers and not anyone who has ever ridden a bike in the woods, as the logs are all laid perperendicular to the trail and as such easy to ride over or boost off. Muppets.
its a bit of mud, mud is NOT damaged earth, it's just one of the many different types of dirt!
Think its a bit more complex than that, it depends on the structure of the trail and its surroundings etc. And the fact that people tend to avoid mud and widen the trail until it becomes a motorway, or cut through the mud until it gets washed away. While I'm not normally a hippy, and im often seen on the trails in the mud, I dont like seeing people mowing massive trenches through muddy trails - im not sure where the cut-off point is.
coffeeking, where do you think that "damaged earth" goes?
how do you think it got there originally?
how long do you think its been there?
how many parts of the countryside have been turned to deserts due to the soil changes from flat packed soil to muddy mess?
all those 100's of years of destruction eh, its a surprise that the national trail network is still there?
lucky the Ramblers and the highway agency were able to "save" the ridgeway with a few JCB's and land plains don't you think!
the main trails in our local woods are buggered by horses so much they are virtually unridable now, its just a load of wet and sticky holes, which esp on a ss just aren't worth bothering with.
in scotland its all about responsible trail use, and they are certainly NOT responsible in their trail use.
you know what, if you're riding trails without consent then you may as well make some new cheeky ones, add in some drop offs, rock gardens, boardwalk, etc and that should keep the hoofed contingent off them!
MrNutt while i dont disagree in principle, Im all for the fact that trails need to be used and some damage is likely (so dont get your knickers in a twist with me!) I'd suggest that its better if you avoid trail damage like this (not me in photo BTW):
[img] 
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I cant quite work out where you're going with your sarcasm. Major mechanical trail usage hasnt occurred until the last few decades, so the trails that were there were footpaths. Havign seen trails that were used for over a decade by MTBers with no problems and no damage/spread of trails, it only took 1 year for MXers to utterly trash them and make them impassable. Naturally these things occur over time anyway and due to general wear and tear, but mechanised transport over some sensitive areas can do 1000 years damage in months - I just dont think thats right in the scheme of things, it makes routes less fun in general and totally stops access for some people.
Horses have been using the trails in some woods for at least 800 years, and the fact that they remain in use today is pretty much testament the the lack of real damage horses actually do. We've been riding the same places for ohhh 20 years or so. Remember, we don't have a right to use these tracks in anything other than the state we find them in.
Just because your chosen recreational vehicle isn't capable of negotiating the countryside in the state you find it, doesn't make it another users fault...
a little digging and that trail in the photo above could be great! 😀
