Im on the OP’s side. Horses are beasts and should not be allowed on the road. At the very least there should be a minimum age as I often see young girls (<10) riding on A roads at 5pm, holding traffic up and generally being dangerous. It’s very unsafe.
I also agree that horse owners should have to clear the poop. If I eat only vegetables (no meat), does that make it socially acceptable for me to go for a poo on the road? Just pull over in my car and squat at the edge and lay a few bricks? no. It does not. Furthermore I have seen the same young riders riding on the pavement, and therefore defecating there too, which is quite honestly disgusting.
Then I come to the delights of bridleways. Here is the situation.
John walks his dog every day. He clears up after his dog every day. It is november. It is very wet and muddy on the bridlepath John walks down. John notices that this is probably due to the large amount of horses that are ridden up and down it. John decides it would be best, to preserve his shoes and save him having to clean his dog before work, to take an alternative line, and walks slightly off the path where it is not so wet.
The next day, John comes along the same bridleway. Other walkers have decided to take his line as well, in order to avoid the mud and horse faeces.
A week later, John comes down the bridleway once more. His line is no more. The horse riders decided so that their beasts didn’t get wet feet (because that would be a crying shame), they would walk down the path where John and his fellow dog walkers walk. It is now the same as the main path. Covered in shite and muddy as ****.
And that is why horses annoy me so much. They destroy perfectly serviceable paths. They walk on pavements and poo on roads. They hold up traffic.
I could go on
my proposal is a mass culling of these monstrosities, do it the French way, and we can have cheap Chevaux meat for years to come.
