Should riders pick up their horses’ manure?
Should riders consider carrying a shovel out on hacks? We think not, but non-horsey UK residents are kicking up a stink about horse manure on roads.
We all know horse dung is good for your roses — but perhaps the population is becoming less green-fingered.
From a recent poll of more than 3,000 UK residents, a whopping 97% thought that riders should pick up their horses’ droppings from the road.
Meanwhile 89% felt that riders should be subject to the same fines that are faced by dog owners due to “health and safety” fears.
“There’s nothing to prevent riders from doing the right thing the next time they take their horses onto the road,” said Mark Hall from BusinessWaste.co.uk, which carried out the survey.
“This isn’t simply somebody shouting ‘health and safety’ over something they don’t like the look of. These are genuinely legitimate concerns that have gone unaddressed for years.”
Davina from Warington, who took part in the survey told BusinessWaste.co.uk that her street is “riddled with mess”.
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“Horse riders have had a free ride for too long. It’s worse when it rains as it just spreads everywhere.”
However, cries of “it’s ridiculous!” came from H&H readers.
“In their defence, riders told us they do try to pick up after their horses,” added Mr Hall. “Though in some cases it’s not practical. One rider told us ‘When you’re up on top of a horse, you sometimes don’t know what’s coming out of the back end’, which is fair enough in the circumstances.”
Fear not, we can’t see it being the law to carry an equine poop-scoop anytime soon.
This news story was originally published in H&H magazine on Thursday 23 October, 2014
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.