Reader: This is horsesh*t

[kentuck]

https://www.csindy.com/coloradosprings/reader-this-is-horsesh-t/Content?oid=12397907

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Reader: This is horsesh*t
Letters
By Letters

An open letter to the person who took his or her horse out on the New Santa Fe Trail between Woodmen Road and the U.S. Air Force Academy on the weekend of May 5: I hope your horse is OK after it had that massive gastrointestinal emergency last weekend on the trail. At least I assume that your horse experienced a sudden and violent bout of diarrhea while you both were on the trail, because of all the horse poop was left all over the public trail for over a distance of almost a mile. I also assume that you didn't stop to clean up after your horse because you were so worried about your horse's health that you had to get it to the veterinarian as quickly as possible.

So, I hope you got your horse to the doctor in time and that it is recovering from its health scare quite nicely. Because if it was the case that your horse wasn't in some sort of life-and-death situation, I have to wonder what kind of a person would bring a 1,500-pound animal onto a PUBLIC trail and then allow it to befoul so much of it without apparently making any effort to clean it up. When my 12-pound shih-tzu takes a dump on public property, I have the common courtesy to clean up after her.

Again, here's hoping your horse is feeling better.

— Matt G*****Y, Colorado Springs
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[MontanaMama]

1. Well kentuck...

You know what they say about common sense...it’s just not that common.

[kentuck]

3. Sort of like what Yogi said?

"Nobody goes there anymore....it's too crowded".

[ProudLib72]

2. The Springs is pretty red

Probably not a horse but a trumpanzee just letting loose after the latest news on how their favorite president was abused by the deep state.

[matt819]

4. To be fair-ish

I don’t know the rules about horses on trails, but ...

Horse manure isn’t all that bad. It’s used for compost. Dog shit is something else entirely.

Disclaimer: I have horses and have been mucking and composting for 20 years.

[kentuck]

5. I agree.

Dog shit is worse than horseshit.

We can only hope that people don't start walking their cats.

[matt819]

6. Lol. (NT)

[Salviati]

8. Or god forbid, their pigs.

If pigs ever become popular as pets, then not cleaning up after them should be a capital crime.

[kentuck]

9. Pigs are smart.

They dig a hole with their nose and crap in it.

[csziggy]

10. There are some situations where horse riders are asked to clean up

Or at least to make sure their horses' manure is not a hazard. For instance, in some places, the grain that survives the equine intestinal tract to still be viable seeds can introduce invasive species. People who ride in those areas are asked to use feed that does not contain grains that can pass through and sprout.

In some watershed areas manure can contaminate water sources. In those cases, riders are asked to keep their horses away from the water or to pick up the manure close to the water. Riders who camp with their horses have to be very careful about the hay they bring in since many types will drop seeds that can introduce even more invasive species.

I've never ridden my horses in areas where these things can be a problem and have never camped with my horses so I don't know the most recent recommendations or rules. But I do remember reading about these kinds of concerns decades ago.

I do know that on shared use trails in my part of North Florida, horse riders are asked to take their horses off the trails or at least to one side so hikers and bicyclists don't have to dodge horse apples along the trails.

Now, I am wondering about the description of diarrhea in the letter in the OP - the amount described and consistency reminds me much more of cow poop (which tends to be wetter and messier) than horse poop. Maybe a herd of cows took to the trail for a ways?

[canetoad]

7. Won't someone think of the dung beetles?

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

11. I've been wondering where trump's expired tweets and speeches end up

[csziggy]

12. From the consistency described, I doubt it was horse shit!

Horse shit



Cow shit



I have never seen a horse with diarrhea - not to extent described in the letter.

[Bucky]

13. When I was a kid, you could rent horses to ride in some Houston public parks

I think there were (admittedly operationally imperfect) poop sacks that caught most of the equine manure before it fouled the shared trails.

There's a reason why the shift to an automobile culture represented a significant reduction in urban pollution.