Horse riders in Langley, BC, won a new battle with local town council that would have forced them to dismount and clean up their mount’s manure on public streets and trails.
In a follow-up to last month’s bylaw battle which saw the local riding community, led by Gloria Stelting, ensure that a proposed bylaw change to ban horses from city streets altogether didn’t pass, the same equestrian advocates lobbied to stop this latest stinking bylaw.
“We appreciate the amendment that allowed us to be on the trails still, but the manure issue still stands out there,” Brian Harder, president of the Back Country Horsemen of B.C., said at a town meeting.
As reported in The Chilliwack Progress, the bylaw included verbiage stating riders must carry equipment to remove manure and it had to be done immediately. Harder stated at the meeting that horse manure breaks down quickly and is “more organic” than dog poop.
“Not everybody will think this is funny, but they’re kind of summer snowballs for kids who grow up on the farm,” Harder added. “We used to chuck them at each other when we were kids.”
Humour aside, the advocates made the important point, and some would say obvious, that carrying shovels and stopping in city streets to dismount and shovel up manure during a ride was dangerous and impractical.
Another concern voiced was that the phrasing of the latest bylaw would entail banning horses from parks, including horse trails, but allow them on streets. Mayor Eric Woodward put forward an amendment to the bylaw that confirmed horses will have access to streets, parks and trails, and that riders were only required to pick up after their animals if it was safe to dismount, scoop and deposit the manure. Suffice to say that is an unlikely event, as not many trail riders carry shovels on their saddlebag.
