Horse riders

[Deleted member 26715]

not least because many would struggle to remount without a leg up or a low wall to stand on.

Out walking the dog a couple of weeks ago & a rider dismounted in front of me to pick up her phone, I asked if she wanted a leg to get back up but she declined, 75 yards further on she called me back, she'd changed her mind after several failed attempts.

Edit:- Misaligned quotes

 

[madferret]

So every rider has to go out equipped with a wheelbarrow and fork. Really?

My Border Terrier is doing his bit, he eats as much of it as he can before we stop him.

 

[Profpointy]

Rag and bone men used to have a bucket hanging off the back of the trailer, but I think that was only a courtesy.

No legal requirement for a horse rider to collect the horse's poo, not least because many would struggle to remount without a leg up or a low wall to stand on.

Some farms still have 'mounting walls' - a flight of steps built beside the wall for the rider to walk up.

The "mounting walls" at farm gates were for standing milk churns on ready for pick up in the olden days

 

[andrew_s]

Rag and bone men used to have a bucket hanging off the back of the trailer, but I think that was only a courtesy.

In those cities where I've seen horse-drawn carriages for showing the tourists round (Bruges, Salzburg), there has been a canvas sheet suspended between the horse's harness and the carriage, just touching the back legs, that catches all the poo. I assumed that was probably a condition of being allowed to run the things.

 

[Pale Rider]

The "mounting walls" at farm gates were for standing milk churns on ready for pick up in the olden days

The one outside our place was dual purpose because my mother used it to get on her horse, as did visitors who used to arrive by horse.

No other form of transport available to many in rural communities in the 1940s and early 50s.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

No other form of transport available to many in rural communities in the 1940s and early 50s.

Shame it's still not the case in some ways.

 

[Pale Rider]

Shame it's still not the case in some ways.

Indeed.

My mother used to ride to school, she told me a story - reluctantly - of when being on a horse saved her from a possible sexual assault.

Riding home, she came across a couple of American servicemen, there were many stationed nearby in preparation for the D-Day landing.

One of the Yanks seemed to want to be a bit more than friendly.

Mother was having none of it, kicked the horse into action and galloped away.

Plenty of other stories at the time of the Americans treating the locals poorly.

The area, as you might have guessed, was south Devon, the coast there was deemed to be similar to Normandy so good for exercises in advance of D-Day.

Of course, lots of Americans gave their lives in the landing, and there is a memorial on Slapton Sands to commemorate that.

But the memorial was vandalised a few times, local opinion being that was done by locals who received worse treatment at the hands of the Americans than my mother did.

 

[Labradorofperception]

I always give a call when approaching horse types. Like when I'm piling down the Wrekin on the cross bike - I shout "on your left / right" to the ramblers. Stops me having to pick them out of the spokes afterwards.

I also take the view that anything that can kick your face off is worthy of your respect. This also applies to my other half's mother and the bloke on the door at Bonkers Nitescene, Telford.

As an aside, I was out on the bike a few months ago, and rounded a corner in the Shropshire Hills to find myself slap in the middle of the local hunt, which was stopped in the middle of the road.

I looked at them, they looked at me, the horses looked at me, then each other. I am not sure what surprised them more - that a bike came round the corner or that sitting atop was a fat lad in an Ilkley CC top.

Anyhow, we all sort of shrugged and then all set off down the hill at a trot. For 15 chatty and sociable minutes I was part of the Wenlock Drag Hunt* - like their little terrier mascot, until we parted company at the foot of the hill with a cheery wave.

*i was just cleaning this fox and it went off, honest officer....

 

[Pale Rider]

If you want some of the worst examples of people who take over any road they find themselves on, and simply assume the right to go where they like and do what they like regardless of anyone else (and that includes randomly parking their horseboxes), look no further than hunts.

Aye, and here's another rural anecdote to back that up.

An uncle of mine owned a biggish farm in rural Worcestershire.

The hunt would routinely cross the land, which was fine, but they also crashed through hedges, left gates open and the like.

Uncle got the hump in the end and banned the hunt, the classic: "Get off my land."

Doing that was quite big licks in a farming community.

The hunt master paid him a visit and ate much humble pie in a (successful) bid to be allowed back on.

The fact that the hunt was prepared to treat 'one of their own' in the way they did tells you a lot about their general attitude to others.