By Bonnie Davis
Over the years of trail riding
and horse camping I've noticed that many horse owners have an
attitude towards horse manure. An attitude
that they don't have to pick it up or clean up after their horses.
Granted, there are times when one doesn't have to pickup the
manure. No one has to follow a horse around in a pasture and pick
up each pile as deposited. Or even clean out their own horse trailer
if they don't want to. But there are times when horse manure HAS
TO BE CLEANED UP!! It can't be left where it falls.
One such place is at trail
heads and in staging areas. I'm not sure why some horse owners
simply clean out a trailer and leave the manure
where it falls. Or leave that fresh pile of horse poop lying
in the middle of the parking lot and even on sidewalks. The only
reason I can think of for this attitude of manure lies where
it falls is that horse owners love their horses. And in doing so,
overlook some of the not so loved aspects of horse ownership.
Well, I hate to burst your bubble but I'm going to tell you something
that your parents or even your best friend has never told you.
YOUR HORSE'S MANURE STINKS!! It smells. Flies walk all over
it. And when it gets stepped in, it squishes and tracks everywhere.
And YOUR horse's manure in a parking lot, a trail head, at a
staging area and even on a trail is one of the reasons trails are
BEING CLOSED to me and other riders. And I for one am getting darn
tired of it!! In fact, at a trail head on the Pacific Crest Trail
(PCT) there
was so much horse manure in the parking lot I would have helped
the ranger lock the gate to horsemen because it was disgusting!!
I didn't even want
to have my horse walk in it any less me or anyone else.
Horse manure seems to be a laughing matter with some folks. It's
just biodegradable, chewed up straw and grain. What's the big deal?
The big deal is that OTHER trail users don't look at it
in that manner. To them, it's horse poop, manure, s**t!! And
if we don't start cleaning
up after our horses, we won't find it such a laughing matter
when gates are locked to us and trails closed.
Sure, there are those cases where cleaning up a horse has
gone to the extreme. But I'm not referring to those cases.
I'm referring to the person who has a nice ride, comes
back to the staging area, cleans two or three piles out of the
trailer, loads up
the horse and goes home. The horse manure is still in
the parking lot. When
actually all the person would have had to do is put it
in a garbage bag and take it home. And in some parking
lots there are even dumpsters
to put manure in, and horsemen still won't clean up.
At the above PCT trail head there is not only a dumpster for
"Horse Manure Only"
but two or three wheelbarrows, a couple shovels and brooms
to help with the clean up. And still horse owners leave
the manure in that parking lot!!
Every horse trailer
should have a shovel, rake and a good stiff broom in it for cleaning
up horse manure along with a box of heavy duty
garbage bags, style is up to you. Me, I use the heavy
black ones and when half full close 'em and put
the bag into a heavy duty cardboard box that I've cut
a couple handholds in so it's easier
to carry. The box keeps the bag from drooping plus
its easier to carry. When I get back to the barn, I put the
manure in the manure
pile or take it home and put it in my compost pile.
The box will sit in the tack room of the trailer, the back
of a towing vehicle
and I've slide it into my camper too. Open a few windows
afterwards and you'd never know a box of horse manure
had been sitting there.
As for that black garbage bag,
just turn it over and grab the top edges pulling them up and
letting the manure fall out.
The bag will be inside out then. Shake it off, put it on the trailer fender
with a rock on it to dry and then reuse it again! You
can get three or four uses out of one garbage bag. (My record is six.)
We horse owners are the most visible when in a staging area
and on the trail with our towing rigs, trailers and horses.
And in some areas even after we've left the staging areas other
trail users can still tell we've been there by the number of horse
manure piles laying around the parking lot. Remember, if it came
with your horse it should go home with your horse, and that includes
horse manure!!
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Submitted by member John Schulte and reprinted with permission
from the May/June 2004 issue of The Trail Rider magazine. |
