Perhaps the horse riding fraternity can tell me why, with all the beautiful East Devon lanes, common and countryside around Exmouth, riders insist on exercising their mounts through residential estates and along the roads and pavements of main highways.

This morning, one rider came along Mount Pleasant Avenue and took full advantage of being able to peer into the rooms of houses, which, otherwise, would have been fairly private, thus invading the residents’ privacy.

Four riders went along Dinan Way and at least two of the horses left their waste behind, one in the road and one along the pavement.

The pavement along Hulham Road was also dirtied a few weeks ago and, as the horses were moving at the time, they ‘dropped their lot’. The dirt went on for two to three metres, each time, making it unpleasant and even dangerous for pedestrians, especially parents with buggies.

Dog owners are required, by law, to exercise their dogs responsibly and clean up after them, but there is nothing to say that horse riders need to do the same, yet the quantity of horse waste fouls up roads and pavements a lot more than dogs.

Gone are the days when keen gardeners were grateful for free manure and it is time that horse riders need to take responsibility for the mess their animals make and to exercise them in appropriate areas.

I am not criticising horses, although, to be honest, I can take them or leave them, but I see no reason why riders should not act as responsibly as most dog owners do.

This being the 21st Century, there should not be a ‘them and us’ situation.

Elaine Williams

(Responsible dog owner).

31 Mount Pleasant Avenue, Exmouth.