Horse crap

[evenstar]

Think best way to keep horse poopie off the trails would be get rid of the source.....means all you horse's asses would have to find a new past-time!
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John Richardson and Richie Rich, El Perro de Playero
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When the Man waked up he said, "What is Wild Dog doing here?" And the Woman said, "His name is not Wild Dog anymore, but the First Friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always. Take him with you when you go hunting."
--Rudyard Kipling, from Just So Stories, 1902

[Daddee]

[primerob]

Oh how civilized and sanitized we have become.
Why don't we make fish and game put diapers on the coyotes...
Just hike, and don't make such a fuss.
I clean up after my 90 pound lab and he does his best to out doo the horses.
Rob Leahy

[SUN_HIKER]

Although smelly- horse manure is some of the best natural fertilizer around, unlike dog poop. In the city of course it is usually required to be picked up.

GB
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without your permission.
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[BoyNhisDog]

This is a great thread. Some of the answers are very humorous but the description of the Grand Canyon trails is bad. I don't think the cowboys would like to have a diaper on their horses though.

I don't like horses and cattle messing up the streams.

One of my very first jobs was on a farm and the first thing that guy had my friend and I do was shovel out the neglected pig barn. It was real, real bad. We were 15 years old and needed the summer job. My friend started crying. I told him to keep shoveling. It couldn't last forever and we just got there, couldn't really refuse if we wanted the job and the huge pay ($1.25/hr) which was better than the .50/hr another farmer had been giving me to plow.

Well, we did get through that barn and never let it get that bad again, but I never will forget that ammonia smell. It was the strongest smell I have ever experienced.

So the occasional load of road apples out on the trail doesn't bother me much at all as long as it isn't messing up the watershed, but if it were all over like in the Canyon, then it would.
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[samiam]

what if it were a wild animal? Horses were wild in most of the areas for a long time and still are on alot of reservations. I personally wouldnt care if it were picked up . Heck most people dont know that the horse is crapping. they dont have to stop to crap,but a good rider letts them stop to peeee. If you look (i dont expect that) Horse piles are mostly ground hay, it drys verry fast and has no fertilizing properties. Its mostly like potting soil..Besides on a good trip you would need to have a pack mule to carry the old dung..Ummm another thing, what do most of us do about our own feces? I think comparing dog poop to horse poop is like comparing apples to orages,well maybee grapes to grapfruit! I havent been out in years,exept for a quickie up the peralta with a water bottle in my havd..is there alot of Horse recycling out there??
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Sam I Am

[Leva]

Horse apples are really pretty benign -- they dry up and blow away within days, do not generally carry many harmful organisms, do not stink, and provide vital nutrients to the soil. Just walk around them ...

It would not be feasible for most people to pack out the droppings. Also, how are you supposed to pack them out? A horse can poop fifty pounds of droppings a day. Not practical.

When I had a horse, I WOULD get off and knock the droppings off to the side of the trail if it was a narrow trail. But I can't imagine having to carry baggies and a shovel and trying to pack that out. I'd have had to get a pack animal just for the manure.

Leva