Editor,
I was not surprised to see the article in The Record about a horse poop “pileup.” The very title of the article implies we are overrun by it.
When was the last tine you saw horseback riders on the side of the road? Or in the park? Or on a trail? These were common sights here not so long ago and are quickly disappearing. The horse and rider population on the island and across the country is small. The percentage of horses using trails is even smaller and decreases more when the weather is inclement. The horse owners on this island are some of the most responsible people you’ll ever meet. There is even a “cowboy code” that every rider I know abides by and that is to “leave no trace.”
We can’t control the poop our horses might leave on the trail. Horses really do poop as they walk. This is an activity that typically goes unnoticed by the rider: “Horses often ‘produce manure’ while walking without the knowledge of the” rider (https://bethlehemmpu.wordpress.com/faq/what’s-in-that-manure/).
Horse poop does not endanger human health. “Horse manure is a solid waste excluded from federal regulation because it neither contains significant amounts of listed hazardous components, nor exhibits hazardous properties …” and “No major human disease has ever been accurately attributed to the intimate contact human beings have had with horses for thousands of years” (www.bayequest.com/static/pdf/manure.pdf). Humans are more likely to contract disease from bird and wildlife feces.
It won’t be long before our island is so sanitized that our rural heritage is replaced by urban “improvements.” In the past 12 months, there have been calls to banish the bunnies, criminalize fireworks and now it’s horse poop. Regulating horse poop is a knee-jerk reaction to a complaint. If island residents can’t tolerate the sight of an occasional horse pile, more laws and “horse diapers” aren’t the answer. We have a choice: keep the rural heritage of Whidbey or create so many laws that we become just another bedroom community of Seattle.
Live and let live. Or go back to “civilization.” Please.
CATHERINE CESARO
Langley
