Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Almost Forgot....Horse Poop and Roads!!

To The Editor,

I had some interesting events occur in succession a couple days ago and it really got me thinking. I met a person riding their horse down the side of Route 2, so I slowed down till I was past, and kept on my way. Didn't really think about it until I counted six piles of horse poop on the side of the road in one trip to Isle La Motte. The kicker was the following night when I walked past a bulletin board at a local store on which someone had posted a notice saying it was the law to slow down for horses, and photocopied text from some Vermont Statute.

I must admit I was ignorant of this law before. I slowed down out of respect and not wanting to be the cause of somebody being bucked and hurt. I never understood why someone would choose to ride on the road with a horse when there's so many other places. I guess I've always thought of horses as for riding on trails and in fields if they weren't being used for work or competitive events. It must be hard to ride horses though with so much land posted to horse-riders, hunters and everyone alike.

Still, those piles of horse poop really got me thinking. It wasn't just because they have the potential to spread the seeds of invasive plants, or be vectors of disease. I'm a bicyclist in addition to being a motorist, and those piles of poop take up a good portion of the bike lane. The reality is you have four choices on a bike; swerve left into traffic, swerve right and risk the ditch, try to jump the pile, or plow right though. Not really a lot of options, but the question is, why should a bicyclist have to choose?

So I found horse manure catchers for sale online, they go by all sorts of names. They use them for horse drawn carriages, and events like parades, fairs, birthday parties, etc. They were a bit pricey ranging from fifty all the way up to eighty-five dollars. More spendy than I thought but worth the price to help keep Island cyclists from risk. Would those horse riders who choose to share the roads with motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists please consider purchasing some? You're friends and neighbors in the islands would sure appreciate it.

Anyone Like Free Stickers??

I know I haven't sat down and written for awhile, just haven't really had time......soon though!
Been going full tilt now that Spring is here, getting all the gardening done. Weather has just been SOOO difficult. Almost frost the AM of June 1!!

So got a juicy something to hold everyone over for a bit.

Not all these e-mails work, but copy them inot an e-mail list and send away. Ask something liek if they send out stickers? Above all be polite, but like 3/4 of them will send some your way. Probably about 1/4 will ask for a SASE, but who cares, you'll be inundated by the rest!!
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