Editor,

I am in complete agreement with your editorial, “Rules for Horse Manure” dated Aug. 23, 2016. The trails on Whidbey Island belong to everyone and should be respected by all who use them for whatever reason.

I happen to be an avid mountain bike rider and almost every day I go to the Putney Woods Trail system for my recreational ride. I am very courteous to anyone I approach and most often, I yield to hikers, dogs, horses and their riders so everyone can be safe. Apparently, most horseback riders believe they have some special dispensation when it comes to picking up or, at the very least, moving the rather large piles of horse poop off of the trails.

I do not agree.

Many of the trails are narrow with many sharp turns and tree roots to negotiate along the way. It often times is impossible to ride around the poop so I am forced to ride through it. It sticks to my tires and bike frame or worse yet, if it’s recently deposited, my tires will kick it up onto me. Some would say why don’t you just get off of your bike and walk around it? Simple. It would, too often, interfere with my exercise and the enjoyment of the ride.

Some horse owners seem to be of the belief that it’s “only grass.” It may have started out as grass, but it’s been processed since then and is now, as all forms of feces, disgusting, odiferous, and a health hazard. It’s been said that the owner may not know the horse is defecating. Not!

Clearly, the vast majority of these piles are formed with the horse stopped at which time the sound of it hitting the ground and/or lack of forward progress should alert the owner to check behind them. I’m not buying the excuse, “I didn’t know.”

We pick up after our dogs religiously. How about picking up after your horse??

BOB STALLONE

Freeland