Cranky opposition

Some people don't like horses. Some people are just rude. Sometimes there are people who happen to be both.

Emma and I came across one of those the other day. We were meant to be going to the beach for an evening ride but the overcast sky dictated that we stay close to home. So we headed down the woods.

We have always ridden in that woods. Everyone does. It's often the only place for the poorer horse owner to go jumping such as myself. I can't afford to buy jumps and even if I could the sand school at Kestal is only 20ft long. It's not a big enough space to practice without crashing into the fence. I would like to just jump real fences rather than logs but hey, you get what you need not what you want.

So we had had a few good jumps already, I'd taken Nell down a drop bank to do some exploring, and Emma and I were on our way back. I normally have a favourite jumping log of mine halfway through the woods. Its small with good firm run-up and a lack of trees to run in to.

So we were minding our own business and Nell was jumping just the right way when some nosy woman with THREE snapping, barking minature snauzers comes up to us. We had pulled the horses up to avoid aggravating the dogs any further but the woman was obviously on the war path now. We were in the woods. where she was walking her dogs. And it was a "footpath". Shock.

So she asks us if we knew it was a footpath. My response... No. I didn't know. Despite the fact there is a sign outside which says footpath. I'd never noticed it and as we'd always jumped in the woods I had never paid attention much.

Anyway, she goes on to say that we shouldn't be in the woods as it was a footpath and that we should leave NOW.

Normally I apologise; explain I didn't know, then head home. After all we could come back on another day... But this woman had such a rude tone and the fact she had the cheek to say "I can't hear you" when her own dogs were making the noise, raised my hackles. I told her that we were going to finish jumping first, and then we would leave. She asked which yard we were based at. I told her that we were from Kestal and that our yard manager was also the grounds keeper for the woods. I turned away from the rude lady, and continued as though she wasn't there. Obnoxious people only deserve the same back.

She continued to complain that she had to put her dogs on the lead because of the horses. Well what do you know? If you actually trained your dogs properly they wouldn't have to go on the lead. My dog walks alongside the horses when we ride, as do many of my friends dogs. And you don't have to have a horse to teach them that barking and running at horses is unacceptable behaviour.

So after ignoring her she storms off saying that she is going to report us and so on. Well good luck to her. Not only did she have the WHOLE DAMN WOODS to walk in, we were off the main footpath so what is she going to report us for? Jumping a 1ft log in a secluded part of the woods at 6:00 evening on a wet day?

Surely there are better things to be doing with your time. How about getting those nasty dogs of yours trained? At 6:00 in the evening you don't expect to see people walking in the woods. Especially when the grey clouds roll in and it looks like its about to piss it down.

We horse riders truly are sorry that we have to use the footpaths, and roads, and beaches and woods and wherever else you don't want us to be. However, I don't see any of you doing something about it. I don't see you building bridlepaths or offering to re-turf old ones. I don't see you volunteering to trim back overgrown lanes or opposing building new roads on our bridlepaths. So perhaps before you start complaining you have a look at a map yourself. Instead of telling me to look at a map and see I'm on a footpath, you look at a map and tell me where there's a bridlepath that DOESN'T cross a footpath or road.

Edited to add: The rough speed of a horse WALKING is 3mph. Trotting is about 10mph, canter is between 17 and 28, and gallop is between 29 and 40mph depending on the horse. In other words, a horse can cover 3 miles in 1 hours ride at its slowest pace. Our rides are roughly two to three hours long equalling between 6 and 9 miles covered if we were just to walk. You try and find a cornish bridlepath that long.