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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!harpo!ihnp4!ihuxn!res
From: res@ihuxn.UUCP (Rich Strebendt)
Newsgroups: net.flame,net.bicycle
Subject: Re: Re: Horses (WARNING:OFFENSIVE)
Message-ID: <687@ihuxn.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 22-May-84 17:08:12 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxn.687
Posted: Tue May 22 17:08:12 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 23-May-84 19:42:48 EDT
References: <362@ihu1g.UUCP> <335@unmvax.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 41

> Why don't you ask somebody to build a proper bike path
>			--Lee (Ward)
>			{ucbvax,convex,gatech,pur-ee}!unmvax!lee

Sorry, Lee, the Illinois Prairie Path is NOT the Illinois Prairie BRIDAL
Path!  As a resident of a subdivision through which the Path passes, I
am very familiar with it and with the problems that the original poster
mentioned.  There are several places that require climbing up and down
stairways in order to traverse the entire length of the Path ...
carrying ones self and/or bicycle (or horse!) up and down the stairs.
The original intention in building the Path was to provide a good place
for bike and foot traffic ... not an equestrian exercise path.

While I would not state the case as strongly as the original poster, I
am also hacked off at the mounds of horse manure descrating the Path,
and the hoof dents which make riding a bike on the Path a painful
experience.  There are alternatives in this area for riding a horse, so
it is not absolutely necessary to ride a horse on this Path.

I am afraid that I have no great love of horses (I prefer horsepower
under the hood), so I have no great love of those who feel they must
ride the animals, and who feel that they must ride them on this Path.
I am willing, however, to listen to the comments of my equestrian
neighbors ... there must be a way we can coexist.

	* * * * * * * F L A M E  O N * * * * * * *

The conclusion of the above quoted article makes me even more angry
than riding over a ripe horse turd on the Path.  

> rather than flame the people who have, most likely, been using that path
> for years before you ever showed your ugly face.

The article up to the last sentence had my sympathy.  I got the message
that riding a horse in an urban environment is problematical too, and
was willing to give serious consideration to the poster's point of
view.  The closing slam, however, turned me off completely.  I am now
firmly of the opinion that equestrians are as self-centered and selfish
as their behavior on the Path indicates.

	* * * * * * * F L A M E  O F F * * * * * * *