A horse owner in Arizona regularly fields calls from concerned drivers over what appear to be dead horses in his pasture. Although this wasn’t always the case, a population boom now locates his pasture smack in the middle of the city and all these city folk aren’t familiar with seeing resting horses. If you’ve ever seen a colt resting/sleeping, you know it looks a lot like a dead horse, all sprawled out and still. Bob Eggers rescues, raises and sells horses so there is a sign on his fence with his phone number on it. Apparently he also gets complaints about abused or malnourished horses, too. Since he rescues abused horses, they often look poor when he first gets them, causing concerned drivers to call the Arizona Department of Agriculture. The State responds to every complaint but has never found abuse or neglect.
Although we once lived two miles from this particular pasture, we know live in rural Tennessee. Many of our friends and neighbors have horses here but that isn’t the case in suburban Arizona. As the city expands its reach into rural areas, the impact goes far beyond inconvenient complaint calls from well-meaning city folk. People complain about the dust horses kick up, the smell of manure, the flies, etc. Kinda like moving next to an airport and then complaining about airplane noise. And then all the land is developed so horse owners need to trailer their horses to the horse trails. It’s sad to see.
A friend of mine sent me a link to the Arizona Republic article for this story (click the link for the original article).
Photo above by hayleyho.
I didn’t realize horses regularly lied down to rest until we were horse owners.
Ubanization is happening here too. Once a friend and I were riding our horses through the beginnings of a development that was a regualar part of the trails we rode before the develops moved in and we had a new home owner pull a gun on us because a horse had pooped on the side of the road and it must be our fault. Needless to say, we haven’t been back there since but it still surprises me how upset some people can get over things others accept as just part of things.
Oh my gosh…pulled a gun on you? I support the right of our citizens to own guns but they’re not to be used simply because you’re angry with someone. If you wanted to, you could have caused him some trouble with the law. I doubt his life was in danger by you and your horses.
And by the way, although I wouldn’t want to see mounds of horse manure everywhere, it’s 100% biodegradable. You can pick it up by hand when it’s dry and flake it with your fingers. Unlike carnivore poop, horse manure is quite good for the vegetation it usually lands on or near.
Thanks for sharing your story.