Friday, September 10, 2004

Horses in the Redmond Watershed

I was having a great run today at the Redmond Watershed, bounding along the trail. I turned a corner and found the way blocked by a woman on a horse talking to another one standing by the side. As I ran towards them, slightly uphill, the woman on the horse gudgingly moved the horse. She stared at me the whole time like it was some huge burden for her to quit blocking the entire trail.

As I passed she called out in a patronizing tone "yoo hoo, excuse me, sir, you're about to get a hoof in the head". I didn't even slow down and yelled out "Move to the side and quit blocking the trail". In a few steps I added "This is a public multi-use trail so share it".

I was mad as hell at the lady on the horse. She was an older woman and later I thought of yelling "Grandma, if your horse touches me your grandkids are gonna lose their college fund" or "how about you two idiots move your conversation to the parking lot" but I was already out of earshot. Grrrr. In a few minutes I passed two runners heading the opposite way and I hoped they spooked her horse so it tossed her off into the trees.

I hate horses on the trails. Not only do they crap everywhere and thus foul the trail, their riders are annoying and arrogant. Bah.

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