Town passes ordinance to diaper horses

“There were some horses involved in Pioneer Days Parade and some of these owners did not have their horses diapered and some of these owners did not clean up their mess,” said Marlinton Councilman Norris Long. “Now people no longer have the option. If you can’t clean up after your horse, you can’t be there.”

The ordinance now requires horses to wear devices to catch their droppings while being ridden or driven in town.

The devices actually don’t look like horsey Huggies or pony Pampers or nag nappies. The devices appear to be bags that strap onto the animals’ rump or hang between the critters’ hind legs.

A Google search of “horse diaper” will turn up items such as the BunBag, a device that is strapped to the horse’s rear under the tail to catch waste. Another find was the Equesian, an Australian product that straps to the animal’s behind but then seems to loop down between the horse’s legs and kind of hangs underneath.

A BunBag for a saddle or draft horse is $80 or $85 for a large saddle or draft horse, which would commonly be seen in a parade. The Equesian devices did not have prices listed online.

The devices are used in larger cities, such as New York and Charleston, S.C., where horse-drawn carriages are common, to keep the poop off the streets.

Horse-drawn carriages aren’t a common sight in Charleston, W.Va., but city attorney Paul Ellis said there already is an ordinance in place regarding animal waste requiring owners to pick up after their animal, be it dog, horse or elephant. He couldn’t recall any horse owners being ticketed for the offense.

Typically, circus workers clean up after elephants when the circus parades elephants through the city, he said.

A town in New York tried to pass an ordinance similar to Marlinton’s in 2012, but didn’t take into account the large Amish population in the area who would not use waste-catching devices. That ordinance failed.

There is no Amish community near Marlinton, Long said.

Amy Wasalaski, Greenbrier County veterinarian who deals with large animals such as horses, said the devices are safe for equines but require some getting used to for the animal.

The councilman said a few horses in the July parade had diapers but others, he said, didn’t want to deal with the hassle of strapping the devices to the animals.

“They just don’t want to strap it on,” Long said. “They don’t want to clean up the poop.”

There were apparently three to five horses who dirtied the town’s streets during the parade, Long said.

“There wasn’t that many in it,” Long said of the horse traffic in the parade. “Actually one of the culprits didn’t register or apply or anything. He just hopped in the parade.”

City workers had to remove the feces from the road. The councilman said he heard of one instance where a child had apparently stepped in horse dung or was “playing” in it.

Long said he received a “significant” number of complaints from residents about the animal waste on the town’s roads following the July parade. Long was at the parade “watching it all” and was on hand to take residents’ complaints immediately.

Residents told him “We gotta do something about this,” he said.

“We just tried to nip it in the bud before it creates problems,” Long said. “You talk about everything, but you have to take action.”

The ordinance only applies to the town and not to the nearby Greenbrier River Trail State Park. Horses still are not permitted in the town’s business section, Long said.

The councilman said he had not heard anything from anyone, particularly horse owners, regarding the ordinance.

“I think the responsible horse owners will agree that this is something that had to be done,” Long said.

The ordinance will be enforced, the councilman said. The offense comes with a fine of $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second offense, $300 for the third offense and $500 for each subsequent offense, Long said.

“The police will go up to someone if they show up to a parade in the future without a diaper,” Long said. “That animal will be diapered or it won’t be in the parade.”

Contact writer Ashley B. Craig at ashley.craig@dailymailwv.com or 304-348-4850.