MANATEE COUNTY (WSNN) – A Manatee County equestrian activity finds SNN’s Annette Gutierrez jumping into the saddle to get the full story.
Complaints about horseback riding on the Palma Sola Causeway are back.
“It’s an issue we’ve had for probably about 10 years now,” Bradenton Vice Mayor, Gene Gallo said.
The issues? Horse poop and damage to seagrass might be harmful to the environment.
Bradenton Resident Merle Quiet, wants horses banned from the causeway.
“If the horses go to the bathroom in the water, it pollutes the water, and I have seen children with their mother and father over there; they could catch some kind of a disease from the horses,” Quiet said. “Horses shouldn’t be in the same water that people go into.”
So, the Bradenton city council passed a motion to regulate this horseback riding experience, but what exactly does that mean?
Vice Mayor Gallo says the road is in the city limits, but the causeway is Florida Department of Transportation property. Council members want the state to make the call.
“What I believe is, the department of environmental people, they don’t want to deal with it, the FDOT does not want to deal with it, and those two to me would be the state agencies, that would have authority not us,” Vice Mayo Gallo said.
Snowbird, Tom Glavin finds arguments against, silly.
“I think the horse waste in the water is all nonsense,” Glavin said “They’re natural animals. I don’t get it when people say animals, cows, pollute the earth, they belong here just like we do.”
Plus, it’s a hot spot for tourists. Holly Smith came all the way from New Mexico to experience this unique ride on the Suncoast.
“This is something that’s been on my bucket list to do for years,” Smith said. “Personally, what we do to pollute the ocean as people is way more than what some horse droppings are going to do. And the joy that it brings to people, the joy that it brought to myself. That makes me really sad to hear.”
Four horse back riding companies, (C Ponies, Gulf Coast Ponies, the Real BeachHorses, and Florida Beach Horses) use this one causeway. Their response?
“The ocean has been tested multiple times there has been no pollution in the water,” C Ponies’ Head Guide, Mercedes Pages said. “The poop does dissolve, whatever poop we do not pick up.”
They all say they’re pro-regulation, specifically when it comes to traffic.
“We would just like to see it so there are not so many horses out there all the time,” Florida Beach Horses lead guide, Christina Pelletie said.
They say they just don’t want to see the horses banned.
At this point, it’s a waiting game on what the state says about who has authority. If the state says, the city does, then the council would have to make a motion on what they actually want to regulate. SNN will keep you updated.
