I'VE been thinking. Nothing unusual in that. I've been

ranting. Ditto. I've felt compelled to write to the paper. It

must be my age.

I love the Forest, particularly my patch and wouldn't

live anywhere else. It's not just the woods, or the

bluebells; it's not just the deer, the boar, the mist rising

from Viney Hill after the rain, it's also the people.

I'm out in the woods every day and every day I meet

my friends and neighbours. Sometimes it's a quick wave,

often a long chat about what's going on it our lives.

Sometimes there's a heated discussion about something

dear to our hearts. It might be politics or the

environment. For some weeks it was the government's

plans for the Forest. It's usually a mutual thing, preaching

to the converted you might say, but this week a peculiar

issue has risen from the Forest floor.

Horses.

Signs have been springing up. They have a map of

the area and a colour coded request for horse riders to

stay off some paths. They're polite and take the trouble to

explain the problem. The soft 'natural' paths are being

destroyed. The paths laid with scalpings are far more

robust and can withstand the traffic.

Time to lay my cards on the table. I agree. Some of

our paths are impassable. They've been so churned up by

horses' hooves, they're like ploughed fields. Many of our

paths were made by the deer and sheep. None of them

were made for horses. This has never been a horse riding

area. When we first moved here, nearly 30 years ago, a

horse in the woods was a rare sight. Not so these days.

This is fine. The woods are for everyone, but I don't

think this group of people should be allowed to make our

paths unusable.

Of course many riders, most of them probably,

behave perfectly reasonably but some just don't care.

They're here for the day or they never get off their horses

long enough to experience the squelching nightmare for

themselves. That is why we have to have some rules, I

think, to deal with the riders who will not think about the

others who are using the paths.

Many of us have recently protested, petitioned,

marched and, quite brilliantly, made our feelings known

about the ownership of the Forest. We've shouted from

the treetops that we want the Forestry Commission to

carry on managing our woods. But now, a minority of

people aren't allowing the Commission to do that, they're

tearing down the signs and complaining that they don't

want to be told where they can and can't ride. I think that

may be hypocrisy.

– Annie Mc­Kie, Blakeney Hill.