British culture holds some of the most extravagant traditions that has separated the classes for years. Traveling abroad highlights what foreign cultures think of the British and visiting New York last year reiterated my opinions on what others thought of us. Immediately, upon revealing where I was from, a joke related to tea and the Queen was posed my way and as they flowed from “afternoon tea and crumpets with the Queen” to wearing “tweed with a barbour and wellies” I could not help notice that the British may come across as pompous twats.

Recently I moved to London, Kings Cross specifically, and I live on the same road as the police horse barns. Now, that last phrase may seem anachronistic, but it is true, the police in London still patrol on their horses. Whilst their sight may be seldom, they certainly leave a trail to let you know where they have been. My street is littered and gifted with the potent smell of horse manure. Even worse, as my road is a main road, it has been flattened into the tarmac not allowing the rain to wash it away. So as I open the curtains in the morning I am blessed with the charming sight of squashed fecal matter.

I have a huge fascination for horses and think they are one of the most majestic of animals and anyone who has ridden a horse would agree with me, but I am also aware that they are afraid of cars to start with and secondly, and most alarmingly, they are not cheap. To purchase a horse it can cost from £2000 but to maintain a horse, depending on its type, it can cost from £6000 to £10000 a year per horse. Now if this country is in billions pounds in debt why are we spending this much money on maintaining police horses just because of an old tradition? To add insult to injury, opposite the police horse barns, on my road, is a homeless shelter where I have seen the bums scramble through rubbish looking for food. I understand that people’s morales have diminished over time but for the police to saddle on their shitting horses whilst looking down on the homeless is taking a bit too far.

Public Poop

When one notices dog-poop that has not been picked up by the owner, we generate a huge rage against the owner and its dog and think “why didn’t they pick it up? Why weren’t these people fined!” but when we see horse-poop on the road it becomes so common that it is accepted. WHY!? If you saw me squatting down with my jeans around my ankles you would say “excuse me, are you mad?” but when we see police vehicles, i.e horses, doing this, it is accepted! What have we lowered ourselves to?

Whilst I accept it is beautiful to see a horse being ridden I cannot accept that money should be spent on an animal over a human being. In addition, the fact that police fine grannies for not picking up their dog’s poop but do not pick up their own horse poop is hugely hypocritical. British traditions are brilliant but police patrolling on horse back can no longer be justified.

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