A sailboat is a mechanical device, a horse merely a collection of flight reflexes waiting to be triggered.
I rode in the mountains of Colorado, when I was at prep school in the Carbondale area. Give me a good mule any day. They are much more sure footed, far less likely to panic and kill themselves and their rider at the same time, etc.
There is the problem of horse exhaust, which all other trail users find vastly more objectionable than any motor exhaust.
Having said that, I have little sympathy for any hiker too dumb to keep its feet out of the horse exhaust piles on the trail.
A little courtesy wouldn’t kill any of the trail users.
You'd be surprised how calm a properly trained horse can be--but nonetheless, wild places are a horses natural environment, so he should be deferred to. Bicycles have plenty of concrete and asphalt, horses have the little that is left of wilderness trails.
There is the problem of horse exhaust, which all other trail users find vastly more objectionable than any motor exhaust.
Horse waste products are biodegradable--good food for plants and animals.
Having said that, I have little sympathy for any hiker too dumb to keep its feet out of the horse exhaust piles on the trail.
Manure from a healthy horse is not objectionable once you get acquainted with it. It's like earth. I have no problem picking it up with my hands.
A little courtesy wouldn’t kill any of the trail users.
That's for sure.