Pat Maylin, of Speakers Road, Ivybridge, writes: Every day I walk between Ivybridge and Bittaford along what is left of the pavement, which was once wide enough for three people to walk abreast. Over the past few years this pavement has become overgrown with weeds growing from the tarmac surface, brambles spreading from the hedgerow and the surface, so that the pavement is now only wide enough for one person. In places the surface has been ­broken by farm machinery using the field gates. Letters to the Highways Department and the local and district councils have produced no results. It has been noticeable that over the past year these obstructions have paled into insignificance due to the amount of horse muck (for want of a better word) ­deposited and not cleared up. On a recent walk there were 14 huge piles, many of them several yards long, and several of which required pedestrians to walk in the dangerously fast road to pass them. Why can't riders carry a small shovel and at the very least move the offending mess into the hedgerow or verge? On the day I counted 14 piles, there was one tiny little pile of dog mess, yet that owner could have been fined £1,000. There is a large length of grass between the railway station approach road and the rugby club entrance, yet where did a rider allow his or her horse to leave its muck? On the pavement, just like the huge mound of the stuff in Cole Lane beside the grass between Macandrew Walk and Dunsterville Road. Why was the horse not moved to the grass, or the piles moved onto the grass, or even into the adjacent dog-waste bin? It wouldn't be right, but at least the pavement wouldn't be blocked for weeks on end. Surely it is high time these offenders faced the same ­penalties as dog owners.