Hi Mark!
The HC is full of "MUSTs" and "SHOULDs", a traffic cop once told me (over a pint) that although the former are points of fact and the latter just suggestions, if one has an accident then any non-compliance with any "SHOULD" would go against any "benefit of the doubt" for you.
You'll know the Wirral has some very different social aspects - there aren't many horses round Birkenhead, but over on the west side - Gayton, Caldy, down through Burton, etc, every other field has a nag on it.
G.
Later - just found this on Wirral MBC website - "Wirral has an exceptionally large horse population and the latest surveys available to the British Horse Society indicate that there is a higher concentration of horses in Wirral than in most other parts of the Country. "
I think that comment was in the local press several months back too, probably lifted from the Council's report. There's berger all on the BHS site, so I can't supply stats to support the claim, but it certainly seems true from my experience.
(Mark, just BWOI, where and when did you live on the Wirral? D'you get up here these days? G.)