SIR — Further to your report on June 11 about the "slippery path" Stone Lane in Exford, there is a clue in the name.
Stone Lane is an ancient track carved out of the outcropping rock, and for hundreds of years has served the local walkers and riders.
High rainfall has deepened the natural bedding planes and in so doing has created a beautiful window into the geological world beneath our feet.
For 15 years (I am an "incomer" too) my horses have managed to pick their way safely up and down the lane while I enjoy the rocks beneath me.
Horses are intelligent and agile animals perfectly capable of navigating all that Exmoor can throw at them, including Postman's Path, steep paths along the sides of the Exe and Barle valleys, through Horner Woods and many others.
I liken riding on Exmoor to a ski resort - there are "black" runs, not for novices, and "green" runs suitable for all. If the rider is not experienced enough to negotiate a "black" ride, there are plenty of other routes out of the 600 miles of byways on Exmoor.
I have visitors who bring their horses to ride over Exmoor and they find it exhilarating and beautiful, and comment on how well kept the bridleways are, with well-hung gates and clear signs, thanks to the work of Exmoor National Park.
People come to Exmoor to enjoy the fact that it is unchanged, unspoiled, a wilderness and many other qualities only found in truly rural places, very often only found in national parks.
Rather as wives should not hope to change the men they marry, so new residents to Exmoor should not try to alter the very qualities that drew them here.
If there is anyone out there who thinks this is a sensible use of £20,000 of our money, I'd love to hear from you!
Trust your horse, revel in Exmoor's uniqueness, and do not try to turn it into a risk-free, suburban playground.
Dr Leone Martin,
Riscombe Farm,
Exford.