A PLEA for consideration by horse riders has come from a concerned Tavistock soccer team manager.
Sue Hammond coaches the Tavistock Jets Under 12s team which uses the football pitch at Pound near Horrabridge.
Mrs Hammond is worried that riders who gallop their horses across the pitch are causing damage which may seriously injure the young footballers.
She said: 'Most horse riders witnessed by myself ride around the pitch, but there are one or some who insist on galloping straight across it causing an enormous amount of damage.'
Mrs Hammond said she was a keen rider herself but she asked that others should think about the damage caused by horses' hooves.
'Before you gallop your horse across the football pitch think about the injury you could cause a young lad whose ankle has just been broken by hitting a divot caused by a hoof.
'I don't mind walking up and down the pitch for 30 minutes every home match flattening down these divots, but if I missed one and it caused serious injury I would feel dreadfully guilty,' said Mrs Hammond.
She said she realised the football pitch at Pound was on common land, but Jets have to use it because of the shortage of pitches in Tavistock.
'Just a little consideration is all we ask,' she said.