I can provide an answer to the Argus reader who wondered why horse and dog owners were able to access Picker's Hill Farm in Saltdean in spite of the foot-and-mouth restrictions (Opinion, May 15).

During the crisis, many areas of countryside were off-limits to members of the public but not to agricultural workers and other people who had legitimate business on farms.

I am one of several home-owners who rent stable space at Picker's Hill Farm.

We each need to spend various hours each day feeding and tending to our horses and thus require constant access.

During the foot-and-mouth outbreak, we followed a stringent regime of disinfecting all cars and feet on arriving at and on leaving the farm.

Although the vast majority of dog walkers respected the temporary lack of access to the farm, the small minority who continued to walk

their dogs through the farm premises endangered the effectiveness of the disinfectant measures in force.

-Tim Graves, Westfield Avenue North, Saltdean