Ten-foot mountains of it? Dear God!
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Standing on a cement slab, surrounded by 10-foot high mountains of horse manure, Carl Hoffman is a happy man.

Happy, because he's saving thousands of dollars a year by composting horse manure instead of paying to dump it. Happy, because the new recycling program keeps horse feces from polluting nearby streams.

And happy, because environmentalists have mostly stopped pointing the finger at the manure manufacturers -- the horses themselves.

With an estimated 600 horses in the County -- each 1,000-pound horse producing eight to 10 tons of manure each year -- San Mateo sees its fair share of equine excrement.