I agree wholeheartedly that people who use the countryside should be considerate of the needs of others and where they are not, remedies need to be found. Ultimately, restrictions should be put in place in order to stop trails from becoming so damaged that people are put off using them.
Having said that, I doubt that the horse riding fraternity have ever been excluded from using bridlepaths because they are causing too much damage.
I personally, never get annoyed when I come across trail damage, as I see this as just part of the experience of riding off-road. Also, some of the worst damage I have ever seen was caused by Forestry Commission vehicles going about their legitimate business. My most annoying experience was cycling for several miles down an Oxfordshire bridleway only to find it totally overgrown, just short of its far end. With no roads or rights of way crossing the bridleway, I had no option but to backtrack and eventually arrived back at the start of the bridleway about an hour later.
BITD there was only one section of the Ridgeway that was unrideable. It was short, narrow dog-leg section between Barbury Castle and Hackpen Hill. Here is a photo from the internet, that looks like this section used to:
View attachment 792037
(Photo from adventurebikerider.com)
The last time I rode this section about two years ago, it had been levelled, gravelled and looked like a section of a Sustrans route.