ENDANGERED birds are narrowly avoiding being trampled to death by horses whose riders are flouting restrictions along the beach near Levys Point.The claim comes from Dennington jogger Robin McGuire who has been using the Warrnambool beach for more than a decade and is fed up with seeing swathes of hoof prints well above the high water mark. Migratory hooded plovers make their nests in the exposed sand just above the high water mark but, according to Mr McGuire, many horse riders plough straight through the delicate area. His comments came after The Standard aired suggestions that the new manager of the Warrnambool-Port Fairy Coastal Reserve, Parks Victoria, was considering restricting horse access along the beach.Parks Victoria has denied this, maintaining there are no plans to alter access, although the organisation does intend to speak to beach users to identify any concerns. Mr McGuire has rejected horse riders' continued claims that they only ride below the high water mark, labelling some ``a law unto themselves''.He showed The Standard a well-worn horse track following the fringe of the sand dunes for more than a kilometre, as well as other horse tracks through the dunes. ``The beach is over 50 metres wide, the plovers have got a tiny area, about five metres... and the horse riders want to use that five metres,'' he said.``They know when the nesting season is.''The region's horse trainers and commercial tour operator Rundell's Mahogany Trail Rides insist they stay below the high water mark where the sand is harder. Rundell's owner Sandra Wilson said her staff and guests knew where they could ride and suggested other ``private riders'' could be responsible for the tracks. ``The whole point of doing beach riding is to ride through the water,'' she said. For the last four years, local volunteers working on behalf of Birds Australia have monitored the birds' nesting habits but so far this season no signs warning of the birds have been erected.Birds Australia's beach nesting birds project officer Glenn Ehmke said he would be concerned if riders were ignoring their requests. "We would expect that nothing we've ever asked recreational groups to do is considered arduous,'' Mr Ehmke said.