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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why people see large animal as public property?

151 replies

lastqueenofscotland · 29/07/2018 18:16

I have two ex racehorses. Both slightly institutionalised, if you understand horse behaviour they are fine, but they aren’t docile or all that tolerant. They are also huge.
Both can be quite aggressive over food so we do not hand feed them at all.
They live with a family member of mine ina field on the edge of town. We’ve had a lot of issues over the 2 years they’ve been there of people trying to feed them anything and everything, ham sandwiches, and very concerningly on one occasion, a binbag full of grass clippings.
As one of them is VERY aggressive around food and the other has turned into a hugely fat blimp since his retirement from professional sport we put up signs on the field asking them to not feed the horses. This was largely ignored so we got some electric tape fencing and put it about a meter inside the post and rail. (With signs pointjng out this was electric)

Today someone has knocked on my aunts door fuming that her daughter has had an electric shock trying to feed the horses.
When my aunt politely pointed out that the blimp and the thug really don’t need anymore food this woman goes off on one about how we are stuck up snobs and her daughter enjoys feeding the horses so she will continue to do so.
What the fuck is wrong with people Angry

OP posts:
Matilda15 · 29/07/2018 19:13

It does seem to be a thing with horses and passers by! I don’t know where people get the nerve. Can you put a sign up saying they bite? Not that you should have too but might be more likely to stop it?

I had ponies as a child. One was aloof and wouldn’t go to anyone, the other was friendly as they come and would literally walk alongside anyone walking past the field. The friendly one kept getting laminitis and we couldn’t work out why. Then during the school holidays I was in the spare stable tack cleaning when I heard voices I poked my head out and about 10 people from a local business were there eating lunch and feeding my pony god knows what - I definitely saw a sausage roll get handed to him! I politely asked 1) if I could help as they were literally in my Grandads garden! And 2) please could they not feed him as it was making him poorly. They laughed in my face and said he enjoys it we’re his friends 🤔 my mum was waiting for them the next day with the latest vets bill and asked as his friends what percentage they’d be paying - we didn’t see them again!

S0upertrooper · 29/07/2018 19:14

2 electric fences, turn up the voltage closest to the idiots. Natural selection.

wheresthechocolate · 29/07/2018 19:15

I have an ex racehorse who is 15.3 and very powerfully built and couldn't believe my eyes one day when I looked out the back window and saw a man with a very small (maybe two year old child) that he was holding by the hand actually in our paddock walking up to my horse with something in his hand to feed him.

He's actually quite docile for an ex racehorse but he's large and he can still race around. Kicking and bucking when the mood takes him. But he could have been a very aggressive horse and this man couldn't have known what his temperament was like before taking his daughter into the paddock with him.

We now have a hot wire and warning signs around the exterior of the property. People are just stupid.

QuestionableMouse · 29/07/2018 19:20

You can't put up a sign saying they bite. If they did bite it would be used as proof and the poor OP sued.

The yard I worked on bought t-post extenders and put them on the actual fence with big signs every few feet warning of electric fencing.

BigDamnHero · 29/07/2018 19:24

I used to have issues with our neighbours feeding our German shepherd (who has quite a delicate stomach and is on specific dog food) things like chocolate biscuits (chocolate being fucking poisonous to dogs!) over the fence.

I don't know what the fuck is wrong with people!!

Just don't feed other people's animals unless you have been told you can! It's not that difficult!

plominoagain · 29/07/2018 19:26

Some years ago in our local area a 3 year old boy got killed after him and his dad went into a field full of horses with a carrier bag of goodies . It all got a bit fraught and two of the horses had a kicking match , and the boy and his dad didn't get out quick enough . One horse went to double barrel another , and the little lad took full force in the head . There was an outcry over dangerous animals but the whole field was plastered in no entry notices and warnings not to feed them , so it went nowhere . Terribly sad , but dads fault entirely .

Wrongwayup · 29/07/2018 19:28

We built a double fence roadside so no one can get close enough to feed ours . Some idiot still throws carrots to them

Vinorosso74 · 29/07/2018 19:30

God this sort of thing really annoys me. People are ignorant and like to think they are right when it comes to feeding animals. Things like feeding bread to ducks which is commonly known to be bad.
Our old cat had IBD which was quite bad at times and flare ups meant her diabetes went out of control. A couple of times she came in and vomited up cat food which we hadn't given her. We printed flyers to put through doors saying other food gave her diarrhoea and made her vomit-stopped after we distributed them and spoke to neighbours.

Springersrock · 29/07/2018 19:33

We have the same issues with DD’s pony

She gets bitey if hand fed so we don’t do it - treats go in her feed bucket.

People were constantly feeding her despite us putting a massive sign on the gate so we had to put 2 sets of electric fence up - 1 by the gate, another 2 metres or so back.

Seems to have stopped it so far

UpstartCrow · 29/07/2018 19:38

Yanbu, I have loads of similar stories; the worst being a friend who had to have her foal PTS after it was ridden by some builders.

Original poster
lastqueenofscotland · 29/07/2018 19:39

Upstart that is awful Sad but I am not surprised at all

OP posts:
Maelstrop · 29/07/2018 19:39

Razor wire on the exterior fence, electric inside to keep the horses off it.

This renders me fucking furious. I’m so glad I’m no longer on a yard that the public can access. People used to tip their grass clippings over the fence from their back garden, clueless that this could kill the horses, nicely fermenting away. We had old mouldy veg chucked over, people saying they were doing us a favour!! It drove me crazy, especially when they then asked WHY they couldn’t feed OUR horses!

Rattledickie · 29/07/2018 19:50

We had the same problems wirh our laninits pony. But it stopped very quickly when my DD went round to their house with a big bag of chochlate snd raisins and started feeding their dog. Not very nice, but then i couldnt give a fuck.Smile

Flyme21 · 29/07/2018 19:51

I walk past a field that has a sign saying something like Please Fuss don't Feed. There is a poorly pony in this field. Your kindness could kill.
But given the number of people who will quite happily feed random horses and ponies all sorts of treats, acting as if horse owners are providing a petting farm for them and their kids... who think carrots, apples and mints are perfectly fine as part of the equine diet... there must be a lot of them on here reading this and keeping quiet. I wonder if this will change their behaviour?

SilverySurfer · 29/07/2018 19:58

Honestly you can't argue with stupid - put up a big warning sign and increase the electricity. Kill or cure, hopefully the latter Grin

Macauley · 29/07/2018 20:04

We are having this issue at the moment with our laminitic pony. She’s behind two gates and an electric fence but someone has come in and fed her veg and bread. Probably fed her other things too but she’s turned her nose up at bread.
I get to people that don’t know a starvation paddock can look strange. But still would you not think to yourself there is a very good reason they aren’t being let on to the fields full of grass Hmm

ArcheryAnnie · 29/07/2018 20:11

I was in Bushy Park a while back and watched (from afar, with my own then-small child) a bloke take his small child to say hello to the deer. The tall, antlered deer...

People are daft.

ArcheryAnnie · 29/07/2018 20:13

Though I do wonder if it's got anything to do with growing up in a country where most wildlife can't kill you, and where the most dangerous animals (or at least the ones with most recorded attacks and kills) are domestic dogs. If you grop up somewhere with venemous snakes, or crocodiles, or bloody big bears, or spiders that will kill you, then your default setting for how to treat animals you don't know will likely be a lot more respectful.

Scrowy · 29/07/2018 20:30

No one ever tries to feed our big stock bull.

Which is a shame as he would love the occasional potato/carrot.

DontDribbleOnTheCarpet · 02/08/2018 20:44

We had a bull years ago which was actually as soft as butter and could be hand fed. Except for when my BIL was around, he bloody hated BIL!

Littleredhouse · 02/08/2018 21:00

Genuine question: is it bad to feed a horse a carrot over the fence? We have some in a field near us (no signs about not feeding) and my son wants to take them pieces of carrot to chomp. I had assumed signs would be up if it was an issue but having read this I realise I may have been naive...

SabineUndine · 02/08/2018 21:04

I hike and it’s infuriating because horses learn random humans have food very quickly and then follow you nipping at you in case you have food for them. I’ve been surrounded by horses pushing and shoving to be first for nonexistent food on public footpaths a couple of times and it’s scary.

Booboostwo · 02/08/2018 21:06

There are many reasons why you should not feed a horse.

Hand feeding encourages them to bite and they can take a serious chunk out of you.
Feeding in the field encourages them to argue over the food. When they start kicking each other they can easily kick you even if you are standing outside the fence.
It also encourages them to push on or even jump the fence to get more food.
Many have conditions that have to be managed very carefully as the wrong food causes them serious health problems. Many ponies have laminitis, an extremely painful foot condition a bit like human gout, and the wrong food may even result in the ponynhaving to be put to sleep. I have a horse who has painful muscle cramps if he eats any sugar.
They are very sensitive animals and can get sick from the wrong food. Grass cutting cause colic a serious condition that may need an operation or may even kill the horse.

Runrunrudolf · 02/08/2018 21:10

DD goes to horse therapy every weekend I've been there on their open days with her a fair few times, the owner of the stables is always telling me the horses in certain fields are getting fed by randomers,

Has electric fence and signs saying do not feed yet they continue to do so.

Some are rescued and aren't wise to hand feed, someone came and complained it bit them after trying apparently :/

@Littleredhouse
My DD knows more than me lol but I'm thinking it's best not to take the chance unless you know who has them personally and know their behaviors, best to assume not

vampirethriller · 02/08/2018 21:47

My mother keeps chickens and for ages someone was dumping their kitchen scraps into the field where they go- meat, bones, bread, everything, which mother's dogs were eating too and one of the dogs is very very allergic to gluten. When she found out who and asked them to stop they called the rspca because she was "starving the chickens."