to wonder why, when you’ve been asked not to do something, you’d go and do it anyway

[Ellybellyboo]

This is driving me slightly bonkers

We have horses, along one side of their field is a public footpath and we’re having issues with people feeding them

I don’t mind the occasional carrot but now the weather is getting better more and more people are using the footpath and the horses are being fed more and more crap - I’ve caught people giving them sandwiches and crisps, and once a sausage roll!

One of our horses is retired and it’s a struggle to keep her weight down, they both get bargy and bitey if they’re hand fed too much as every time they see someone they think they’re going to get given a treat, plus they fight if one thinks the other is getting something they’re not

We’ve put up signs up everywhere asking people not to feed the horses - they were ignored.

We then put up electric fence to keep the horses away from the locked gate - so people climbed over the gate

We changed the signs so they were less polite, put up CCTV and more electric fencing to try and keep the horses further away from the gate and the hedge and people are still climbing over the gate and now chucking stuff over the hedge

I’m loath to fence them any further away from the hedge/gate as they’re already losing half of their field

I’ve caught several people feeding them, I’ve asked politely for them to stop it and explained why. I’ve encouraged fuss not food, I’ve offered to put the treats in their feed buckets for them and 75% of the time I’ve had nothing but rudeness and abuse in return

I’ve found a Dad actually in their field with his toddler son once, been called a stuck up bitch, told by a woman that she was going to carry on feeding them whatever as her children like to see them and that I should keep them in their stable if I don’t want people to feed them

It baffles me. Why can’t people just leave them alone?

It’s like people think they have some sort of shared ownership or something - except when it comes to the vet bills

Next time you see someone feeding your horses, run up, take a picture of them so it's obvious and then ask for their details as you'll need them to send the vet bill to as they're allergic to *whatever it is they have just fed them.

Theyre either very entitled or do not understand that their "kindness" is harmful to your horses.
Maybe put a plaque written from the point of view of the horse. Saying
Please don't feed us as it can make us very sick. We have our own food thankyou.

I can imagine how frustrating this is. People are so stupid. I think people don't think beyond their noses, thinking one snack can't hurt, what's the problem. They don't think that if multiple people think the same thing daily then that amounts to a big problem. It's the same with dog shit and litter.

I can only suggest a bigger sign spelling it out exactly and listing the pain and ill health it causes.

Arseholes the lot of them!

Put up a sign saying.

DO NOT FEED THE HORSE. It has a medical condition. If you feed it you are putting its life at risk. Perpetrators will be pursued for medical costs and compensation in the event of death/serious injury.

We have big signs up in our local park asking people not to feed the ducks and explaining exactly why.

There are also signs on a local canal asking people not to feed the pigeons. There's a bin there for people to put their old bread in so it doesn't go to waste.

People ignore them!

That said, I like babyspider's suggestion.

Yes instead of just writing it'll make us sick. List in full detail how it'll effect them. Give them full details. Surely if the care about and love animals. They'll take heed and listen

"Surely if the care about and love animals"

They don't
For them, the animals are just objects providing free entertainment

Horse owner here, so I sympathise.

Can you stop them climbing over the gate by putting electric fence along the top? I’ve seen it where there are two vertical batons (one on each gatepost) to lift the tape up, and it runs the length of the gate. If it’s a gate you need to regularly open, have the electricity shut-off where the climbers can’t reach it.

For the hedges, I’d get mesh to run higher than the hedge so anything thrown will just bounce back.

That or shoot the buggers on sight. We used to have people actually come into the yard to feed the horses and despite explaining that some of the horses were on diets for the sake of their health, and one who had medication for a serious condition that was affected by food, they still called me a stuck up bitch when I asked them to leave! People wonder why landowners end up putting up huge fences or walls, and THIS is why.

This is awful behaviour op borne of total ignorance. There needs to be a national campaign or something warning people of the dangers of laminitis, choke and colic and potentially getting barged or bitten.

That's nuts about the father climbing over the gate in to the field! He could have seriously endangered his toddler. And he's trespassing!

If signs, cameras, electric fencing don't work then I am sorry you may have to move them and put a bull in there instead!

The only other thing I can think of is a sort of photo and shame campaign on local tv, radio or on-line... .

Ynbu Some people are so rude op. I’d put up cctv and say what pp said about pursuing for vet bill. Wonder if you’d get away with a sign saying you’ve got ANPR?!!

Put up a sign..."These horses bite" with a picture of a hand with severed fingers courtesy of Google.

Is there a food they can eat?
I'd you can't stop them feeding your horses then maybe allowing them to feed a certain food may help, won't stop them all of course but at least it'll be safer for them.
I go to a local safari park and often see unsuitable food given to the animals despite the signs, last time was sandwiches and pringles!!

Infuriating. I despite people who treat animals like this, and especially those who encourage their children to do the same.

It sounds like you've tried almost everything but these people are selfish morons!!

Maybe a sign saying 'beware the horses will bite?'

Some kind of industrial Hive alarm camera thingy so you can shout at them in real-time?

Selfish shits.

I would also start saying it's £10 to feed them and start taking photos of them too.

I think keeping them further away in the field from these twats may be the only answer.

Thanks!

We’ve tried all sorts of different signs. Written as if from the horses, stating they have allergies. We put up CCTV and then put a sign up stating we’d pursue for vet fees.

I’ve been advised against putting up a sign stating they will bite as it could make me liable for any injuries

I can’t do much with the fencing along that side, we’re on livery so are stuck with what the yard owner will allow. The only thing we can do is move the electric fence further away

Fields without footpaths are a bit of a rarity round here unfortunately

I’ve seenthis on a local Facebook page and honestly thought WTF are people so thick!

Will definitely add some electric fence to the gate though

I'm increasingly feeling that the countryside is seen in the same light as a free theme park these days. It's nuts, and many of the visitors are either thick or selfish, or both.

Also one of the houses near me has barbed wire on the top of their wall. That would stop anyone climbing over the fence.

How about reverse psychology? Put out a plastic muck skip with a sign asking people to kindly put their treats into it for the horses to have later in their stables? I agree that they're looking for free entertainment, so give them something to do. It drives me nuts too. I do wish more people would react as one mum did when I was riding along the bridleway near our yard, which is also a footpath. I was minding my own business, sunny day, on the buckle end. Mum and a couple of kids coming towards me. as soon as she saw the horse she shrieked in fear, called the children to her shouting at them to keep away from the horse. She scooped both up in her arms and staggered ran away!

I have moved yards for this reason!
I have a laminitic and someone removed her grazing muzzle to feed her crap. They could have killed her.

I don't think there is anything you can do as you don't have enough control over the space. Anything you put up will just be an extra challenge for them to get over, and they'll just try harder.

People are just horrible.

We've got Welsh ponies and these tubby little buggers love a good snack. Unfortunately they aren't immune to laminitis so it bugs the hell out of me when total strangers are filling them up with sugary polo mints and whatever jammy or chocolatey sandwiches they happen to have in their bags.

I would suggest electrifying (well signposted) the fence and gate to the field as well as the inner boundary. I also highly recommend brutal signs with photos of dead horses from gastric rupture or twisted gut. Whatever makes the toddlers cry and the parents turn their kids away and stop feeding the horses.

When I was a kid we had a greedy little pony and a path through his field. There were plenty of alternative routes just metres away but one chap insisted on using this one every day. Our bright orange little monster would mug the man every single time. He'd stand in front of him and root through his pockets, not letting him by. He'd grab and fling whatever he found and the man would moan at us, insisting he should be able to walk in our field because he had that right. (It was adjacent to a proper path in the adjoining field). Crazy.

I hope he had fun fighting off my boy and picking his wallet back up when my pony nicked and flung it.

We haven't had a problem with this thankfully as our horse (and his mates) are away from public roads on a private farm. What I do find increasingly though is people dumping rubbish (they just open their car window and throw out used nappies, junk food containers, drinks cans, etc) and they also drive specifically to our bit of countryside to fly tip. So far we have had to pay to remove building materials such as old china sinks and lavatories, old window frames, stacks of broken tiles and on one occasion an industrial deep fat fryer which just someone dumped in the hedgerow. So much for caring for wildlife and the local environment.

people are thick and entitled.

It's depressing.