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

@HBStowe sorely there's Halters out there with Unicorn horns attached? And it would be especially fitting as Scotland's national animal is actually the Unicorn. 😂

chester I think you’re on to something!

I agree with other PP’s’ put up more aggressive signs threatening to prosecute with fake CCTV if you can. Feeding other people horses is not acceptable. Even without any illnesses they are not public property!

What about a sign saying:

You're killing them with kindness

Or rather horrendously, some pictures along the lines of those on cigarette packets? 😬 that will stop kindly grandmas??

Stupid. Closely related to idiots who feed bread to ducks and takahe in other people's obviously not stray cat because he looked hungry. Aarrgghh!!!
Ive seen double fencing so there is a gap between, like a margin round the field. Beware of horse. Notice, we Bite/kick. Sprinklers? Loud noises.

It boggles my mind that people think this is ok. I remember nannying for an eight year old who wanted to feed horses felled apples on a walk. I told her not to feed the horses for the reasons given in previous posts. Her father called her to him, looked me straight in the eye, and gave her an apple to feed the horse while telling her to ignore me. There’s no telling some people.

I'm sorry to say that there is nothing you can do to stop this, short of hiding the horses away in a stable. No matter what you put on a sign, or what you say when you catch people in person, enough people will continue to feed them crap that it will continue to be a problem.

I live in rural Australia and the local kangaroo population has suffered in recent years. The main factor is people feeding the kangaroos rubbish. There are signs everywhere asking people not to feed them, explaining that they have an abundance of healthy food all around them provided by nature. Some of the signs have detailed descriptions of the horrendous slow death that the human food will cause the kangaroo, with diagrams and everything. They even have the signs in several different languages to cater to the tourists. National Park staff will give talks on the subject, and if they catch people feeding the kangaroos they will educate them on the dangers of this and have the authority to issue fines.

It has made no difference at all. Dickheads still feed the kangaroos crisps and chocolate because they feel like it. They don't care what anyone tells them because apparently the kangaroos like the food and it's fun for their kids to feed them. The dickheads are in large enough numbers that the kangaroos are still suffering because of it.

I'm sorry that my post is so negative. I don't know what on earth you do about these people. They are everywhere

its weird how people are like this.

there's a couple in the village have been told multiple times not to feed the horses, but they turn up every Tuesday with their carrot and hay. As though they're saving the animal from a life of starvation and they're doing a terribly kind deed

YANBU OP

I had a 10K vet bill with a dead horse at the end of it because someone fed my mare mouldy bread 😐

It’s weird

I can guess some people are ignorant but once they have seen the signs or even been caught and told, they have no excuse

It’s literally selfish. “I want to do it and you can stop me” attitude

Slightly going off track, but saw people in car behind feeding monkeys at Woburn last w/e even though there are signs saying it endangers their health. I phoned Woburn & they sent a jeep straight over to deal with them. The monkeys then got really cross they weren't getting anymore!

There's a field locally with a couple of horses in and the crap that is dumped in their field, presumably for the to eat, is amazing.

Stir fry, fgs. Why would anyone try to feed a horse noodles? Prawn crackers? Why? Drives me nuts and they're not my horses.

Thanks all!

It’s just so frustrating.

I had been advised against putting up a sign saying they might bite as it may invalidate our liability insurance - will double check with the insurance company though, as thinking about it I see signs like that in zoos and stuff

We keep the metal field gate locked, but do have to use it regularly to get them in/put them out. I’m going to see if I can fashion some way of adding electric fence to it though

I don’t want people to feed them anything, even a handful of grass picked from the edge of their field - there are no real diet issues, although our retired mare is looking a little too rotund these days, it’s more their manners and behaviour when they’re hand fed.

Healthy stuff like carrots and apples are still fairly high in sugar so I’d rather the horses weren’t fed tonnes of them.

I don’t mind them having treats - our retired mare has to have Bute and a supplement which she’s not keen on so we give carrots and stuff in their buckets to disguise the taste, or I hang up swedes and stuff like that in their stables as it keeps them occupied overnight, they do get the odd polo and stuff they shouldn’t but I know what I’m giving them and can adjust their feed accordingly.

One person said they gave them carrots as they felt sorry for them out in all weathers - they want to be out, even when the rain is horizontal! They both hate being in and our retired mare has arthritis so needs to be out as much as possible. Once the weather is a bit more reliable, they’ll be out 24/7

People are crazy!

I have a mare with EMS (Equine Metabolic Syndrome) and she is liveried on a tatty old farm with none of the amenities most of us horse owners want. BUT there are no footpaths, which is why we stay there.

I can't understand why it is so hard to get across to people that they are actually not being kind but are threatening the life of an animal. It's hardly complicated, although I suspect it is far more to do with them wanting to interact with the horse than to do it a kindness by feeding the 'poor starving creature'

Maybe you should take them away for a week or so and put up some signs saying they're dead because people refused to stop feeding them all manner of crap.

It would piss me right off too!!

Can't you put up a sign to say that the horses have a some kind of disease which if touched, especially by the mouth, their saliva could cause fatal harm to human skin and that any person's who have touched the horses that are affected, must seek immediate medical advice.

How immature of me😂

I hear you....we own a stretch of river and land and there is a public footpath running alongside the river.
Like you, we’ve found it quite problematic.

Ours is a protected environmental site so we have legal obligations to keep it in good order, yet despite there being signage in place asking people to stop throwing their kids/dogs/rubbish etc into the river - ie, that public access is only limited to the public footpath - it has been consistently ignored.

Our solution was to put in new stock fencing along the riverwalk so that views are maintained and we’ve made significant improvements to the public footpath (more stable pathway plus planting lots of native wildflowers) - yet despite this we’ve attracted a lot of animosity for putting up the fencing.

Our yard owner suggested putting up a sign saying the horses had tape worm so do not touch

I might give it a go actually

DH is currently trying to add a line of electric fence to the gate that still allows us to open and close it without electrocuting ourselves

It’s very, very tempting to turn it on

(Sorry - pressed post too soon)

I wanted to finish by saying it makes me quite depressed how entitled and resentful some of the public can be when it comes to the countryside. Not all the public, but there’s a hardcore element who just don’t give a stuff and have no idea of the amount of work and money that goes into maintaining access.

How about a sign saying that they have ringworm and maybe a list of symptoms that humans would get and to make sure that they see a pharmacist if they suspect they've been infected...

You could always get them this. 😁

@britnay has the best idea so far. Would it be over-egging to add information about lyme disease in case the huge population of ticks in your field gets them instead?

It’s very, very tempting to turn it on

Wire it up to the nearest pylon. That’ll teach ‘em.

We have horses on the mountain where we live, roam freely, and the farmer takes them in at winter time. There are loads of signs up not to feed them, yet idiots do. Idiots have also been bitten several times, chased by mares when idiots have tried to take selfies with the foals, and then created a fuss on social media! The mind boggles. Some people are just stupid. Stupid is, stupid does.