To ask you to please not feed horses you don’t know

[lastqueenofscotland]

Out walking after work this afternoon and saw someone with some young children feeding a horse in a field leaves and various crap picked off the ground.
I’ve hear stories of people who’ve dumped grass clippings on the ground horses have eaten these and got colic.
My previous horse was a blimp and was on strip grazing/already grazed down fields and I once caught someone feeding him slices of bread
Please don’t do it, horses can’t vomit and get very ill if something doesn’t agree with them.

Oh and the feeding dogs thing, I was walking my labrador when a stupid bloke encouraged his toddler to give him a biscuit. Luckily I noticed, stopped the man and explained that
a) my dog isn't fed human sugary food.
b) I dont want 7stone of lab thinking that toddlers = food . My boy is lovely, but could really hurt a child if he knocked it over looking for food.
Bloke seemed put out !

I know just how you feel. We have a right of way through our land and the absolute idiots we come across never cease to amaze me.

I do understand that people may not know why feeding horses (be it grass, polo mints, carrots or anything else) is dangerous- but the point stands that you don't need to know the ins and outs of equine husbandry to know that as they aren't your livestock it isn't your place to be feeding them anything. Just as I would not feed your pet or child- they aren't mine and I have no idea if what I might give them is safe or desirable.

The other thing I do not understand is why people cannot follow instructions they see on signs- warnings of electric fencing, signs asking people not to feed the animals or warnings that mare and foals should be left alone. The fact I have put up a double electric fence to try and stop people going in does not seem to deter some. I have actually had complaints from parents that their child was hurt by the electric fence, despite the signs warning of their presence and why they are there.

I caught one parent and two young children in the field (before running electric fencing along gate also) with a mare and foal- trying to catch and "pat`" the foal as it was cute. They were lucky the mare is generally quite laid back and an experienced mother- and even at that she was squaring up to them when I arrived. I hate to think what may have happened if I had been 10 minutes later.

I have also experienced people wandering into the yard to see the horses- through a gate, on private property. They go into the sheep and cattle pens sometimes too. Again to pet the animals. It's worse at lambing and calving time as the lambs and calves are small and "Cute" and also penned in.

Many people just don't seem t realise how defensive and dangerous animals- be it sheep, cattle or horses- are when cornered by people they are unfamiliar with and do not know how to handle them, let alone when it's a mother defending her offspring (as they see it).

The countryside and other peoples livestock are not playthings. They are living, breathing animals who deserve to be treated with respect. They can also be people's livelihoods.

I know next to nothing about horses but I'm still agog at the spectacular stupidity being described here. Who in their right mind approaches a random horse and tries to plonk their child on its back?

Sometimes I wonder how humans aren't extinct we're so stupid.

I wish this thread had a vote.

We’re locals in the New Forest and tbh most locals are waiting for a child to be seriously injured or killed.

Every tourist seems to think that the ponies and donkeys are oh so cute and clearly roaming free for their personal entertainment. I’ve personally witnessed someone feeding a pony Fruit ‘n’ Fibre cereal, others placing their child on ponies, so many I’ve lost count feeding the ponies & donkeys, trying to pet the foals, posing with them for photos, encouraging them to their cars for food. It’s a nightmare.

I’ve politely spoken to people, only to be shouted at, sworn at (usually in front of their beloved children) or ignored.

The ponies, donkeys, cattle, pigs and sheep are all owned by commoners. This is a long tradition that allows the animals to roam the forest and shape the very environment that attracts everyone here. But just because they’re not in fenced in fields the non-locals seem to think that they’re not owned and therefore fair game.

As I said - us locals are just waiting for a child to be seriously injured or killed.

The other thing I do not understand is why people cannot follow instructions they see on signs

The people that do this think they are above the warnings. We have signs of dangerous water for a reason (I won’t go into it on here as a child drowned). It was stupid decision by the parents to allow them to ‘swim’ in the pond, it was a stupid decision by the parents to climb the fence and ignore the signs. I live with the memory every day in life knowing it happened on our land. Yet people still come to a remote area to picnic and allow their children into that pond IGNORING the signs. I have come to the conclusion some people are stupid and you can’t fix stupid.

As for my horses, we have double electric fences up now, if people choose to ignore the ‘electric fence’ signs, well, that’s up to them. If their children get a shock it’s not my issue.