To ask people to tell everyone they know NOT TO FEED HORSES THAT DON’T BELONG TO THEM

[YeahBabyYeahYeah]

I won’t post the article as it made me cry and may be more triggering for others, but the most beautiful pony is in the papers today. He died because someone ignored “do not feed” signs and fed him a fucking potato.

Why oh why do some people (who in this case clearly know fuck-all about horses if they are feeding them whole potatoes) think it is OK to feed other people’s animals without their permission?

AIBU to think there should be more awareness about this, especially with more people going for walks at the moment. It is never OK to feed a horse unless the owner tells you it is OK and approves the food.

[quote newhooverville]@Floralnomad yes, now seen. Why would a horsey person tell me that? It seems crazy. She had had horses for years and even had worked as an assistant in a vet practice for years![/quote]

Probably the same way that Haribo are fine for children, but if they eat lots of packets in a day then they'll end up obese and diabetic.

I can't believe people actually do this. How shitty, entitled, and stupid. I was taught I may not interact with mhorses we came across - not call them over, as there may be barbed wire in places or they may be scared, or bump their legs on the fencing. If there was a friendly head leaning over a nice gate, we might have been allowed to hold up our hand to sniff, and perhaps even stroke their nose or neck ever so gently. That felt a bit intrusive though. Why can't people just see and watch, and enjoy that? Parents should teach their children absolute respect for animals, but many just won't. How awful.

I don't feed horses but I had no idea that grass was dangerous for them!

I think Countryfile should regularly cover it as a story, and other programmes / local news etc too.

It's the same with ducks and bread - when the Council put up polite signs, they were someone took to social media and said it was ABSOLUTELY DISCUSTING - that they'd been feeding the ducks bread for decades and no Council was going to stop them and "Did they know how upset my kids are, eh, eh ?"

We volunteer at a local community farm. We lost cows and 1 calf last year because somebody didn’t pick up dog poo in the CLEARLY marked field and it contaminated the hay. We also have to inspect every fork full of hay for plastic as we have lost cows like that too. Fucking lanterns used to be a big problem but not so much now

YANBU. My mum once found someone leaning over the fence feeding her ponies fucking soreen. They have such delicate digestive systems and can’t be sick, people can actually kill them by feeding them rubbish. Even feeding them ‘safe’ foods can make them overweight, give them laminitis and train them to bite. It pisses me off beyond belief.

And kids should be educated on TV and at school about this. Children often have more sense than their parents and would be mortified to think they had harmed an animal.

Children can be better than parents with rules like this. I know you shouldn't have to but if you have a horse could you ask a school to do an assembly about it or even go in yourself. The children will then tell their parents off most likely. Just a thought.

Would you like to put your child on a horse that's not supposed to have any sugar (sends him loopy) after a Sunday where he's been given 10 apples by various passers by?

Just do.not.feed them. They do not belong to you.

This story broke my heart. We have people tipping over grass cuttings in to our horses field - which could kill him!

That’s terrible, I mean you wouldn’t go up and feed someone’s dog, why would you a horse?!

@JamieLeeCurtains

I'm wondering what the best signs would be for a semi-literate British public?

'Horse bites. Electric fence. Hurty stuff.'

Then you'd just get the idiots who make a point of injuring themselves with your animal or fence in order to sue you.

During the first lockdown there was a lovely gentle old horse on our regular walking route and DS was mad to bring a carrot to feed him every day. I wouldn't have known a potato or grass clippings were dangerous for a horse but a quick google at the time told me that it was smarter not to feed the animal anything that wasn't growing in it's field. DS was disappointed but understood why and it kind of turned into a great chat about country living and keeping animals safe and happy.

Here in Ireland though, very few private properties would have public paths through them and nobody would usually go into fields belonging to them. And if people did persist and caused damage to property or an animal they wouldn't be long being told to GTFO with a shotgun pointed at them.

Well your post has done some good here, OP. Living in a city, I don't come across many horses, and thinking back, I think my kids have only ever picked grass from around the fence for a horse, but I have never really considered that the image of feeding an apple to a pony could be incredibly harmful so this has educated me. Thank you.

*Went down like a lead balloon

I had taken the fun out of their daily walk*

I ruin people's lives by telling them it's not good to feed bread to the ducks.

@DoubleTweenQueen

I can't believe people actually do this. How shitty, entitled, and stupid. I was taught I may not interact with mhorses we came across - not call them over, as there may be barbed wire in places or they may be scared, or bump their legs on the fencing. If there was a friendly head leaning over a nice gate, we might have been allowed to hold up our hand to sniff, and perhaps even stroke their nose or neck ever so gently. That felt a bit intrusive though. Why can't people just see and watch, and enjoy that? Parents should teach their children absolute respect for animals, but many just won't. How awful.

Agree Double Queen, and thank you for being so considerate. I'm pontificating now and filling the thread up with my random musings, but I do think part of the problem is that the lines between town and country are so blurred and the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' now live in much much closer proximity to one another. In the 'good old days' (which of course had a lot of problems of their own, no rose tinted glasses here), either you lived in the countryside and were therefore educated on proper behaviour around lifestock (plus farmers or landowners would let you know in no uncertain terms what they thought if they caught you engaged in bad behaviour and could really make you suffer for it with impunity), or you lived in a town and very occasionally visited the more accessible parts of the countryside such as national parks, often on an organised trip as so few people had access to private transport, and where there were quite clear guidelines for visitor behaviour. Plus there was so much agricultural land it was much much easier to keep lifestock in quiet, remote grazing away from popular rambling and picnicing spots. Now so many people, even in towns live within 10 minutes stroll of grazing land and with covid in particular people en masse are forced out into the countryside for exercise without any particular knowledge or education unless they actively seek it out. It def isn't a government priority to educate people on countryside issues or high up on the police's list, which is probably right when you consider how many even more serious issues there are to be addressed like rural poverty and theft and burglary of farm equipment and rural properties, which there aren't anywhere near enough resources to deal with as is. Plus farmers and in particular horsey people are very much seen as posh, snobs etc so some people see it as fair game to let their kids do as they like with their animals, and criminal damage to the owners property (which is what the poisoning of livestock is, at the bottom line) is pretty much seen as collateral damage by some. I hope this very sad case does reach a few well-intentioned people who simply didn't know better but sadly I suspect this will increasingly continue until horse ownership is forced back and back by rising costs and inaccessibility of grazing and bridleways etc to being the preserve of such a few very wealthy individuals who have access to enough totally private land to graze and ride on. Which is a real shame of course but things change...

@Baycob

But actually most people don’t know. They think they are doing something kind. There is even an advert from the government here saying “feed the birds, being kind to nature is being kind to yourself”.

I think what would be better is putting a sign up saying please don’t feed my horse XYZ because it will make my horse sick. If Lots of people feed my horse and it can get horsey diabetes ( laminitis). Why don’t you call him over instead, his name is X, and give him a big pat! Alternatively, you could write a sign advising people that your horse bites or kicks.

These signs that just say DO NOT FEED THE HORSES, seem passive aggressive and make people more likely to try to do the opposite! You catch more bees with honey than vinegar!

This.

Yes we used to have this problem. Ponies prone to laminitis and people were feeding them all sorts. It got to the point you couldn't even touch them over the fence without them thinking you were going to feed them and them snatching. We ended up having to mvoe them somewhere else away from the public as even signs were ignored.

Really, a lot of people don' know. To most people, horses are expensive, beautiful, slightly mysterious things that we go past on walks.

There's a lot of 'folklore' about feeding horses apples, carrots, polos, lumps of sugar etc., so people assume it's OK. I'm not saying that it is OK, but people wouldn't think differently about patting or feeding your horse as compared to a friendly dog.

I think DO NOT FEED THE HORSES is fine, but it's a bit shouty, and doesn't really help people to understand why. Most people DON'T know about equine digestive systems or laminitis, they just see the horse there in the field that they pass all of the time. I wonder even now - is it OK for me to give a horse a handful of long grass (not cut grass) that's growing on the footpath side of the fence? That's what I have done in the past. I don't know whether that's OK or not.

You shouldn't have to, but if you keep your horse on a popular route, why not make a sign that say, 'Please don't feed our horses because... they have sensitive stomachs and can't be sick... we have to monitor exactly what they have... they can get special horsey illnesses that make them lame and could end up with them having to be put to sleep..." Maybe also let people know whether or not they can pat the horse.

Please don't assume that anything at all to do with horses is 'just common sense', it isn't. Most people are well-meaning I'm sure, and at this time, yes - probably looking for something to do. Why not tap into their fascination and help them to learn more about horses in the process?

You shouldn't have to, but if you keep your horse on a popular route, why not make a sign that say, 'Please don't feed our horses because... they have sensitive stomachs and can't be sick... we have to monitor exactly what they have... they can get special horsey illnesses that make them lame and could end up with them having to be put to sleep..." Maybe also let people know whether or not they can pat the horse.

A caravan site we regularly used had a field with horses that had to be passed to walk to and from the site.

Year after year there were signs. "Don't feed the horses", "PLEASE don't feed the horses". "It is forbidden to feed the horses" and a final "Please don't feed these horses. The big one is on a special diet, and the little one bites."

Years after year, there was always at least one idiot who fed the f*cking horses.

You know... it doesn't matter what we put on the signs there are people who will ignore them. It's very well meaning to say that we need to not just say "Don't feed the horses" but a large number of horse owners are already on that. My signs tell people they can kill the horses, they say don't even feed grass, one says "fuss don't feed" but I've put another beside that saying maybe not during Covid as it can transmit on fur.

I have 3 of these signs on my fences already www.bhs.org.uk/our-work/welfare/our-campaigns/be-horse-aware

You can put as many signs as you want. Doesn't mean people read and pay attention to them

I have never fed anyone elses animal and never would but still, thanks to many posters for the education.

I googled the story, deeply upsetting.

I've also seen horse aggression when four horses were fighting over polo mints. It wasn't a pretty sight - it was bloody frightening, actually! There was a little one I really thought was going to get badly hurt.

The idiots feeding them just ran for it, screaming and laughing - laughing with shock, I think, to be fair - I can only hope they never did it again (but I'll bet they did).

"Did they know how upset my kids are, eh, eh ?"

I hear that all the time and it makes me so angry.

1. I actually don’t care if your child is upset. I really don’t give a crap. Your child is not my problem
2. No child died from being upset, but my pony may die because you insist on feeding it crap
3. What about my child’s “upset” when you kill her pony?

@maxelly and @YeahBabyYeahYeah no the person (who lives locally but not a friend) told me it was ok to feed random horses apples, that they wouldn't do any harm. We even talked about laminitis. We talked about it because she was feeding a local pony even though she didn't know the owner, and the pony was limping and had suspected laminitis. As I say, I assumed she knew what she was talking about - but this wasn't about me feeding other people's horses.

@maxelly no I hadn't RTT I wanted an answer to a particular question. I will RTT though when I get the chance. No, I don't want tips about spending time round horses though, if I did I would probably be more horsey!