FFS DONT feed horses in fields !!

[Thoroughbred5]

Honestly it blows my mind that this is still a problem but it is. Just wanted to post since it’s coming into nicer weather and more people will be out and about.

caught 3 separate families over the weekend feeding my horse treats when he was out in his field. I spoke to each and 2 were clearly annoyed but did stop, the third just threw their apples and other treats into the field anyway. We have signs, CCTV, double fencing, we have everything. Every summer is the bloody same- people feeding the horses.

DONT feed other people’s horses or ponies. Firstly, nobody is entitled to feed another persons animal. Secondly, you have no idea what that horses specific diet is. Would you be happy to pay for my horses laminitis bill? Or colic? And honestly, it’s best not to feed handfuls of grass either. It doesn’t matter that the horse is in a field full of grass. Feeding horses by hand in the field can cause jealousy amongst the herd and can cause horses to become nippy and bolshy towards people at fences and gates

It’s only may and already it’s a problem. I love the summer but I’m fed up of worrying if my horse is safe in his own field. Anyone else in the same position? And if your reading this and you’re one of the people who feed other people’s horses, please just fucking stop

Definitely a bridge dweller.
Either that or a townie.
Either way they have no business around the countryside or animals.

Ultimately I think it's up to horse owners to protect the health of their horses adequately and not rely on members of the public, who don't know about specific horse diets, to do so. Clearly signs don't work, so the horses shouldn't be accessible to the public. Simple really.

Just don't feed any animal that doesn't belong to you.
Simple really.

Best advice I can give as someone who put up with this shit for YEARS -the only thing that worked 100% was making the horses absolutely impossible to access. Literally had to be out of sight. Still had a grandmother and her young granddaughter wandering round the stable block patting horses (indoor behind two gates!) like it was a petting zoo. She couldn't understand why we had a problem with her entering private property and letting her granddaughter run around screaming. They'd been passing on their bikes (quiet country lane, clearly someone's home as well as a stable yard) and they'd fancied a look round and just let themselves in!
Only other signs I had moderate success with were ones saying THIS HORSE BITES. Ones regarding laminitis and colic sadly still didn't put everyone off. People don't give a shit if they cause someone else a problem, but they do care if their fingers get bitten off it seems.

Surely the YABU people on this thread are just here to enjoy a wind up?

I love horses. I've ridden on and off, but never owned one. I'm one of those people who could just sit and look at them for hours. I won't feed them grass from the floor because I am woefully ignorant about what is poisonous or not, and I don't know the horse. I have a few friends with horses, occasionally I might get to go and see them and give them a treat under supervision.

When I was a teen , a friend and I looked after a family friend's pony during the week while she was at work as he was recovering from laminitis. Thankfully he was stabled away from public footpaths.

I remember going to a petting zoo once in the 80s where some baby rabbits were nearly mauled to death by tiny toddler hands, before we alerted staff to intervene. It was awful. I don't know where the ignorance comes from.

I don't know what the answer is - how do you educate people? Signs are all well and good if people can read them. How do you make people care? I can't bear to think of the heartbreak caused by losing a horse for such a preventable reason.

Perhaps someone should shove a potato up her car exhaust to see how she takes that

Another post trying to make out it’s the horse owner’s fault?

Well of course that’s the ideal situation having a place where the public don’t have access but have you tried to rent or buy land in the countryside near you recently? Especially land that is suitable for equine grazing?

In many places it’s very scarce and very expensive. So people do the best they can. We finally own our land after 20 years of renting. In six years of owning it, we have received eight requests from other horse owners wanting to rent part of it or share.

And horses can develop conditions needing special diets quite suddenly and unexpectedly, or in old age, so it’s not always possible to plan for it and anticipate precisely when a piece of grazing might be unsuitable.

With respect, it really is best not to comment when you don’t know a lot about a subject.

God some people really are pig ignorant, our fields border a road and a playground, the children are usually respectful and ask if they can stroke the ponies and goats, the adults not so much! I tell children the ponies may nip as they are young and please don't feed them, l have never in 3 years had a child ignore that.
Yet on the road side there is a pull in and so much rubbish got thrown over the fence that l have had to fence a 200m strip 3m in along the field, very expensive and inconvenient but it is truly eye opening what we have had thrown over, needles, condoms, a 4 ft tinsel christmas sleigh, clothes, bin bags of household rubbish...we were collecting a bin bag a day to avoid our animals being killed by the rubbish.
We live rurally in a sleepy pretty village, not even on the side of a major road. There are public bins in the layby.

Once l was cleaning a water trough when someone threw the contents of their car rubbish over (not seeing me), as l was quite muddy l had no issue with collecting it up and throwing it hard at their Teslas shiny bodywork.
They said nothing. They were lucky l was not mucking out with a pitchfork in my hand as l would have thrown that as well.....hard.

I bumped this thread because of a post on a different thread. 4 pages later and I'm quite glad I did.

But you are putting your horse at risk by relying on the public, who generally don't know equine cuisine restrictions, because you think they should. Safer to preemptively protect the horses better, surely.

equine cuisine restrictions
Are you referring to the 2013 horse meat scandal?

OK and how do you suggest that happens? I know, block footpaths off so that entitled people don't endanger my animals.
If people are walking across field they should know, and abide by, the countryside code. People who think they have a right to feed other people's animals are likely the same ignorant twats who let their dogs run in amongst sheep and lambs!

Now that would be an argument of many layers , with bechamel.

You just leave anything animate or inanimate that doesn't being to you alone. No need to worry about cuisine restrictions then. Really very, very simple.

@Throwyourkeysup

Not all horse owners mind their horses being fed which causes confusion too. My neighbours own horses which I occasionally feed for them, they allow all manner of treats! Perhaps signage is important if you have a horse which has a strict diet. I grew up giving sugar lumps to horses and whilst I know not to now, the older generation may not realise

I imagine if the horses are super skinny and filthy, people feel sorry for them.

@ChedderGorgeous where do you suggest this mythical place is, accessible only to the horse owner yet nobody else.
Newsflash - people trespass. Knobheads that like bothering other people's animals are going to be happy to trespass.

Yes absolutely; the older generation may not realise, but presumably there is no good reason why they should take note of signs?

And your neighbour’s may have different reasons for allowing treats eg the horses are old, not ridden, extremely hearty types, or they may know the majority of people who are likely to pass by and feed. Just because one set of owners allows it, doesn’t mean that rule translates universally to all owners and their horses!

@Vanessasbag - how you have the nerve to call horse owners protecting their animals “precious and entitled” I just don’t know.

My sister’s much-loved horse (that she’d bred and brought up from a foal) got colic from someone feeding it something they shouldn’t have. She had an operation (£10,000) followed by six months’ box rest while the incision in her stomach healed. Unfortunately, as a result of complications, she ended up having to be put down. And all because someone - like you - thought they had the right to give her a “treat”.

So don’t give me “precious and entitled” and just stay away from animals that don’t belong to you.

But if you go by that rule, only multi-millionaires would own horses and keep them in guarded enclaves with 24 hour security!

It really isn’t owners putting horses at risk from the public. It’s the other way around!

.....or cats that hang out in Tesco Sunbury (#Belinda).

No good reason why they should NOT take note of signs I mean!

Or simpler.... just work on the assumption that it's not ok to feed anything to another person's animal without their explicit permission?

Can only sympathise OP, I was at a zoo recently where I watch a parent hang a toddler horizontally over the meerkats. Firstly, the toddler was screaming, secondly meerkats are vicious little creatures but thirdly (and most importantly) parents didn't realise they were holding darling Matilda so her legs were against the high voltage wire under the ledge, inside the exhibit.

Moral of the story: people are entitled and thick. Suggestions - A sign that says 'electric fence is connected to mains to stop ponies biting idiots' or a 'bull in field' sign? Generally folk seem more wary of cattle... get an ACTUAL bullock for the field? I don't think there's a clear answer, maybe plant some stinging nettles or something equally ouchy around the fence line?

Would it be possible to put CCTV or a doorbell camera up linked to your phone? You could put a sign up saying that you will post images on social media of people who are feeding the horses and risking making them seriously ill. People might not be as quick to do it if they know that others will be judging their actions.

You also have the intercom option on a ring doorbell so if you got a notification on your phone you could activate it and ask people to stop, if confronted directly they might not continue. There is even a voice changing option on some, If you change it to a man’s voice that might seem more authoritative - it shouldn’t but let’s face it if it’s a man feeding the horses they are more likely to listen to another man asking.
I have an anti tamper alarm on mine as well so if anyone tries to remove it an alarm goes off and it takes their photograph. I’d put a sign up saying this because someone would probably try to steal it, you could put multiple ones up.

Do you have a local Facebook group? I live in a town that has a group where horse owners post and explain the risks of feeding their horses, after one died they posted a picture of the dead horse and it was heartbreaking, a lot of people responded they had no idea that feeding them could make them ill and said they wouldn’t do it again. If you don’t have a local group you could post to a buying/selling group that gets a lot of traffic if you ask permission, I’ve seen people do that as well.

There are horses in a field very near to my house, the owners put a sign up saying “if you want to feed the horses you are welcome to bring your children on this time and this date and they can meet the horses supervised. Please do not feed them unless invited or you will might make them so ill it could kill them” They put a mobile number too. I actually went to feed them when I was passing on one occasion and there was quite a crowd, there were adults there alone and not just with children.
They ended up making money having a twice weekly “meet & greet”.
Obviously that was great for their circumstances but might not work for everyone, I’m guessing it depends on the horses needs and temperament and if you actually want to deal with hoards of people every week!

Until reading some posts on this thread I have to admit I was naive about approaching horses, I would never have fed one because I don’t think you should ever feed animals that don’t belong to you but I have stopped and petted a Shetland pony in a field by my house. I spent hours during lockdown sat by the fence talking and stroking it (I was desperate for company!) but reading some of people’s comments today has educated me that it’s not always a good idea to stroke random horses, in future if I don’t have permission I’ll just stand back and admire them.
At least some people on this thread today will have read what you’ve put and taken notice of it, I can’t believe anyone voted you as unreasonable but obviously that’s the problem that some people have this attitude.

I really hope you find a solution, I thought the pp who suggested putting fake beehives up had a good idea, there is no way I’d be approaching anywhere if I saw a beehive.
The fact is that you can put signs up and try your level best to educate people but some people are just unwilling to listen if it doesn’t suit them, you would think it’d be enough to stop people in their tracks if they knew they would cause suffering to the horses if you feed them but some people think it doesn’t apply to them.

I read once that if you put a sign up asking people to stop doing something then to address it as if it’s directed to them personally. If you put if YOU feed the horses then YOU risk making them ill and YOU could cause them a lot of suffering and pain then they might take more notice then if it’s just a general notice. Apparently it’s a psychological trick that is affective.