Just lost my shit at a walker for feeding.....

[krustykittens]

I know this has been done to death but I just want to vent. We have BHS signs up saying please do not feed and why, electric fencing, and stock fencing to keep ponies back from the path and give people safe access (we live in Scotland with right to roam) and STILL someone insisted on giving my ponies polo mints today. Daughter saw him feeding and she shouted at him to stop from her bedroom window. He looked up and carried on. Shat himself when he saw me running down the path. "I'm so sorry, it's only a polo mint." I lost it, I am ashamed to say, but the fucking entitlement to feed despite numerous signs asking you not to, to ignore someone telling you to stop and only feel bad when it is obvious a confrontation is looming. He KNEW he was in the wrong, but he did it anyway. The worst thing is, one of our ponies has an upset tummy at the moment and this entitled cunt is giving her pure sugar. Herself and another mare were starting to bicker when I legged it down the path, which the signs warn could happen IF YOU FEED! I am going to move our water trough and double fence their summer field next year to make it that little bit harder but I still found tourists trying to take down their electric fencing this summer so they could go in with them and take fucking selfies. I have bought geese and I am really hoping they put the fear of God into people who try and get close to the ponies. Anyone know if it is legal to put blades on the geese feet?! (I am joking. A little). I also want to put a sing up saying, "One of these ponies is a stallion. Only let yourself in here if you want to find out how it feels to be a mare." but daughter says that is going too far......I don't have stallions but these idiots wouldn't know the difference.

My friend rescues rare breeds. One of his cows gave birth and a group of people got into their field and tried to catch the calf to take selfies with. He fell into the stream at the side of the field. Luckily friend had already ran to the field to yell at the twatty tourist's and jumped straight in to save him. By the time he got him to dry land, he had stopped breathing. Friend was able to revive him but his scent had washed off in the stream and his mother rejected him. So friend had to hand rear him. Not ideal but it the whol situation almost ended up so much worse.

I hate the right to roam legislation with a passion. (Proper footpaths are hard enough to police, but right to roam is bonkers. We live on the edge of a national park and the amount of farmers with issues with livestock theft, livestock on site butchering, idiots with barbecues, idiots with loose dogs is beyond belief.)
People don't feed horses for the horse's benefit, they do it for "the experience", and they certainly don't like being told no.
Might I suggest Embden Geese? They are larger than the average, and if you keep a couple of males they can get extremely territorial. Their bite, from bitter experience, hurts like hell.

Oh definitely, especially if we are talking more than 2, I’m not getting in the middle of that! . I have high hopes for your geese though they are loud, defensive and have a crazy look in their eyes.

I think the geese are an excellent idea.

People are just fucking horrible.

Local city farm has signs EVERYWHERE asking you not to feed the animals anything except the (£1 for a big bag) feed you can buy from the shop. Did my absolute nut seeing people pull out bags of fucking bread and carrots to feed the goats, sheep and donkeys.

Do whatever you need to do. People are idiots. I read about a newborn foal, hours old, still finding it’s legs to walk went off a cliff because people got so close for a fucking selfie it was scared! Idiots.

I have just 😂😂😂😂😂 out loud at this. “One of these ponies is a stallion. Only let yourself in here if you want to find out how it feels to be a mare." Funny as fuck OP. Do it 😂

I feel your anger. We do the same. Mine are at home and one has a serious diet to stick to. What is wrong with these fuckwits?! I’d have done the same and legged it down too. I have nothing to add apart from total understanding. My friend’s foal was killed last week by a dog attack. Left for dead in the field age 6 weeks old. He found him like that. Absolutely awful. It’s unbelievable what people think they can do with other people’s horses. The lack of respect and yes, their god-damned entitlement. The signs are up for a reason. Idiots. The lot of them.

How did I miss the geese? Perfect!

That's shit! there's a field around the corner from us with a couple of horses and actually they got some geese, people don't go anywhere near now. Those geese are better than guard dogs for keeping people away!

This has come up a few times on MN and the last time I added to a thread (under a different name) I got told I was snobby and entitled-because I didn't want people feeding a lami phone welsh cob or trespassing! Luckily it was only by a few people, but it made me see where the mentality came from. It seems like some think the "no feed" is genuinely just to piss on their parade and the signs about lami, EMS and aggressive behaviour are made up to ruin their fun.
I had someone who used to chuck apples into the field when they couldn't access the horses directly. I've had lawn mower clippings too. Also had walkers and kids in a private field with a mare and foal (lucky they got out of that one unscathed) and people wandering around a yard patting the horses uninvited just because they fancied it and strolled in from the road. They were heading the way of the "cute" shetland which was the most likely to have your face off.
I don't honestly know what more you can do beyond fencing and signs. It seems an impossible battle sometimes. 99% of people are obviously great. A quick pat and on their way, not a problem.

My gelding is very friendly and has never been known to say no to food - I frequently got to the first yard we were at to find families with carrier bags full of carrots feeding him because he ‘looked hungry’ 🤦‍♀️ Thankfully we’re now on our own land and nobody goes near their field but the stupidity of so many people is astounding

So many horrible stories on this thread. I really fear for humanity sometimes 😢

It’s the entitlement.

During covid my dad was driving past the field my cob was kept in. There were MULTIPLE signs up, saying don’t feed. Explanations why etc. There was a family, man, woman and small child feeding the horses. My dad pulled over and politely explained please don’t feed them, as per the signs etc etc.

The guy got very shitty, very quickly ‘my son enjoys it’ was the basis of his argument… and then squared up to my dad! 😳 The entitlement is astounding!!

(They did bugger off and no punches were thrown but bloody hell!!!)

If I started feeding a diabetic toddler chocolate buttons through his garden fence, I’m sure they’d understand my be horrified/furious!

Someone with cattle recommended the geese to me as a lot of their cows were being attacked or were miscarrying their calves because of the amount of dog shit that was being left in their field. Since they got the geese, no more problems! She gave me the name of a breeder, I went out to view two males and two females, and one of the males squared up to me and hissed. I just said, "Sold! Stick him in a carrier and put him in the back of my car!" They are slowly getting used to us as they have to be tame enough for us to handle but he is still an aggressive little fuck, so I have high hopes for him.

@OriginalFloorboards that is just fucking awful but all too common. I would love to breed Highlands as they are back on the endangered breeds list, but I know I wouldn't have a hope in hell of keeping idiots away from foals. It's too scary. My lot at least are big enough to stand up to a dog and they DO stand up to them.

@EvilElsa Yeah, I've heard the snobby and entitled crap as well - funny how it is always from people behaving entitled, isn't it? Thing is, I'm a council estate girl, which comes out in a fight. I think I blistered this guy from his balls to his scalp with my language. And no, I don't care. The damage these people do, I have no tolerance any more.

@CocoonofDavid Myself and my daughter were saying that rudest and most aggressive people are those that feel a sense of entitlement for their kids. If their kids want to do something, they don't give a shit how anti social they are being, their kids have RIGHTS! But I find even the most aggressive people scuttle away once you start filming them!

Thank you all for listening to me vent - I am still grinding my teeth in rage, but I am very happy I got to catch one of these arseholes in the act!

We have a small pony in a small bare paddock due to previous laminitis - someone stopped to feed it bloody battenburg cake, the fucking fools, how are people so stupid?

Oh I love the idea of geese in the paddock! Do they get along ok with the horses?

I'm a city girl with absolutely no idea but even I know well enough to stay away from geese!

Not a horse owner, just see a few sticking their heads over fences on local walking tracks (in rural Australia). They all seem really curious and come over to see anyone walking past.

No signs that I've seen, and to be honest I've never seen anyone else attempt to feed them. I know not to b/c my Grandpa rode all his life and told me never to feed anyone else's animals.

Maybe it's b/c these tracks aren't touristy ones and the locals know the rules, I don't know?

But seriously, the entitlement of feeding DESPITE signage (polo mints??) is utterly bonkers & I'd have yelled at them too. As if owning horses wasn't expensive enough without forking out more for security measures.

I get the impression that there isn't as much of a sense of entitlement from walkers in Australia about feeding horses compared to the UK. Maybe because of the lack of Right to Roam in rural areas? There aren't any of these historical paths that go alongside or through properties that rural landowners have to accommodate.

When I was living in the UK I used to struggle with the idea of crossing a farmer's field when that was the direction of the path. It just felt wrong.

The armed geese are the stuff of nightmares… although if you see their serrated mouths, I’m pretty sure this is where the saying “Armed to the teeth comes from!” Let loose the feathery psychopaths AND put up the sign!

I am terrified of geese- and swans, seems like a win win solution!

This! And I love your user name! The balls on people to even approach your fence! Much less feed them!

On the news a baby foal has fallen to its death because people were fighting to get close and take photos. There’s something fundamentally wrong with people and their quest for that selfie. It’s a sickness.

Get a big dog. Farms around us have bloody big unfriendly dogs. No one hangs around.

I don't blame you