Anyone else worry about yard security?

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Petrie

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Keep reading things about horses being stolen or arson attacks, and it's giving me sleepless nights!

I rent a yard about 4 miles from my house in a village. There are people living around the stables, and the lady who owns the yard lives on site, so they're not stuck in the middle of nowhere.

But, after I put them to bed at night, I don't see them again until the next morning, and I worry about what I will find.

The gate has a padlock on it, but if anyone wanted to get in, all they would have to do is cut the chain. I guess that's the same for most yards though, isn't it. And horses that live out must be pretty vulnerable.

What else can you do though? If it were my own yard, I would probably have it done up like Fort Knox with cctv and all the rest, but it's just a farm yard I rent off an old lady.

I have two eventers and also a rescue pony who is a gypsy cob type. I kind of figure that people generally don't steal the blood types, but the poor little cob is exactly what they seem to like!

One eventer weaves badly, so they might not want him, and the other one is almost 17.2, so they might not want him either!

But what about arson attacks....aaaagh! I guess they're not that common, are they. It's just that we hear about them.

I just want them to be at home out the back door so I can keep an eye on them all the time, but we don't have the land or the money!

Do other people worry about this, or am I mad and neurotic?!
 
Ours are outside the back door - yard is like Fort Knox and I still worry - nothing wakes me up when I'm asleep
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We do have bolt crop proof padlocks throughthe gate hing though rather than a chain but tbh if they really want in they will get in
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- it's easy enough to unscrew gate fixings - it's the slowing them down that puts them off.
 
Of course many of us are concerned, and we use that concern to make our yards as safe and secure as they can be, whether that is locks, fire buckets or whatever worries you.
Once you have done everything you can do, you then have to let it go, at the end of the day, if somebody wants your property, they will find a way to take it, you can only make it more difficult

Label everything. Freezemark your horses, stamp your postcode into your tack, paint your postcode onto every rug, bucket and brush you own..and then put up big signs to say that everything is marked. This is the best deterrent
 
No, I do. One of the reasons im on the yard I am is due to the insane security that it has and I still worry sometimes.

We're relocating in the near future and again, Ive quite specifically chosen a yard with very strict security measures in place (CCTV, individual stable webcams, owners on site, guard dogs, individually alarmed (and smoke alarmed stables) and motion detactors around the entry).

One of my friends has her own yard with decent facilities and I considered moving my horse there at the start of winter. It would have saved us a lot of money each month on livery but the security was poor and I wouldnt have settled at night
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you can get chain that is crop proof - you need the ones that they sell to immobilise expensive motorbikes - but you're looking at £200 plus just for the chain and about £85 on top of that for the padlock. Most yards do not spend that much on security

also - you need to have multiples of things - each gate needs 2 or 3 different locks. Doors the same. and locks on the hings side. Steel reinforcing

as regards arson - I'd never put a horse of mine in any building made of wood. Concrete block only - that automatically eliminates a lot of yards

signs do help as do 'fake' CCTV cameras if you can't get the real things

dogs - yep - geese even better - I wouldn't go up against my flock if I didn't know them - 20 plus geese in a yard

nothing to stop you having electric fence units pulsing down barbed wire either

personally I've got to the stage where I want to use razor wire but it's too dangerous for the animals - barbed wire just isn't enough on gate tops, etc. - but then that's urban yards for you

(oh alongside full240v electric, sharpened stakes, mantraps and anything else I can think of .....but all that lot is illegal)
 
We are so lucky and have ours outside the back door too!! And yet I still worry about them when we are out and about etc even though we have great security.

I am moving away in the next year and we are building a new yard and security is high on my list, I am going to put a burglar alarm on the barn doors to be activated at night, also on the main gates and set up a facility so if they go off, not only will a loud alarm sound the security company will also call me. we are looking into putting alarms on stable doors too.

My horses are not cheap and I do worry. I think its natural and normal to think about these things!!
 
I worry all the time. I keep him on a farm about 4 miles from the nearest town, don't think it really makes much difference though. Not bothered about tack or anything being stolen, just if anything happened to Chex. The only gate to his field is through the farm yard, so not so bad. The cattle barn that he's in is close to the road though
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. Very wary of padlocking barns etc in case there's a fire.
 
Security was the reason I moved from my yard that I had rented for 15 years to a livery yard. It was very isololated, nearest house was 1/4 mile away, it broken into several times and in the end the stress and worry was too much. At least on the livery yard there is someone around 24/7 - I know it could still be a target but I feel more secure.
 
Mine are kept at home and i can see the majority of the yard from my bedroom window but security still really worries me. We lock all of the main gates at night, we have security lights and a mile long drive for anyone to negotiate before getting to my yard & house which i think is a bit of a deterrent.

Thankfully we also have a gamekeeper who patrols the estate at night (with a gun!!) which is another good deterrent but it is such a worry nowadays and i don't think you ever feel as though you are doing enough!!
 
The stables are brick built, so that's a plus.

And I guess the fact that the yard is in a village with people all around is better than it being isolated.

A professional event yard I was in a few years ago got broken into and all the tack was stolen. they used acid to burn the locks on the outer steel door, then chopped through the wooden inner door, and took 25 saddles. The 20 or so event horses were totally unharmed though.

The YO said she thought it was very unlikely that they would steal horses like that as they're not worth very much to them - they have no history or breeding on them and they're not easily hidden. It's the coloured cobs and shetlands they like as they can hide them amongst their own and sell them to each other.

What would they do with a 17.2 bright chesnut warmblood with 4 white socks? I'd like to see him tethered to the side of the road, or walking along behind a caravan!
 
I know just what you mean. Whenever I put Oliver to bed at his livey yard I always wonder if everything will be all right the next time I see him. I want to bring him home with me and tuck him up in one of the spare bedrooms really!
 
No I never ever worry about yard security.

I live in a very safe part of the world - nothing untoward ever happens here.

I live at the end of a dead end lane - the lane stops at our driveway. Our driveway goes up a hill and then down the other side, so from the lane you would have no idea what is beyond the hill.

I have 3 dogs who have 24 hour access to outside - one is very big and black and very scary looking - none are afraid to cause a commotion when an unknown vehicle turns up.

My farmhouse is right in the middle of all of our pasture fields. The pasture fields completely surround the house in a horseshoe shape, so I can look out of any window and see whatever is going on in any field.

To get to any horse, you would have to go beyond our house - not possible that anyone could do this without being noticed.

I also have non-working security cameras placed on top of our sign at the end of the drive.......purely to deter the teenage naughties on dark nights!
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Our yard is at home, but I still worry. Gate is double bolted from the inside, we have CCTV on the gate and on the yard. We are at the end of a deadend lane. Have 3 dogs - one of which is very protective and is a loud barker and would bite. Usually go and top up hay & water about 10 ish every night - but I still worry!
 
I dont really worry

Maybe slightly when I hear these reports. But YO lives in a caravan like next to pickles stable!!! We have burglar alarm in the tack room. Heavy duty padlocks and the best guard to all the guard dog zeta. Now this is not a dog you would like to meet on a dark night!
 
I always worry I lie awake at night worrying and recently we had obviously had people wandering around down there as one of the gates had been left open and one of the childrens scooter had gone which we later found in a ditch up our bridle way have worried soo much but we can't to anythin else gate chained both sides and everything locked up!
 
I worry especially as other yards in the area get done over on a regular basis. altho the livery im at has the owners living on site, aswell as 2 other house fulls of people, everything is locked away. and our YO is sort of "friends" with some of the local pikey folk and apparently this is why we dont [touch wood] get broken into.
to be totally honest if my tack went it would be very upsetting but not a catastrophe. i am more worried about the pony being stolen or hurt. x
 
Blimey I have never really worried. someone tried to steal my lorry once but i was taught how to take the alternator off (quick job with 3 screws ) so they couldnt start it. keep my tack at home so nothing of any value there anyway.....Oh except for neddy of course !!
 
I worry like hell. Loads of yards being broken in to round my way, plus friends horses were slashed and let out of their field onto the main road.

I'd be very upset if my tack or trailer went, but devastated if my horses were stolen or injured by some maniac. I'm paranoid and make note of strange cars in the area and strange bods wandering around - and there are a lot of those!!!
 
I didn't really worry before last tuesday because the YO lives on site with very noisy dogs but now I've learnt that everyone is a target. I'm just so grateful that it was my tack that went and not my horses.
 
I worry because although mine are kept at someones house, the people there have this nasty horrible habit of saying to the local travellers that they can go hunting with their dogs over the land after dark and twice now the travellers have scared the life out of me by coming across the fields and i haven't been told so you can imagine how much it freaked me out! Also who knows what they will come back and nick whatever they want i suspect.
 
I don't worry too much, we have pin coded electric gates, ditches and barbed wire alongside the outside of the perimeter, real CCTV cameras everywhere (and these are well advertised), guarddogs and no way of gettin onto the yard other than through the gate (unless you feel like breaking two fences on the M25 to get into the fields) owners live onsite aswell. However if you know the code to the gate I'd imagine it would be fairly easy to steal a horse
 
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