Beater in your horse field....

[Elspeth]

Anyone that does anything in the countryside that causes stress, annoyance and possible injury to others is selfish, bad mannered and arrogant.

I have had shoots, beating and blasting guns across my land, causing horses to run through fences and get injured etc It is awful. I have had buckshot land on children who are learning to ride, not to mention sudden volleys of gunshot scaring the daylights out of sick horses on boxrest.

I also often pick up maimed and injured ducks and pheasants seeking refuge in my pond and hedges and try and nurse them back to health only usually having to watch them suffer a slow painful death.

Angry and sick of these idiots.

So yes I do think it is terrible that they do this behind your horses paddocks. It is dangerous, you or someone else could have been badly injured. I would be having a strong word with the YO or moving my horses to somewhere safer.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

A poor little hen pheasant has died in my garden, I don't know what happened, but there were a pair of young hens grazing here last week.
The only time I met a "beater" was a guy who had a sheepdog, off the lead, and he was quite arrogant when asked to bring it to heel, I could see a load of kiddies and ponies walking down a very icy path towards the dog, but he could not, just his attitude, he can do what he wants, just cos he is out shooting.
The horses are used to stray shot on the stable roofs, though how they manage it is beyond me as they should be shooting away from the stables, not towards them.

 

[Woolly Hat n Wellies]

Just this weekend I had a group of beaters with loose dogs come into the field where I was riding. My horse isn't worried about the noise of the shooting, but someone sending up pheasants in a bush was quite worrying for him, and I got rather tense when I realised they were beating on one side of me and the shooting was coming from the other. I could hear shot falling in the trees next to the 'arena' part of the field so I decided to go home - but I couldn't attract the beaters' attention to ask them to pause for thirty seconds while I got out, or even just get them to speak to me to show the horse they were just people. They completely blanked me. I got back home to find the horses in the field running around, the dog cowering under a pile of plastic bags in a shed, crying, and my uncle absolutely livid. Another group of beaters had taken their loose dogs through both the horse field and the cattle, shaking bags on sticks. They've climbed over our fences and pushed through hedges and left a real mess, and not one of them spoke to any of my family - this is our home, surely a 'good morning' wouldn't have been too hard?

We had the same problem last year, rude, arrogant beaters with loose, out of control dogs, damaging fences and frightening livestock without so much as a word to us. The shoots were always followed by a spate of thefts as well - targeting things that couldn't be seen from the road. We have a list of dates when they're shooting, of course, but I work full time, I can only ride on a weekend, am I supposed to give up a day's riding so someone else can march through my family's fields at some unspecified point? My dad has complained, but it won't make any difference. Now to sit and wait for the thieving to start again!

There was a different shoot on the estate where my horse lived when I loaned him, before I bought him, and they were unfailingly polite, they always spoke to us, always stopped when they saw us and told us which way they were going - and because they spoke and were friendly, the horses saw they were just people and were never upset by them. I know they have a job to do, but if one shoot's beaters can manage to be polite and pause for a minute to let us get out of their way, why can't these ones do the same?

 

[Goldenstar]

If you live in a shooting area you should find out the days they shoot and adjust your behaviour accordingly .
For instance I avoid riding through were on shoot operate on shoot days , it's just easier it's one day a fortnight so no hardship.
If you live were a shoot are operating get in touch with them find the dates so you can plan and do what you want to keep your horse safe .

 

[Goldenstar]

Just this weekend I had a group of beaters with loose dogs come into the field where I was riding. My horse isn't worried about the noise of the shooting, but someone sending up pheasants in a bush was quite worrying for him, and I got rather tense when I realised they were beating on one side of me and the shooting was coming from the other. I could hear shot falling in the trees next to the 'arena' part of the field so I decided to go home - but I couldn't attract the beaters' attention to ask them to pause for thirty seconds while I got out, or even just get them to speak to me to show the horse they were just people. They completely blanked me. I got back home to find the horses in the field running around, the dog cowering under a pile of plastic bags in a shed, crying, and my uncle absolutely livid. Another group of beaters had taken their loose dogs through both the horse field and the cattle, shaking bags on sticks. They've climbed over our fences and pushed through hedges and left a real mess, and not one of them spoke to any of my family - this is our home, surely a 'good morning' wouldn't have been too hard?

We had the same problem last year, rude, arrogant beaters with loose, out of control dogs, damaging fences and frightening livestock without so much as a word to us. The shoots were always followed by a spate of thefts as well - targeting things that couldn't be seen from the road. We have a list of dates when they're shooting, of course, but I work full time, I can only ride on a weekend, am I supposed to give up a day's riding so someone else can march through my family's fields at some unspecified point? My dad has complained, but it won't make any difference. Now to sit and wait for the thieving to start again!

There was a different shoot on the estate where my horse lived when I loaned him, before I bought him, and they were unfailingly polite, they always spoke to us, always stopped when they saw us and told us which way they were going - and because they spoke and were friendly, the horses saw they were just people and were never upset by them. I know they have a job to do, but if one shoot's beaters can manage to be polite and pause for a minute to let us get out of their way, why can't these ones do the same?

I know very little about shooting but I think it's a case of once they start they can't stop without risking ruining that drive as many shoots are a business and the guns pay a fortune ( can't imagine why it seems to me a boring activy ) for a day .