Bridleway through horse field.

Spiritedly

Spiritedly

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I took one of our youngsters for a walk in hand along a route I've not been along for a while and there were horses in one of the fields the bridleway runs through. I've gone through fields before with horses loose and they've always ignored us but this little herd of five decided to gallop down the field en mass to 'greet' us, they then took off round the field before coming back and doing it all again. My pony did an Arab impression and some wonderful passage but I was able to keep hold of him. Turning back wasn't really an option as he was quite wound up and going back would have meant taking him onto a busy A road but I was quite worried I was going to get kicked or he was going to get away from me.....if it was my New Forest I wouldn't have had a chance of holding him :eek:....
So those of you who have bridleways through your fields do your horses behave this way? And do you think they will calm down if we go through regularly?
It's a pain because I've just spoken to the landowner who owns the fields behind mine to get permission to ride along the edge of his field to access the bridleway and I'm waiting for him to get back to me but I don't really want to go through this field if we're going to mobbed everytime. :(
 
If it is a bridleway then he should have it fenced off:( The situation you describe sounds unsafe to me as it's natural that they will want to say hello and may cause you problems. Seems odd to me.
 
We have a similar situation with cows. It's a shame, but I now avioid that route as I've got children with me, and it's too big a risk.
 
We have bridleways that run through exmoor conservation grazing areas and have had some very exciting experiences, including a group of riders being split into two groups by 10 or so hyper-excited fly bucking exmoor ponies ... All rather terrifying, but we found our horses got used to them and they got used to us. For a while I would lead instead of ride as it made the handling of gates easier (not easy to ride through a gate with 10 ponies trying to exit with you!)
 
Twinkley Lights said:
If it is a bridleway then he should have it fenced off:( The situation you describe sounds unsafe to me as it's natural that they will want to say hello and may cause you problems. Seems odd to me.
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Why should the landowner incur huge costs to fence a public right of way ?

Most breeds of bull can be left in fields with footpaths and bridleways through.
 
Twinkley Lights said:
If it is a bridleway then he should have it fenced off:( The situation you describe sounds unsafe to me as it's natural that they will want to say hello and may cause you problems. Seems odd to me.
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I don't agree that it has to be fenced off, but I do wonder whether anyone did a risk assessment before putting horses in there. The only animal you cannot keep in a field with public access by law is any recognised dairy breed bull, but that doesn't mean if someone is injured by these horses that the landowner won't be liable.

OP I would discuss it with your local bridleway officer.
 
I think it's a bit unfair if the land owner had to go to the expense of fencing it off. There is a bridlepath near us that the local stud turns their 1-2 year olds out on. For the first couple of weeks, it is 'hairy' for want of a better word! As the young horses are very nosey and want to come over en-mass to see who we are!!

But I wouldn't expect the owner to fence a track for riders...afterall, it is their land!!!

From my experience, if riders use the bridlepath regularly, the turned out horses soon get desensitised, and the ridden ones don't mind if the others ignore them.

The only time I'd complain to a bridleways officer about this situation was if the horses turned out were colts who were harrassing any horses that went through, or if there was a turned out hrose that consistently behaved argressively. Otherwise, in my opinion, it's just the riders decision or not if the track is suitabel for them and their horse!

(btw, I am not a land owner - I wish! lol)
 
Thank you everyone I will talk to our local bridleways officer I think, just to get her opinion. The field the horses are in is mid way along bridleway....it goes crop field-horse field-woods....so unfortunately you can't tell the horses are in the field until they come tearing down the hill towards you. The horses don't belong to the farmer he just lets someone use it occasionally so the horses aren't in there all the time.
 
Funny me and oh went for a hack yesterday. Did a ride we had not done before. Opened a gate not seeing anything untill my welshie put her head up in the air. Two horses cantered our way. They didn't come all the way and stayed at safe(ish) distance but I was really surprised to find myself in a field with horses. Don't know if I would have gone In had I known.
 
Everyone is different:) . I would fence off with electric strip as I couldn't rest easy knowing people may forget to shut the gate etc. It's for this reason that we pulled out of a proprty we liked as the ramblers objected to the proposed re route of a footpath.
 
It doesn't have to be fenced off, there is no law. That said, I know my horses would chase anyone riding through their field. Sometimes it is difficult to fence a path off as it may cross a field. All our footpaths are fenced off apart from one that crosses a field - if we fenced it the horses wouldn't be able to get at the stream, which would mean carting water around. In that field we have bits of fence intermittent across the field, so that walkers could duck the other side of it if they felt bothered... Would be harder with a bridleway though.

The best plan is to be in control of your horse and keep walking purposely, not getting into any sniffing/squealing sessions, I guess.
 
how do you get out of the field, without the other horse escaping? sounds really weird to me?

I used to be on a yard with a long lane and the horses in the field next to the lane used to go mad every time I rode along it! my horse would freak out every time! they never calmed down, and it was in a very busy village! so you'd think they'd get used to horses passing! done my head in!
 
The bridleway runs along the bottom of the field so would, in theory, be easy to fence off. I tried to keep walking but when you have horses in front, behind and to side of you it's not easy :(. I was proud of our youngster though as he coped well in the circumstances, not sure he would have managed so well if my son had been on his back rather than me on the ground beside him though and the New Forest would have had a complete meltdown no matter where I'd been. It would have been interesting a few months ago if I'd been with the Forester as the horses looked like mares and he was only gelded before Christmas.:rolleyes:
 
Twinkley Lights said:
If it is a bridleway then he should have it fenced off:( The situation you describe sounds unsafe to me as it's natural that they will want to say hello and may cause you problems. Seems odd to me.
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There's no such rule, only dairy breed bulls or other types of bulls who aren't with cows are not allowed in fields with public rights of way crossing them un fenced.

Not ideal, I agree, and if it is done with the intention of deliberately dissuading riders from exercising the right of way, that WOULD be not allowed. For example, an uncut stallion in such a field (as opposed to on an open moor) would possibly be seen to be too far in that direction, but with non stallions it would have to be more evidence.

I have to cross fields with cows and calves to go riding, again it's not ideal but it's perfectly legal.

Would I have my horses in such a field, well no, but there's no rule against it, except of course, that the horseowner and possibly landowner could be liable if there is an accident, at least partially, since the risk is a foreseeable and preventable one.

The biggest pain is the fly grazing traveller ponies on every common, try getting them moved....and they are all entires :-(( ruins riding on the commons in many places.
 
I have a field with a bridleway running through it. It was fenced off and people complained because the hedge (belonging to the landowner of the adjacent land) never cut it back and, if our horses did decided to dive bomb riders then they had little room to do anything it their horses messed around.
Now it is open and all seems to be fine.
 
I have ridden through open fields (along bridle paths) with cattle/horses/youngsters in my younger days, but it was quite a hairy experience, and I wouldn't be keen to do it now :o
 
AdorableAlice said:
That will cost £5,200 to fence in post and 3 rails, plus the loss of grazing for the landowner.
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It's not used for grazing very often and is a fairly big field so grazing wise there wouldn't be much loss but the farmer may think it's not worth it because there are so rarely horses on it. I think it's a bit more worrying that from one of the gates it's about 200 meters across an open and unfenced field to a busy A road and a sharp bend....which is why I've asked for permission to cut round the edge of the open field from my yard ..... so if the horses were to escape whilst a rider was trying to get out and away from them then there could be a nasty accident. :(
 
There are two pieces of legislation which may assist you:

Section 2 of the Animals Act 1971 makes the keeper of an animal liable for damages if it injures another person. Thus if a person places an animal in a field crossed by a public right of way and a walker or rider is attacked , the person would be liable to be prosecuted under the Health and Safety at Work act 1974 and could be sued for damages.

Par III of the Enviromental Protection Act 1990 contains provisions dealing with what the Act terms 'statutory nuisances'.
Any animal kept in such a place or manneras to be prejudicial to health or nuisance.
 
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