bridleway with horses grazing on it

treacle_beastie

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there is a bridleway near me that takes you through a field with horses grazing in it. Ive been through once before and the horses ran away from the gate and never bothered me again but the next time I went through there were different horses and they cantered from the otger side of the field with ears pinned and teeth snapping away and kucking out at my horse. My horse panicked as she was surrounded and as I did my best to stop her kickibg I waved my stick at the horses which gave her space to escape and shebolted totheexit. Im really annoyed as its a great bridleway. should they be fenced off? are they allowed to be there if they act like this? Any horse could have been injured and me . It could have been really nasty.
 

oldie48

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I have a similar situation with a bridleway which runs through a field owned by a riding school. it makes it unusable. when i contacted the BHS I was told as long as there were no stallions, it was fine! I had a chat with the RS owner and asked if there was any chance there could be a fenced off route through and basically she told me to get lost! So another bridleway in an area with increasingly busy roads unavailable to riders.
 

Equestriangirl123

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I work in rights of way . If they are putting you in danger then yes your county council should be informed about this so they can act , we usually ask people to move / fence off the horses . Ring up your county council and ask to speak to a rights of way officer , you will then be able to tell them the exact issue and they will tell you what they can do about it . I wouldn't bother going to the BHS unless your council do not act appropriately
 

smellsofhorse

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There is a bridal way near us that goes through a field if horses.

Some times they ignore you others times they come over to investigate!

The local bridal way association asked the owner if a track could be fenced off, they offered to raise some money and assistance to build it, but they refused.

As annoying as it is, its obviously is allowed, the horsew are seen as live stock and not specifically horses.
 

oldie48

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Thanks, why didn't the BHS access person tell me this!!!!!!!
I work in rights of way . If they are putting you in danger then yes your county council should be informed about this so they can act , we usually ask people to move / fence off the horses . Ring up your county council and ask to speak to a rights of way officer , you will then be able to tell them the exact issue and they will tell you what they can do about it . I wouldn't bother going to the BHS unless your council do not act appropriately
 

Shysmum

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Same at my last yard - in fact the same stud in Winston Gate caused two large fields on a bridleway to be unusable for me. Opening gates, dealing with curious youngsters, and then getting out safely again ( through DODGY gates) was not fun ! Glad I moved. To an area with no gates or horses on bridleways.
 

Fii

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Some of ours graze on common land that has bridle ways through it, it would be unworkable to fence off the tracks though!
 

Shysmum

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For me, if the gates had been "rider friendly", that would have been half the battle. Shy learnt quickly to cope with following youngsters - although I am absolutely sure many horses would not. But then trying to get out of a field, with a dodgy gate, whilst surrounded by curious youngsters.......Shy was a saint to help me out of it.

Never again - if it did occur again, I would complain to the council about it. From my experience, it could be very dangerous if you don;t have a horse as laid back as mine.
 

OrangePepper

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Please report any incidents of this nature to the www.hoseaccidents.org.uk web site.

In the first instance report incidents of loose horses that are worrying you to the Access Department of the local County Council. Best to do this in writing and sent to them by Royal Mail Special Delivery so that there is no doubt that your letter has been received by them. Ask them to respond to you within 14 days and advise you what action they intend taking to resolve the issue.

If the loose horses where to cause an accident then the owner(s) of the horses would be held responsible and can be claimed from. Therefore owners of horses should ensure that they have third party public liability insurance for no less than £10,000,00 for each horse they own.
(The Animals act 1971 Section 2 (2) as now interpreted by the highest court in the land says that horse owners are responsible for any accident their horses may cause. This is as a result of the Mirvahedy v Henley case)

The district council can use the 1990 Environmental Protection Act (as amended) to compel the owners of the horses to remove them or fence them a safe distance away from a public right of way.
It is good and sensible practice for land owners to fence off their animals a safe distance from public rights of way to ensure that accidents can not occur.
 
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RunToEarth

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There are no restrictions governing the grazing of other domestic livestock on rights of way other than the duty of care which the landowner to has to minimise the risk to people.

Sometimes I do think it requires a bit of common sense and a bit of understanding - when I see horses/cattle in a field with a PROW crossing it, I just go another way, reporting people for using their own land in a perfectly acceptable way is just a real low blow IMO.
 

MyBoyChe

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Last summer someone had turned a mare and foal out in a field that formed part of a circular ride so no easy alternative. As I went to open the gate the owner of the horses came out of the house and said she didn't think riding through the field was very sensible. I asked her what she suggested as I wanted to complete the ride and not have to turn back. She said if I absolutely had to I could ride round the edge of the neighbouring field and rejoin the track. I politely thanked her and rode on. I did phone the local council to ask them what the policy was and they told me that the landowner has a duty of care to the public if the path is a right of way, by suggesting that she thought riding through the field was a bit risky she had rather shot herself in the foot. He asked me to let him know if the situation escalated. As we have lots of routes I don't use that one any more, although if I had to, I would and would use the option given if horses were turned out. I do think a bit of common sense from both sides is needed. If you have a choice of routes why make life difficult, in my case this was part of a circular route with no alternative so didnt want to turn round although I don't use it regularly as I do have others I can use easily.
 

treacle_beastie

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I dont have a choice of routes, this inefoems part of a circular route too and is one of two decent bridleways..rest of routes are roads.
The way I assessed it the first time was see how the horses reacted and they ran off and U also figured if they are grazing on a bridleway they would nit cause trouble. Tge second time I did not know they were diff horses as they were at the other end..its a very big field but the bridleway could be easily fenced on the edge without losing grazing. These ones were instantly aggressive towards my horse but as I was 3/4 way to other side it was too late to turn rpund.
 
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