Children, Field, Ponies - Yikes!

MrsMozart

MrsMozart

Just passing through...
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Just moved the two ponies to a field just less than a mile from home.

No right of way through it, so I thought Great! no dog walkers, no-one to feed the ponies, houses down one side, but pretty good fencing.

More fool me... Apparently the locals all use the field as a cut-through/dog walk/running track :(

This evening I had to ask some children not to go in with the ponies or to feed them (they weren't feeding them anything, it was a 'just in case'). I felt pretty mean as the kids were most insistant that they are normally allowed in the fields, etc. I spoke to the land owner and she said that they aren't allowed on and she doesn't want them in the fields. The locals seem to have other views though.

Our ponies are okay, on the whole, but if one thinks there is food going then they can get pretty argumentative. I'm worried that the kids will get hurt.

It's so hard finding a place where horses can be out 24/7 around here.

Sorry, pointless ramblings really.
 
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Ta hun.

Two of them were pretty grotty, one was quite nice. I wished I could say it was okay :(

I must speak to the owner of the other pony in there. According to the children (and I do not take this as gospel :cool:), the other owner has said the children can go in and feed her Shetland... This is not a good plan from my ponies point of view/children staying safe point of view. Also, the other owner has been feeding my ponies bread and mints - one is laminitic and one is fat enough and does not need any extras! Plus, he does get quite dominant where food is concerned.
 
I often wonder why other folk think its ok to feed other owners ponies just because they share a field/yard with them, I personally never titbit any of mine, on my old yard when my son had his little new forest pony there was a man there who used to carry packs of extra strong mints in his pockets all the time and turned out he was regularly giving them to all the ponies, I was always clumping our pony for biting and being spiteful, could never understand why though as she never got any titbits APPARENTLY until I was told about him, I put a sign on her door asking politely not to give her titbits, I know he still done it cause her temperament was the same until I eventually moved her, within a couple of weeks of being away from him she was back to her usual kind self. After that ramble i wish you luck in sorting your situation out.
 
Even when the path doesn't go through the field, passers-by can be a real pain. A footpath runs through the fields which border ours, all with horses in. One local dog-walker in particular has an on-going feud with the landowner because her dogs are usually running loose and the horses follow her and have been known to nip. She also has horses and should know better!
Other walkers feed our horses from this path, over the wall. Signs don't seem to make much difference and anyway often get blown down here. We are pretty sure that these people were the cause of at least one fight between the late ID and the Westphalian, so could even indirectly have been the cause of our losing the ID (although actually I think the original injury was a graze from a wall). Several schoolchildren use this path as a short-cut/safer route home and are an absolute pain.

Good luck!
 
Yup DW. Sadly people just do what they please! We titbit ours, but only when we feel it is right and safe to do so; we don't give others any without asking permission from the owner.

PaS - it's a right old bobber :( :(. I've already had the youngster going up on me this evening - pure high spirits on his part and no malice intended, but the farrier got his foot squidged. LL has run through me twice, again, just because he wants to.

If they leave the ponies alone, or just stroke noses over the fence, then all will be fine.
 
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