Closing gate..bit of a rant, sorry

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Charlie007

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I keep my horse on a working farm. The mother lives on site, son comes and goes with his farming (also runs a livery yard elsewhere) and daughter is the one I pay my livery to.

The problem at the moment is that the son keeps leaving the gate at the bottom of the field open. There are no horses directly behind this gate but the fields are fenced with electric fencing so horses could possibly break through. If this gate is left open, the horses can easily go through the yard and on to the road. We had this problem last year and and once the daughter had spoken to her brother it was resolved. He obviously has a short memory! Have text daughter again today to let her know about the gate. What would you do? Where do I stand, god forbid, if the horses did break onto the road due to this gate being left open?
 
I would have a quiet word with the yard owner.

It is very important that you have third party public liability insurance for your horse to no less than £10,000,000 as you are ultimately responsible for any accident that your horse causes even if it is not your fault. (This was demonstrated in a recent court case). As a Gold member of the BHS you get this included with your membership.

Your yard owner has a duty of care to you and should not be leaving the gate open. Always keep a record of the dates and time when they have left the gate open so that in the event of an incident you can demonstrate when they have done this in the past.
 
Thank you for your reply Peternatt, fortunatley horses are insured. I had been thinking along the lines of logging dates and times, so will definately do that now. Thank you.
 
Our house that we live in now, had/has working farm at the back. We originally (before stables and yard were built) kept them in a barn on the farm that we rented. Farmer was always leaving gates and doors etc open. Just have a quiet word and if they forget another quiet word!!

I'm sure they can relate in not wanting their livestock (your case, pet) to escape and be in danger.
 
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Just like some people's reluctance to wear hi viv on the roads, I also find it exasperating that some people find it so difficult to do such a simple basic thing like shutting a gate when livestock is involved, especially after being told how imporant it is, you can all guess what my next comment is N........................................
 
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