Complaint - who is being unreasonable?

Goldenstar said:
Is it just me but are we hearing more and more from riders expecting the rest of the world to amend its behaviour to allow for their inadequate riding skills and poor horse training .
They really should not be out and about in the real world .
Click to expand...


I agree with you.
 
I would tell her how fantastic the situation is for her - it enables her to work on her control of her horse in a non road situation... and leave her to it.

I do agree with whoever said make sure that she has actually said that rather than go on heresay. If she doesn't contact you don't say anything.
 
I don't think you're doing anything unlawful or wrong OP, as long as your horses are not actually ON the field or area where the bridleway runs through? I know there are restrictions on BP's, like you're not supposed to run a bull on a public ROW or whatever, but know of a place about two miles from us where horses run freely through fields where there is a footpath running through; dunno whether that's supposed to happen or not!!!!

But if yours are fenced back properly and correctly, and the BP area is FREE, then I can't see what the YO is grousing about TBH. Sour grapes mebbe??

Suggest she sticks Copydex on her britches seat, sits tight, mans up, and generally gets over herself???
 
Hold fire a bit. The message may have been coloured by your neighbour, she may be more reasonable than she sounds and just want to speak to you to see if the youngster has times when its not in the field.
Of course its ridiculous to ask the world to stop for someone hacking out, but if she just needs a bit of help while she gets her horse over this problem, working with her might be a neighbourly thing to do.

My immediate reaction would be to say. 'Don't be so bloody silly' but if she's struggling and not asking for you to bend over backwards, you might be able to work something out. ie, if you bring your youngster in between 10.30 and 11 am at weekends,or whatever, it would give them a window to hack by without stress.
It'd stop bad feeling and not put you out too much.
 
Some useful - and funny - replies, thanks all. I will wait and see if she contacts me; the youngster is big (16.2 and growing) but behind an electric fence which is a good 100 metres from the track. And he was gelded at one!

Perhaps we could do a deal. I'll bring him in when she wants to ride, and when I long rein him past her fields, she could bring all hers in so I don't have to deal with impromptu half passes and pirouettes.... oh no, that's right - I actually go past there deliberately so he gets used to it, isn't that part of bringing youngsters on? ;)
 
Be careful. It can certainly be unlawful to interfere with the rights of others.

But it is for the courts to make the final decision on what rights those are, whose they are, and if they are unreasonably being interfered with…hence my advice to first speak to the way leaves officer. Always nice to have offialdom on your side before the arguments even begin!
 
There was another thread on here the other day with regard to a bridlepath that ran through a field of horses, never mind along side it !

The only animals that you can't keep on a right of way are dairy bulls and other animals that are known/proven to be dangerous to others.

So there is certainly nothing wrong with keeping your horse fenced iin next to a bridleway.
 
Assuming the rumour hasn't been vastly inflated, and that your horse isnt the 3 yo entire behind dodgy fencing, and it's all hunky dory, I'd not get involved in bringing your horse in on demand, as per the very nice peoples suggestions above. Once you get into that you've just about accepted that your perfectly normal youngster in a perfectly valid field, is a problem. Then what? Are you going to be dashing out there at a moments notice every time she or someone from the yard wants to ride past?
 
I would try not to get too worked up or indignant about it until she actually speaks to you and says what the issue is.

Your neighbour might also be putting their own slant/interpretation on it.

On the face of it it does sound like there should not be a problem with the way your fields/bridleway is set up and they are being unreasonable. But it also sounds quite extreme if the whole yard won't hack past. Have you seen what happens when they go past? It might be worth watching just to see what the issue is - they might have a point about something that you wouldn't think of until you see it for yourself.
 
Goldenstar said:
Is it just me but are we hearing more and more from riders expecting the rest of the world to amend its behaviour to allow for their inadequate riding skills and poor horse training .
They really should not be out and about in the real world .
Click to expand...

Having been yelled at by a rider yesterday for not turning the tractor engine off I wholeheartedly agree - it does my head in.
 
If people expect the world to stop for them and their horses then they are a danger to themselves and the rest of us and should not have horses
 
RunToEarth said:
Having been yelled at by a rider yesterday for not turning the tractor engine off I wholeheartedly agree - it does my head in.
Click to expand...

We meet tractors a lot out hacking (we only have roads to hack on) and I don't expect engines to turn off or for them to even stop - but it would be nice if they could stop lifting and lowering the front bucket/loader just until we passed them.
There was no reason for them to even be doing that tbh. Frightened the horses who are normally grand with tractors!!

But OP i would just state that the area will continue to be grazed by horses as does not pose a problem. If they do not like that then I suggest getting the loan of a few pigs for a while and putting them in there for a few weeks - might be begging to have the horses back :p
 
providing your youngster is not getting out - which is not happening - then you are not at fault and the YO and her customers can get a grip and do more training with their own animals.


i agree that a lot of horse owners/riders are expecting too much from others these days.
 
Woman needs to put more effort into training her horse or not buy youngsters surely!

I ride my youngster up past her own field to ride in other fields at the back. She has to go directly past her field entrance and up behind a hedge that runs the whole length of the field. Cue my veteran mare who is still out in field being a royal pain the bum and rampaging and bellowing at us the whole way up and at random parts where hedge has gaps sticking her head through!! Naughty oldie. I just see it as training and expecty youngster to listen to me, which she does.

Maybe I should complain to myself ;-)
 
My welsh D is 'terrified' of plant pots on people's drives. Maybe I should send a letter round to the entire village asking them to move their plants inside...

...or I can continue to just kick him on and ignore his silliness.

Like others have said - her problem. She can't go through life with her horses, especially a youngster and never expect to find obstacles along the way. She will just have to do what every other horse rider in the world does and just get on with it.

Someone who is this scared/worried about something as trivial as this should not have a youngster in the first place.
 
Last edited:
If anything, she should be using the bridle path more! She can't wrap her horse in cotton wool and by constantly avoiding situations the horse finds worrying will never allow it to desensitize. What will she do if she goes to a show and some strange horse is playing up a bit there? If she passes your horse every day, her horse will gradually get used to it. I suspect it gets more worked up as it feels she's getting stressed too. So she needs to learn to chill out and get a grip.
 
Blimey, she should try the New Forest, the riding is amazing, but we ride amongst the ponies and cows and on more than one occasion I've had a small herd canter up the track behind me (or even out of the gorse beside me) and carry on cantering past! Really people need to learn to actually control their horses and cope with the exciting and unexpected things.
 
Hippona said:
Well...if I couldn't hack past any fields of horses frankly I'd never go anywhere.
Her problem, not yours :)
Click to expand...


This ^^^^^^^^. We have to pass 4 fields with horses in, two of them above us, just to get away from the yard. One field has mares and foals or youngstock in, year round. How would she manage here?

I can only suggest that she learns to actually ride her horse, rather than just sitting on top of it!
 
We have on bridlepath that goes past a farm with cows, donkeys, ostriches, pigs and goats. The goats and pigs have been known to get out the field and onto the bridlepath. That is annoying but I've never complained because the donkeys bray or the ostriches run towards us etc! The fact it's off road makes it a good training place but it's amusing how many people avoid it because they are scared of their horses reactions.
 
Does that mean I can insist on having the road closed for my first few hacks out on my youngster? I would be happy with just a couple of miles, maybe between 10am and 12 (I may take a while to tack up and get out the yard) :P

I can't see that any ROW is being breached and she should appreciate that she has off road areas to ride (and through someone's fields). If the message is as she said it I would worry for her yard. And really they have boycotted it due to a 3yo that is acting like a 3yo??? Sounds more like a good training exercise for her horse.

You are soooo not being unreasonable
 
Tbh I think you're being overly reasonable by moving your horses away from the fence unless its for their sake I wouldn't be wasting my grazing because of someone who can't control their horse! This is not a criticism btw just the fact that you are doing a lot more than what I and others would do what more can she expect
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top