Gas Gun driving me crazy, what can i do?

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dressagecrazy

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Ok so my lovely next door Farmers have decided yet again to put a big Gas gun in the field Pointing in the direction of our house & stables.

I currently have a horse on Box rest for the next few months & he is stressing at the best of times. (Normally he's ok about things like this im having to sedate everyday anyway but he's jumping at the bangs even under sedation).
To add to this though i have a rescue dog who really freaks with loud bangs, this Gun is like a depth charge going off & starts just before 7am in the morning.

What can i do? Ive tried asking said Farmer but they repeated ignore polite requests:mad:.
 
This may not help but same happened to me and I was furious, but like you have an unhelpful farmer neighbour. Horses were going bananas.

However, my horses got used to it really quickly. Only think I can suggest is you stand by the stable for a while and every time the gun goes off give him a bit of apple or something and try and get him to associate it with yummy treats (although appreciate you don't want your horse to get too spoilt on box rest?!)
 
Normally i don't have any problems whatsoever with Guns, we have lot's of shoots & also have a military arms testing base nearby. The horse is using it as an excuse if i stand with him he gets worse & he's done 6 weeks of box rest so i appeciate he's fed up.
I also have to work so cannot spend any more time than i have already over the last 6 weeks it's hell anyway without outside problems effecting him.

I asked the Farmer last time to re-point the gun in another direction due to the dog,he does. But then sets a new one up & it's back pointing at the house only ten times louder you can feel the noise when it goes off.
 
The horses do get used to these guns amazingly quickly. One of our neighbours got totally fed up with a gas gun pointing towards his house and with the farmer's reluctance to move it. He crept out one evening and turned it himself. It never turned back. Srangely horses aren't the only animals to ignore the guns within days, I've witnessed rabbits grazing within feet of the guns and being unfazed when the bang goes off!!
 
Thanks for replies, what i really want to know is there any legal things about the guns??

Like i say horse is normally fine totally chilled about all guns even in close proximity. But atm with his injury & box rest it's getting to him it's being going off for 2 weeks now & it's driving us all nut's. I wanted my first lie in at the weekend but my bedroom faces the field & gets the gun full brunt at before 7am. In the week im up before 7am but thats not the point, not sure what the farmer is scaring away either as he hasnt seeded the field yet.

ETA- Thanks Cuffey thats brill info.:)
 
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if gets to it contact your local enviromental health office or council as they can look into it under the enviromental protection act 1990, we had similar (but not with the horses) where local farmer had his set on 24/7 aimed at row of houses & after 4 sleepless nights from 2 VERY SCARED children (3y & 21 months) & his reply from us householders to "go ********* ourselves" as he would put them where he liked i reported him.
the outcome of our case was farmer lost his licence for them :)
 
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The police should have an advice line where you can get advice ... contact them. The only time I have ever rung (re the situation below) they were absolutely brilliant and handled the sitaution really sensitively and resolved the problem.

I think your situation may have some simliarities, in that the farmer is being careless and essentially a nuisense. Do make them aware of the NFU code of practice.

My situation was that I have to ride on a public highway past a farm which had a gamekeeper who hated horses (he thought we all disturbed his birds). He used to hide behind a hedge and shoot if he saw a horse coming - v dangerous!! If you had a word with him he would say he had a right to shoot on the land and anyway hadn't seen us coming etc, etc.

Although he technically he was within his rights the police explained to him he was being a nuisense and if he wasn't capable of being more aware before he shot, they might have to review his gun licence.

Definately worth a try talking to them!
 
one farmer next to me will have two or three of them going from 7am til 10pm. the horses dont seem to mind but they get on my nerves. worse when your poopicking and all you can hear is them. however the farmer the other side wont use them as he says they arent any good for the enviroment and the birds get used to them. he and the farmer opposite (i'm surrounded!!!) have a couple of lovely chaps who come and shoot for them. they always knock and let me know what they are doing and never shoot across the field towards the horses. they only ever shoot away from the horses. we have had probs with pheasant shooting. they kept sending the dogs into my field to get the pheasants up, then shooting them flying over my fields . as they couldnt hit a barn door i was rather worried and the police became involved.luckily that didnt happen last year so i am just waiting to see if it starts again this year.
 
The farm that I am on are at 'war,' with the farm next door regarding gas guns.

They litereally go up to each others and cut the wire!! Not helpful I know haha, but it does make me laugh!
 
With him being on box rest and getting stressed out how about earplugs for him like they use in racehorses who cann't stand noise at racecourses, Excotic Dancer use to have them and NAF calmer for your dog.
 
Mine got used to them pretty quickly, as well as people shooting on our land and low flying fighter jets...

I think if you act like they are a problem the horse will pick up on it, ignore it and the horse will :)
 
I used to hack past one on the way home. My horse used to go nuts going past it. It was right by the bridleway too. Inconsiderate farmers.
 
I don't suppose the farmer is trying to be difficult ( unless he'd a curmudgenly old F**T) with luck the gun will be off in a week or two when the danger of Pigeon damage on his Oilseed rape is passed. Is the gun pointed directly at your stables? This wont help the pigeons it should be turned into the field, however that wont make the noise any less. When we used one on our crops it banged every 23 minutes. I had enough time to ride around the back of the field between the bangs.
Have you tried cotton wool in your horse's ears to dull the sound?
 
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