Gas Gun Menace to Horse and Rider.

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GasGunMenace

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25 May 2010
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Norfolk
www.b-ooom.co.uk
I am the Founder Member of a Campaigning Group (called B-ooom) of Parishioners who have been seriously affected by the Noise from Propane Gas Guns in Rural areas.

There are no Statutory Requirements for users of these Devices and they are totally self regulating, which means that the Users must deal with complaints from residents in the proper manner, by co-operating and using the NFU Codes of practise for these devices. The latest version was formed in 2006 between the NFU and DEFRA, as the complaints previous to 2006 had been soaring by the general public.

The only alternative is a Ban on the use of these devices because of the lack of response from the Self Regulating Operators. The first thing that has to be done is to send written complaint to the land Owner responsible for a said Gas Gun in touch, which usually draws a blank.

The next complaint is directed to the EHT (Environmental Health Team) at your Local Council, who have a duty to investigate all complaints. If a Gas Gun is near a Bridleway/footpath and causing distress to animals, riders and walkers, or near a public highway, then the Police should be involved. You will need to complain individually not as a group. Your complaint will be logged, time and date, if no response within 2 days, resubmit your complaint. Also the HSE is an Organisation you can access, because the effects from the Gas Guns can cause severe hearing loss to Humans and Animals, and could result in an accident and potential injury.

There is a responsibility to keep, Highways, Byways and Footpaths safe for users, who wish to use them.

If you need further information there is a specific email address for the Propane Gas Gun subject, and a Website. There is an Online Govt. Petition which was started in Feb 2010, for the Banning of Propane Gas Guns. I hope we can regain the Tranquility of the English Countryside which is part of our Heritage. Best wishes to all the Horse Riders/Owners..
 
Sorry, but working in agriculture/agronomy, I think this is utter rubbish. Gas guns have a place - yes they are irritating, but they need only be used for certain periods of the year, and most are used for just a month or so in high risk areas (rape emerging etc). We are in the middle of an arable area, and all of my horses have gas guns situated near their fields - none are remotely bothered (despite the fact I jump everytime the go off). I have been unseated whilst riding when a gas gun went off near a bridleway, but I politely spoke to the farmer concerned, and he moved it - people going to farmers making demands and throwing hissy fits will be met with the farmers taking a "so what" stance and just making your lives difficult.

I would like to know how many people you know who have actually been "seriously affected" by the use of these gas guns? The use of the word serious implies that their lives have been dramatically altered because of them? I think that in most cases that is an over-exageration - people just don't like them.

So, the bottom line is this - people want cheap food, the cost of producing food is going up, people do not want sprays used, people don't want pigeons shot, but they still want food to be cheap - you cannot demand the farmer produce cheap food, then prevent them from protecting what crops they have! I have seen a field completely stripped this year because no gas gun was used, out of respect for a local family (who asked politely that the farmer not place a gas gun in the field as it scared their dog). The farmer had to basically re plough the field and sow a different crop - he will lose thousands, the initial seed alone would have cost him hundreds, if not thousands.

Gas guns are used for a reason, not just to annoy walkers/animals owners/residents. Rather than trying to prevent farmers from doing their jobs, why not try and think of another method that can be used in stead of gas guns??
 
Thanks for that post, where I live is pretty bad for these, it's got to the stage where one of my dogs won't leave the house and we've spent a fortune on special collars, calmers etc. I wouldn't mind so much if the blinking things worked, but the fields are still full of pigeons!

There is also a device called a 'rodenator' which seems to be proving popular, that is incredibly loud too :(
 
Zoeshiloh - I couldn't agree more.

If you want to live in the countyside then you have to live with what that means.

Farmers don't put these things in just for the fun of it - they are doing it as part of their livelyhood.

The fact that you feel inconvenienced by it in your pleasure activities smacks of NIMBYism at it's worse.

You're just like a spoilt child - I want it my way and I'm going to tell on you if I can't have it!

Grow up for heavens sake.
 
I don't object to considerate use of them - but when they are going off at all hours of the night and day for months on end it does affect your life :mad:

Same as living next door to someone who plays loud music - it it's only occasional you can put up with it, but when it is all the time it gets very wearing!

Even the birds are used to them where I live so its a bit pointless anyway :rolleyes:
 
My daughter and I used to come across gas guns on a regular basis. Our two got used to them very quickly. They are an essential part of arable farming. The more your animals are exposed to them, the quicker they will become accustomed to the noise
 
Lets ban them.... and cyclists and dog walkers, motorbikes oh and all your horses upset mine so ban them too.Anyway we all know farmers are so rich and have such an easy life,they can afford to loose their crops. In fact lets ban farmers too.
 
I really appreciate that some people are seriously affected by gas guns and that you are trying to help, but I don't mind them either. I have one in the field next to my house. It's only in action for about a month and I'm sure it's helped bombproof my horses who don't bat an eyelid at loud noises now! I also feel that like cockerels crowing and shotguns going off, they are a part of the countryside that we have to live with.
 
I am also a grumpy old git then....:p

I can understand if you're living with them (in which case surely a quiet and friendly word with the farmer to try and find an acceptable compromise is the way forward?) but can't say I see the issue if you're walking or even riding along a footpath - I've never had any problems caused by them, on or off horseback.

Actually I have found them quite useful, as my dog has got used to them very quickly which I hope will make his proper introduction to gunfire go more smoothly:D

Also OP - why not lighten up on the capital letters, hey?;)

ETA not that you should be riding on a footpath. But you know what I mean... :p
 
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I agree they are necessary, but the guidance states, I believe, that they should be used with discretion to avoid annoyance to the public. My horse isnt too bothered about gas guns but goes mental when she sees those crazy bird scarer windmill efforts (shudder!)
 
It is unfortunate that people want to eat and that farmers have business's that try to achieve that. Gas guns can be a temporary part of a crops rotation, our horses pay no attention to them. Maybe if they are near a footpath or road there should be signs put up to warn walkers/riders but apart from that I'm afraid I am of the attitude that if you live in countryside you have to live with some of the inconvenience and I would rather have the odd gas gun than a load of men with guns having a days shoot.
 
When I was growing up, and kept horses on my parents farm, (we did not farm, but were surrounded by large expanses of arable farming land) our horses got used to the noise of gas guns and also shooting parties, and we never saw it as a problem. Some of our horses were quite highly strung TBs, but they heard it all day every day in their fields, and when we were out hacking if a gas gun went off close to where we were, apart from a bit of a jump, the horses never did anything.

I can appreciate how some horses with nervous riders, who are not used to them may get into difficulty, but I can also appreciate how difficult it is for the farmers survival and they need effective forms of deterrent to stop their crop from being destroyed.

As with nearly everything desensitisation is the key and owners who have horses who react violently to them could try and work on desensitising them by repetitively having them listen to similar noises at home?
 
Agree that they need to be used and they are only about for a period of time, BUT, round our way the farmers put them the otherside of the hedge right next to the bridleways, some opposite tricky gates. Its ok if you know where they are, not all are visible at all. Some people have had a few problems with young horses.
 
First off I aint a farmer I'm a plumber/gas fitter.

We have then near us, my Pony is used to them, he did spook along a bridleway when one went off which was a bit near, yes it was annoying, maybe a bit more thought from the farmer wouldn't go amiss, but then he probably doesn't think anyone rides it as it's cut up with 7 lanes of traffic, clever planning people :mad:, but then I dont see much thought for the farmer either, with *******s walking through his crops with their dogs dropping their litter glass bottles cans ect everywhere.

I think it's time this country woke up to the fact that we need food, instead of building bloody commercial parks and hotels roads motorway cafes and other abortions of brickwork housing sites, this country needs to be supporting farmers, not moaning about tractors combine harvesters cow poo sheep poo horse poo GAS GUNS ect ect on the road, oh dear did you get a bit on your BMW's wheels.

No I wont be signing, if you dont like the countryside go and live in the town where it's quiet, yea right, now if you could stop bloody fireworks being let off which are totally unnessary and a bloody nuisance, I will sign that
 
I think we should ban them, together with rat poison, fertilisers, field irrigation systems, tractor and combine driving after dark, electric fencing, barbed wire, cows in fields... I'm sure if I think hard I can think of some more things to ban... then we can all sit in our paved driveways and sip artificial drinks whilst munching a cardboard sandwich...
There is nothing worse than busybodies...
 
martlin said:
I think we should ban them, together with rat poison, fertilisers, field irrigation systems, tractor and combine driving after dark, electric fencing, barbed wire, cows in fields... I'm sure if I think hard I can think of some more things to ban... then we can all sit in our paved driveways and sip artificial drinks whilst munching a cardboard sandwich...
There is nothing worse than busybodies...
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In addition to your excellent and comprehensive list, I would like to ban pigs (they smell), chickens (they are noisy), tractors with mud on the wheels that make the roads look untidy, sheep (for being thick), hedges (well they are so messy), and parish councils...
 
I won't be signing either - particularly as the main reason for wanting them banned is 'noise' so not actually causing a major issue in terms of accidents etc.

As said before, if you are unhappy with where one is sighted, go and have a (civilised) word with the landowner/farmer. Personally in 32 years of living in the countryside, I've never had an issue with one and neither have any of my dogs or horses in that time either.

Its a great way to protect crops from being munched and has no impact on the environment (well apart from the noise but quite frankly, they're not THAT noisy) and they are only used for part of the year so the impact is hardly 24/7...

I think people should think things through properly and consider them objectively from all angles and reach a considered, fact based opinion rather than setting up petitions, groups etc to complain about the 'noise' without considering need, cause and consequence...
 
Then there is the fact that DEFRA have got to make savings of £162m - I don't think introducing legislation for this is really going to be that high on their list of priorities...

I would also like to ban people who go around shrieking 'Ban this! Ban that! Make the Government sort it out!' without trying to find alternative, locally based, cooperative solutions:p
 
Spudlet said:
In addition to your excellent and comprehensive list, I would like to ban pigs (they smell), chickens (they are noisy), tractors with mud on the wheels that make the roads look untidy, sheep (for being thick), hedges (well they are so messy), and parish councils...
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In fact, we should change whole countryside into one giant car park with a MacDonald's in the middle:D
 
We have them on both farms which border our yard, make me jump every time they go off but Che doesnt even flicker, he must be so used to them going off whilst hes busy eating that he doesnt consider them scary at all. Like Dogstars' horse, he does get spooked by the ones with horrid faces that spin round like windmills but are essentially quiet. If you live and ride in the countryside they are a part of life at certain times of the year, like meeting combine harvesters, crop sprayers et al, OP, Im afraid you'll just have to get used to them
 
The livery yard where I keep my horse is attached to a farm and we have these in the Arable fields. The farmer who lets us ride round the edge of said fields and across some of them when they are stubble so very amenable.

There are some bridleways near enough to hear them and yes you have to get a horse used to them but the farmer has to protect his crops and they are useful tool in keeping birds off. Alternatives to a noisy method is some sort of scary visual thing which a horse is just as likely to react to.


Other hazards we encounter are the water thingies which look like an enormous garden sprinker and you have to trot past quickly while it's pointing in the other direction or get sprinkled; crates in the fields ready for picking (very scary):the pickers in their overalls who the horses insist are extremely dangerous, and ultimate horror and possible portal to hell:- a Portaloo.
 
Spudlet said:
Then there is the fact that DEFRA have got to make savings of £162m - I don't think introducing legislation for this is really going to be that high on their list of priorities...

I would also like to ban people who go around shrieking 'Ban this! Ban that! Make the Government sort it out!' without trying to find alternative, locally based, cooperative solutions:p
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Hear Hear. (or here here, whichever one it is :confused: )
 
In the words of Joni Mitchell (Big Yellow Taxi)

"Don't it always seem to go.

You don't know what you've got till it's gone.

They paved paradise, put up a parking lot."
 
Our horses are used to them and gun noise having a clay pigeon shoot at the top of hill next to their field almost every Sunday. They aren't bothered with combines, tractors, clanking machinery, poultry, cows or sheep but they hate pigs so would fully support a ban on them especially when one of our geldings makes an explosive honking noise which splits my ears every time he sees one :)
 
Spudlet said:
Also OP - why not lighten up on the capital letters, hey?;)
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I'm glad it's not just me thinking that. Smacks of letters to the local paper, "Why oh why, etc., Yours, Indignant of Nimbyville." :D

I've never known a horse not get used to a gas gun - all of the ones at our yard aren't bothered and new horses catch on very quickly, same as they do for any new/weird/scary thing on our hacking routes.

The first time my dog heard one she just about cr*pped her pants, having spent her puppyhood in some numpty's back garden, but by the second shot didn't even react.

Lots of other things I'd ban first - fireworks except for organised events, as already mentioned, now that's a noise nuisance.
 
We've got an old fashioned scarecrow for our fields dressed in John Deere overalls and baseball cap.

The first day we put it up everything seems to clock it all at the same time and we get 40 sheep and 5 horses transfixed by it for about 2 hours. Even the dogs were petrified of it.

The gas guns don't bother the horses but scary scarecrow dude is as scarey as can be! In fact he's even scarier to the horses when we take him down because they seem to spend all of their time then checking to see if he's come back and if he hasn't then where on earth can he be - they are special my horses!

Can we ban little bales of hay too please - when you've got 5000 to load and lead home they are the work of the devil!
 
Indy, it is your own fault for letting your horses and dogs stay up late watching scary horror movies with scarecrows that come alive and eat innocent beasties:p
 
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