Horses being deliberately let out

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Crosshill Pacers

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Have just read the article about the tragic accident involving a motorist and two horses, where the police have said it's a possibility the horses were let out. It reminded me of something OH said the other night on the phone about a yard up near him.

The yard is shared by approx. 10 people (OH wasn't sure off the top of his head), some with more than one horse. The yard is located next to a track where people jog their horses and race on weekends. I've been there and it's an alright setup, all the people know each other and just get on with their own horses. One morning a couple of weeks ago, the first owner up at the yard arrived about 6am (also the farrier for all the other horses) and found the gate that leads out onto the main road open, and all the stable doors wide open. Fortunately, all of the horses had wandered into the middle of the adjacent racetrack and were quite happily munching on the grass and milling around.

Now aside from the fact that in the dark, those horses could have panicked and run into the fencing and seriously hurt themselves, there was the potential for those horses to wander out onto a main A-road. It could have cost people their lives.

I've heard of a horse in a block of stables who let himself out of his stable, and then subsequently let all of the other horses out and then rummaged around their feed buckets while they were wandering about, but this to me (and OH), sounds like someone has let the horses out deliberately :(


What kind of person would do that? Like I said, aside from the harm that may have come to those horses, a serious accident could have been caused involving motorists?!
 
This is why all my gates are padlocked, not only to prevent theft, but to stop any twit opening the gates. The nearby farmer thought his cattle were fine in their field as they weren't beside the footpath which crosses the land, sadly some trespassing youths thought it would be funny to open the gates and we had a herd of bullocks wandering along the footpath, luckily they didn't get on to the nearby A road or motorway!

Another reason why 3rd party insurance is an absolute essential too!
 
Would the BHS gold membership insurance element cover you for horses being let out (or escaping) and causing an accident?

Not exactly the same but someone went through one of our fences which is beside a busy road and the fence was taken out. The police attended and despite the fact there were sheep in the field and the farm name is on the gate right beside whether the accident occurred they didn't bother to alert us to the fact and the sheep could have been on a very busy and fast road with a blind bend for 24 hours before I got there and saw the hole in the fence:confused: it happened just after I had been there that day. The mind boggles.
 
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I mentioned a padlock and possibly CCTV to OH and he seemed to think that the gate is locked at night, which would mean that whoever let the horses out 'broke in'. Stranger still is the fact that nothing was stolen. All the owners checked all of their stuff and there was nothing missing (stuff has been stolen in the past, hence the locked gate I believe?)

The only other explanation is that one of the people who stables their horse there did it :confused: but I really can't see that someone would put their own horse in danger regardless of the motive?
 
SarahThomas said:
I mentioned a padlock and possibly CCTV to OH and he seemed to think that the gate is locked at night, which would mean that whoever let the horses out 'broke in'. Stranger still is the fact that nothing was stolen. All the owners checked all of their stuff and there was nothing missing (stuff has been stolen in the past, hence the locked gate I believe?)

The only other explanation is that one of the people who stables their horse there did it :confused: but I really can't see that someone would put their own horse in danger regardless of the motive?
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People can be a LOT stranger than you would ever imagine!
 
I rented a field a few years back - I have reverse hinges but didnt even think to check the gate on the field I was renting - got a phone call from a friend at 6am to say my horses were on her garden - got down there - someone had lifted hinge end of gate off hinges (other end padlocked) and dragged it wide open - horses had both got out & gone down the road (round 2 blind bends) but luckily before reaching the main road had gone into friends place where I had been borrowing her school - the horse I had been schooling there must have led the other one in ! No injuries thank god and I padlocked both ends of gate till I could move them but they were let out intentionally - I know no-one from the area but the girl whose arena I was borrowing thinks someone thought they were hers and she has a few enemies !!

some people are just sick in the head ! who does that kind of thing!
 
Fixed gates are padlocked.
Gates that can be lifted off hinges are heavy duty padlocked flush with the gate both ends.
I've known horses to get out of a stable with; two bolts, clips, 2 rails, stable chain and kick bolt though...
 
meesha said:
some people are just sick in the head ! who does that kind of thing!
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That's what I mean, who in their right mind would think that it is in any way acceptable to create such a potential hazard?

Our horses ended up on the road a while back, thanks to a postman who was incapable of understanding the countryside code (leave gates as you find them - in this case, CLOSED!), they crossed the main road on a blind bend which has two long straights either side of it - people do drive like lunatics into the corner as we're forever having to repair the fence - but luckily they decided to wander up a lane on the other side and my dad found them munching away quite happily in our wood. I'm aware of how disastrous that could have been.

But putting aside the fact that the owners of the horses would be liable for any accident caused by their horses 'escaping', who could let horses out onto a road knowing full well that they could cause somebody's death?
 
We have all our gates padlocked and a main gate padlocked, this didn't stop some weirdos as they got in the main gate and cut down post and rail fencing about a 12 foot section of it. Luckily the ponies were too happy withh their hay but I dread to think what would have happened. One of them was infact just standing by the opening wondering what the hell had happened
 
Sadly it does happen but usually as part of a theft of property where padlocks/chains are cut or gates are lifted off their hinges. To let horses out of stables though is despicable. We were broken in to a few years back (they wanted a generator that was locked in our shipping container). To get to the stables they cut two chains off gates at either end of the track to the stables (200yd or so track) and then proceeded to cut through the container with an acetiline torch. The horses who were in the stables at time must have been pretty terrified but thankfully their doors were left shut. It was horrid in the morning though to arrive to gates wide open and not seeing heads appear over the stable doors to start with.

Thankfully, there is a separate gate to access the field from the stables so the other horses could not have got out.

I seem a claim submitted (when i worked in insurance) where theives broke in to a farm to steal a trailer and left the gate open. Sadly the pony then escaped on toa road and was killed by a lorry. At least for that pony it would have been quick but how terrifying must it have been for the driver and how much worse it could have been had it just been a car.
 
Apart from ensuring that the hinges are revered on gates so that the gates can not be lifted off it is also esential to have the lock contained withing a metal box so that no chain is used and the lock is protectedfrom soeone using an angle grinder.l
 
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