I don't like to judge people.. But.. Gypsies ???

we park our tractors/massive lorries/anything like in front of any of our gates... & take our tack home. Only thing you can do.. oh and we have a very vocal border collie & a doberman who has a dislike to strangers! And a grumpy old man with a shotgun. I don't object to people living the way they want to but I do have a problem with them stealing things!
 
My mum had some scummy guy come round knocking on her door asking for scrap metal a couple of months ago, despite the fact that she lives in an old, delapidated terraced house, with nothing more valuable in it than the laptop.She doesn't even have a car parked outside, as she can't drive, and isn't horsey in the slightest.
Apparantly this guy, after she had finished talking to him, then walked a couple of paces up the road, got in his van, and promptly drove off, without knocking on anyone elses door.:confused:
She also mentioned getting a strange phonecall and some strange guy (a different one, I might add;)) knocking on her door, at gone midnight, asking if he had the right address, (he did:eek:) and not actually saying why he was there.
Very strange day all round!
 
My instincts and principles tell me to judge everyone on their character and behaviour. The issue with travellers is that the whole set up of many sites and elements of tradition that have been chosen to be preserved coincidentally operates as a perfect set up for organised crime and intimidation. (Run by the most violent family on the site, children denied secondary schooling and married off to other travellers at 16, cash economy, sharing the same 'John Smith' name when asked for ID, family on benefits despite all the men driving brand new Range Rovers)

It should NOT be the case in this country that any residential location should only be enter-able by police when they have armed and helicopter back up
It should not be the case that the only local stables not to have been repeatedly done over by either the site residents or their pals doing swapsy crime from a site a little further away are the ones who keep a number of large black and tan dogs
Nor should people be beaten up when trying to stop them beating animals in the street or have to pick up the carcases of horses they have dumped outside the livery yard.
Nor should delivery drivers have orders for 3 quad bikes and when they deliver them are held up with iron bars and the bikes driven off and never seen again
Nor should drivers be held up with wire stretched across roads and kids with catapults or airguns.

All this was at a previous address and with a small, council run official legal site.
When I moved there, it wouldnt even have occurred to me to find out where a travelers site was in relation to my home.

Sadly, the next time I moved, it would be the first thing. And thats not because I am a different person, it is directly because of the behaviour of the travellers at the site and the failure of public authorities to enforce the law equally between settled communities (easy targets) and travellers (claiming racism and benefitting from legal aid to do so).
 
I had my incinerator bin stolen from my garden, I wish my dogs had been out 11 stone of mastiff might have put them off.

My old YO had her brand new digger stolen Which was to be used for her business. They tore down and crashed through fencing to drag it off the yard with another vehicle. I'm just glad no horses were touched
 
I have a massive site opposite where my horses are kept. It used to be small but every weekend they add more caravans to it and they nicked my ponies. A section c mare and two section a geldings. Since I got rid of the mare, touch wood my boys have been safe but I don't trust them and it blows the theory of them not doing it on their doorstep. Thankfully at the time I had left my senses at home and when I spotted them missing, I drove straight into their site crying asking if they had seen them. They said no to start with but then changed their story when hubby heard one calling. Turned out they had got one in their field but couldn't heard the other two, the field was locked and the padlock key was round his neck...my pony broke in apparently. I clearly have a very talented pony to unlock a padlock and lock himself in without a key! I am off down there now, just to put my mind at rest!
 
DragonSlayer said:
I was advised by a DCI (not the top man! Doh!) that my sign was stating what would happen if they came on my property. Saying that rather than warning of a dog, shows it in black and white what WILL happen, therefore I have covered my own arse if they got bitten.

The sign stays.
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I must say I was pleased to read this DragonSlayer as I have the below sign. I figured this was the safest thing as when I am depooing at the far end of my land there is no way I could hear or see someone coming through or over the gate! My dog will bite infact 2 of them will and our paddocks are theirs as far as they are concerned,

2011-12-28384.jpg
 
A few years ago travellers moved into a field down the road to where I kept my Belgium WB (before he was retired). I'm sure I'm biased but he's a lovely looking horse (ex BSJA), they came round to the farm trying to buy/take unwanted things away and asked me how much I wanted for him! Needless to say, he spent the rest of the time they were there locked in his stable when I wasn't there and locked in the barn! Good job too as they came back and pinched loads of stuff :-(
 
I'll vouch for the dogs. We've got two collies. One comes across as quite savage - snarling barking jumping up and baring his teeth in your face. The other one is sneaky and will approach from behind - they operate in a sort of pincer movement. We have a lot of travellers coming up to the farm to buy hay and straw. The regulars are scared to death of the dogs and wont get out of their trucks. If we aren't about and shall we say new customers from the travelling fraternity rock up tend to get out and have a cheeky luck around - they don't get chance for a good look around though because by about 20 seconds they're shouting us to pull the dogs off - big babies!!

The dogs have never bitten anyone in their lives but they do have a sort of sneaky sociapathic look about them.
 
Gypsies haven't had much luck on our yard :p

They've turned up more times than I can count now :rolleyes:


First time managed to get the tack-room door off it's hinges and a few saddles into their car (which had been bought the day before)... before the boss and friends pulled up blocking in their car, with rifles and big scary dogs. Followed by full police response unit and helicopter. They managed to run across the land, and obviously had other cars waiting.
We got our saddles back as they left empty handed ... and their car!

They've come back since but the alarm and cctv pick them up before anything can be done. The door and windows to the tack room are also VERY reinforced.

Had one "go for a walk" and have a look around once. Apparently he was looking for livery. He walked straight into me and my friend out hacking. We told him that this yard doesn't do livery. Showed a lot of interest in my pony. Enquiring if he'd been a nice kids ride etc. Told him I was rehabbing him as a project horse - throws small children off, can only walk and trot, doesn't jump etc :p
We then carried on our hack as if normal, he walked in the other direction so we jumped the hedge and raced back to the yard in time for this guy to conveniently turn up at the yard... still looking for livery :rolleyes:
I explained that this was a private yard, only took on problem horses (*cough*cough*) and we didn't do livery. Now would be please leave before we called the police for Trespassing. And no he couldn't wander further up to see the chickens and ducks because he was having a nice walk. He is trespassing, and this is a criminal offence. I also made sure I was stood in a spot that I knew he'd be picked up on the CCTV ;) He left.

The final time we had a few lovely, nice, honest looking young men go for a nice stroll down the clearly sign posted private road.... they walked into the boss and all his friends on a shoot. Lots of dogs and rifles. Boss warned them that the farm is marked as private because his friends aren't very good shots. Terrible aim, wouldn't want anyone getting hurt now ;) They scarpered pretty quickly!

No doubt they'll return again at some point. These all seem to be different groups. But, for the time being, they've not succeeded at our yard.
 
I used to get a lot of interest in my very handsome piebald cob from travellers when I was out hacking. He came from travellers in the first place so was obvious highly desirable, although emaciated as a nine-month foal in the sale ring. My response was always "yeah he looks fab for his age doesn't he. And it's great that I can still ride him when he's nearly 30". This was always my response from when he was four - they must have though he was the oldest horse in the world 15 years later but we only ever had our rugs nicked, not the horse! Mind you, if they'd managed to a) catch him and b) load him, they would have done well - he used to have hysterics about strange men at the best of times, even when it was the man who brought the feed!
 
lachlanandmarcus said:
My instincts and principles tell me to judge everyone on their character and behaviour. The issue with travellers is that the whole set up of many sites and elements of tradition that have been chosen to be preserved coincidentally operates as a perfect set up for organised crime and intimidation. (Run by the most violent family on the site, children denied secondary schooling and married off to other travellers at 16, cash economy, sharing the same 'John Smith' name when asked for ID, family on benefits despite all the men driving brand new Range Rovers)

It should NOT be the case in this country that any residential location should only be enter-able by police when they have armed and helicopter back up
It should not be the case that the only local stables not to have been repeatedly done over by either the site residents or their pals doing swapsy crime from a site a little further away are the ones who keep a number of large black and tan dogs
Nor should people be beaten up when trying to stop them beating animals in the street or have to pick up the carcases of horses they have dumped outside the livery yard.
Nor should delivery drivers have orders for 3 quad bikes and when they deliver them are held up with iron bars and the bikes driven off and never seen again
Nor should drivers be held up with wire stretched across roads and kids with catapults or airguns.

All this was at a previous address and with a small, council run official legal site.
When I moved there, it wouldnt even have occurred to me to find out where a travelers site was in relation to my home.

Sadly, the next time I moved, it would be the first thing. And thats not because I am a different person, it is directly because of the behaviour of the travellers at the site and the failure of public authorities to enforce the law equally between settled communities (easy targets) and travellers (claiming racism and benefitting from legal aid to do so).
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Hear hear!!

And it seems to be getting worse, will the authorities ever man up and sort them out??
 
Doris was stolen by gypsies once.

Luckily we found her. They'd left her on the side of a public footpath. According to police gypsies do this a lot because they can't be accused of stealing a horse found on public land.


I found her myself. The police were pretty much useless.
 
just a word of warning over your dogs, i know of a farmer who has just had his 3 rotties poisoned so the gypsies could get in and help themselves! luckily he found the dogs in time and fingers crossed they are recovering at the vets. so not only has he been robbed he now also has a v large vet bill:(
 
4faults said:
I had my incinerator bin stolen from my garden, I wish my dogs had been out 11 stone of mastiff might have put them off.
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Sadly I doubt it. One of the guys who tried to rob a farmer also burgled my grandparents. He kicked the s*t* out of their Rottweiler :mad:
 
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They wouldn't dare come up to our yard :D

Maybe because we have some of them livery with us!!! :D :D (Lovely family, horses are cared for amazingly well and they have the best sense of humour! I also trust them entirely :) ) And secondly because we have up to 8 dogs running around the place :D

I'm totally understanding of people making up their own opinions as I know we are incredibly lucky. I'd be the same if I suffered the experience of some of the stories posted here. I feel that people are so blinded by the stereotype, when they do encounter a nice family with good morals they completely overlook them. There are some decent people in the traveling community, it's a sad consequence that potential relations between our communities are quashed because of the ones that behave so awfully.

I just wish more travellers were as lovely as my fellow liveries, then maybe my friends wouldn't suffer such horrible prejudice on the back of some other idiot taking what he has neither earned, nor deserves. :(
 
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