I'm Fuming.....My Disregarding neighbours

I would hop over the fence and start stamping around in the woods in view of the horses. Whilst Twiggy is scared by the unknown, sounds like your older horse has too much time on his hands and is hooning around for fun.

As soon as Twiggy realises that people in the woods aren't a threat you'll be fine. It would be a bad idea to allow them to be scared by stuff like this & freak out whenever something moves in bushes etc, I'd sort it out so they no longer react. I wouldn't bring the horses in or tell the neighbours to stop using the wood, get them in there as often as possible, Ideally have them feed something over the fence, bet the kids would be up for that if you ask them to help desensitise your horses.
 
I suspect it's the kid's voices that are doing it - rather than people in the woods per se.

Brilliant idea to get the kids over to the yard or even leaning over the gate to talk to the horses so that they can get used to the sound of their high pitched little voices....
 
bb i know how you are feeling with you horsie, i have a very nervous exmoor that has issues like you and the dibble stick freaks out when he's left in the field on his own and i actually give them homeopathy. Now i know not everyone is a believer and it doesnt work for all, but i have seen a massive difference in both, dibble no longer frets or tanks round, or sweats up when he's on his own, and harry is much better to handle. The two things i have them on are Kali phos and aconite. It comes in little sugar pills that i just put in with thier feed and you can give them as much or as little as you want, just find the level that works for you. Their about £4.40 a vial, it may be work a try!
 
I really think its up to you to take action to avoid your horses being so upset, rather than expect other people to avoid upsetting your horses in public woods doing perfectly normal activities, such as keeping them in during the day in summer. Your horses are merely using their flight instinct, they weren't hurt and each time they encounter something like this, they will get more used to it. Most horses wouldn't bother about something like that, and, dare I say it, most owners as well.

I once had a woman complain about me trotting and cantering on a track two fields away from her horses - apparantly they got quite excited by the sight of another horse in the distance and started galloping around. Of course, I told her not to be so stupid.

It never ceases to amaze me how horses the country over can be taken to shows, mares and stallions unloaded and loaded in boxes next to each other, warming up around each other, jump in rings with aeroplanes and parachutists landing within eyesight, bouncy castles next to them, all sorts of things. Yet horses in fields doing what comes naturally to them and giving themselves quite probably a bit of much needed exercise cause the owners to get all worked up.
 
Sorry BB but as others have said, if it's THEIR land they can do whatever they want as long as it's legal. It is referred to a couple of times as a campsite so even the lighting of a camp fire may be perfectly legal (ie no-one has ever reported me for having a BBQ in my back garden lol). I've got nice neighbours but if I'm having a quiet read in my back garden and their kids start the usual screaming and yelling and stray balls appearing over the fence, much as I'd sometimes like to strangle them all, it's perfectly legal! And when I took in a starving stray cat that I knew was a nervous wreck, well too bad. I'd have had to keep him in if I thought it would be a real problem. The part of Wales where I live often has RAF fighter jets come screaming over the fields on training runs. I leap out of my skin and the horses don't even look up from grazing. Why not electric tape off a strip of field closest to the woods and let your new ned get used to the harmless sounds from a safer distance? Honestly hun, new ned will get used to it but maybe you need to help him. With summer round the corner, it is likely to get worse not better x
 
Can you borrow a steady horse for a while? I know its a pain, but would be good to get them used to all the sights and sounds, as they are going to meet things like this in the future.

That's why the herd is so important when bring up our youngsters, so they learn from the older horses that there is nothing to worry about.
 
Sorry but I support bay_beasty, Id be mad as hell. If I had kids, Id never let them scream and shout anyway because its annoying for other people let alone if I could see it was driving some animals loopy! I think that out of courtesy, they should tell you when they are letting their kids run wild in the woods, and I do not think they are allowed to be lighting fires at all.

I've told shooters round us many a time to sod off when they've got even remotely too close to my horses field. I dont see why its over-reacting to try and stop your horses from killing themselves!
 
Surely the horses will get used to the sounds of children playing etc?

Our livery yard is a working farm - tractors etc....its very busy with farriers, machinery - children everywhere, we had cows at one point opposite the stable block, therers geese wandering around honking and chicken in the schooling ring on occasion.........the horses have to get used to walking past a burning muck-heap in order to get to the top fields.....don't get me wrong, the youngster wasnt keen when we first got him, but after a week or so he never even noticed it.

I would expect a nervous to still be nervous after a week- but it wont get used to certain things if you dont expose him/her to stuff......

Our horses bomb around the fields for the hell of it on occasion, never did them any harm.....why do you think they would break their legs by galloping around? Do you have a 'holey' field or something?

I know I probably sound unsympathetic, and I don't mean to - I know whats its like to worry about the bloomin' things......I'm sure they'll get used to the kids and whatever the more they experience it.....
 
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I dont see how they can be expected to inform you every time they wish to take their grandchildren out to play in what I assume are public grounds? (the woods)
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I know how frustrating it can be - last year, our landlords took to spraying/muckspreading the field next to Ellie's without telling us, and we'd often get back to find her lathered with sweat
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But if the land is not yours, or is public - you really dont have a leg to stand on. And lets face it, kids playing and calling to one another, and even a campfire being started, in a forest next to a paddock should not be considered a horsey hazard...it sounds like your horses just need to learn to settle. I dont mean to sound harsh, as I am the owner of a stresspot myself, but this year I'm forcing myself to be tough with her - there is no need for her to be brought in just because a tractor has started up/her friend has been brought in/another horse is being schooled/YO has lit a bonfire etc!

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Am tending to agree with this actually, YO's son's friends have camped in the fields with the horses before, i think they were more freaked out than the horses because Blue stuck his head in their tent in the middle of the night!
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