keeping horses next to busy road

kazg07

kazg07

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Have been looking for house with land that I can afford for some time. Viewed one the other day I really like and could have horses there. However it is right next to a very busy main road which worries me. Think I would be paranoid about them getting on to road as if they did they wouldnt stand a chance. Have considered putting up really high double fencing and gates. Just wondered about others experiences ?
 
We have a field right next to the main road, and all the youngsters get put in it for traffic training. As long as the fences are good theres no need for you to go to extra measures. Go for it!
 
Your horses need to be well fenced whether the road is busy or not. I would be more concerned about riding out? Keeping the horses at home and looking at places is soooo exciting though! Good luck x
 
I don't think there is much more risk than not living beside one. IF they got out they could travel to a busy road anyway. You could put up stallion fencing and an electric stand off to make sure the fences were very secure.
 
I used to livery my horse at a yard which the end of my field backed on the M6.

I think the fence was put up by the highways agency but i must admit ,it was a tall, thick post an rail type. We ran a strip of electric fence along the top and then going down the bank to the road was thick brambles. I don't think he would have made it to the road.

It wasn't as noisy as i thought it was going to be.

In fairness i was only there for a week before i left (not because of the M6!!) but my lad wasn't bothered with the road and i felt safe due to the size of the fence.

I wouldn't like to be on a busy road if i had to ride on it.
 
I live and keep my horses in the middle of nowhere, but the railway runs the whole length of my field. As a rural area, Thomas the Tank (2 carriages only) only runs once an hour, and the horses dont even notice it any more. Their stables back on to the line as well, and it certainly de sensitizes them to loud noises and big vehicles, they are all bomb proof in this respect. The railway maintain a very strong fence, so there is no danger of them ever wandering on to the line
 
For a long time I kept my horses next to an A road. It was double fenced with post and rail and there was a hedge. We had no problems. We had to cross the A road to ride anywhere and often crossed it again further along. One plus side was that in my view there were fewer flies around!
 
Just make sure you have good fencing and preferably hedges, and double gates (the one I ride had an escapade last week and I am paranoid now, thankfully it is only 30mph but busy!) Still it does make them pretty bombproof traffic wise. The property sounds good!
 
I know this is an old thread but does anyone still keep their horses next to a busy road or motorway? My lad has recently moved yards and the fields back on the the M25, I'm quite pleased as he's not brilliant in traffic but was wondering how long do you think it took for your horses to get used to the traffic?
 
I had a traffic shy mare and I turned her out next to the main road for the summer hoping that would help. It did desensitise her to large vehicles passing at a distance but she was still as bad when they came towards her on anything but a very wide road. :(
 
Mine is next to a MW slip road exit...you can only see the vehicles as they go over a bridge next to the paddock but the lorries can be quite noisy....they don't bat an eyelid.
The road that actually borders my land is an A road but it ca nget a bit busy with buses and I puropsefully put mine in the roadside paddock when I got him becasue he was terrified of traffic.
Within days he didn't take any notice.
I also put a line of electric fencing on the inside of all my exteral fencing just to be on the safe side. :)
 
If he's bright and with others that are used it it, no time at all, seriously, a couple of days if there is constant noise.

Moving new horses to my field next to the railway line, they tend to look up at first, then just get on with grazing if there's someone else there who's not bothered. When I first owned the field there was a bit of running around until they realised that the trains stayed out of the field.

I did have to laugh at them when we moved here though, there's a single track 60mph road running along the fields and the other side of that a narrow river with canal boats that come past. They will all be stood quietly grazing as the local lads whizz past at amazing speed, heavy lorries bump and jangle past, and a whole variety of traffic goes by, and on the other side of the river is a main A road which is a route for the emergency services and frequently has speeding vehicles with blues and twos on it, none of this fazes them. But the canal boats: Cue utter hysteria from one of the old boys! After he'd seen about 20 he settled to just showing them that he is in fact a fire-breathing stallion with amazing paces (all the others ignore them (and him) completely) and he now just lifts his head to look at them, give them a dominating look, and warn them to stay out of his field and away from his herd. As this seems to keep them at bay he's not actually that worried by them now. I live in fear of meeting one actually moving when we're out though - he does have to give the moored ones we meet a display of his snorting and best elevated trot. I suspect if there was a constant stream of them he'd be much calmer.
 
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