Neighbour harrassing horses

helm

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Just looking for some advice really.... I'm lucky enough to have two acres of land behind my house.... my two horses are stabled here and graze here.... there's a row of houses that continue down the street but only one other property directly behind our land.... we've lived here 7 years.... Next door but one decided (co incidentally with the birth of my son) it was unacceptable that the horses were pooing in proximity to her house, had given her sweet itch and left her bed ridden all year - she sent us a letter to this affect. In the spirit of being neighbourly I went to see her checking she was Ok but also pointing out this would unlikely be the case but that I'd make sure and muck was removed more frequently. When they've been out in summer every other day I've been out there picking it up. We got another letter with the Christmas card basically saying we'd done nothing and now moaning about the smell "but she hopes it doesn't offend us". On Friday I was mucking out when I heard a HUGE commotion - she was at my fence banging a tupperware container and waving her arms around spooking them. As you can imagine I was not happy and went to over to tell her this was not unacceptable behaviour - at which stage the conversation descended into madness. She also started ranting that there were rules about keeping horses near property etc etc etc. Now in the past the farmer who owns the field behind her has kept cows and sheep in it - he didn't follow them around with a wheel barrow but this doesn't seem to have been a problem. She now says she's going to wage war on me. Upshot is I feel unsafe in my own home and worry about the welfare of my two horses. Any advice?
 

JillA

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She may not have actually broken any laws but I would have a word with the police. My neighbour became abusive and bullying a few years ago and the police paid him a visit because it was "behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace". The time for neighbourliness is over, thanks to her bullying behaviour, so ask the police to call and put her on notice that should anything amiss happen to your horses you will be looking at her in the first instance.
 

Red-1

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TBH I would electro rope that part of the field, and give it 20m around her property. I would also consider a 6ft wooden fence, like a garden fence against the boundary.

I would try to sell the idea that this is for her, to her. She sounds unbalanced but if you can settle it down it is better than going any legal route IME.

I would consider buying a wildlife camera to see what she is up to when I was not around though. If she was trespassing or throwing missiles at the horses then I would take it further.
 

Fiagai

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The neighbour in question sounds slightly unbalanced imo - so I doubt you will be able to reason with her.

As you have now received a threat - it is in your best interest going forward to report the threat to the police. Ask that the incident be kept on record as you feel there is a genuine threat to your safety.

I would also suggest staying away from the person in question with as little verbal cobtact whatsoever. As suggested definitely increase the height of your boundary hedge either with new planting or other screening. Erect cctv if you wish to gather evidence (as long as this covers your property only and not any public areas).
 

Pearlsasinger

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TBH I would electro rope that part of the field, and give it 20m around her property. I would also consider a 6ft wooden fence, like a garden fence against the boundary.

I would try to sell the idea that this is for her, to her. She sounds unbalanced but if you can settle it down it is better than going any legal route IME.

I would consider buying a wildlife camera to see what she is up to when I was not around though. If she was trespassing or throwing missiles at the horses then I would take it further.

Excellent advice, although I think I would talk to the police as well.
 

Shay

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I too would advise going to the police. There are a range of possible offences from the breach of the peace family, to criminal harassment and also criminal damage (horses are property in law.) If she is a tenant you can complaint to the landlord or council. If she owns her property there isn't likely to be much you can do other than get a restraining order preventing her from approaching your boundary. For that reason I would also see if you can electro fence in a bit to make sure she cannot reach the horses or throw anything noxious where they might be able to get it.

If you are a member of BHS gold you might want to speak to them on Monday - or consult an equine solicitor (as in one that specialises in equine law - not a horse!) to see if there is anything more you can do to safeguard your position.
 

limestonelil

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What others have advised - fence off to keep livestock away from her boundary, ( I know you shouldn't have to but easiest to do and proves you tried to help) put up a camera somewhere that she can't see it otherwise the camera could make things escalate, and don't engage with her verbally. We had something not dissimilar with a neighbour - totally bizarre situation - but luckily she moved away from here. Keep a note of everything that happens. Not sure if I would get police involved at the moment.
 

ycbm

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I would put a two metre larchlap fence one foot into my own land along her boundary. No planning consent required as within height regulations. I would also wire off another two to five metres inside the fence in case she lobs anything poisonous over it.
 

ester

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How old is she? I'd consdier a larchlap fence too TBH, our field is surrounded by houses, they all like having the horses out there to look at and know the alternative would likely be houses, the only harrassing goes on is them harrassing the old guy two doors down who throws them a carrot each when he feeds the birds...
 

ILuvCowparsely

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She sounds like she has a screw loose tbh.



I would put my go pro anytime I see her doing things like this so you have it recorded, tell her if she continues to scare your horses in THEIR home you will take it further with the evidence. I would also run electric rope along the top of your wooden fence to prevent her banging it again, and say if you see anything that she does cause injury to your horses she will have the vet bill sent to her.


Any correspondence she send s you keep in a folder and photos or missiles you find she throws keep. The horses are on your land so she has no leg to stand on unless you make the muckhill right behind her fence. (Then she would know what smell really is like) :D



Over 6ft fence I been told needs planning consent, as we had to put our Heras fencing with the feet in the ground 5 inches to comply with the 6ft limit.

I would also run some close boarding fencing across the back of her property or get a mobile field shelter and plonk it right there, and say that will limit any imaginary smell she smells. Also limit her view. The really naughty thing if she really got my back up is, I would make a track from one side of the field to the other across the back of her house and put pigs or chickens on it. :frown4:
 
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DabDab

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As others I would create an internal boundary to keep the horses away from her. I would probably pick the ugliest larch lap I could find and paint her side a hideous colour as well
 

ester

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If this person is unwell (and declaring she has been bedbound for a year is not really normal is it?) I think some of these suggestions would be quite cruel. Preventing/limiting access to the horses seems a sensible step but I don't see the need to aggravate her.
 

AmyMay

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I've got a solution for you. Move the horses off, in the interest of cleaning, resting and fertilizing the field - and then muck spread it.
 

sunshine100*

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Just looking for some advice really.... I'm lucky enough to have two acres of land behind my house.... my two horses are stabled here and graze here.... there's a row of houses that continue down the street but only one other property directly behind our land.... we've lived here 7 years.... Next door but one decided (co incidentally with the birth of my son) it was unacceptable that the horses were pooing in proximity to her house, had given her sweet itch and left her bed ridden all year - she sent us a letter to this affect. In the spirit of being neighbourly I went to see her checking she was Ok but also pointing out this would unlikely be the case but that I'd make sure and muck was removed more frequently. When they've been out in summer every other day I've been out there picking it up. We got another letter with the Christmas card basically saying we'd done nothing and now moaning about the smell "but she hopes it doesn't offend us". On Friday I was mucking out when I heard a HUGE commotion - she was at my fence banging a tupperware container and waving her arms around spooking them. As you can imagine I was not happy and went to over to tell her this was not unacceptable behaviour - at which stage the conversation descended into madness. She also started ranting that there were rules about keeping horses near property etc etc etc. Now in the past the farmer who owns the field behind her has kept cows and sheep in it - he didn't follow them around with a wheel barrow but this doesn't seem to have been a problem. She now says she's going to wage war on me. Upshot is I feel unsafe in my own home and worry about the welfare of my two horses. Any advice?



sorry to hear you are having to deal with this..what you should do is to ask all the neighbours if they have problem with your horses and go to the police saying it is just her and she is harassing you and you are scared for your horses, do you have a parish councillor you can also speak to?

I would also put up a sign stating 'cctv on at all times' and electric fence off the area near her fence until you can sort this. (I would also put a sign up for that to cover yourself)
This is unbelievable--- a mediator def needs to talk to both parties like someone else said-you could sell it for houses and all then she would see is a brick wall! or put cattle or sheep in there too with farmer involved!

In the long term this is unfair to you and sure she was aware there was a field when she bought/rented the house-(look on electoral register to see if house owned)
you def have rights so do not speak with her and take legal advice BHS tomorrow-keep us posted.
 

helm

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Thanks so much guys.... starting to think I was going mad... it's 7 years to the day we moved into our dream and rather than celebrate all the sacrifices, hard work and fence bashing injuries I've just wanted to curl up into a ball. My horses are like my kids. I called the BHS legal Fri and Mon they will call me back.
 

sunshine100*

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stay strong! there is plenty of avenues to go down after legal advice--parish councillor for your village needs to be aware of whats happening too-sure they want a 'community' village and not issues like this
 

ester

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helm we did have a couple of issues with one neighbour, partly because we had to cut back a fair bit of overgrowth to re-fence. She was older and not entirely with it (which is why I asked how old this lady is) but it meant we conversed with her son when we needed to and he then spoke to her.
 

DD

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a 6ft fence made of corrugated iron preferably rusty. and an electric fence in the field side of it to stop them hurting themselves on it.
 

cowgirl16

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Just looking for some advice really.... I'm lucky enough to have two acres of land behind my house.... my two horses are stabled here and graze here.... there's a row of houses that continue down the street but only one other property directly behind our land.... we've lived here 7 years.... Next door but one decided (co incidentally with the birth of my son) it was unacceptable that the horses were pooing in proximity to her house, had given her sweet itch and left her bed ridden all year - she sent us a letter to this affect. In the spirit of being neighbourly I went to see her checking she was Ok but also pointing out this would unlikely be the case but that I'd make sure and muck was removed more frequently. When they've been out in summer every other day I've been out there picking it up. We got another letter with the Christmas card basically saying we'd done nothing and now moaning about the smell "but she hopes it doesn't offend us". On Friday I was mucking out when I heard a HUGE commotion - she was at my fence banging a tupperware container and waving her arms around spooking them. As you can imagine I was not happy and went to over to tell her this was not unacceptable behaviour - at which stage the conversation descended into madness. She also started ranting that there were rules about keeping horses near property etc etc etc. Now in the past the farmer who owns the field behind her has kept cows and sheep in it - he didn't follow them around with a wheel barrow but this doesn't seem to have been a problem. She now says she's going to wage war on me. Upshot is I feel unsafe in my own home and worry about the welfare of my two horses. Any advice?

Is there any chance you could speak to the farmer who owns the field behind her? see if he has had any problems with her - and how he dealt with it?
 

Pedantic

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You won't be able to fix mentally unbalanced no matter what you do, because their brains don't have any logical reasoning, their 2 x 2 won't add up too 4, it will add up too whatever they believe at the time and will alter by the minute, same as stupid, stupid isn't fixable, good luck with whatever you do try to resolve the problem and I hope everything works out for you.

Just think of Dianne Abbott, it will put it into perspective.
 

meleeka

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I’d put a 6ft fence up. Why should she enjoy the view if she can’t be reasonable? We have a neighbour who sounds like this. Thankfully not my field but next door. They complain about every thing, including calling the RSPCA when the pony is unfortunate to have mud in its field! Funnily enough, when they tried to sell the main point of the advert was the stunning views it enjoyed out of the back of the property. The same view they complain about regularly. It’s a shame really as I’d like to replace my old, battered caravan with a shiny new barn, but that’ll never happen all the time I know it offends them!
 

Keith_Beef

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Local authorities can have some rather strict rules when it comes to keeping horses for "non agricultural reasons", as I discovered from this PDF from Dartford Borough Council.
https://www.dartford.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/65026/Horserelateddevelopment.pdf

I'd not heard of "sweet itch" before now, and Wikipedia tells me that it "is a medical condition in equines caused by an allergic response to the bites of Culicoides midges"; can it affect humans, too?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_itch

All in all, your neighbour seems to be one egg short of a half dozen; reasoning with her and seeking an ASBO might be counterproductive. Like Pedantic stated: there's no fix for stupid.

In any case, you might not be absolutely within your legal right to graze horses on the land. Just because there were cows and sheep on there previously might not mean you can graze horses there. Local authorities can have some rather strict rules when it comes to keeping horses for "non agricultural reasons", as I discovered from this PDF from Dartford Borough Council.
https://www.dartford.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/65026/Horserelateddevelopment.pdf

If you can get your horses to pull a plough, though...


Anyway, staying optimistic, keeping your horses back from the boundary and putting up a fence might be all it takes to "clear the air".

Being able to put erect a fence of up to two metres in height without needing planning permission is nice... I wonder if you could first of all dig a trench three metres deep and three metres within your field and use the excavated earth to build a bank two metres high, then erect your fence on that?

The vindictive ideas of planting ash trees that seed themselves into neighbouring gardens will have the side effect of annoying other neighbours with whom you don't have any problems... I'd suggest planting trees that are fast growing (and of course non-toxic to horses) along most of the boundary, with something like bamboo just along one section... Bamboo spreads through rhizomes no deeper than 12 inches, and often just 4 inches deep.
http://www.bamboogarden.com/barrier installation.htm
 

popsdosh

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Yes with Chicken pooo :D

Our neighbour did that yesterday over their resting horse field COr blimby it reaks :D

That would be illegal then ,under the water directive you are not allowed to spread poultry muck at this time of year as the high nitrates can run off into water courses .any found in water can be traced back to source very easily.
 

tristar

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you can`t reason with stupidity.

the reason most of these situations get out of hand is because the authorities who are supposed to uphold the law don`t, along with the rest of us they don`t know how to deal with these people or are scared of them.

ignoring them or screeching at them will make no difference, they may become more vindictive whatever you do.

until authorities actually uphold the law which says people are entitled to enjoy the security and peace of their own property nothing will change, and you will need to find ways to reconcile yourself, a, its not your fault, b, you don`t try to make it worse, c, take lots of discreet photos and videos of them performing at their worst,so when ANYONE be it authorities or otherwise challenges your fault in this situation, you can shove a heap of evidence in their faces and say, ` well what could you have done any better`.

it may seem insolvable in your darkest moments but no doubt other people are aware that this person is doolally

take care of yourself, no one needs to go through this.
 
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