Ooops I got told off .........

[NOISYGIRL]

I would say what others have said that maybe its his polite way of telling you not to ride in there, he shouldn't have to justify himself, its his land.

I've heard that alot/most farmers don't like horses on their land because their shod hooves do damage to the ground. You might have not left much of an impression in the ground that day, but over a period of time and if as you say others are doing it then maybe it is getting damaged.

I'm not sure what difference it makes if a farmer comes on here and agrees/disagrees with your theory, will you go back in the field if someone says oh thats rubbish ?

He doesn't want horses in there so stay out, perhaps he should put a sign up so everyone knows and not just those he sees, thats not fair

 

[RunToEarth]

Not that constructive an answer really was it!!!

The thread is referring to the damage to ground as interested and there are many farmer people out there on H&H too - I have already admitted the error and the telling off.
Want some 'CONSTRUCTIVE' thoughts on the issue of damaged ground. Thanks

Haven't read the replies, may have already been written, I am a farmer's daughter, and a farmer's partner, as well as an agricultural graduate, so:
Direct drilling is now a common form of minimum tillage to some of the lighter soils in the UK that a lot of farmers now practice. It avoids ploughing, pressing and putting a lot of passes over a field to cultivate, and therefore allows for an altogether lighter seed bed.
Direct drilling is relatively easy to spot if you know what it is, however the masses generally don't, and therefore the likelihood is that you would just mistake it for a stubble field.
Secondly, subsoiling to prevent ground compaction is a time consuming process, and many smaller farmers will not own subsoilers. You say the ground was already very firm under foot, this will be because of dry weather and soil compaction, the action of horses' hooves upon dry compacted soil will not help the problem, only add to it.
A great deal of fields have a complex drainage system underneath them, and the majority of farmers will take the stubble as an opportunity to dig trenches and maintain any problems the drainage may have caused throughout the year. Trenches are often relatively discreet until you have your horses' front legs down them, by which time it is not only a problem for you, as a tresspasser, but also to the farmer, who despite not giving you permission, is now liable to your foolish behaviour.
Land is not cheap, and with 10,000miles of public rights of way across private land in this country, there is absolutely no excuse for tresspassing on private land, in my opinion that is just ignorant. British Agriculture has a great deal of issues to deal with, notably the looming CAP reforms due in next year, no farmer I know would appriciate having to deal with tresspassing horse riders on top of all else.
I am not allowed to ride in our stubble fields for those reasons above, so why should you, with no right to the land?

 

[RunToEarth]

also just another thought as someone else has just mentioned if he is part of a certain scheme you have to leave a few metres round the edge of the field for preservation reasons. When we were on this scheme even I wasnt allowed to ride round the edges of my dads fields as it was open to inspection and he could lose his payments if it was found to be used by horse riders / walkers etc.

if you are in ELS/HLS you don't just lose your payments for riding on grass margins, you also have to repay all previous payments received for the duration you have been entered into the scheme, which can be a very costly mistake for someone else to make on your behalf!

 

[Spyda]

Haven't read the replies, may have already been written, I am a farmer's daughter, and a farmer's partner, as well as an agricultural graduate, so:
Direct drilling is now a common form of minimum tillage to some of the lighter soils in the UK that a lot of farmers now practice. It avoids ploughing, pressing and putting a lot of passes over a field to cultivate, and therefore allows for an altogether lighter seed bed.
Direct drilling is relatively easy to spot if you know what it is, however the masses generally don't, and therefore the likelihood is that you would just mistake it for a stubble field.
Secondly, subsoiling to prevent ground compaction is a time consuming process, and many smaller farmers will not own subsoilers. You say the ground was already very firm under foot, this will be because of dry weather and soil compaction, the action of horses' hooves upon dry compacted soil will not help the problem, only add to it.
A great deal of fields have a complex drainage system underneath them, and the majority of farmers will take the stubble as an opportunity to dig trenches and maintain any problems the drainage may have caused throughout the year. Trenches are often relatively discreet until you have your horses' front legs down them, by which time it is not only a problem for you, as a tresspasser, but also to the farmer, who despite not giving you permission, is now liable to your foolish behaviour.
Land is not cheap, and with 10,000miles of public rights of way across private land in this country, there is absolutely no excuse for tresspassing on private land, in my opinion that is just ignorant. British Agriculture has a great deal of issues to deal with, notably the looming CAP reforms due in next year, no farmer I know would appriciate having to deal with tresspassing horse riders on top of all else.
I am not allowed to ride in our stubble fields for those reasons above, so why should you, with no right to the land?

****And breath****

Oooooop.... well that's YOU well and truly told OP!

 

[Hippona]

Just to make you all spew.....

...the farmer that owns the fields next to my paddocks....and many others around where I live......has given me personal permission to ride on any of his fields as soon as they are cut.

Which I have been doing. Only right.

 

[lilaclomax]

I was just about to reply regarding direct drilling as Runtoearth mentioned... most of the land around us is drilled and the farmers have to deal with dog walkers, motorbike riders, horse riders and walkers all wandering across their fields when they cannot be bothered to stick to the byways and bridleways - crops are reduced by tresspassing and although one person may not cause much damage imagine if everyone started to walk where they felt they could

I feel it is much more beneficial to organise a group of local riders and approach local land owners to request permission to ride down tracks on their land for a small annual fee - most farmers would be happy to consider this if you can offer a benefit to both parties without much work involved for the owner.

Poppymoo - perfect example - permission sought and granted where no harm can be caused

 

[blood_magik]

Nothing constructive - sorry OP.
Just wanted to say that even though we technically have the "right to roam", I still like to get permission.
We ride in our YO's stubble field and there's another lovely field up the road where the land owner has cut a track around the edge for us

 

[bonny]

To all the people who think any riding on stubble fields is wrong.....how do you imagine farmers in scotland manage ? We can ride almost anywhere we want now, or walk, or cycle which I think is great. It's hard to understand the thinking behind alot of you now.

 

[RunToEarth]

To all the people who think any riding on stubble fields is wrong.....how do you imagine farmers in scotland manage ? We can ride almost anywhere we want now, or walk, or cycle which I think is great. It's hard to understand the thinking behind alot of you now.

There is comparitively a lot less high quality arable land in Scotland, and therefore I would assume almost no direct drilling practiced there. Land owners in Scotland have to accept the right to roam on cultivated land, the right to roam in England only permits for roaming on uncultivated land, which I feel is a lot more sensible.
The thinking behind me is that riding/walking/cycling across a cultivated piece of land is like riding/walking/cycling through a factory or any other place of industry. It is a business, and profits have to be made on these fields.
With food security at the forefront of national issues, this is not the time to be wondering across drilled fields and then complainting about rises in the price of bread...

 

[Clodagh]

if you are in ELS/HLS you don't just lose your payments for riding on grass margins, you also have to repay all previous payments received for the duration you have been entered into the scheme, which can be a very costly mistake for someone else to make on your behalf!

We were being audited under the ELS scheme and a local horse rider trespassed past the auditor! She said a cheery hello and carried on. He was Gobsmacked, thank heavens we had one of the very few auditors with a brain or it could have cost us £25000. Luckily he couldn't see much evidence of hoof damage over the farm as a whole, or it would have been a different story. I'm not allowed to ride round our firleds when its wet so other people doing it really pees me off.

Not aimed at Polly!!

 

[smiffyimp]

Similar happened to me. We byway leads to a big wooden bridge - that isnt the problem, the problem is it is lethally slippey when wet/damp etc so we snick in the field other side of ditch to avoid. I got collered have a wizz on the stubble. Same as you I was apologetic etc, he made the excuse of 'if he's sprays teh fields etc'. Quite rightly he had the right to tell me to bog off (and he was polite) but I think they are more scared of liability if you fall off - he owns the land and therefore could be liable.

I called the council byways department and they are putting chicken wire on the bridge to prevent slipping - mind im still waiting a month later for it to be done!!!

 

[Spring Feather]

We leave 10ft strips around all of our fields. We allow horse riders to ride along these tracks (and our permissive woodland tracks) and most are respectful however I have caught quite a few riders galloping right across the middle of our fields which hacks me off no end. I ask them to refrain from doing it, they apologise and then a few months later I catch them at it again. At times I have felt like pulling the plug and closing off our farm to riders but then I'll meet someone who thanks me for allowing everyone to use our tracks and I get the feel-good factor again. I do wish that people would be happy with what they've been offered instead of pushing the limits and jeopardising the riding pleasures for others. (((sigh)))

 

[Queenbee]

Thanks to all who read my post correctly and provided sensible answers.
As usual everyone else is always too quick to jump on and condemn!

I was wrong to ride in the field i know that i am a grown up - i wanted to improve my knowledge for future use - now you all know aswell!

Prickly aren't we? You know what this forum is like, you know that you will always get comments that you don't ask for as well as the ones you do, especially with such a narative in the opening post. Perhaps a post asking: do horses cause compaction and dammage on ploughed fields' would have got answers more specific to your query. There is no reason to get defensive or teasy at posters, its not as if the HHO firing squad is present and posting on this thread, there are meerly some mild comments and opinions, no one has posted anything near nasty to you.

 

[Booboos]

I'm not a farmer but from personal experience of turning out horses in three different paddocks (different parts of the country I mean so different soil) that had never had horses on them before, the horses did compact it a lot. I have no idea how much work is requiredto reverse this effect but I can imagine why anyone would not want to do it for someone else's hobby.