"Please do not feed the horses" - help!!!

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domane

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My sugar-intolerant TB has been moved but now in the field I lease there is my 19m traditional yearling, my 7m Welsh D colt and my elderly laminitis-prone Welshie mare tenant. We've been there since the beginning of September. Going past my fence line and gate is a track that leads to a static caravan park, which is used as permanent and temporary residences so there are people driving past all year, more in the summer. I've suspected people have been feeding the ponies, I found some brown bread crusts in the snow and my OH and I were there a couple of Saturdays ago and left for half an hour and when we returned there were dozens of whole carrots that had been lobbed over the fence. Thankfully the ponies were eating haylage from their box which is positioned right over at the other side of the bottom field (intentionally!) and I was able to collect them all up and remove. However, I poo-pick daily and sometimes there are an awful lot of piles of poo along the fence line so I don't know whether the ponies have been over there eating whatever had been lobbed over, or just sheltering under the trees (evergreen pines). I'm there every day, at different times, for a minimum of two hours, but that still leaves 22 each day when they are unattended :(

I know people are only being kind and I think they will completely ignore the standard "Please do not feed the horses" sign. I don't want to antagonise people either as the yard is 6 miles from my home so I couldn't get there hugely quickly if needed, it's a minimum 10-minute drive.

How have others coped with this problem?
 
I'd electric fence off the bit where the horses can get to the fence, it won't stop people throwing it in put they won't be able to feed directly from the hand. Put up another sign saying horse may bite. Then if they ever do you will not be liable as there is a sign warning them.

I get really annoyed, Our oldies has no teeth so even a cut up carrot could kill him.
 
I would still be inclined to put notices up anyway, and not just one of them, but at regular intervals along the track. Perhaps you could make the notice say "Please do not feed the horses - they are on a special diet upon vet's advice!. Of course, there will always, unfortunately, be the person who either chooses to ignore the notices or simply thinks they know better, so, my other thought was - is it possible/is there enough room to put an electric fence up say 5 feet inside of the existing fence along the track? Make it wide enough so that people wouldn't be able to reach the ponies and feed them by hand etc.
 
I have the same problem - laminitic on a paddock beside a very popular right of way that is used a lot by the folks from the nearby town for dog walking.

Most people respect do not feed signs, but there are quite a few that don't and I have taken to electric fencing inside the boundary fence so that they can't get access to the horses (this doesn't stop food being thrown over though!) and also muzzling the laminitic prone. It seems to be the done thing that people feed other people's horses; I wouldn't dream of feeding their child or dog, so why the discrepancy I don't know.
 
I have the same problem and have on occasion electric fenced off the bits people can get at (and with me its just my b***** neighbours). I've now told them that the metal gate they stand at is 'hotwired' to the electric and they will get a painful shock if they feed the horses. People are scared of electricity so suggest electric fence signs.

I think I might hotwire my gate though, if it carries on.
 
I used to get this...I too tried the polite smiley 'dont feed the horses, they are on a strict diet' notice....I still found evidence of massive apple-fests. :mad:

So in a fit of pique I re-did the signs....they now read...

DO NOT FEED THE HORSES
NO APPLES
NO CARROTS
NO MINTS.......

YOU ARE MAKING THEM ILL!!!


And after that.....no more problems. I think unless you actually spell it out- that they are putting the health of the horses at risk- they'll keep on doing it because they don't understand or realise that 'only' an apple or two could cause problems. Especially if several people a day are doing it......
 
I did this but people still do,

I ended up taking the electric fence 4ft away away so people couldnt feed them. I had a sign saying

"Please dont feed these horses, they have been very ill due to people feeding them "

I then found someone on the foot path who commented that the grey in my field was aggressive torwards people and my other pony.


I just said that people have been feeding him recently, I have had to have the vet out quite a bit as he has had a really poorly tummy recently which can be fatal in horses if I found the person I have a good mind to hand them my big vet bill, she promptly left.

My horses hadnt had colic but he had got very nippy around dinner time.

Im afraid best advice stay up the field and have a word with them.
 
similar issues i have 2 welsh section a colts, within 2 days of them moving in the field trouble started i had the RSPCA turn up with a report they had been losing weight over the previous 3 months i laughed and explained i had receipts and passports dated 3 days prior saying they where in wales plus the farmer i rent off confirmed i had only rented the field 3 days previously. i then had a water drum appear even though they have access to a stream at the bottom of the field. with water in it plus a nets worth of carrots in a pile they where fighting each other over. then hay appeared also.
i was not happy as these are adolescent colts and if this person had been kicked they would have come at me.
and then the boys wouldn't eat their feeds as they had gorged themselves on carrots i have now put a huge sign up stating they are stallions so do not enter. also not to feed as they are fed a special balanced diet twice a day and hay and water provided. some days carrots appear and the odd time i can cope just everyday is frustrating when these people think they are helping but they are actually hindering and i also have used electric fencing to keep them away from the gate.
ONLY ADVICE IS DO NOT BUY AND LEAVE A SHEPARD MINE WAS STOLEN OUT A FIELD NEXT TO A VERY BUSY ROAD THE FIRST NIGHT IT WAS THERE
 
What about trying a sign like the ones TB1 had made? I can't remember them exactly, but along the lines of "please do not feed the horses...something something something... RIP Smartie, killed by "kindness"...something something...

I had my mare in one of TB1's field for about a year - the one right in the village next to the footpath - and never saw evidence of things being thrown over the fence for them.
 
Many years ago, I caught an elderly lady feeding my horse a pork pie - when I told her that it was very bad for him, she said "but I buy him one when I go shopping every week - he loves it" (!) She was totally unaware that horses do not eat meat!
 
I would put up a very strongly worded notice - something like 'Please DO NOT feed the horses they diabetic and are on a vet approved diet and treats could KILL them'

Most people may not know what laminitis is but diabetic is something that they can understand and will help them realise you aren't being 'mean' you are trying to care for your ill horses.
 
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