palomino698
Well-Known Member
Yesterday my daughter hacked out alone and turning the corner to home, saw people lining the road and others beating along the hedge between our field and a small farmer's land - we've had hay from him in the past, he knows we have horses. My neighbour's sheep were frantic, there were dogs in our field. The little mare (20 year old, typically quirky Welsh D) is nervous and jumpy at the best of times, and she exploded into the path of a van, luckily going slowly enough to stop. This was 100 yards from our drive. The other mare (Arab/Welsh D) had been left in alone and was crashing round her stable in blind panic.
My daughter got her terrified pony home and later she and our neighbour spoke to one of the party who said he is gamekeeper for the biggest local landowner, they have permission to shoot on every side of our field as the smaller farmers have agreed too.
I have no problem with shooting, we support field sports generally, but it's incomprehensible that people who know we have horses, and sheep next door, would simply arrive with a shooting party without having the courtesy to let us know in advance. My daughter pointed out they had ample time even on Friday morning to do so, in which case she obviously would not have ridden at that time. Normally we would all have gone to work by then, and the mares would have been turned out for the day. I dread to think what we would have come home to, even barring injury they'd have trashed the field.
So - we are now faced with having to ride before 9am in case they turn up at 10, keeping the mares in on Fridays and Saturdays, and a pony who is already frightened of bangs being scared to go out at all. Next weekend this lot will be shooting on Friday and fireworks in the village on Saturday, even the top door shut and radio on loud won't placate her.
We can't be the only horse owners dealing with this - how do others cope, short of sedating? The old pony isn't easily desensitised but I could keep discharging the airgun outside her stable, though I think she would just lose the plot. We have trouble with bird scarers too, and the big landowner places them within metres of the roads and byway that we use on every ride - I guess their arrogance is mixed with ignorance of the potential consequences.
On the plus side, I hope they will get rid of some foxes for the sake of my hens - unfortunately none of the local landowners allow hunting.
My daughter got her terrified pony home and later she and our neighbour spoke to one of the party who said he is gamekeeper for the biggest local landowner, they have permission to shoot on every side of our field as the smaller farmers have agreed too.
I have no problem with shooting, we support field sports generally, but it's incomprehensible that people who know we have horses, and sheep next door, would simply arrive with a shooting party without having the courtesy to let us know in advance. My daughter pointed out they had ample time even on Friday morning to do so, in which case she obviously would not have ridden at that time. Normally we would all have gone to work by then, and the mares would have been turned out for the day. I dread to think what we would have come home to, even barring injury they'd have trashed the field.
So - we are now faced with having to ride before 9am in case they turn up at 10, keeping the mares in on Fridays and Saturdays, and a pony who is already frightened of bangs being scared to go out at all. Next weekend this lot will be shooting on Friday and fireworks in the village on Saturday, even the top door shut and radio on loud won't placate her.
We can't be the only horse owners dealing with this - how do others cope, short of sedating? The old pony isn't easily desensitised but I could keep discharging the airgun outside her stable, though I think she would just lose the plot. We have trouble with bird scarers too, and the big landowner places them within metres of the roads and byway that we use on every ride - I guess their arrogance is mixed with ignorance of the potential consequences.
On the plus side, I hope they will get rid of some foxes for the sake of my hens - unfortunately none of the local landowners allow hunting.
the thing I drew the line at was when I went to the yard one morning a couple of years ago I found my horses terrified and one broken stable door!! the cause was the farmer next door thought it would be a good idea to construct a platform against a tree which over hung the roof of the stables, and then spend the early hours shooting from it 
