Strangers taking photos of horses in field - Kent

RunToEarth said:
People take photos of our horses all the time, they are in a paddock next to a popular boundary walk. In all the years, and the million photos that have been taken, none of them have been stolen. I personally don't see the issue at all, perhaps it's just me.
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No it's not just you. My farm isn't visible to the outside world so no-one is able to just come along and take photographs of them in their fields, but if my fields were next to public land then anyone has a right to photograph whatever they want, my horses included. I do often get stopped when I'm riding on the lanes by people in cars who ask if they can take photos of us and the horses. Fine by me. I've never known such paranoia as is shown on this forum lol.
 
I would be happy for my ponies to be photographed come to think of it I would like to see someone try to steal my naughty one. He is better than a flock of geese at keeping people at bay will hire him out for a consideration just be careful he doesn't take your head off by accident
Seriously it all smacks of sensationalism I doubt they were up to mischief and probably just trying to help out with the search for tictoc Who I am pretty sure isn't stolen at all just wandered off somewhere and got caught up or drowned in one of the many dykes and drains in the area I hope not for Josh's sake but seems the most likely scenario now a big no questions asked reward didn't bring him home and he is little intrinsic value to anyone else I would be surprised if he was still alive Hope so but I feel unlikely
 
probably just a weird coincidence that it was 2 people in one morning... but enough to make you paranoid i understand.
but it is Christmas time with loads of people on holiday with not lots to do.
my horses are next to a busy footpath, pretty sure photos have been taken of them when walkers go past, especially my girl as she is spotty and if the little ponies are out as people think they are very cute.
 
I must have hundreds of pictures of me and Ned. Nearly everyone who saw us took a picture when I took him through MK!

One of my favourites, who I went back to see every time I was in Scotland was one I dubbed "Mister"
Despite the rather lazy picture, he had such character and presence!
Not seen him in about 6-7 years though, I wonder if he's still about :)

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I'd just like to make clear that I'm not a fluffy, bunny hugger, paranoid type of horse owner. The actions yesterday, particularly of the second person, really upset and aroused suspicion in me. That's fine if it wouldn't bother you, if an exact replica of the situation happened to you. With horses hidden from public view/land/footpaths etc etc and someone had gone out of their way to come onto private property to take images. Our property is indepentantly rented - its just us there, no busy livery yard with people coming and going. That does make one more security conscious whether you like it or not. In my almost thirty years of owning horses I've known when to not bother with the hysteria gripping the horse world with regards to plaits in manes, white vans etc etc, but this worried me.

Maybe it's nothing at all, maybe, as I pointed out its a case of mistaken identity seeing as I own a little grey pony, or maybe it's something to worry about - who knows. As I put in my original post, I alerted the local police who felt it WAS suspicious given the details/circumstances I shared with them, and given they likely get calls alerting them to suspicious and non suspicious incidents all the time, I'm sure they can tell the difference and advice people when not to worry.

And to the person that has accused me of 'screaming and shouting', I'm sorry but where did you get that from? I shouted as a means to project my voice - a commonly used approach when you are a distance from someone and they are not aware of your presence. Secondly my exact words were 'I'm sorry, can I help you?'. Hardly being rude there.

I started this thread as an FYI for people local to me, and just to get it off my chest really, I also said, as I have done all along, that's it probably absolutely nothing.
 
Alsxx totally agree with that. I have no problem with people taking pictures while on public ground HOWEVER trespassing to take pictures is a whole different story. In my case I was polite to start with and explained it was private property and the danger of small children and loose horses I was met with an aggressive response and then followed by an angry man and his iPad!!! That gets aggression back! I would also be suspicious in the OPs situation especially with all the tic toc hysteria! Apparently one lady walking her elderly grey pony in hand was actually attacked by two walkers who were convinced her pony was tic toc!
 
fburton said:
Oh dear, that reminds me of one train journey (Glasgow to London) where I spent too much time looking out of the window counting horses. The final number was over 400. :o
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I frequently do Stockport - London train journey for work and it is one of the best for horse spotting - I can get between 70 and 100 depending on weather and usually 6 'bonus points' for llamas near Stoke on Trent haha!
 
One other possibility is they may be thinking of reporting you to the RSPCA or similar. I'm sure your ponies are fantastically looked after but some members of the public can be a bit over protective about such things and think that horses/ponies should all be stabled when the weather is bad, or at least rugged up to the eyeballs. A bit of mud round the gate, water container out of sight, an old looking pony or similar is all it needs for some fluffy bunnies to think the ponies are being ill-treated!
 
It sounds possible that the lady who seemed 'upset' that you confronted her then told her partner (or whoever), elaborated the truth and they then had the attitude of 'who does she think she is!' and came back to photograph purely because you upset her. Or maybe not! I wouldn't worry too much more tbh.
Although I would have no problem with mine being photographed from the footpath if they crossed over onto my property I think I would take a much different view, unless they asked permission first.
I'm always snapping away at horses but wouldn't go trespassing onto their land.
This was taken in France
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And these cuties in Wales
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TGM said:
One other possibility is they may be thinking of reporting you to the RSPCA or similar. I'm sure your ponies are fantastically looked after but some members of the public can be a bit over protective about such things and think that horses/ponies should all be stabled when the weather is bad, or at least rugged up to the eyeballs. A bit of mud round the gate, water container out of sight, an old looking pony or similar is all it needs for some fluffy bunnies to think the ponies are being ill-treated!
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If ^^^this^^^, better hope they phoned WHW, who will visit and chat with you about the condition of your horses, and immediately recognise there is no issue. The RSPCA will turn up like the SS to throw accusations at you, whilst being unable to correctly label which end of the beast does the eating.
 
I wouldn't hesitate to take a photo of a nice horse in a beautiful setting, just as I wouldn't hesitate to take a photo of a beautiful house.

Doesn't mean I'm casing the joint :P

Sometimes you see something that makes you go "this is what I would like!" then you can incorporate that into your dream house/horse/whatever.

I have to admit, I'd be somewhat incredulous and perplexed if some person came running up to me yelling to stop taking photos.
 
I also suspect that the man was with the lady, and came because she told him you'd told her off.

I'm perfectly happy for people to take photos of my horses if they like (footpaths cross our land). I always make a note of vehicles I don't know that stop and look around (obviously if I'm there). I would be unhappy with someone who went onto private land to take a photo though.

OP I'm sure everything is fine. Your security sounds good and, worst case scenario, if they were up to no good, for all they know you did get their reg and you have personally seen both of them, which would surely put them off if they were thinking of coming back..

We can all get paranoid sometimes and its not a bad thing. The other night I was going out with the dogs at 11.30pm and there was a van parked down the lane at the end of the drive to the stables. I got my husband to come down to the stables with me. Nobody was there so he went back. I topped up water buckets and said hello to the horses etc, then went back down the drive with a notepad to note the registration. As I walked down and my eyes focused, a man was standing next to the van. I nearly died! Thankfully he turned out to be a man I knew who used to live in a house up the valley and who had recently moved to the village. He had driven back to walk his dog before bed as he didn't like walking in the village. He had stood at the end of the drive when he saw lights in the stables so I didn't worry about whose car it was.
 
I've just been telling OH about this and he suggested OP should have said something along the lines of, OK, happy for you to take my horses photo, but you won't mind if I take your photo on my phone for security purposes. Sounds obvious now he's suggested it! If they've nothing to hide, they shouldn't object should they?
 
If I phoned the police everytime someone took photo's of my horses, I've have to keep the number on speed dial. They get photographed in the field and when we're riding. I don't mind a bit.

Apparently one of my horses has his own fan club and a social life I know nothing about.
I delighted he gives pleasure to people passing by, although no one's daft enough to take the old sod away with them.
 
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