(Un-)Reasonable expectations

[Tiddlypom]

The OP herself probably, or another responsible adult.

 

[Red-1]

Like who?

Well as the owner of a horse that was expected to be loose by morning, then OP. It is her responsibility. If she does not want to miss her sleep time, then an owner of one of the other horses in the field?

The Police do deal with loose horses, round here they round them up, put them back and patch the fence the best they can with Police tape or whatever is to hand. Although, I would like to see OP calling the Police to do her bidding, and explaining that the over stretched Officers should come and secure the horses, because it is too late for her to do it herself

 

[pennyturner]

Bottom line is that if there was a risk they'd get on the road, I'd have moved them half a mile down the road (all 10 of them, in the dark), to my other field (recently topped ragwort and all) until morning. If I had no other field, I'd have tied them to lamp-posts and sat with them all night.

Thankfully, not necessary.

(Electric fence not an option with long grass and ponies not used to it - they'd charge through it and do themselves a michief)

 

[blitznbobs]

Yup no excuse for this at all... horses are an animal that it is the owners responsibility to stop them being a risk to anyone else. If you had to sit up all night holding them in a head collar and lead rope that’s what you should have done. I have stables so I. This situation they’d all would have been in until the fence was fixed, 12acres isn’t that much land tbh ... but cognisant negligence may well not be covered by any insurance policy so in future a lot more care should be taken.

 

[SpringArising]

I wasn't saying it shouldn't be OP staying with them, but TP wrote as if there are people on stand-by just waiting to spend 12 hours in the dark watching over someone else's ponies!

 

[Tiddlypom]

Ah, that wasn't my intention at all. The whole situation is the OP's responsibility. The OP has a large family plus IIRC sharers or loaners for some of the ponies, so she presumably could have found bods to share the vigil.

 

[Nasicus]

Regardless of whether it was close to the road or not, I'd have (and have been!) out there with a headtorch and some electric fence posts and tape, either to section off around the downed fence, or to corral the horses into a safe space until morning, roping in some begrudging assistance if needed. At an old yard I was at, some ponies busted out of a field 2 miles away from the road and still made it out onto the road, about another mile down the main road and were found mooching around the yard of the local riding stables.

I hate to sound so strong about it, but it was irresponsible of you to put them back without securing them first. Both to the public and to your horses.

 

[Clodagh]

So if the horse that was free grazing got spooked and took off you would feel no guilt or responsibility? You condone the free grazing of coloured cobs around the country?

 

[cobgoblin]

No way would I leave a horse in an unsecured field even if it took all night to find the breach.

 

[ester]

I genuinely like my horse too much to leave him to that sort of risk, accidents happen on footpaths too- one runs at the back of us and I'd just be worried if my horse could potentially have any contact with unsuspecting members of the public. You really do need to accept a bit more responsibilty and I'm not surprised that neighbour was angry that you appear to not be that bothered.

I don't understand why it would be hard to spot the problem because sometimes you can't see the ponies? you just take a torch and walk the boundary surely? 12 acres isn't an impossible boundary length?

maybe you should get your horses used to electric fencing just in case? Ours works fine with long grass FWIW as we run a track and make hay out of the middle.

 

[laura_nash]

(Electric fence not an option with long grass and ponies not used to it - they'd charge through it and do themselves a michief)

I'm curious what your emergency plan is in general with the setup you have described.

I don't have stables and my horses live out, sometimes on the common which is similar to you describe (i.e. not land you really want to be walking around on at night by torchlight, and with plenty of places for horses to hide). BUT mine are trained to come to call and they are trained to respect electric fencing. I always have a charged battery, simple energiser (with earth stake etc combined) and fencing available to make a corral or temporary fencing over a gap. I also have a small securely fenced area available nearby and some clip-on flashing lights to clip onto headcollars if I have to move them in the night.

It really sounds like you need to think through what your response would be to an emergency and maybe create a fenced corral area somewhere or train your ponies to respect electric fencing. IME electric fencing works fine in long grass over a short length, the battery just runs down quicker.

 

[Nasicus]

It really sounds like you need to think through what your response would be to an emergency and maybe create a fenced corral area somewhere or train your ponies to respect electric fencing. IME electric fencing works fine in long grass over a short length, the battery just runs down quicker.

Not to mention you could just trim the grass around it back (I've done so using a pair of scissors for many a length of fencing ha!) once it's daytime again. Or get taller posts

 

[HashRouge]

(Electric fence not an option with long grass and ponies not used to it - they'd charge through it and do themselves a michief)

I find electric fencing works fine with long grass, especially if you just have a single strand. Could you not just have electric fenced off the (presumably) small area where the fence was down? I'm not sure I buy that your ponies would run through it just because they're "not used to it" - most horses don't go through electric fencing the first time they encounter it, or no-one would use it! I'd imagine they would be even less likely to go through it if it was roughly where they expected there to be a fence. But perhaps now would be a good time to get them used to it, so that if this happens again you can walk the fence line to find the gap, and fence off the relevant area with electric fencing. I do think it is very irresponsible to leave horses in a field when you know the fence is down. Okay, everything was fine. But what if the rest of them had got out and they'd wandered off or taken fright at something? They could have ended up miles away! I don't think the fact that you normally loose graze them outside the field and they don't go anywhere means they will NEVER go anywhere, especially unsupervised!

 

[tankgirl1]

Not read it all. OP are you the landowner or a livery?

 

[tankgirl1]

And it happened late at night, so what if you have had a drink and can't drive? Just playing devils advocate because I don't believe for a second that all the indignant posters on this thread would have been sober, or had leccy fencing to hand, or been able to source leccy fencing, and had help, etc etc late at night despite what they may post

 

[tankgirl1]

And don't come at me all high and mighty and tell me 'I don't drink because I have horses' because we all know that is bull

 

[blitznbobs]

And don't come at me all high and mighty and tell me 'I don't drink because I have horses' because we all know that is bull

Taxi/ friend / neighbour / relative ... same as any other emergency

 

[Red-1]

And it happened late at night, so what if you have had a drink and can't drive? Just playing devils advocate because I don't believe for a second that all the indignant posters on this thread would have been sober, or had leccy fencing to hand, or been able to source leccy fencing, and had help, etc etc late at night despite what they may post

You would leave your horses wandering loose, because you had been drinking?? :eek3::eek3::eek3:

Genuinely, you think it is right not to have any back up plan? :confused3:

Of it were not two long term posters I would think it was a last hurrah for summer holidays!

 

[Clodagh]

And it happened late at night, so what if you have had a drink and can't drive? Just playing devils advocate because I don't believe for a second that all the indignant posters on this thread would have been sober, or had leccy fencing to hand, or been able to source leccy fencing, and had help, etc etc late at night despite what they may post

Oh dear, that is so funny! So if someone phoned and said your horse was down on the ground and moaning in agony would you not find some way to get down there?
And if your horse is loose in a huge field would you not have some limiting option in case of an injury? I don't see why a few bits of baler twine could not have bodged the hole, at least surely, drunk or sober, you would try to do something?

I have to admit I have animals and still drink - me bad - but if my son is out for the night I don't, even if I am not driving him home.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

And it happened late at night, so what if you have had a drink and can't drive? Just playing devils advocate because I don't believe for a second that all the indignant posters on this thread would have been sober, or had leccy fencing to hand, or been able to source leccy fencing, and had help, etc etc late at night despite what they may post

That is what emergency plans are for-I always have electric fencing in my remote field-just in case one of them is injured and need their movement restricting until I can get transport down there. I too have a water meadow with long grass-electric fencing works fin, been using it for years. And I wouldn't leave my ponies wandering about because I had had a drink but when you live in the middle of nowhere you do tend to rein it in just in case.

I hope your head is not too sore this morning.

 

[HashRouge]

And don't come at me all high and mighty and tell me 'I don't drink because I have horses' because we all know that is bull

I mean, I genuinely don't drink (not "bull" I'm afraid) but for those posters that do, it's not like you're confined to the house/ pub just because you've had a drink? Ask a friend/ family member for a lift or get a taxi...hardly rocket science!!

 

[ester]

Some people come up with some bizarre reasoning! What if you’ve had a drink? Like there’s no way round that?!

 

[Leo Walker]

Back in the days when I did drink I was out at an event one night 25 miles away. I got a text from the YO saying my horse had a cut on his leg. I managed to get a friend to drive me over there. If not if would have been an expensive taxi ride!

 

[Nudibranch]

PT I'm a bit surprised as I think you're normally quite a sensible poster. However there are some rather holier than thou attitudes on here. As I understand it, there was no danger of the horse getting onto a road so there are some OTT responses. Clearly nobody here ever made a bad decision.
Fwiw though, I'd have a small energiser, tape and tall posts stashed somewhere for future emergencies. I use tall posts over the water meadow section of our grazing and they keep the tape clear of almost everything.

 

[ester]

Roads aren’t the only danger to horses or the only place they could damage that Id be responsible for though? I genuinely cannot imagine going to bed knowing my horse wasn’t secure, but then I’m a double checker of shutting everything! So don’t see what is holier than thou either.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I expect that the OP and maybe the other poster have got the message now . I hope so, anyway.

Additionally, the OP has freely shared in the past that a number of her ponies are stallions, so even more reason to know that they are/can be contained.

 

[rascal]

The field we rent also has a lot of tall weeds, but the electric fencing still works. We have 2 fenced off areas where they would be safe if something happened to the boundary fence.
We have often caught other peoples loose horses, and keep spare head collars a in the car. We have in the past returned a horse to its field and made the fence as secure as we can, i hope if ours ever got out someone would return the favour. I would not put a horse back in the field with a broken fence.

 

[KittenInTheTree]

To be blunt, if you're drinking enough alcohol that you can't hope to cope with an emergency situation should it occur (either by dealing with it yourself or arranging cover), then you are drinking too much alcohol and should stop doing so. HTH.

 

[Rowreach]

To be blunt, if you're drinking enough alcohol that you can't hope to cope with an emergency situation should it occur (either by dealing with it yourself or arranging cover), then you are drinking too much alcohol and should stop doing so. HTH.

I've had the opposite problem, my YO (horsey, former event rider, from a seriously horsey background), rather under the influence of his lunchtime gin, decided to shoot crows in the same field as my horse and pony, and then rang me, knowing I was 300 miles away, to tell me that the pony had gone through the fence "and destroyed the fencing!!" and he couldn't catch him because he couldn't get anywhere near him. Meanwhile my horse was still in the field, stressing out ....

Drunken YO seemed to have forgotten that the (thoroughly reliable) person who was looking after my horses lived about a mile away.

So there I was 300 miles away, having a canary, having to ring my reliable friend who went out, rattled a bucket and reinstated the pony to his field, and then fixed the "destroyed" fence (one staple and one insulator).

The YO then insisted that the top wire was electrified, in order to "sort out" my horses ....

So happy I'm out of there.

But to return to the subject of the thread, and without being holier than thou, I wouldn't leave horses in a field that I knew had an escape route, whatever time of day or night.

 

[KittenInTheTree]

I've had the opposite problem, my YO (horsey, former event rider, from a seriously horsey background), rather under the influence of his lunchtime gin, decided to shoot crows in the same field as my horse and pony, and then rang me, knowing I was 300 miles away, to tell me that the pony had gone through the fence "and destroyed the fencing!!" and he couldn't catch him because he couldn't get anywhere near him. Meanwhile my horse was still in the field, stressing out ....

Drunken YO seemed to have forgotten that the (thoroughly reliable) person who was looking after my horses lived about a mile away.

So there I was 300 miles away, having a canary, having to ring my reliable friend who went out, rattled a bucket and reinstated the pony to his field, and then fixed the "destroyed" fence (one staple and one insulator).

The YO then insisted that the top wire was electrified, in order to "sort out" my horses ....

So happy I'm out of there.

But to return to the subject of the thread, and without being holier than thou, I wouldn't leave horses in a field that I knew had an escape route, whatever time of day or night.

See, I would definitely count that as an example of someone who was too drunk to cope with an emergency situation!