urgh, Appleby coming to town....

Shysmum

Shysmum

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I live about 20 miles away. But it means horses tethered on the green with no water, caravans literally blocking the road opposite, and horses ridden or driven at full pelt past our house day in, day out. Not to mention the noise and mess. I hate it. :o

Rant over... sm x
 
not to mention the worry of whether to keep my boy in, or which field looks the most hidden *sigh*. Just so sad that I get so worried this time of year.
 
I don,t live no where near appleby but we do seem to have a lot of appleby visitors stop off here for a few days on their way up to the fair, and it has been known for horses to disapear with them.

All the local horse owners take extra security out 2 weeks before the fair, my coloured was moved 2 weeks ago. We have 4 illegal camps within 1 mile of us at the moment but think they will move on soon to the fair, we do have 2 legal council run camps and they tether their horses across the bridleways which is very annoying.
 
it's so sad that we have to "hide" our horses. When I lived in Cumbria I was totally paranoid with my last coloured boy, probably a bit OTT tbh !

I think the worst bit is the fast, heavy trotting on the road outside - feel like running out and shouting like a madwoman sometimes - but then I am mad ....I would buy the whole lot, but then it'd only mean even more get bred. *sigh* A very difficult time. sm x
 
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we've got Wickham Fair on Thursday but thankfully far enough away from me not to be a problem but I do feel for horse owners local to that area.

I found this today; I'm pleased that the government had nothing better to do with tax-payers money than fund this website:
http://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/website/Home.htm
Hopefully a change of government might mean the money is chanelled somewhere more sensible . . . . ?????
 
I like the way they say Appleby is from 3 June :eek: I wish they would publicise that a bit more as it seems to start from next week *sigh* The roads , esp the A66, will be full of horses and caravans, fingers crossed there won't be another accident.

I have nothing against the fair or the travellers, other than the way the horses can be treated. Unfortunately practice/showing off sessions happens right in front of my house, and very noisily too - makes me very uncomfortable. Peeps who go to the fair have little idea what goes on around it. :o
 
I constantly get worried about my dales mare as she is away from the yard and other horses, everytime something knocks the electric fence over or something i think somoenes tried to break in. I live close enough for there to be appleby visiters round where i live, I think some of the horses are really pretty and i wouldnt mind having them for myself.
 
lucky for you living 20 miles away :( i live less than 8 miles away from appleby :(

hide the horse time soon or block the road with tractors so they cant get down like we normally have to, as they like a 'look' at ours :(
 
OMG.... it must have been co-incidence, right ??? :confused::confused:

Driving back from Shy tonight, there were two trotters coming towards us at full pelt. A woman behind the second trotter decides to overtake, STRAIGHT into our path, and we are doing 30 mph. Hubs gesticulating and saying "OMG,OMG", she managed to dive in between the two carts. I am just sat there gobsmacked, doubt the cart drivers even noticed.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH !!!!!

What about the ponies is what I say - looking at them they could barely have been more than two....:mad::mad::mad:

To everyone who has this nightmare about to start, lots of good vibes - please send some back my way ;)

sm xxx ( a gypsy cob fanatic )
 
God I wish you could add to your own post....

This is what has been stolen according to the local paper this week ;

- three saddles
- items worth £thousands, inc quad bike, quad trailer, cement mixer, generator, drills, and a large number of hand tools (stolen from village my boy lives in)
- 20 DRAIN covers off the A66 (we wondered why the cones were there)..good scrap value apparently.
- a landowner foiled the theft of eight bridle gates from his land.
- large number of vehicles targeted at a local museum.

And so much more, that was just the front page. Makes me so worried for my pony - in the back yard perhaps ??? :mad:

Ok, what are local peeps supposed to conclude from all this, when the usual headlines are "farmer wins a prize "

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

(name of paper available by Pm, btw;)
 
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People have been snooping around my yard. I was talking to the police about it and they said no horses generally get stolen as they are too easy to trace. Near me tack has been nicked, especually rugs and brushes and things.
I caught 2 men in a red vauxhall (old) get out the car, climb over the gate into my field, see me and run!
Also a white rover acting strangely, so if you live in cumbria and see anything suspicious please call the police.
 
it's not good is it. I do hope you're right about the horses not being targetted, don't spose the micro chip will count for much. It seems that so many people turn a blind eye, scared to say anything contraversial (so am I truth be known), but this is really worrying me. Like it does every bloody year.
 
dominobrown said:
People have been snooping around my yard. I was talking to the police about it and they said no horses generally get stolen as they are too easy to trace. Near me tack has been nicked, especually rugs and brushes and things.
I caught 2 men in a red vauxhall (old) get out the car, climb over the gate into my field, see me and run!
Also a white rover acting strangely, so if you live in cumbria and see anything suspicious please call the police.
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Hi DB, how did the racing tack go down!
 
I live just 6 mile from Appleby, we all hate it, the cruelty abuse and from now on the worry that anything of value will be stolen. I lost a lurcher a Bedlington Terrier and 2 JRTs one year, in 1996. They were secure in the kennel in the barn, they were all working dogs, so I would think that someone had tipped them off.
 
Ugh I know!! We are only in North Yorkshire and it's bad enough here when they're all on their way through! We had one with 5 scrawny ponies camped up on the grass verge by one of our fields - makes me so upset to see them, I too just want to rescue them but sadly don't have the funds and like you say they would only breed more.

Luckily one of my ponios is far too old to be of interest and the other one is a warmblood - I don't think they'll be too interested and they're both right outside my house. But if I had a coloured I'd be nervous too, though I think the police are right that stealing horses isn't too common! Lots of good luck vibes to keep you and your pone and your stuff safe anyway!
 
neeny5 said:
lucky for you living 20 miles away :( i live less than 8 miles away from appleby :(

hide the horse time soon or block the road with tractors so they cant get down like we normally have to, as they like a 'look' at ours :(
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Where are you? I am6 miles away, Ihave noticed a very nice skewbald on the Appleby Kendal road. I am in Maulds Meaburn!
 
I used to live at the othe end of the A66, miles away from you, but we were in a similar situation at this time of year. Any bit of green land would sprout an encampment overnight and if you rode past by mistake, the people would come and stand and stare as you went past.... Stuff always went missing, the copper cylinder for the new central heating and piping went one year. And you always worried if your horse would be there in the morning.....
I now live in west Yorkshire , but I still start to twitch at this time of year.
My sympathies to all in similar situations.
 
I live on the west coast of Cumbria and I must admit I get twitchy at this time of year, it is awful I know but I worry about my 2, especially Cappy as he is a drive/ride horse. However we are lucky, as our yard is tucked right away and the fields are not accessible except from the farm itself, not from road. But I am always glad when the week is over, you see them going back down our main road. Still not to tar everyone with the same brush, I am sure there are Romany people and travellers who would not dream of stealing, a horse or anything else.
 
We've got Wickham fair tomorrow and we've already had problems, a lady had her car smashed into and handbag stolen, she saw who did it but was too far away to do anything before they left.

The local garage now asks all haulage / large vehicles using the big pumps to pay first because they've had so many drive offs, one got away with over £150 in one go and the police can do nothing cos the car was stolen.

Deep joy :mad:
 
I do believe true Romany gypsies are mostly very good to their horses, and are not the problem.... it's the hangers- on that are.

Just got back from the field, and while I was walking the dogs, there was a strange looking man behind the fencing, not on the footpath - I challenged him and he had just got lost (how, given where he was in thick bushes :confused:), but he seemed like a genuine nice guy going fishing. It's the hyper-alertness that's so stressful isn't it.

Good vibes to everyone ;)

sm xx
 
I am in Shropshire which is 100,s of miles away from appleby but the area I am in seems to be a gathering place for the appleby visitors as they travel up north, I suppose being in the middle of the country makes it the best place for them all to meet before travelling on.

We had lots of drain lids disapear once they took around 60 lids in one night on the same stretch of road, personally the scrap dealers buying the lids off them know they are stolen and are as bad as the thieves taking them.

Last year two cob youngsters were stolen within 1 mile from me, but addmittedly it was after appleby I think it was near the time of stow fair when they went missing.
 
My horse Toby was stolen the week before Appleby, coincedence - i think not! He was the only one stolen, he is a coloured cob and travellers were seen outside my field the night he was taken.
This was in Telford, Shropshire and as The Snoopster says we get a lot of travellers passing through this time of year.
My horse wasnt freezemarked, something I really regret - he is microchipped - but we have to find him first!
Get your horses freezemarked, at least then anyone can identify them, horsey or not. Keep safe.x
 
They have arrived in Sedbergh, broken into a few fields. We have had a few house break-ins during the day, the police know who did it.....we have more crime in these few weeks a year than the rest of the year put together.....why can't the scumbags just p*ss off.

Interestingly I have seen a ginger shettie tethered that looks similar to one stolen in January...just waiting for some better pics from the owner to compare....
 
Also, does anyone know if there is a Horsewatch in Cumbria? My girls are in a very vunerable place ATM with easy access from the A6 without being seen....I'm thinking of camping up there for the next month or so....
 
T_K said:
Also, does anyone know if there is a Horsewatch in Cumbria? My girls are in a very vunerable place ATM with easy access from the A6 without being seen....I'm thinking of camping up there for the next month or so....
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No sorry
No Horsewatch in Cumbria--you might want to pressure Cumbria Police about that but they do have Farm Watch--better than nothing--talk to the Officers doing that--I met them at Carlisle they were definitely listening.

http://www.cumbria.police.uk/advice-and-information/crime-prevention/rural-crime
 
pastie2 said:
I live just 6 mile from Appleby, we all hate it, the cruelty abuse and from now on the worry that anything of value will be stolen. I lost a lurcher a Bedlington Terrier and 2 JRTs one year, in 1996. They were secure in the kennel in the barn, they were all working dogs, so I would think that someone had tipped them off.
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i had a shih tzu bitch and a jr bitch stolen in 2004 just before appleby,spent thousands trying to trace them,its heartbreaking
 
Farmwatch are launching a massive operation here (co durham), but I guess that'll focus on the farm stuff..

I know freeze branding is the better option, but honestly, I don't want to do it. Maybe just stabling might be the answer, as the livery yard owner lives on site.
 
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