Walkers............

Heidi1

Heidi1

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Just to fill you in first, my horses are in a field which has a public footpath running through it, not a problem, until yesterday. Was walking up to fetch the first two of my four in along with the girl who shares my field, all at the top happily grazing so we starts to walk up through the first field, then I noticed in the top left hand corner a couple of walkers with a dog and dog was off it's lead (
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), then the couple of walkers turned into around 25 walkers, all following the fence line around the field and not walking straight across the field as the path goes, well managed to catch two and take them down, on returning to get the other two of mine and friends horse, she couldn't catch her the first time round, I noticed that the gate between the two fields was closed, with one person waiting with dog
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, not a happy person, one of mine was standing at the gate shouting and pawing the ground, not a happy teddy bear. As I got closer said person opened the gate, I was not best pleased as Number 1 they had not followed the footpath down, Number 2 the dog was off it's lead to start with and Number 3 she had no right to closed the gate in the first place........... On asking her if she realised they had strayed off the footpath she turned round and asked who I was to tell them were they should be walking, well my blood started to boiled, but thought best of it and just looked at her and said next time perhaps you should read the map before cross to check the route of the footpath and to ensure that her dog is kept on a short lead, with this she turned round and said she was going to report me to the council for obstructing a footpath, how can she when she wasn't even on it.......... Was really mad, why did they not walk across in small pockets of people instead of looking like a human snake............Was I in the wrong.....
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aarrgghhh..
don't worry, if they strayed off the footpath then you did nothing wrong!
are the footpath signs not obvious? i think it's you who needs to get in touch with the council if the footpath is not clearly marked. i'd forget about the snotty woman though..
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No, I don't think you were. Sounds like they were pretty rude actually.
Although they probably went round the edge of the field because they didn't want to walk right through and possibly upset the horses (also because they had the dog).
Any chance you could put some signs up along the fence, just asking walkers to stick to the path, put dogs on leads and not open or close any gates?
 
I'm a walker as well as a rider and I hate people behaving like this whether they are on their feet or on a horse. It gives the rest of us a bad name.
However in defence of some (polite) walkers, sometimes it is hard to work out where the footpath actually goes and some land owners do try and make it difficult in the hope that it puts you off. Perhaps some signs pointing the correct way would help, and they would give you amunition if people don't stick to the path.
Obviously you have the right to insist people stick to the path, but as it is a public footpath you can't limit how many people cross it together.
 
They had walked past the style and just followed the fence line until they came to the gate, perhaps because it was easier to get through than having to climb over......
 
From what you say it appears that the main thing the walker did that was wrong was not having the dog on a lead. They invariably will walk around the edge of a field so as to not disturb animals or damage crops. As for closing the gate....they are told so many times to shut gates in the countryside that they do it automatically.

It appears that both of you could have been a little more civil with one another on this occasion.
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Apart from the fact that they closed a gate that is always open and they closed my horses in the top of the field, so the big lad got stressed because his friends had gone and he couldn't get to them, also the style was before the gateway, they should have used the style...........
 
Can't side with any, sorry, sound like you wre both in the right and both in the wrong, at certain points. Leave it go, no point making a big deal out of it, no real harm done.
 
I used to really like people to enjoy the country because I think in a few years we won't even have any green fields left with all the housing that needs building, but like you my patience has been sorely tested with right of way walkers who are more interested in their right to roam rather than common sense. The worst thing that has happened is people ripping out my post n rail fencing,to have a bonfire and drink beers around the fire leaving loads of rubbish, others have their dogs loose despite loads of council signs saying 'dogs on leads'. Also they don't keep to the paths despite them again being signed. I now wish people would stick to parks and formal nature trails, in fact anywhere that leaves my land free of them.
 
Hiya, I've got 2 foot paths running through my the field where my horse lives. Weve got polite signs on all the gates asking walkers to stick to the path, keep dogs on leads and do not touch/pat/feed the horses. Maybe they were trying to avoid the horses, but there really was no need to be rude to you!
 
I get tired of walkers being slagged off all the time. People who tear down fences to have bonfires are vandals, not walkers. They have gone out for a different purpose.
All the walkers I know go out to enjoy the countyside and show due respect for it. As with any passtime it is the minority who are rude that give the rest of us a bad name. If you have land with rights of way on it walkers come with the territory. Yes they should show respect for your land, but it would be a very sad state of affairs if only the privilaged few were allowed to enjoy the countryside.
As you can probably gather I feel very strongly about this!
 
If you so wished to you could ask the definitive map officer at your local council for the line of the public footpath to be diverted around the edge of your field rather than having it accross your field and then fence it off with horse and dog proof fencing. Alternatively you could ask the access department of your local county council to improve the waymarking of it so that the line of it is more obvious. Dogs should be kept under control at all times (this does not mean that they should be kept on a lead).
 
.. also styles are now non-compliant (disabled access to the countryside) and should be replaced by approved style gates (at the expense of the landowner).
I have had to replace all mine after a visit by the access department.
 
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