What is wrong with people, Livid

kerrieberry2

kerrieberry2

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I've just popped down the yard to make sure the horses are ok and when I arrive I find 3 blokes standing there stroking my horse, but on the floor is a Tesco's bag for life full of apples! one of them had an apple in his hand, trying to feed the horses!

so I tell them not to do it, they looked shocked, so I then pointed at the sign right next to where they were standing, that request people do not feed my horses as one of them has a tendency to bite!

they then tell me that they used to feed the horses that used to be there! I said I don't care, please DO NOT feed my horses as they bite and I don't want them getting used to being fed over the fence, as he may then just start biting random people as they walk past, then it will be me that ends up having to sort out any issues!

and then I said about the fences being really bad and if the horse leans on it he will be out and will end up god knows where, and goodness knows what accident that might cause! (I am planning on getting the fences done, but the ground is terribley hard, I've been told to wait until the spring when the ground is softer!) but for now I have it electric fenced off!

but honestly, how would they feel if I started feeding their kids with bag full's of chocolate! im so angry!!
 
I'm really worried about this! I think I'm going to get/make a sign. I'm worried about Cookie biting again (he used to, friend got him out of the habit but he's not to be fed by hand) and I'm worried about Ned pushing/jumping over the gate to get more treats. It's so annoying :(
 
it is really annoying, these are the first people I've caught in 3 months but sure its been going on! the thing is, its me that he tries to bite at the moment, he follows me around a looks for more food, but like you I don't feed him by hand!! and we have a public foot path right by my field!! I have a sign up and they made out that they didn't see it! but its been up 3 months!!
 
bonny said:
You know, worse things could happen than someone giving your horse an apple !
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For all they know, the horse could be laminitic. It's completely irresponsible, especially if they're stood next to a sign requesting the horses not be fed.
 
bonny said:
You know, worse things could happen than someone giving your horse an apple !
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yeh there is worst things that could happen! but that's not the point! if they get bitten im sure I would know about it! or if a poor innocent child gets bitten then it will end up being my responsibility not theres!

and its not just AN APPLE, it was a massive bag full of apples!! My mare colics at this time of the year and quite frankly I need to keep an eye on what she is eating to try and find out why this happens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Tempted to say whatever, but that would be childish !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why all the exclamation marks ???????????????????????????????????
I'm in a bad mood in case you hadn't noticed.........................
 
Well I understand. I'd be livid. My cob can be pushy for treats and I don't need that exaggerating and I work damn hard to keep his weight down so I'd be utterly furious if I caught someone feeding him a bag of apples... One perhaps is forgivable, but a whole bag!?! People just don't understand, which I suppose isn't their fault... But still...
 
I have sign up saying private property, please do not feed the ponies but 3 or 4 times this summer I have caught people feeding them. Among my ponies are one who has a long history of laminitis, one who is prone to colic and one who is a miserable git and might bite. I don't mind people looking at them but no-one should feed them without my permission imo.
 
Feathered said:
Well I understand. I'd be livid. My cob can be pushy for treats and I don't need that exaggerating and I work damn hard to keep his weight down so I'd be utterly furious if I caught someone feeding him a bag of apples... One perhaps is forgivable, but a whole bag!?! People just don't understand, which I suppose isn't their fault... But still...
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actually the thing that annoyed me the most was after i'd finished telling him no! he had the apple in his hand and said to my horse, oh I want to give this to you but im not allowed! my boy is 3 yrs old and is big and strong and like you I'm trying really hard to get him out of that, I don't want some twerp messing up my hard work! and my mare colic's every year! I've had the vet out today and he gingerly asked whether she'd had her bout of it this summer, and thankfully she hasn't! but who knows what a bag of apples would do to a 28yr old horse with cushings!!
 
I would just put up a sign saying "These horses BITE: do not feed", should deter the foolish, and give you a tiny bit of comeback if someone does get nipped. I hate people feeding horses from the hand, why do they feel the need I wonder? As someone said previously, you wouldn't give random children chocolate..
 
Jo_x said:
For all they know, the horse could be laminitic. It's completely irresponsible, especially if they're stood next to a sign requesting the horses not be fed.
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Sounds like they're not horsey, so chances are they're not going to know the dangers and 'what-if's. Not ideal, but I think you're over-reacting a little.
 
Could you not get a massive billboard stating vet bills for hand feeding induced illnesses and a couple of pics of horse bite induced injuries, and then add at the bottom 'If you have deep pockets and some spare limbs, then by all means keep feeding.If not, then you'd better have a damn good lawyer'.
 
SO annoying, and no excuses for not reading the sign! Maybe you need to put up an electric fence a couple of yards inside the main fence? Or put up a sign saying something like ' please do not feed the horses, they will bite, a missing finger isn't pretty..' .

When we had our shire horse, Ollie, we had a sign on the gate saying 'please do NOT park in the gateway, access needed'. Arriving at the field we noticed a car parked in the gateway. As we slowed down we could see that Ollie had decided to sort the situation out himself. He'd picked up a hefty branch out of the hedgerow (he loved carrying branches around, like a happy dog) and was leant over the gate merrily bashing the bejasus out of the car roof. He'd obviously been at it a while as the roof sported some impressive craters. We drove on up the lane and passed the car owner family returning from a walk, so we parked in a layby and listened to the howls of rage when they saw their car before they drove off......
 
bonny said:
You know, worse things could happen than someone giving your horse an apple !
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Maybe one but more than a couple could well cause problems. I once had to ask the people next to my field to stop their visitors emptying the apple tree in their garden into my horses. They claimed to be horsey people but did not know about the danger of feeding apples to horses.
 
gala said:
SO annoying, and no excuses for not reading the sign! Maybe you need to put up an electric fence a couple of yards inside the main fence? Or put up a sign saying something like ' please do not feed the horses, they will bite, a missing finger isn't pretty..' .

When we had our shire horse, Ollie, we had a sign on the gate saying 'please do NOT park in the gateway, access needed'. Arriving at the field we noticed a car parked in the gateway. As we slowed down we could see that Ollie had decided to sort the situation out himself. He'd picked up a hefty branch out of the hedgerow (he loved carrying branches around, like a happy dog) and was leant over the gate merrily bashing the bejasus out of the car roof. He'd obviously been at it a while as the roof sported some impressive craters. We drove on up the lane and passed the car owner family returning from a walk, so we parked in a layby and listened to the howls of rage when they saw their car before they drove off......
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hahaha I love the sound of your shire! what a legend!! I do have electric fencing up but the ground is really really hard, I've struggled to get them in just but I think they've put some sort of hard standing down to stop the mud! the only other option would be to put them about 30 foot back, which I might have to do if I see this happening again!

savia said:
Could you not get a massive billboard stating vet bills for hand feeding induced illnesses and a couple of pics of horse bite induced injuries, and then add at the bottom 'If you have deep pockets and some spare limbs, then by all means keep feeding.If not, then you'd better have a damn good lawyer'.
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haha this is a great idea, and to be fair that area that it would need to cover isn't that big, so the billboard might be big enough to cover the gap and they won't be able to see the horses :)
 
Hmm, I do see your point but I think there needs to be an understanding that many people are not knowledgeable about horses so I do think speaking to people politely is probably better than flying off the handle. Explain WHY you have the sign and what the horse is likely to do if he thinks people = food (ie lungeing at anyone walking past) and how potentially dangerous that could be. You can also say that foods like apples fed in those kinds of quantities can make horses very very poorly and can actually kill them. I know we all get angry at the time when people are ignoring signage etc but they don't know the dangers or reasons and just think they are being nice to the horses.
 
My three year old lifted a small girl up off the ground by her ponytail this spring, after her and her family repeatedly fed them in spite of many asking not toos, and a sign. I laughed!!
 
Clodagh said:
My three year old lifted a small girl up off the ground by her ponytail this spring, after her and her family repeatedly fed them in spite of many asking not toos, and a sign. I laughed!!
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haha this would have been funny to see!! not sure mind would be strong enough to pick the blokes up though, boo!
 
I tried being cross, I tried a sign warning about lami, I tried a humorous sign saying they acted starving but weren't, I tried catching them and educating them. I even showed them how to call the ponies over and how to give scritches which was hilarious with my 3 yr old as he would nearly pass out with joy. Nothing worked. They were throwing peelings over from their Sunday dinners, including potato peelings. I lost my 7yr old cob suddenly, he just laid down and died one night, no sign of colic or anything, he just went down where he was stood :( After my yearling came down with some sort of weird wasting disease and the only symptom was limited gut movement and weight loss, which meant he ended up PTS, I moved my other horse!
 
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You know, horses aren't really as precious as some people make out on here......horses can actually eat carrots, apples, even grass without keeling over ! Lots of people enjoy seeing horses, maybe giving them a carrot or whatever. The horse likes it, it's not about to get hugely fat etc etc. My horses live near a village on a road and people walk their dogs past and stop and see them, I've never wondered "what was wrong with the people or felt livid"......maybe it's just me !
 
FrankieCob said:
I tried being cross, I tried a sign warning about lami, I tried a humorous sign saying they acted starving but weren't, I tried catching them and educating them. I even showed them how to call the ponies over and how to give scritches which was hilarious with my 3 yr old as he would nearly pass out with joy. Nothing worked. They were throwing peelings over from their Sunday dinners, including potato peelings. I lost my 7yr old cob suddenly, he just laid down and died one night, no sign of colic or anything, he just went down where he was stood :( After my yearling came down with some sort of weird wasting disease and the only symptom was limited gut movement and weight loss, which meant he ended up PTS, I moved my other horse!
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That's so awful! How horrible!

It's all very well saying people don't know, aren't used to horses etc but to be honest if you know nothing about horses, why feed them? I don't understand people. I would never even pet someone's dog without asking permission let alone bring a carrier bag full of food to feed it! Why do people do it with horses?

OP, hopefully now you've had a word with these people they won't come back but maybe a larger sign with stern wording would help. It's a difficult one as you can't be there 24/7 watching so, although it's not practical right now having double fencing eventually might be the only way to solve the problem.
 
It is highly annoying - think everyone in the village feeds my fat dales and I am very angry about it on the inside, but I get the impression I am completely wasting ym time putting signs up. "Oh but I only give him one apple!" Yes, but so does everyone else....they just think you're being a killjoy.
 
bonny said:
You know, horses aren't really as precious as some people make out on here......horses can actually eat carrots, apples, even grass without keeling over ! Lots of people enjoy seeing horses, maybe giving them a carrot or whatever. The horse likes it, it's not about to get hugely fat etc etc. My horses live near a village on a road and people walk their dogs past and stop and see them, I've never wondered "what was wrong with the people or felt livid"......maybe it's just me !
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Probably just you. I went from a well mannered youngster to a nippy thug, and two of them had a kickathon over the tit bits. I can't seen anyone NOT minding!
 
*sprinkles* said:
That's so awful! How horrible!

It's all very well saying people don't know, aren't used to horses etc but to be honest if you know nothing about horses, why feed them? I don't understand people. I would never even pet someone's dog without asking permission let alone bring a carrier bag full of food to feed it! Why do people do it with horses?

OP, hopefully now you've had a word with these people they won't come back but maybe a larger sign with stern wording would help. It's a difficult one as you can't be there 24/7 watching so, although it's not practical right now having double fencing eventually might be the only way to solve the problem.
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You might not but others do not see the issue with it. Christ, when I was a kid and if I was walking past a field with horses in, I would often pick grass and feed it to them. I wasn't to know that that horse 'could' be laminitic or anything like that (mind you, back the laminitis didn't seem to be such a problem anyway and no horses were muzzled etc - but that's another thread!). I also used to feed the cows in the field that bordered our back garden. I didn't know too many fallen apples aren't good for cattle.

What I am saying is people don't know! The horses like apples so the people feed them apples. The best way to stop it is to explain to them why it's not ideal. Remember, if these are local people they could be your allies if anything untoward/suspicious happened at the field. Always good to have extra eyes on your horses.
 
When people dont know, they shouldnt ignore signs requesting they dont feed the horses. I don't know why so many people are making excuses, I think its incredibly rude. Imagine someone continually feeding your child (who may or may not have diabetes, or any other condition) sweets, or your dog chocolate, despite being asked not to. Horses in a field aren't public property.

OP, is there any way you can electric fence off the edge of the field? It wont stop the idiots who throw carrots at horses (yes I have seen this!) but it might stop opportunistic feeding
 
bonny said:
You know, horses aren't really as precious as some people make out on here......horses can actually eat carrots, apples, even grass without keeling over ! Lots of people enjoy seeing horses, maybe giving them a carrot or whatever. The horse likes it, it's not about to get hugely fat etc etc. My horses live near a village on a road and people walk their dogs past and stop and see them, I've never wondered "what was wrong with the people or felt livid"......maybe it's just me !
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This! I cant believe people are reacting like this. The odd apple isnt going to do any harm and Im sure no one is feeding horses bags of apples every day.....

My horses regularly get treats fed by hand and none of them EVER bite Becuase they know they would not be allowed.
 
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