Would you act tonight if...

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Maizy

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suspicious sightings and people were seen around your horses field today?

The lane is over looked by a few houses, but the large field has 3/4 gates and whilst the area is rural it has easy access to main roads / M-way's.

The same vehicle has been spotted in a gyspy camp a few miles away.

Pro active advice only please.
 
I would, to be honest. You can never be too careful. I'd also worry about tomorrow night when everyone's likely to be preoccupied.

It's difficult to know what to suggest without knowing the setup of your yard etc. How easy is it to get horses out, for example? I'm imagining from your post that they could be led across the fields and out that way?
 
Best advice is to call the Police. Go to the yard or the field if you want to but make your presence there very obvious and high profile - don't be sulking in hedges or trying to catch people - nothing is worth getting hurt for.
 
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Best advice is to call the Police. Go to the yard or the field if you want to but make your presence there very obvious and high profile - don't be sulking in hedges or trying to catch people - nothing is worth getting hurt for.

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Have just done and they were 'interested in the number plate' i think...but due to data protection blah blah...

I'm happy to camp out in the car all night if needed...could bribe a friend to keep me warm and awake just need to keep my boy safe. Not sure if i should actually move him tho in the dark etc.
 
Hmm, you could do but we have reported suspicious behaviour numerous times to the police (people regulalrly parking at the entrance to our track and drug dealing and lord knows what else) and got the response that they didn't have enough squad cars to send out someone everytime somebody 'thought' some people/person was behaving suspiciously. You need proof.

Hmm, funny cos I thought police were supposed to do exactly this - you report something, they are supposed to at least check it out. Obviously I am wrong.

The best thing to do is ring the police but tell them you are following the suspected suspicious vehicle - they may bother coming out then!!
 
LadyT - that would be an outright lie, and potentially wasting Police time.

Look, they can't be wherever we want them to be any minute of the day. All you can do is give them the information and then take sensible precautions
 
I would be very aprehensive about camping out on the front line myself.

A HHO member got herself far too involved not 2 weeks ago about a stolen pony and as far as I can remeber, was verbally threatened.

Mother_Hen's advice is well written in Latest News.
 
i am not an expert - but would it be possible to rig up a cctv system - they can be bought very cheaply these days? or have a camera handy to take photos of suspicious vehicle - it may deter them if they saw you taking it??
 
Thanks for the replies everyone, I'm very aware of the problems of the 'front line' approach having followed 'that' post.

But to be honest for tonight and the future I have to protect my horse. He's my best friend in the world. We've had 16 years of fun and lots of love already and I want it to continue.

I've just been up to check them and carry out some more security measures but no CCTV...all the neighbours in the lane are aware and are keeping an eye out.

I hate feeling so vulnerable.
 
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Take notes and take a camera

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Good idea, I always have a camera in my handbag for work so carry it 90% of the time.

thanks.
 
I would, just make sure you are safe. tomorrow would bw more of a worry like munchkin said cos of everyone drinking too much and celebrating.
If there are other horses turned out with your boy, maybe you and the other owners could try to organise a watch rota so that it's not all down to you.
You cannot function being worried sick and sleep deprived on top of that.
 
Can you padlock all the gates? both sides?

Is that silly advice
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was the first thing that came to my mind. Make it difficult for them at least.

You can buy big blatant CCTV signs also, even if you don't have time tomorrow to get actual CCTV.
 
ok this is a diffrent suggestion to the rest but I do this if I think someones around, put the radio on loud and leave a light on so it looks like you are around? x
 
Can you not round up a 'posse', just to be around and obvious rather than confrontational, numbers would be safer than sitting in your car alone. This would give you some breathing space til tomorrow when you can look at the situation in the field and see what measures you can take to make it a bit safer. If there are houses close to the gates you could try rigging up rape alarms so that they sound if the gate is opened (alarm attached to post and pin tied to opening bit). You probably need to be looking at making things as difficult as possible to put them off but Im not sure how effective you could be in the dark, I would think you need to be able to see clearly.
 
You can buy alarm systems that are not expensive, especially if you all chip in a bit of cash. Some of the things that you buy in gardening catalogues for frightening off cats act on an electronic beam being broken - if you'e got someone electronically minded you could get your yard covered., and get a movement sensored (PIR) floodlight. Alarming a stable door isn't so good.
Or there are personal alarms sold in those little catalogues that plop through the door, and they fit into a door and let you know if its opened. This is important in some hotels abroad where the pass key can get used to enter a guests room. They let out a hell of a noise and that would certainly alert the neighbours. I think they only cost a tenner.

As far as padlocking gates.. remember that its quite easy to lift a padlocked gate off its hinges and gain entry that way. The gate has to be hung in a certain way to avoid this. I saw an article in a local paper that theives had stolen the gates - left the livestock!
 
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As far as padlocking gates.. remember that its quite easy to lift a padlocked gate off its hinges and gain entry that way. The gate has to be hung in a certain way to avoid this. I saw an article in a local paper that theives had stolen the gates - left the livestock!

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Yes I've seen that before!
It's why I suggested padlocking the hinge side too, but then the fencing would need to be quite secure also I guess otherwise they would just go through that.

What a nightmare
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I would be driving around (with doors locked!) in a high profile and obvious manner. With a big dog and bloke if I could find one!
 
Re: Aprils suggestion we have both the hinged sides of our gates padlocked so even if they lift them off of the hinges they cant move them, the gate is locked and also we have a big bike lock around the two gates as its a double gate that meets and has a latch type thing to hold it together, it didnt stop them trying to nick my horsebox but they couldnt actually get it out of my field so it does work...I would agree that they will probably come back on NYE if anytime as police and everybody else will be out enjoying themselves or working and lots of noise so nobody will notice them mooching about where they shouldnt. Good luck hun keep the police informed though.
 
What a horrid situation. Really hope there haven't been any problems OP?

The best deterrent of all to theft is to have your horse freezemarked if he isn't already. And paint his FM number on his rug too.
 
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