Someone broke into my miniature pasture and let him out!!!

[Lil Timber Buck]

I came home from work today to find my miniature horse out of his pasture and into the big pasture with the big horses....He has his own separate pasture adjacent to them and is not EVER allowed in the big pasture just to avoid possible kicks, etc and because electric fencing just doesn't work to keep him in. He runs right through it. I guess his fur makes it not shock him or something, but it won't keep him in. I couldn't believe it when I saw him in there-not to mention he didn't have a halter on and we live on a main high traffic road! My husband would never do this and neither would I. I immediately ran to get a halter and caught him, checked over him for injuries or anything and took him back to his pasture. I knew this was foul play because the idiots had shut his gate back different than we shut it.

What it looks like is that they tried to get him out, but he got away from them since they didn't have a halter. He saw the big horses and panicked being out with someone strange. He ran through the electric fencing and got in with the big guys instead of heading for the highway thank GOD! I cannot believe that people are so inconsiderate and unbelievably intrusive to do this to us!!

Just two weeks ago, my friend Julie said that the same thing happened to her. She has 2 big horses and a mini that were all three running loose on the main road. She said that someone let them out, closed the gate back and then they couldn't get back in their pasture so they ran off. Before that, the intruders would come in the pasture and put them in stalls or if she had them in stalls they would switch the horses from one stall to another. What in the world would people get out of that!?!?!?!

I guess the only thing left to do is get a security camera system and padlock everything....even then there are no guarantees. I am sure that if I called the police to tell them that someone was on my property and all they did was let the horse out he would laugh me off the phone....I am so frustrated and don't know what to do. I did put a padlock on his gate tonight so if they want him out they will have to take the freaking hinges off the gate. I wish I knew who it was. We have some misfit kids across the street and two others that are possible suspects on the hill behind us. It could've been anyone though. Our neighbors said they didn't see anything, but that he had been in there at least 3 hours....OMG!!!

Does anyone have any experience with this? How do you deal with it? Who do you tell?? Cameras? I'm going crazy here.

 

[HGFarm]

Oh boy.... first of all, I would hang 'no trespassing' signs all around the perimeter of your property. Do you have a main gate you can lock? Got a large barking dog to deter people, that can run in the main part of your place? Some place they would have to go through to get to the horse pastures?

 

[Lil Timber Buck]

Large barking and unfriendly dog to be exact. The only problem is she is getting older and sometimes can sleep through a thunderstorm so I think her hearing is going. We don't have a main gate because the only fences we have are the horse fences. We don't plan on living here more than 5 years because of this very reason. Plus, we want more property away from crazy neighbors like this!!! Thanks for the reply. I will look into getting signs. Unfortunately, I don;t think our "misfit" kid neighbors will respect them.

 

[Minimor]

If this sort of thing happened here, I would most definitely phone the police--our local RCMP would NOT laugh, they would do their best to make extra patrols through my neighborhood--I have called them on a couple of occasions for similar trespassing issues and they were very good at patrolling this area more. I really appreciate their efforts because our local detachment covers a very large area and they do not have many officers on duty at any given time. Even though that's "all" that this unknown person did in this case--let one horse out--it is still trespassing (here it is trespassing even if no signs are posted--though there are plenty who do not realize that, and there are some that are too stupid to comprehend the meaning of the words "no trespassing")

 

[Lil Timber Buck]

Exactly Minimor...I think we have the ones that couldn't comprehend it. We live in a fairly rural area where there are WAY too few cops for the acreage in the county. It takes them forever to get to a call and they are just stretched too thin. That is why I said that about them not taking it seriously. I may need to call them though. Who knows what may happen next time.

 

[vickie gee]

Juvenile d's! Maybe this is a new trend replacing cow tipping. I think I would be having a conversation with the parents and the police.

 

[RockRiverTiff]

We have two subdivisions within a mile of us, and as a result trespassing has become a serious issue in the last few years. All of our barn doors and pasture/paddock gates are now locked (the horses all have indoor/outdoor access which alleviates fire fears), we have signage on the fences, on the barns, at the entrances, etc. Unfortunately because the family freight business is on the same property as the horses and we have people coming and going 24/7 a dog is not an option and neither is gating off the three entrances. We installed motion cameras at one entrance last year but they didn't last long. It seems the more I try to keep people out the more determined they are to get in. The minis have been on this property for almost 30 years and for the first 20 we had ZERO problems, but it seems the world is changing, and I am actively looking for a suitable property in a more rural area. I will say that our county sheriff has been very helpful with taking extra passes any time we give him a call. Initially I also thought he would laugh at us, but when he came out for the first time last spring he told me I really should have been calling these incidents in all along so that they have grounds for action if anyone is ever caught doing something serious. Also, if you ever get license plate numbers call them in - the law here is the first time they are reported they get a warning and if they come on the property again we can press charges.

 

[bluerogue]

This is a very serious issue... we've also had it happen. It happened a few years ago, twice in one week. In our case, it was some idiot deciding to go through our paddocks to get to the neighbors pot plants (which they ever so nicely grew right next to one of our fences... maybe it was a legal thing, as the father over there is older, and has some pretty serious health issues. Could have been illegal though, as we know that family is into more than just pot, and does more than just use it).

Anyway, the perp first opened the front gate into our property (the one in the front yard, going into the street), and then let our girls out into the front yard. Thankfully, our girls saw the grass, and didn't go any farther (and amazingly didn't founder either). My sister found them in the front yard that morning when she got up. The second time, my sister was home napping and woke to the screams of the two stallions we had then in with our mares. The perp had opened our back gate between paddocks at the rear of the property (the paddocks are right next to each other, but girls are on one side, boys on the other). Two mares were in heat at the time, and one was covered for sure (witnessed, and foaled a colt the next year). We sadly lost the colt at 4 months, due to his ingesting mushrooms at a boarding farm.

We talked to the neighbor, and as we tend to live and let live (so to speak), they moved their pot activities somewhere else, and we haven't had any more issues. We chose not to alert authorities, as it would have been pretty obvious who had done it. We'd had some issues with their grandkids before, poking sticks at the horses faces (causing some superficial injuries, but thank god no eye injuries), and cutting small holes in our fence. We also put pad locks on every single gate on the property. We haven't had any trouble since. The locals know we have the horses, but they also know we are friendly, don't cause trouble, and let their kids pet them when they ask. This property has been in my family since 1950, and the area has gone down hill since then. I am looking at moving, and will be happier and feel safer once I do.

 

[Marty]

First I want to commend you for realizing he should never be put in with the big horses and also that hot wire is not enough sufficient fencing on its own.

This could have been so tragic so I would suggest both you and your friend Julie go in person to the sheriff department and insist on making a report so it will be on file. Around here, reports like that never seem to make it all the way back to the office so if you show up in person, they have to file it. You can make an issue of it and ask them to do drive bys after school lets out to check. Unless the two of you have someone that has an issue with you both, it really sounds like the word of kids.

Padlock and chain both sides of the gate, the side with the hinges too. You can also go to Dollar General and buy some fake looking cameras and shove them super high in the trees where they can't be reached, but can be seen and by all means put a sign that says you have cameras on your property. Hope this never happens to you again. I'm so sorry this happened!

 

[Jean A]

We have a neighbor who leases his fields to a farmer down the road. One day the fella came through my gate..and realized he was in the wrong field. So he left. With the gate open. My old heifer, Darlene, was standing in the road (no lights), in the dark. I was terrified that someone might have been hurt.

Our gates out of sight of the main house are padlocked on both sides now..

When we purchased the property, we took out good insurance for such events. The loss on=f an animal is one thing. The thought of someone being hurt on the road is awful. If your fences and gates are in good shape, and a fallen limb or tree takes out a section, allowing stock to escape..it's one thing in court. It was nature. But if a gate is open, fence is in poor repair..anything you should have known about, and you are responsible. Same goes (here, at least) for someone opening a gate.

Lock gates. Check fences and fence lines regularly. And check your insurance coverage. A farm rider, and/or umbrella policy, can be a homesaver.

 

[Mareish Mom]

You need a new dog. I love the fake camera idea, but if you can, make one real. That way you will have evidence of who the culprits are if it happens again that you can take to the police. And yes, file a report on what's already happened so it's on the record. But I still think your best defense is a new big barking dog. My Australian Shephard would never bite anyone, but he barks up a storm at intruders and THEY don't know that, so I haven't had any trouble.

 

[MountainWoman]

When I lived in a more populated area, the people across the street had cows. They had a full size donkey in with them and wow, was that donkey protective. If you came anywhere near the fence, the donkey would charge you. Now, I have mini donkeys and they would just as soon kiss you and wouldn't be good guards but I have seen "guard" donkeys for sale. You might also think about a trained livestock guardian dog. Otherwise, I'd put up lots of signs about tresspassing one one of the signs that says you are being recorded by a camera. What an awful thing to have happen.

 

[Forever Farm]

Having just spent about 4 hours outside repairing a huge section of my fence, I was quite ill with the "perp" who had cut my fence and let my girls out. They went on a wild gallop around the neighborhood, and my normally easy to handle and catch mares turned into mini mustangs. The second you got within grabbing distance, they were off over the next hill like their tails were on fire. Finally got them up, the fence fixed and problem solved until about 2 days later..."3 of your horses are out!" Go tto round them up and another huge hole in the fence. Fixed that hole and get a call that night, out again! We had cameras set to watch that fence line, hoping to catch who was cutting the fence and within days we had our perp- our fat butted little bay mare who knew just where to sit on our older fence and find the weak spots. When she found one, she'd sit down on it like it was a hammock and swing until the fence gave way. We'd been in th process of refencing the entire property, and she knew just where to go to find the bad sections. She spent about 2 weeks in the barn while we modified the older section until we can get around to replacing it. We turned her out today for the first time and I laughed till I cried at her expression when she plunked her little hind end down on the near invisible electrified high tensile wire we'd run at just about Rosie butt height.

 

[Helicopter]

Forever Farm, you're made my morning. A fat butted little mare using the old fence as a hammock. The others probably all stood around and watched her do it.

I have a picture in my mind of poor little Rosie butt meeting electrified high tensile wire fence. You've made my morning.

Go Rosie! What a woman!

 

[Lil Timber Buck]

Okay UPDATE! Thanks to all my wonderful friends on here

and their advice, we did file a police report today and the officer was surprisingly obliging to our plead for more passes by our property when he is making rounds. Also, we installed a REAL Camera! Hopefully it will catch the idiots if they try again. Third, we have all the neighbors alerted to the issue and they are happy to watch the property since it is right out their windows. Fourth, we padlocked his area up. I think that is at least a good start to getting everything straight. This whole incident has really shook me and my husband up so we are looking into pricing home security cameras for the whole house. If people are brave enough to come onto your property and let you horses out then what is to stop them from stealing stuff while they are here or worse...? Thanks so much to everyone for their thoughtful comments on here.

I don't know what I would do without this forum!!!

 

[Lil Timber Buck]

Having just spent about 4 hours outside repairing a huge section of my fence, I was quite ill with the "perp" who had cut my fence and let my girls out. They went on a wild gallop around the neighborhood, and my normally easy to handle and catch mares turned into mini mustangs. The second you got within grabbing distance, they were off over the next hill like their tails were on fire. Finally got them up, the fence fixed and problem solved until about 2 days later..."3 of your horses are out!" Go tto round them up and another huge hole in the fence. Fixed that hole and get a call that night, out again! We had cameras set to watch that fence line, hoping to catch who was cutting the fence and within days we had our perp- our fat butted little bay mare who knew just where to sit on our older fence and find the weak spots. When she found one, she'd sit down on it like it was a hammock and swing until the fence gave way. We'd been in th process of refencing the entire property, and she knew just where to go to find the bad sections. She spent about 2 weeks in the barn while we modified the older section until we can get around to replacing it. We turned her out today for the first time and I laughed till I cried at her expression when she plunked her little hind end down on the near invisible electrified high tensile wire we'd run at just about Rosie butt height.

THIS IS HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ThreeCFarm]

Having just spent about 4 hours outside repairing a huge section of my fence, I was quite ill with the "perp" who had cut my fence and let my girls out. They went on a wild gallop around the neighborhood, and my normally easy to handle and catch mares turned into mini mustangs. The second you got within grabbing distance, they were off over the next hill like their tails were on fire. Finally got them up, the fence fixed and problem solved until about 2 days later..."3 of your horses are out!" Go tto round them up and another huge hole in the fence. Fixed that hole and get a call that night, out again! We had cameras set to watch that fence line, hoping to catch who was cutting the fence and within days we had our perp- our fat butted little bay mare who knew just where to sit on our older fence and find the weak spots. When she found one, she'd sit down on it like it was a hammock and swing until the fence gave way. We'd been in th process of refencing the entire property, and she knew just where to go to find the bad sections. She spent about 2 weeks in the barn while we modified the older section until we can get around to replacing it. We turned her out today for the first time and I laughed till I cried at her expression when she plunked her little hind end down on the near invisible electrified high tensile wire we'd run at just about Rosie butt height.

OMG, I had to read this out loud to my husband and mother!!! Hilarious!!!

 

[Barnmother]

I read Rosie's story to my husband as well he and I both laughed.

 

[Eagle]

Okay UPDATE! Thanks to all my wonderful friends on here

and their advice, we did file a police report today and the officer was surprisingly obliging to our plead for more passes by our property when he is making rounds. Also, we installed a REAL Camera! Hopefully it will catch the idiots if they try again. Third, we have all the neighbors alerted to the issue and they are happy to watch the property since it is right out their windows. Fourth, we padlocked his area up. I think that is at least a good start to getting everything straight. This whole incident has really shook me and my husband up so we are looking into pricing home security cameras for the whole house. If people are brave enough to come onto your property and let you horses out then what is to stop them from stealing stuff while they are here or worse...? Thanks so much to everyone for their thoughtful comments on here.

I don't know what I would do without this forum!!!

I am so glad that you have things under control, I send prayers that your nightmare is over.

Rosie you are a star