what are your rules...

[krissy3]

Hi ,

i live in a village in europe . People here do not have the trespassing laws like they do in the states. Basicly if they can get into your yard they feel its free teritory.

Yesterday I found a small gang in my pasture, a toddler about 3 years old , and his siblings , oldest being maybe 8 years old , and there were about 5 of them. No adult to be seen. I quickly told them "Sie Mussen ein Eltern Haben in mein weide." you have to have an adult with you in my pasture ... now GIT!!!

Word traveled in the village, 2 girls poped in to ask me if they could walk the ponys. These were the same girls that i spent a summer training how to handle horses and they thanked me by walking the ponys in the village without halters .

Actually the girls were holding the halters in their hands and barefoot. I was pretty mad at them, and they stayed away for a year . Well now that I have my new show horse they are back in full force. I said "NO", NO you can NOT take the horses out out of the pasture again... i did however cave in on the "Putzen" cleaning , because my mare is a muddy, sheding mess. What are your rules ? I realize it will be different out in the country, and in a small town vrs a larger town. How do you explain to kids and parents that your expensive little horses are not toys for the neighborhood kids?

k

 

[chandab]

My barn, my rules. If you want to see the minis, call first and we can arrange a time. No one just lets themself onto our property and handles the horses, period.

I'm probably lucky in that I live so far out in the country, that strangers don't just pop in. My horses can't be seen from the main road, so we don't get the passerbys wanting to look at the minis. People find out I have minis and do ask to come see them, but when they find out how far from town I am, I have very few takers to come see them. My MIL has called and brought some of her visitors over to see the minis, just had this on Sunday; despite the mud and mess, it was a nice time.

 

[~Lisa~]

In many states trespassing signs do not mean much if you have what is considered an attractive nuisance and in some states miniature horses/ponies ect are considered just that

 

[krissy3]

In many states trespassing signs do not mean much if you have what is considered an attractive nuisance and in some states miniature horses/ponies ect are considered just that

Yea ...that S%ç*S the big one ! My best friend is now my laminater. Looks like I will be making a bunch of new signs this week. You know I just dont get it...kids here know better than to touch a dairy farmers cows, but expensive show horse imported from the US or not , a small equine is a pony, and ponys are for kids to climb on and destroy... it makes me soo mad ! This place is beautiful , but man these people need to learn about respect.

 

[Katiean]

Our back fence fronts on a road. I am always asking people not to feed the horses. They can and will bite. Besides they are not supposed to be eating what the kids and parents think are treats. We had a guy come to our front door and asked if he could feed our horses GRASS CLIPPINGS!

My 9 year old nephew that doesn't know much about horses told the man, "Our horses do not eat that. It will make them sick." I was so proud of him.

 

[~Lisa~]

We dont have much of an issue anymore now that we are not breeding and do not have little babies up front everyone wants to play with.

 

[Miniv]

We have a sign at the barn.....the same one that is posted at our state fairground horse barns regarding LIABILITY.

Another method that we used at our previous place was to post signs all along the road front on the fence: "Caution - ELECTRIC FENCING"

We also keep our driveway gate CLOSED most of the time these days....

 

[wrs]

Our horses are kept on the back of our property, no one can see them from the road. Our side fences have been allowed to grow over with brush trees etc & it's made a real nice "wall" so the side neighbors can't see. We've made all the gates difficult for kids to open & most all our fences have electric so they can't crawl through.

 

[susanne]

When we first got Mingus and Thelonius we lived in a very urban neighborhood in Portland, Oregon.

We had a 1/2 acre lot that backed up to a gravel alley. Our many neighbors included many children. Needless to say, we were concerned about people in general and children in particular, but we a) were lucky and b) were proactive.

We had both perimeter (and a 20 ft. hedge -- seriously) and corral fencing, so people could not get close to the horses. We talked to everyone who walked or drove by, and we had "no trespassing" and "no feeding the horses" signs.

With the kids, including the "at risk" kids from the big apartment complex a few blocks away, we formed the Mingus Club. The rules were that nobody could come onto our property when we weren't there. Even then, I had to meet their parents first (sadly, some of the parents couldn't be bothered, so their kids missed out). They had to promise to help us look out for the horses. If they even heard someone speak of being mean to the horses, it was their duty to tell us. They had to promise never to feed them anything without first asking us.

Like I said, we were lucky, because we never had any problems. These kids, including a couple boys who were junior hoodlums, were devoted to their horse friends.

My biggest worry was a neighbor (an adult) who thought I didn't feed them enough (even with free-choice hay). Because of her (and because I am always paranoid about horses getting into grain), we kept the grain safe inside the house. Another adult neighbor thought I was silly not to let him dump mowed grass or a barrel of apples for them, but he stuck by my rules.

Everyone's situation is different, but I would always be proactive, asking for people's cooperation in advance rather than reacting in anger. Some people are nasty or mean, but simple ignorance is the biggest danger, and the one you can do something about.

 

[Miniv]

"The Mingus Club"....what a super idea! It gives the kids OWNERSHIP and they feel responsible for their equine friends.

 

[Marty]

Several years ago when my my boys were kids in grade school, we had just set up a large Walmart pool. One morning I woke up to I swear, no less than 20 kids, some I didn't even know, were in the pool. Who are these kids and where are their mothers was my first thought, then holy cow, someone could have drowned out there without parental supervision. And when word really got out, more and more kids kept on coming every day. That was a huge liabilty for me when it was hard enough to keep tabs on the two I had but that is how it ended up here for a good many years. At least I knew where my kids were and I was good with that.

Now things are much different in my life and I must say you all are much better trusting people than I am. Horses and minis get stolen often and I don't plan for mine to be on that list. I do not want any people here roaming around my property touching my animals like they own the place without me right there. They could get dog bitten at the very least. This is our HOME, and if someone wants to visit, they can call first or come to the door and ask poliety. If I don't know them, my suspicious nature would be to take down their license plate number.

 

[Matt73]

Never had an issue like that, thank God. Mostly, farmers around here consider horses "hay burners". Ours are not on display; a paddock at the rear of the main farm. There have only been two times that someone has ventured into my barn without calling or coming to the house and it was justified (Kevin was with them without me knowing). But I'm with you; I get really really angry if someone just wanders in. My barn/horses etc. are like my house and children and I wouldn't let just anyone walk into my house.

It's like visits to the house without calls. Coming from a big city, I only answered my door if I knew who it was (my friends/family always called to let me know who was coming), otherwise I assumed that it was a salesman/petitioner etc. I still don't get why people just show up unannounced. I mean, what if I'm naked? What if I'm "getting busy" lol? What if...What if...? Kev used to think I was wrong in thinking that, but he agrees now. Usually, if we don't know who it is and they haven't called and we're in the house we don't answer the door. It's not a mistrust thing; it's a principle, respect kind of thing. All of our friends in the area now know and respect that. Okay...rambling. Whole 'nother topic

 

[vvf]

We live on a fairly busy highway and when the horses are out in the pasture, we'll see cars slow down or pull off the highway. Sometimes the people will get out and take pictures or try to pet the horses.

Once in awhile the car will pull into our driveway and up to our house...

And then what they do is a big pet peeve of mine....... They honk their horn and expect us to come running out to greet them or something. LOL.

This is something that has bothered me for years. I just think it is the rudest thing. I cannot imagine pulling into the driveway of a total strangers house in town and honk my horn until they come outside.

If I wanted to ask them something, i would get out of my car, walk up to their door and knock on it.

I guess people think if you live in the country that it is open to the public.

 

[susanne]

I had to go back and read who was letting people freely enter their property -- it must not show up on my computer, lol.

This was the whole reason behind the Mingus Club. Nobody was allowed on our property without us there and without our express permission, and even when we were home, they could only visit IF they brought a parent and written permission AND we were up for a visit.

However, we couldn't be home all the time and I preferred allies to troublemakers. MA is absolutely correct -- the kids felt it was their job to help protect them.

One day I saw some kids and one adult in the alley outside our gate, As I walked back, I heard one of the kids (who didn't see me due to the hedge) say "We can't skateboard back here without asking susanne." The man answered, "Oh, I'm sure it's fine." It wasn't fine, because I didn't want anyone getting hurt on our property. The adult, who should have known better, was the only one offended.

A similar thing happened during a snowstorm, when the neighbor kids wanted to sled down our steep driveway. One who knew us came up and asked if it was okay. I said no, as it would be too easy for one of them to end up going into the street, but I thanked him for asking and suggested a good alternative for safer sledding.

Funny that the only problem visitors we had were adult friends/neighbors who thought they could come walk through my garden or sun themselves on our huge property.

I admit that we were very fortunate, but I truly believe making friends with these kids warded off potential problems. Of course, now we're out in the sticks at the edge of the outback, where nobody comes near our place unless they know us. I wish I knew how those kids are doing today.

 

[Bunnylady]

If you think minis/ponies are an "attractive nuisance," try adding 60+ rabbits, some ducks, a few chickens, etc, etc. I think some of the neighbors' kids think I run a petting zoo! While I don't insist on being in the rabbitry with them, I do have a rule that they need to "check in" at the house before they go there. No one (including my own kids) is to go into the goat/mini pasture without me, that I am hard-nosed about. Syd the Attack Mini has pretty much stopped being a problem, so I am less concerned about someone getting hurt, but I know something could happen even without her. I think my best deterrent to uninvited visitors (besides the electric fence) is Spike. He's an Alpine/Nubian wether, even taller than the minis, and sports a very impressive rack of horns. He's harmless (a bit of a coward, truth to tell), but strangers don't know that!

 

[My2Minis]

The other kids on our road have their own horse, so they aren't interested in mine. There are so many horses around here they aren't a novelty. But when my childrens' friends come over we have strict rules and only children that respect the rules can go by the horses. Most of the kids are good and my minis love kids, so it hasn't been a problem.

 

[Minimor]

Rules here are unless I'm present, people are not to pet our horses. I can't stop someone from stopping along the back road & walking across the ditch to pet the horses over/through the fence, but believe me if I find someone actually in the pasture with the horses I have absolutely no qualms in going out there & telling them they are not welcome and to get lost NOW. If someone comes into the yard & asks to see the horses, that's fine, I will take them out & show some of the horses to them. However, if they are so rude as to come into the yard with their dog then they will be asked to leave. If their dog is well mannered I will ask them nicely. If their dog is rude and chases my cats or runs into one of the corrals with the horses, then they get asked not so nicely to take their dog and leave and don't bother to come back.

Arielle, the older of our two Shepherds, is 14 months old now and she is getting to be very good about barking and looking menacing if anyone comes into the yard. We are now able to leave her loose--for awhile she had a tendency to get into things...catfood in the hayshed, one night she got hold of two spools of electric fence cord & unrolled them all over the yard (thankfully she didn't chew the wire into pieces!!!)...but she seems to have quit doing that now. So, with her loose in the yard, people are less likely to come onto the property. she does scare people. Once Diva, our younger Shepherd, gets to be a similar age--she is just 4 months old now & not at all a watch dog yet, this line of Czech bred dogs seems to be slower to mature & until they are a year old they aren't big on barking or guarding--so once Diva is around a year old we will have two very good visitor deterrants!!