People are nuts. I remember one lady posting on a forum for moms I used to belong to. In a tizzy that the landcapers used compost with MANURE in it! The germs! There could be a cow in it! Won’t anyone think of the children!!??
A close second favorite was the poor woman on the FB group for the eastern, suburban part of the county I somehow got added to. There was a dead sparrow in her yard. Her calls to multiple pest control companies to come remove the deceased proved fruitless. Surely, she opinioned, there must be some public works dept charged with removing dead birds from residents’ yards?
Pluvinel speaks truth. It’s YOUR rules that matter, not somebody else’s rules. And your State rules on HOAs matter, too.
But one of the hard truths is that if your HOA is a “democracy” and the city slickers are in the majority eventually you will lose. So knowing those “rules” and demanding strict enforcement (if they favor you) is very important. If rules are not enforced then the principle of “use it or lose it” can come into play and then the “democracy” can quickly become a full fledged “tyranny.”
You can also point out the city slickers that horse manure is fine fertilizer for grass and is free for the taking!!!
Try Googling equine communities. Most I have seen have websites. From there you should be able to find information on their homeowner’s association. Most horse people love to share information, and I would bet they would be willing to talk to you about how they handle situations like yours.
Some twenty odd years ago there was a lovely new 10 acre lot subdivision opened up in the middle of horse/hunt country, and one new resident had a case of the vapors and wrote letters to the editor about a neighboring farm using a manure spreader to spread manure on the fields after stall cleaning. Oh, the horrors!
The irony was that it was a beautifully run and beautifully kept farm with a very low horses/acre ratio.
That said, that this particular kind of idiocy has been with us for a long time, pluvinel has given the best advice. It’s all about what’s in the covenants.
Here we refer to the citidiots as suburban sprawlers. Same old story. Want to live in the country, but don’t like to be awakened at the wee hours of the morning by farm equipment, or roosters crowing, manure smells, etc. This is why I am so very grateful my farm is in the middle of a swamp and in the flood plain. Yup nobody interested in development here. That and the Amish started moving in the area like an invasion. Well I am cool with that, because at least they will keep the area agricultural. As the trend continues prepare to see more posts like this.
I looked at a house and some property there last year. One of the reasons I decided against buying there is that the equestrian part of the community seemed to be in decline. The “equestrian facilities” that are in the development are privately owned (and my conversation with the owner deserves another thread entirely on its own :lol: ) and residents are not guaranteed access to anything other than horse trails that supposedly exist within the development, although I didn’t see any evidence of those trails when driving around the development.
Ed, it may be worth you and your similarly-situated neighbors going in together for a consult with an attorney who specializes in HOA litigation.
There are attorneys who only practice this kind of law, and I bet in South Keswick Va there are attorneys who specialize in equestrian-community HOA litigation.
The attorney would probably charge a consultation fee, but you could take her/him a copy of your by-laws and documents and get her/him to explain to you where you stand and how to best fend off anticipated challenges to the rights you have now.
I’m sorry you’re going through this.
I think people move to “the country” because it’s cheaper than their current situation, not because they love farmland.
And many theme centered hoa change from there original mission to a non-themed hoa because
the theme (golf, swimming,tennis,horse) becomes too expensive to keep up, so the facilities fall into disrepair.
Id try to attract other equestrians to the hoa to ensure the majority of your group remains horse owners.
Or make it money generating (give lessons, trail rides etc) so that it lowers the cost of the hoa for everyone.
OP I’m sorry you’re going through this and I hope it works out for you. I like the suggestions above of consulting with a lawyer and knowing where you legally stand. That will help you and other equestrian s in the area decide on your next move so you can nip this in the butt before it escalates.
OP, we just recently sold our home that was located in a similar “equestrian community”…we became the only people left who actually had horses. We received so many complaints from neighbors regarding the smell (we disposed manure in a dumpster which was emptied weekly - there was virtually no smell) and the horse trailer that it became miserable living there any longer.
Apparently the buyers have already taken down the fencing and are tearing down the barn :no: DH and I are adamant that our next property will have NO HOA or restrictions, it was such a headache.
I would recommend becoming allies with any other horse owners in the neighborhood and make sure to be present and active at any and all HOA meetings…if you can get a spot on the board, even better.
@SugarCubes that is just infuriating.
I had a friend who was an HOA lawyer before he passed, and the stories he told about his practice made me very grateful to be in a comparatively low-stress field like divorce and child custody! :lol:
I’ve had this issue with the HOA in my equestrian community. It is full of people who don’t own horses or understand rural life and just wanted the big pretty houses and lots. We’ve had issues from the manure on the trails complaints to the residents wanting to get rid of the community arena because of “lack of use”. (It’s Florida, we all use it before the heat sets in or after the sun has set a bit)
The riders in the community have started getting together as a show of force to advocate for our rights that are in the documents. This includes actively participating in the community facebook group, organized trail rides, and attendance at all meetings. We have had some success in showing the community that horses aren’t this big smelly evil. If a horse does poop then we just leave it, if it’s close enough to the riders house or a friends house then we will go and pick it up but otherwise it’s left for the resident birds to deal with.
The biggest recommendation is to make sure you attend any and all HOA events and to form an equestrian committee in the neighborhood.
It really was, we built the house, barn, and arena from scratch so it was very frustrating that we never felt like we could truly enjoy it. One neighbor was rude enough to go outside and shoot his guns into the woods next door to the arena whenever I’d ride…joke was on him though, now my horse doesn’t spook at gunfire :lol:
Thanks to everyone who has responded thus far. There was a lot of sympathy, empathy and encouragement. I would still be interested in the actual text of rules or guidelines from other communities, but I appreciate the feedback. There is not a single word in our covenants or community rules about this issue, so our Owners Association is making it up as they go. I like the idea of forming a coalition of the horse owners in our community. Please keep the feedback and suggestions coming.
You need to get “deep intel” on what is the back story of what precipitated this HOA letter.
My bets are that someone found some manure on a trail, went to the HOA president to complain, who then promised to write a letter to appease an angry resident.
You need to find out who’s who in the zoo and befriend these people. You will get further with honey than with vinegar.
Just because the HOA is “making it up” doesn’t mean they won’t amend the rules to make manure on trails illegal. This will not go away. You need to nip this in the bud.
You should lawyer up…not to sue, but to guide you on what is legally allowed.
If you have the votes to pass, start to draft and propose amendments that your group wants to protect the horse owners. You need to incorporate rules that are applicable to your state’s rules and represent what YOU want…not what other communities do.
The VA Supreme Court has many rulings applicable to HOA’s…which is why you need a lawyer that is familiar with the property owner statute and applicable case law. http://www.courts.state.va.us/scndex.htm
You need to do more digging to learn about your HOA and the documents of incorporation.
You may find that the HOA documents were not properly recorded and thus not enforceable…or you may find court precedent that ambiguous covenants are interpreted to favor “free use of the land.”
I cannot say it enough…you need a legal opinion here…
And even if you are not a lawyer, you need to be educated about and understand the legal issues so you can work with the attorney and guide their work…they are your advocate.
I have a neighbor like that right now. Bought the house next door a year ago. There are horses on all four sides and diagonally, too. Plus cattle. What the hell did they expect? That we’d all get rid of our animals because they find them offensive?
If the rules are silent the a general approach is “that which is not forbidden is permitted.” This puts the burden of being of good neighbor on the person, not on some “supervisory authority.” It also means that the general public has to understand the nature of where they have chosen to live.
Horses are not dogs. They don’t defecate on people’s lawns or parkways as a matter of course. If by chance I ever found myself on someone’s lawn I’d clean up after my horse under about any circumstance I can think of. That would only be good manners. But that “clean up” would be “raking out” the pile, not putting it in a plastic bag and then into a trash can.
Manure on trails or public roads is a normal and natural consequence of equine usage. If the life of the law is experience, not logic, then the answer is easy.
