Fairview - thanks for those pictures!! What a great little structure. Good to have an idea for future shed construction!
Not going into how I know all this info, but its not the neighbor who told me.
Said the horses got out, they put the back in. Was a small muddy pen. They had to listen to these animals crash the pen all night. They called AWP and they said do not feed or water them as they want blood work.
Being close to dedham, living in Maine the things you hear. One thing I have learned is trust very few. Honestly there are worse off horses out there. Why did they take them?? Has to be more to the story then we are hearing.
When I go away. I get an email AND a phone call/text message twice a day to ensure my animals are being cared for and people do fill me in. There is no excuse to blame it on the sitter.
[QUOTE=NeverTime;5155950]
ETA: The media takes pictures of what is in front of them. They donât set out to shoot the property âin the best lightâ but nor do they staage images or make up the pictures. They couldnât print pictures of a run-down looking property if that wasnât how it actually looked. Good grief, media conspiracy theories drive me insane.[/QUOTE]
Iâve had the experience of being quoted by the media, and been surprised by what was quoted and how they used it, to mean something quite different than what I intended or expected.
I donât know if youâve ever tried to take pictures of a junky place when youâre trying to convey junk, but itâs surprisingly difficult. They donât just happen.
When youâre covering the story of a neglect case, of course you want the pictures to convey a neglectful situation⊠otherwise youâre inviting a firestorm of protests onto animal control and the sheriff. And to be fair, that doesnât make it a âconspiracyâ - just that the journalist believes he/she is covering a case of neglect.
Again, that quote of âNeighbors believe she has left the stateâ does not at all convey that she is on vacation (or a business trip) and is coming back. It suggests she left the horses with no intent to return. Knowing that she was at WEG as a sponsored demonstration rider dramatically changes how you would interpret that fact.
Said the horses got out, they put the back in. Was a small muddy pen. They had to listen to these animals crash the pen all night. They called AWP and they said do not feed or water them as they want blood work.
Between that and the horses loose previously, thatâs enough to qualify a few times over as a ânuisance animalâ in my district. If no one was home to deal with the nuisance, AC would have been within their rights to confiscate the animals until the owner could rectify the situation.
They do it with dogs ALL THE TIME. Imagine youâre a shift-working neighbor and this is the third night youâve had to deal with a whinnying herd/barking dog/growling JaguarâŠTHAT ISNâT YOUR PET. Thatâs one of the reasons animal control exists. To control wild, nuisance and dangerous animals.
Removing all the political whatnot from this discussion entirelyâŠI canât quite villify the neighbors for complaining about nuisance animals, and AC had to do something with them.
When you keep a nuisance animalâŠsorry, you make ACâs watch-list in most districts and you donât get a pile of second and third chances. Horses can be very dangerous pests. Iâd be HORRIFIED if I found my filly loose even once. Sheâs handled, and halter-trained, but has a lot of energy. I absolutely can not promise that she wouldnât kick a âthreateningâ human. Not to mention the absolute devastation Iâd feel if she was hit by a car OR KILLED A DRIVER.
How many people here have complained about loose, barking or vicious dogs? And expected AC to respond post haste?
Fairview, that is a great little shelter. :yes: And inexpensive.
Probably about the cost of a 2 week trip to WEG. And maybe around 2 weeks lost wages.
Lotta decent fencing could be put up with that same amount too, after the property was mowed.
1 Like
Please NO
Conditions around the country vary widely. Standards that would be applicable to all climate conditions would have to be so general as to be virtually meaningless
Fairview, that is a great little shelter. And inexpensive.
:yes:
It looks a lot easier to build than the one we put upâŠdesigned by two engineers (my husband and I) who lacked a real concept of just how tall 14â was, and didnât really consider how they were going to roof such a structure :eek:
But ours did take only 5 evenings (we work 12 hour days) and about $600 in materials to build.
Oh I hear ya Rugbygirl. My husband and I arenât engineers. Nor particularly handy.
We had a contractor put up our barn. All we had to do was finish the interior. (stalls, floor, walls, insulation, etc, not plumbing or electric)
Um yeahâŠwe couldnât even measure things right, LOL!
I wonât even mention the epic battle to move 100 lb mats, LOL!
And it only took the two of us 2 weeks to get it done! :lol:
Wasnât it two 800 lb round bales? If it was, that was 1600 lbs of hay. If she has small horses who weigh about 800 lbs or so each, they should be getting as a maximum, 2% of their body weight in forage per day. That means 16 pounds per day. If two bales, she left enough to feed 7 horses for 15 days, and thatâs without considering whether any grain was fed or any pasture.
This would work if thehorses all knew they were only supposed to eat 2% of their body weight every 24 hours. If they ate a bit more than that each day, they would run out.
However thatâs only if there wasnât anyone stopping in daily to check hay and water. If there was an extra bale on property and the horses were getting low then most likely a sitter would replenish. If there were only the two bales on propertyâŠ
Iâm not defending that story as a Pulitzer Prize winning journalism â it was more get whatever we can while weâre here and go with it â but the photographers and videographers typically can only shoot from outside the property (which it appears they did in this case), so they are somewhat restricted in what they can photograph. If for some reason this woman has a front yard that looks like junk, trimmed in sagging hot tape, but a beautifully cross-fenced pasture hidden behind her house, the photog canât trespass to go 'round back and take that picture. If she had a shed stocked with dry hay and grain, he canât go in and take pictures of that either.
And, in defense of the âleft the stateâ sentence, that statement IS followed immediately by something about how âit was not uncommon for her to be gone for weeks at a time,â which to me implies she left and sheâll be back⊠maybe in a few weeks. In this case, that was accurate (or at least the original plan per the whole WEG thing).
My filly did get out at midnight one night. So she was stalled the next day I spent a large amount of money (was not budgeted) and bought metal square fencing to put up on 4 acres. She was not out until it was fixed. MY responsibility not anyone else. I would not be able to live with myself if she got hurt or someone else.
[QUOTE=rugbygirl;5156059]
How many people here have complained about loose, barking or vicious dogs? And expected AC to respond post haste?[/QUOTE]
Iâll admit it, I complained numerous times about my neighborâs dogs. Three huge Rotties that would bark and growl, and throw themselves at the fence whenever Iâd go out, to the point that they were breaking down boards. They were standing on huge piles of garbage and their own feces, sometimes out without water for hours in the heat or freezing cold. And Iâm sure they were abused, man had several domestic violence charges on his record, sometimes Iâd come home and find small dead animals strung up on fishing line hanging on my fence on the side bordering his property :eek: , but I couldnât prove it. Real winner, that one. And you know, no one would do anything about it since the animals were in good weight.
But even if they had seized those dogs, I still wouldnât be as stupidly gleeful and giddy as PPâs neighbor if the media had come to interview me. And Iâd have been willing to help if their owner was a decent human being who didnât scream profanity at me every time I went outside to weed my garden. Heck, I kept fixing my fence in the places his dogs broke it before they had a chance to make it through as it was.
Animals being taken by AC is always a sad situation, even in cases where itâs obviously in their best interest, and I find PPâs neighborâs obvious pleasure at the situation to be quite disgusting.
ETA: This is not the wonderful lawn-mowing neighbor, obviously. Heâs the one on the other side, and the nasty ones Iâve referred to in this post, thankfully, have since relocated.
[QUOTE=rugbygirl;5156070]
:yes:
It looks a lot easier to build than the one we put up.[/QUOTE]
It was super easy, and no digging NO CUTTING. Place and nail. I still need to bolt the top boards that the roof joists are attached to thru the posts, just in case of hurricane. We didnât actually use it last winter for all of the blizzards, as it was not needed but it stood up great with 3â of snow on the roof.
With no digging or attachment to the ground it is also more like those prefab, push off Amish buildings - just like building a box that sits outside on the ground. 
Iâll admit it, I complained numerous times about my neighborâs dogs. Three huge Rotties that would bark and growl, and throw themselves at the fence whenever Iâd go out, to the point that they were breaking down boards. They were standing on huge piles of garbage and their own feces, sometimes out without water for hours in the heat or freezing cold. And Iâm sure they were abused, man had several domestic violence charges on his record, sometimes Iâd come home and find small dead animals strung up on fishing line hanging on my fence on the side bordering his property , but I couldnât prove it.
:eek:
Good God.
Iâd just move. Seriously.
Iâve never complained to AC, but some of our neighbours make a hobby out of reporting this one loose dog that considers the neighborhood his âterritory.â He once ate a daschund WHILE IT WAS ON A LEASH HELD BY THE HORRIFIED OWNERS. Giant dog.
Dog gets picked up often, but since the daschund-eating is undocumentable and the dog is friendly toward humans, the owner always gets it back.
Most people come up our drive and go âOooooooooooooh! You have HORSES!! I didnât know anyone around here had HORSES! Can I FEED THEM SOMETIMES?!â (yes, thanks for asking, they only like carrots. :winkgrin:)
Do you use tie down anchors for that for heavy winds?
Thatâs nice when itâs not dug into the ground so you can move it around if you need to.
[QUOTE=stryder;5155916]
The thing I noticed right away on the TV video is that there were several paper grain sacks. They did not appear to have been there long, because they werenât damaged by sun or rain, and had not blown away. I didnât think that someone inclined to abandon/neglect her animals would have taken the time, or spent the money, to buy sacked feed.
TV - or any media photographer - is not going to put the property in best light. That isnât what they do.
I agree that there is much more than meets the eye.
PP doesnât owe any of us anything, but I hope she returns here at some point. In the meantime, I am hoping for the best.[/QUOTE]
well said.
I have not used any anchors, but it is REALLY solid and heavy. The area is also fairly protected from winds, especially from the open/front. I doubt we could move it without some serious heavy equipment.
Said the horses got out, they put the back in. Was a small muddy pen. They had to listen to these animals crash the pen all night. They called AWP and they said do not feed or water them as they want blood work.
âAll nightâ sounds like itâs OK for AWP to refuse animals food and water for more than 12 hoursâŠ
So, this may explain the video of the horses being in the round pen? The neighbours caught them and put them there? The video of them desperately scrounging for grass on the ground was a real heart-tugger wasnât it? Makes for great news footageâŠ
Has anyone seen any news that says that PP has actually been charged with anything concerning this seizure? You would think if that was the case, the news would be all over it, wouldnât you?
Please link if you find it.
NJR
This situation gets more bizarre by the day. I just hope for the best for all involved. That may mean PP loses OR keeps the animals-- at this point, I really have no idea.
[B]Excuse my language,
But:
I think itâs time you all back the F*CK off of PP!!
Look! I can give you LOTS of diversion on my own failings!
May I divert you with other horribleness??
[/B]
[QUOTE=Nojacketrequired;5156248]
Has anyone seen any news that says that PP has actually been charged with anything concerning this seizure? You would think if that was the case, the news would be all over it, wouldnât you?
Please link if you find it.
NJR[/QUOTE]
I certainly havenât. Anyone else?
