Suburban boarding barn....Ideas for neighbor relations and safety

[Alterration]

Our barn is in a small neighborhood. Generally speaking, people leave us alone - we aren’t a public barn and we don’t offer lessons - we are just a small privately-owned facility. The barn has been here since the 50s, and I’m sure this has always been a problem, but this is my first foray into having neighbors and horses this close (having bought it a year ago).

Yesterday, a family with a gaggle of small children were feeding cut up slices of apples to the horses when I came out to the barn. I wrangled the horses (of course, it was when the geldings who are pushy and include some nippy youngsters) and allowed them to do so with the kindest boys, teaching them how to safely feed them etc. They piped up that they had fed the other horses yesterday (we alternate mares and geldings during the day). I requested that they please not feed them without us present, and ordered some signs but…

I can’t shake the feeling that I need to do something to both keep everyone safe, increase our “perceived value” in the neighborhood while reducing our potential liability and problems with the county. The state I am in is a fairly “You’re on your own when it comes to risk” state (Missouri) but this IS an area that is zoned residential.

Some ideas I had just on the safety/litigation side were:

• Moving the horses to a less accessible area and adding electric fencing on the inside of our property (the county does not allow it to be the perimeter fence)

• Posting signs in addition to the normal ones that you are required to post as a boarding barn that request politely that the horses not be fed

• Getting a donkey or other animal that would not allow the horses to get near the fence

But I’m struggling on the “neighbor friendliness” side. These are not neighbors that I know, it’s an adjacent subdivision and that subdivision is a “suburban city subdivision” so we are as exciting to have around as a zoo. I get the draw to the horses, heck, when I was a little kid in a neighborhood there were some people with a horse in their backyard and I was thrilled when they let me brush him. But he was old and safer than my miscreants and greenies.

Any ideas are welcome!

[Arlomine]

Lots of signs. You can order custom signs pretty cheap on Amazon, and I would mention “horses are on a special diet, some treats can cause illness”.

And the simplest thing I can think of is to put temporary posts with a hot tape 3 feet in from your perimeter fence. If you put the tape hight at about 3’-3’6”, The horses will graze underneath it almost to the real fence line, but people can’t reach out and touch them.

It’s very important that you do everything you can to curtail this. It’s not just the peoples fingers getting chopped off, it’s the fact that they will feed your horses shit that can kill them. I had a neighbor dumped a full bag of grass clippings over the fence. It’s a good thing I’m a diehard bleeding heart liberal, because if I had owned a gun he would be dead.

[Alterration]

Thank you - yep, I’ve got signs coming in from Amazon.

I was absolutely horrified when I saw it on a number of levels including the fact that they have to walk through a person’s yard to get to our fenceline - that person used to own the barn so we have no issues with him - so it’s also that…are you serious? You walked through your neighbor’s yard to feed horses that aren’t yours?

It’s a fine line though, because while I need to protect the horses I also don’t want neighbors causing issues with the county. We need to present a friendly but leave us alone vibe. That’s tough!

[Incantation]

How much of the fence line can people get to? I would be tempted to put up a solid fence so people can’t see in, and be done with it. Or, in addition to adding a hot wire and signs, perhaps plant picker bushes or something equally displeasing outside the fence?
I don’t think a donkey would do what you want it to do.

[chestnutmarebeware]

Josh Pons, author of Country Life Diary about his family TB breeding farm in now-suburban Maryland, wrote that warning signs should say “ALL Horses Bite” because otherwise a lawyer could argue that a sign saying something like “Horse May Bite” implies that you knew in advance that the horse in question was a known dangerous animal and that you put the ( trespassing) public in willful danger.

I thought this was great advice and used it when I kept my horses at home, after confirming the information with my lawyer.

[Alterration]

It is probably around 75’ of fenceline. The rest of the fence line is in a thicket which is sort of a natural barrier. They are most definitely trespassing when they encounter this 75’ but not just on our land but also our neighbor’s. In addition the back of the barn is in the grass and there are windows in the stalls that can be looked in or treats thrown into. We may have to put those windows back in.

I’m not sure what I could do to solidify the fence, it’s 3 board and my guys can reach right over it. It would have to be 6’ tall and even then…I have some giraffes. There is also a gate that leads to our small strip of land back there that we need access to to mow it.

[chestnutmarebeware]

@Alterration

I’m not sure what I could do to solidify the fence, it’s 3 board and my guys can reach right over it. It would have to be 6’ tall and even then…I have some giraffes. There is also a gate that leads to our small strip of land back there that we need access to to mow it.

It’s not pretty, but putting t-posts with hot tape about 3 feet back from your fence will keep the horses from reaching over. Unfortunately it won’t stop neighbors from throwing food to them.

[ThreeWishes]

Signs, an offset fence, and perhaps conversations with people. Sadly people are ignorant about horses and they are an attractive nuisance so somehow the onus falls on us to protect them and people. I cannot tell you how many times over the years I’ve had to stop a horse ignorant well intentioned neighbor from pouring his hot dirty fermenting lawn clippings over my fence.

[Alterration]

Right - ultimately the problem is multifactorial. We don’t want people throwing stuff in. We don’t want horses accidentally injuring people (we don’t have any biters, but if they keep feeding them by hand, they could create them). But we ALSO don’t want people causing problems with the county.

So - we’ve got to be both friendly and safety conscious. I don’t know how to do the friendly bit because I don’t want to encourage visits. But I also don’t want them to start causing trouble with Animal Control, having issues with our manure pile, and all the other myriad of wonderful things that suburban folks don’t understand.

[frugalannie]

I guess I’d do a couple of things. I’d write a polite note to all the neighbors saying how much you love the area, but with the end of the school year right around the corner, you want them to be aware of safety issues around a farm/ horses. And then lay out the rules: no feeding or petting because “any horse can bite or kick, even if by accident”. And you might add that anyone coming on the property for any reason has to sign a liability waiver because your insurance company requires it. Have a stack at the ready! If you want to be really nice, you might offer to have an open house on a given day when parents can bring their kids to the barn to see the horses.

As to the windows, can you make screens either with hardware cloth or the heavy duty screening called Petwire? It doesn’t tear, just deforms and then returns to shape. It would be hard to throw anything in through that.

[Jaegermonster]

I second the hardware cloth and the t posts with tape , as much as I hate t posts. That or just put in another line fence inside of the existing fence.

And the letter with the invitation to the open house might be nice. Then you can get the releases signed too.

I remember being those kids and going nuts every time I saw horse, but back then society was not as litigious as it is now .

[Texarkana]

I can assure you a donkey won’t help keep the horses from the fence. It’ll probably make it worse. Donkeys love food.

Electric (with proper signage) or a perimeter fence would probably be your best bet.

[LilRanger]

I think you also need to talk to the neighbor whose land is trespassed upon. There is the access to your horses, maybe they will be willing to plant some rugosa roses along that part of the fence on their side? They also face liability because the kid being bit will be on their property when it happens. So their insurance will be paying as well when those medical bills come due.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

I know you’ve already ordered some signs, but sometimes the tone of the signs can be helpful. People can be so fucking weird about animals and food, sometimes if they just see a PLEASE DON’T FEED THE HORSE sign, they think the owner is being like a mean mom not allowing her kid to have a slice of birthday cake.

Maybe a cuter sign?

Fergus Do Not Feed Treats Sign

Or emphasizing it’s not good for the horse?

https://www.bannerbuzz.com/do-not-feed-the-horse-plastic-sign/p?ef_id=Ya9X5QAKQUajXgBG%3A20220528165606%3As&gclid=CjwKCAjwkMeUBhBuEiwA4hpqEIJZxgxpJ26DxOH8PIkSsz0EAIrnWXaTp9CZsH1SuYnOzDtGusPCbhoC0h0QAvD_BwE

I’ve ridden at lesson barns where kids (and some adults) would literally shove treats at the horses while I was tacking or untacking. And I’m SMH at all the stories about lawn clippings. What’s with the “waste not, want not” crowd who seems to think it’s okay to bring all sort sorts of weird fridge leftovers to give to animals, rather than putting them in the trash or composting bin where they belong. No one wants the salad greens you never got around to eating, including a horse.

[clanter]

We are in the city well over a million people around us, two elementary and one middle schools are within blocks of our place… sidewalk in front along the street is the route the kids walk to school.

Under advise of our then insurance company we double fenced the community accessible areas… a ten foot no mans land separates horses (and goats) from the public who have no fear of stepping onto private property .

Interior fencing is electric to encourage the livestock to stay back from the fences (also electric fencing can not be accessible to the public by city ordnance)

Our four kids rode their horses nearly everywhere, one little mare was at the middle school so often the principal joked that he wanted to award the horse a graduation certificate along with her owner. More than once older daughter had to saddle up then pony two horses with her to go pick up the two younger kids from elementary school

Younger daughter set and ran a riding program when she was in high school, she had an endless supply of students … her main method of advertising was each session had a Tee shirt that was required to be worn (colors were changed with each new session) …those students were walking advertisements for her program

Regarding Lots of Signs… signs really are not effective as horses are most often if not always considered to be an attractive nuance. Minor kids are not expected to read or understand a sign’s warning

[Scribbler]

I’m also thinking that if neighborhood relations matter to you, host an open house occasionally where visitors can interact on the ground with safe horses and learn some tips about behavior with horses.

“It’s like a stranger feeding your kids candy. How would you feel about that?”

[Alterration]

The thing that frustrates me is that there are no technically publicly accessible areas. They literally have to tresspass on the neighbor’s land.

I don’t expect the kids to read it, but they have all come with parents.

[clanter]

@Alterration

I don’t expect the kids to read it, but they have all come with parents.

I suggest you research your state’s definition of an attractive nuisance, here an attractive nuisance is a common law that assumes a child does not have the ability to distinguish between what is safe and what isn’t. It holds property owners responsible for failing to prevent a child from reaching something dangerous that they might think would be fun to explore.

Having signs warning may be considered as you having knowledge that a danger exists and then it is upon you to provide additional deterrents to restrict access.

We just got the biggest dog we could find, had it registered with the police as a personal protection dog who became the talk of the town …so every one knew “that 150 pound German Shepherd is not something to fool with”

he was trained to deter a person, he would just hold a person in place, not bite but Hold them

[wsmoak]

@Alterration

It is probably around 75’ of fenceline.

Premier 1 has Horse QuikFence – it it already strung on posts with spacers, all you do is step in the posts and plug it into a solar charger. I love it for dividing paddocks. It would work great for this.

Of course it’s out of stock: https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/horse-quikfence-4-48-24-electric-netting

[eightpondfarm]

you’re in Missouri, so Multiflora roses grow like crazy here! (need any starters? lol) As do native blackberries. I’d do a wovenwire perimeter fence… w/20 foot expanse full of thorny brush, then interior hotwire/hot tape fencing. And signage of course.

You sure don’t want animosity with neighboring children. That would not be healthy for your horses! I would install security cameras…several of them, at strategic points.

Geese will be better watchdogs than donkeys will.

I’d think some kind of summer camp program might engender neighbor good will? Or a Spring and another Fall pony play-day for the neighborhood kids. Plus employ them to clean stalls, teach them to braid and groom