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

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

OP, I must say, I think you’re being very nice to these people! I personally don’t think you should have to buy additional livestock you don’t necessarily want, much less have pony parties/camps/petting zoos at a boarding barn that isn’t even open to the general public as a lesson barn.

I think signs still aren’t a bad idea, as long as they don’t say the horses are dangerous but rather emphasize that feeding them is dangerous to the horses themselves. That’s crazy that they are trespassing on yet another person’s property to feed treats to your horses.

[Alterration]

I may take you up on those cuttings! Those things are…well let’s just say I’m glad I had goats to clear out my last multiflora. But in this case it’s absolutely necessary. Great idea!

We aren’t a lesson barn, nor do we really have any suitable horses. I would like to help people understand that equines make good neighbors though! So maybe I could extend that to doing some off the horse roping and “cowboy” stuff. That might be ok.

[Alterration]

It does feel crazy. And yet I do still feel like if I don’t do something more welcoming then this is another generation that will grow up thinking we horse people are snooty and ag isn’t worth preserving.

I am torn!

[JanM]

My worry is that today’s visitor with supervision will interpret that as the right to come over any time they want. How many trespasser threads have their been on here? I would run it past your insurance agent.

[clanter]

All of our perimeter gates have combination padlocks that can be reprogrammed. We did this to keep the unwanted out but if needed for a vet/farrier/feed or hay delivery we could give them the combination then change it later (second purpose? was youngest daughter wanted me to remember her birthday so the combination is the month and day of her birthday)

One Can be friendly with the neighbors, just depends upon the mindset of the community. Here horses were a part of the city from the outset not a recent addition so it is not uncommon for someone to have one or two in their backyard. The city has nuance ordinances defining where/how livestock can be kept and what needs to be done in maintaining pastures and composting waste. (These were recently rewritten to update as few if any of the enforcement personal could differentiate a Pony from a Horse so measurements were included with how to measure to determine a Small Animal verses a Large Animal as Three Smalls are equal to One Large in the Animal Control Ordnance )

MANY kids have never been close to a horse… one of our miniatures has been to high school so often as photography class model that the school board gave him a Pass to be allowed in the building…third floor is where the studio is.

He wears Build a Bear combat boots to keep from slipping on the floors… these fit very well and are about $18 for two pair verse $180 for real boots for miniatures.

older daughter had her horse at middle school often, horse was Very careful around the kids

One girl who was always overlooked because she was in wheelchair was not overlooked by the mare who slowly worked her way to the girl then put her head into the girl’s lap…girl began crying… we started to intervene but the girl’s mother stopped us as she said her daughter was crying because she said No Animal ever liked her Before so This Mare became Her Horse, she would every now and then come by here to see Her Horse (always called first)

KIDS … will even in the these days of video games some still like horses and a Good horse program can happen as there is an endless supply of kids with parents who have the money to spend

[AwiUsdi]

“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.“

I was going to suggest this but @eightpondfarm beat me to it! We have both the multi flora and blackberries. I use them to keep horses in, and can see where they’d be useful in keeping people out as well. I personally prefer the MF since they’re bushier, whereas blackberries grow long, overhanging canes that can be hard to mow next to. Though the blackberries also produce, well, blackberries . Last week was the height of our MF/BB blossom season and the perfume was intoxicating!

[Alterration]

With the multiflora…will horses eat it? I know our goats loved it. It was considered seriously invasive where I lived last.

[eightpondfarm]

@AwiUsdi

Though the blackberries also produce, well, blackberries . Last week was the height of our MF/BB blossom season and the perfume was intoxicating!

And the blackberries will bring birds…and children picking i’d suppose?

Oh MY…the aroma…the perfume of the air…it’s still going on here today. Going to be a bumper year for those things isn’t it. We have three large patches of blackberries. I mow them down with a brush hog every other year. I have one i keep mowed, and the other two patches i alternate. Since they set berries only on year-old canes this way i always have a managed batch to pick from and one growing. My sheep LOVE the blackberry and also multiflora rose leaves. Oh, and so do several of my Highlands. And one of the mules. They cut paths through the blackberries so that also makes it easier to pick berries for me.

[eightpondfarm]

@Alterration

With the multiflora…will horses eat it? I know our goats loved it. It was considered seriously invasive where I lived last.

none of mine do. Well…i have seen a couple of the mustangs nibble, but they don’t go full on attacking it like the sheep (or your goats) do.
And you’re right it is seriously invasive here too.

[Alterration]

Nibbling is fine, this particular area doesn’t have any “good” food (we put out hay in this paddock) so I was wondering if they’d eat it before it had a chance to establish. They nibble on the vines and the trees in the thickets but not enough to do any damage.

[AwiUsdi]

Mine don’t eat the MF (or blackberries), but they have plenty of other options. It’s considered seriously invasive where we are also. I fought it at first but it was a Sisyphean battle. For my sanity I finally declared defeat, and now it provides shade and hides for birds. We have some amazing species here and I’ve come to see “weeds and general untidiness” as desirable habitat for the birds, and other beasts that live here too.

[AwiUsdi]

Yup, same here - alternate yearly mowing amongst the patches. Sometimes I come upon hummingbird nests, which makes me sad, since I think they reuse them (?) - I’ll need to read more on that. My awareness and appreciation of the natural world, at least where I live, has changed so much since moving to acreage. Now I cringe when a neighbor mows a field in mid spring or summer, just because it’s untidy looking… ugh, all the wildlife and insects that loose their habitat, possibly in the middle of their reproduction cycle, just like that…

[OnAMission]

We’re moving (hopefully) to a place where this could be an issue; one side of the property borders a school and the other three sides are neighborhood. If this happened to us, we’ll do an interior electric fence to keep horses out of reach of the perimeter fence and any fingers, clippings, etc that might end up in the “dead zone” near the fence. As I think now it might be nice to plant some brush in that dead zone to create more of a barrier and still look nice. We’re also pretty good about sharing our animals and talking to people about them. We do that often on the trail/camping and as occasions arise. Helps that my husband is a social butterfly and loves to talk to anyone. Just last night when feeding our horses at their current spot the neighbors were having a BBQ and my husband took all the kids for pony rides on our ol’ reliable gelding. It was fun to do that for the kids with pictures for the parents etc and he had a chance to explain horses to the kids, how to act around them with permission and how they can be dangerous. It was a good PR session and DH was happy about it.

If we had arrived there to find people already feeding apples I know our “tone” would be surprise and concern “oh wow I’m glad you didn’t get bitten, they get bitey and pushy when there are treats! Let me know when you’d like to see them and I’ll make sure they are on good behavior for you, I don’t want you to get hurt or the horses to get in trouble” and then on my inside would be hoping (I know, I know) the point is taken, they never let me know and our electric fence goes up pronto. Ours are in woven wire with a hot wire top now and that seems to keep everyone on their proper sides. As far as I know there are no restrictions on electric perimeter fences here or anyone that would challenge it (rural MT) so fear of hot wire will continue to keep ours at a distance trying to convey that any visitors throw the apples to them instead of risking the fence for a hand held treat.

[eightpondfarm]

@AwiUsdi

ugh, all the wildlife and insects that loose their habitat, possibly in the middle of their reproduction cycle, just like that…

omg…so this! yes indeed.

I brushogg in February. And when the stalks are so dry i can see the praying mantis foam egg casings about 2/3 the way up as i approach. Then i stop the brushhog, dismount and with my trusty pocket shears, snip off that cane, take it over to the fenceline where the blackberries cannot ever be mowed, and attach it with some twine at same height in amongst those bushed there. Probably relocate about 1 - 3 egg casings every 10 acres. What i also like about mowing in the winter is when the ground is frozen solid i cannot sink in (i have a big tractor) AND all turtles and snakes are still in their underground caves.

[Alterration]

@AwiUsdi

Mine don’t eat the MF (or blackberries), but they have plenty of other options. It’s considered seriously invasive where we are also. I fought it at first but it was a Sisyphean battle. For my sanity I finally declared defeat, and now it provides shade and hides for birds. We have some amazing species here and I’ve come to see “weeds and general untidiness” as desirable habitat for the birds, and other beasts that live here too.

Goats are incredible for that. We don’t have ours anymore but they did a brilliant job of keeping things at bay. Of course, we had Nigerian Dwarfs, so everything was trimmed only as tall as they could reach standing on their hind legs, but we would use that electric netting to create a zone for them and then that did the trick. We always had very neat looking hedges as a result!

I think Hubby and I have settled on renovating the back paddocks (they need a good scraping) and electrifying the gates so that it’s less attractive. We’ll still likely plant something along that area so that if people want to come to the farm, they have to actually come to one of the areas that is “formal” and not along the fenceline (hard to explain, but showing up at the gates is a much better, much more visible option than showing up along that 75’ of fencing which is behind the barn).

@clanter, love the pictures. Sadly I don’t like children particularly well and I don’t have any horses that are particularly suitable for young ones to have a good time with. We aren’t a lesson barn, we’re a bunch of middle-aged ladies that enjoy riding together and having a glass of wine. It might actually be more useful to invite the neighborhood gals to a wine party than to invite the children! Our barn has been here since the 50s and the original farm was an 80 acre farm - what their houses are built on. Suburban encroachment, which is a topic for another day, annoys me to no end.

We do also have huge wild honeysuckle nearby which I might be able to propagate. That stuff is pretty thick and wild too. And of course, regular climbing roses might be an option as well.

[AwiUsdi]

Oooh honeysuckle - that’s my next project

[Alterration]

@OnAMission

If we had arrived there to find people already feeding apples I know our “tone” would be surprise and concern “oh wow I’m glad you didn’t get bitten, they get bitey and pushy when there are treats! Let me know when you’d like to see them and I’ll make sure they are on good behavior for you, I don’t want you to get hurt or the horses to get in trouble” and then on my inside would be hoping (I know, I know) the point is taken, they never let me know and our electric fence goes up pronto. Ours are in woven wire with a hot wire top now and that seems to keep everyone on their proper sides. As far as I know there are no restrictions on electric perimeter fences here or anyone that would challenge it (rural MT) so fear of hot wire will continue to keep ours at a distance trying to convey that any visitors throw the apples to them instead of risking the fence for a hand held treat.

That was kind of the tone, but we were trying to be careful not to incite the idea that a lawsuit would be something they could manage if they wanted us out.

I held the greener horses at bay and allowed them to feed two of the more well trained ones, taught them how to do it properly, explained why feeding strange horses can be very bad for them. It was odd, they didn’t seem to have any concept that what they were doing was incorrect. I’m sure I would have said “omigosh I’m sorry, is it ok that we are doing this?” but they just kept on doling out apples to their kids.

[eightpondfarm]

WHY do close-living people assume that any open-space privately owned property or animal is public domain?

[AwiUsdi]

Same here, a praying mantis egg case relocator. I’m very concerned about the general decline in insects and for that reason, have come to dislike mowing, but I have horses, so no way around it I’m afraid. We have a good box turtle population, so even though it takes a little longer I mow slowly, so I can see them as they scramble to get out of the way. Same for the snakes.

[eightpondfarm]

Good for you!!!
…rather than a conqueror of the land, we consider ourselves conservators. I attempt to eradicate toxic weeds (dogbane, perilla mint, buttercup) by hand or by mechanical means (brushhog or weed whack) No chems.