Really Dove?? Wow! I wish I could take one of those, I always found that hedging style very interesting!! But then, if I were in the OP's position, I'd definitely go for that kind of hedge, without a second thought!
Horse owners are responsible for having stock proof / horse proof fencing and are liable if their horse escapes and does damage. So they are accountable. No getting away from that.
Generally well managed horses aren't looking to escape and they're not wondering around with raging hormones looking to get out. My partner owned a very large stud farm with stallions and mares. Believe me even in those circumstances they're not leaping over or breaking through fences to get to each other. You'd never be able to manage them if that were the case. Mares are actually in season about a week every every 19 to 22 days and running right through from spring to autumn. Longer than that IF they're kept stabled or in artificial light. So put simply a mare is more or less always hormonal. That doesn't mean though that they're like Houdini.
It's not that difficult to have a well managed horse so that it's kept inside. We occasionally have something jump out or crash through but we have horses in number and over the decades more than I could remember, or count. When something's got out though, it's been exceptional and memorable. Nearly always when someone hasn't closed gates or noticed there'd been a bit of fence brought down say by a falling branch or a car crashed through and that didn't bother to let you know and even people tresspassing that have broken or cut fencing. Or else it's been a new horse in or something that's bad mannered and skittish or has been massively spooked and run through the fencing.
Don't go kidding yourself that big old well grown laid hedes are "stock proof". They're not. The thing is, when those were laid it was just accepted that every now and then stock would get out. That's the way a lot of folks got their stock
Furthermore when they got out they weren't going to cause any trouble by getting onto a busy highway with traffic belting about or bother some incomer who couldn't understand why there were cows, sheeps and horses in the countryside and worse still..... eating their flowers.
Nowadays things are different though and that's why farmers with stock have fences that go either through their hedges or else at the field side of the hedge.
We have acres of fields done with traditional hedgerows and some are well over 200 years old. We're constantly having to repair them and we've also laid a heck of a lot of new hedges done in precisely the way you describe. Without exception though all our fields are also fenced as well. Quite a lot of our are dry stone walled and likewise they're fenced in addition dependent on where they are and what they're supposed to be holding in.
Well, with all due respect, I can only say that the only two times the blond little lady in the avatar picture with me made a determined rush for freedom it was both times at the end of April, and both times I found her feverishly pacing outside the fence of the nearest stallion (the first time it was a fine upstanding black Merens, the second time a shetty... rather embarassing). Coincidence? I don't think so. And she pointedly ignores stallion for the rest of the year (even when they do NOT ignore her). I know the theory of mares and heat, but in my experience the practice is fairly different. I travelled 5000 km on foot with my mare, and spring is the only time I ever had trouble with stallions.
Of course owners are always to be considered legally responsible for any damage caused by their animals, no doubts about that, but what I am trying to say is that if an animal escapes under exceptional circumstances I am more inclined to close an eye (I have done so a number of times with good humour), and rather help the owner than complain, knowing they will be far more distressed than me. If animals escape on a more or less regular basis because their fences are in ruin and they are not well fed, then I am inclined to give the owners hell an get really testy.
I own animals (which ocaasionally, despite all precaustions, escaped) and have a garden (which occasionally despite all precautions, was invaded - by someone else's livestock), and I can see both side of the question. Good neighbourliness always requires some degree of compromise.
I also know that there is no absolute horse proof enclosure of any kind, hedge or fence, having had one totally crazy Haflinger gelding storm through a 2 m tall iron gate, locked with an iron bar and held by iron posts sunk in concrete. Iron gate: open down the middle like tin can. Horse: a little cut on his eyebrow. In that case did I escape my responsibility? No I paid for the repairs on the gate before they even asked me, but I can say that it did not happen out of neglect, and I do think that morally, if not legally it makes a difference. But I think that some formats of fence or hedge are far more likely to hold livestock than others. A normal suburban hedge is no barrier at all. A laid hedge might be broken through or jumped, but I do think it is far less likely. As for nibble proof plants I already put in my 2 c earlier.
A quicker solution would be to install a willow or bamboo type fence inside the current stock fence of your neighbours' horse paddocks.
It sounds like the horse owners already have a reasonable fence to enclose their animals within but there is no law (as I understand it) that states that animals cannot look over said stock fence - i.e, the fence does not have to be higher than the animal can reach over.
To stop the horses reaching over your property the horse owner would either have to put in an electric fence inside their current boundary fence of approx 3ft - but they most likely wouldn't want to do that if their grazing is not at a premium already.
The OP could do the same and put their new hedge well inside the boundary fence to stop the horses leaning over and nibbling it.
Also this makes it easier to trim and shape the hedge from the other side as needs be.
The final option is for the OP to add to the top of the fence to make it too high for the horses to reach over - or use electric fence. Battery energisers are useful and only about £60 - Hotline HLB100 Shrike Battery operated Energiser.
Caution - most evergreen hedging is poisonous to horses in various degrees.
I have every sympathy with the OP, I had similar clause on some land that we purchased from a seller who retained the rest of the field, we explained our planting schemes and then the seller put horses back in her field despite saying that she wouldn't WE lost over 900 trees in one weekend with around £4k replacement cost, she ignored communication and a cold war state now exists....
The stockholder is legally liable for any damage, the animals trespass as soon as it crosses the fence.The Animals Act 1971 makes an owner or person in possession of livestock “strictly liable” for any damage caused by their livestock trespassing on land owned or occupied by another.
Hi everyone, I know this thread is a bit ancient, BUT I have a question about the whole hedges and horses situation. Myself and several neighbours have a hawthorn hedge that backs onto a field. Some of the neighbours - octogenarians and above, have lived here a LONG time and tell me the hedge used to be maintained by the previous landowner, who had the necessary equipment and/or contacts. However the boundary is actually ours to maintain, our deeds even grant us access to the field in order to do so.
Meanwhile the land has changed hands, besides which it is rented out to yet another party who keep horses in the field.
Now comes the issue, we - the residents, would like to maintain the hedge, are willing to pay for uit to be done. The horse owners last year organised a man with a tractor and hurrah, the hedge got cut properly for the first time in a few years. The horse owners then told me (I am the go-between) that their horses had gone lame. So I am trying to organise hedge maintenance again anyhow, but said owners say they'll try it one more time but that if their horses were injured again it would never happen again and we'd have to pay the vet bills.
Any horse owners out there have any advice on this matter? I'm trying to get this resolved in a neighbourly manner and of course without injury to the horses. I did ask if they could fence off along the hedge for a while after the hedge is cut. I'm also happy to walk along afterwards and collect stray trimmings, but I'm not prepared to pay vet bills!
Pretty certain that it's down to the horse owners to ensure that their field is safe for their horses before putting them back in the field following hedging operations.
However I suggest that the residents club together and get advice from a local solicitor used to dealing with agricultural properties.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Posts
Really Dove?? Wow! I wish I could take one of those, I always found that hedging style very interesting!! But then, if I were in the OP's position, I'd definitely go for that kind of hedge, without a second thought!
Just one of the organisations running courses http://www.hedgelaying.org.uk/
There are different techniques/styles that vary from area to area, taking into account suitability for different stock and different hedging plants.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
WOW! Lovely! I think it's wonderful that the old skill is preserved!
Horse owners are responsible for having stock proof / horse proof fencing and are liable if their horse escapes and does damage. So they are accountable. No getting away from that.
Generally well managed horses aren't looking to escape and they're not wondering around with raging hormones looking to get out. My partner owned a very large stud farm with stallions and mares. Believe me even in those circumstances they're not leaping over or breaking through fences to get to each other. You'd never be able to manage them if that were the case. Mares are actually in season about a week every every 19 to 22 days and running right through from spring to autumn. Longer than that IF they're kept stabled or in artificial light. So put simply a mare is more or less always hormonal. That doesn't mean though that they're like Houdini.
It's not that difficult to have a well managed horse so that it's kept inside. We occasionally have something jump out or crash through but we have horses in number and over the decades more than I could remember, or count. When something's got out though, it's been exceptional and memorable. Nearly always when someone hasn't closed gates or noticed there'd been a bit of fence brought down say by a falling branch or a car crashed through and that didn't bother to let you know and even people tresspassing that have broken or cut fencing. Or else it's been a new horse in or something that's bad mannered and skittish or has been massively spooked and run through the fencing.
Don't go kidding yourself that big old well grown laid hedes are "stock proof". They're not. The thing is, when those were laid it was just accepted that every now and then stock would get out. That's the way a lot of folks got their stock
Furthermore when they got out they weren't going to cause any trouble by getting onto a busy highway with traffic belting about or bother some incomer who couldn't understand why there were cows, sheeps and horses in the countryside and worse still..... eating their flowers.
Nowadays things are different though and that's why farmers with stock have fences that go either through their hedges or else at the field side of the hedge.
We have acres of fields done with traditional hedgerows and some are well over 200 years old. We're constantly having to repair them and we've also laid a heck of a lot of new hedges done in precisely the way you describe. Without exception though all our fields are also fenced as well. Quite a lot of our are dry stone walled and likewise they're fenced in addition dependent on where they are and what they're supposed to be holding in.
Well, with all due respect, I can only say that the only two times the blond little lady in the avatar picture with me made a determined rush for freedom it was both times at the end of April, and both times I found her feverishly pacing outside the fence of the nearest stallion (the first time it was a fine upstanding black Merens, the second time a shetty... rather embarassing). Coincidence? I don't think so. And she pointedly ignores stallion for the rest of the year (even when they do NOT ignore her). I know the theory of mares and heat, but in my experience the practice is fairly different. I travelled 5000 km on foot with my mare, and spring is the only time I ever had trouble with stallions.
Of course owners are always to be considered legally responsible for any damage caused by their animals, no doubts about that, but what I am trying to say is that if an animal escapes under exceptional circumstances I am more inclined to close an eye (I have done so a number of times with good humour), and rather help the owner than complain, knowing they will be far more distressed than me. If animals escape on a more or less regular basis because their fences are in ruin and they are not well fed, then I am inclined to give the owners hell an get really testy.
I own animals (which ocaasionally, despite all precaustions, escaped) and have a garden (which occasionally despite all precautions, was invaded - by someone else's livestock), and I can see both side of the question. Good neighbourliness always requires some degree of compromise.
I also know that there is no absolute horse proof enclosure of any kind, hedge or fence, having had one totally crazy Haflinger gelding storm through a 2 m tall iron gate, locked with an iron bar and held by iron posts sunk in concrete. Iron gate: open down the middle like tin can. Horse: a little cut on his eyebrow. In that case did I escape my responsibility? No I paid for the repairs on the gate before they even asked me, but I can say that it did not happen out of neglect, and I do think that morally, if not legally it makes a difference. But I think that some formats of fence or hedge are far more likely to hold livestock than others. A normal suburban hedge is no barrier at all. A laid hedge might be broken through or jumped, but I do think it is far less likely. As for nibble proof plants I already put in my 2 c earlier.
A quicker solution would be to install a willow or bamboo type fence inside the current stock fence of your neighbours' horse paddocks.
It sounds like the horse owners already have a reasonable fence to enclose their animals within but there is no law (as I understand it) that states that animals cannot look over said stock fence - i.e, the fence does not have to be higher than the animal can reach over.
To stop the horses reaching over your property the horse owner would either have to put in an electric fence inside their current boundary fence of approx 3ft - but they most likely wouldn't want to do that if their grazing is not at a premium already.
The OP could do the same and put their new hedge well inside the boundary fence to stop the horses leaning over and nibbling it.
Also this makes it easier to trim and shape the hedge from the other side as needs be.
The final option is for the OP to add to the top of the fence to make it too high for the horses to reach over - or use electric fence. Battery energisers are useful and only about £60 - Hotline HLB100 Shrike Battery operated Energiser.
Caution - most evergreen hedging is poisonous to horses in various degrees.
It's not horses - it's sheep that are the issue for the OP here GWork
I'd agree with many of the comments - the hedge needed to be farther away from the fence in the first place, or the fence needed to be higher.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have every sympathy with the OP, I had similar clause on some land that we purchased from a seller who retained the rest of the field, we explained our planting schemes and then the seller put horses back in her field despite saying that she wouldn't
WE lost over 900 trees in one weekend with around £4k replacement cost, she ignored communication and a cold war state now exists....
The stockholder is legally liable for any damage, the animals trespass as soon as it crosses the fence.The Animals Act 1971 makes an owner or person in possession of livestock “strictly liable” for any damage caused by their livestock trespassing on land owned or occupied by another.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/22
http://www.inbrief.co.uk/animal-law/liability-livestock-trespass-nuisance-animals-act-1971.htm
Hi everyone, I know this thread is a bit ancient, BUT I have a question about the whole hedges and horses situation. Myself and several neighbours have a hawthorn hedge that backs onto a field. Some of the neighbours - octogenarians and above, have lived here a LONG time and tell me the hedge used to be maintained by the previous landowner, who had the necessary equipment and/or contacts. However the boundary is actually ours to maintain, our deeds even grant us access to the field in order to do so.
Meanwhile the land has changed hands, besides which it is rented out to yet another party who keep horses in the field.
Now comes the issue, we - the residents, would like to maintain the hedge, are willing to pay for uit to be done. The horse owners last year organised a man with a tractor and hurrah, the hedge got cut properly for the first time in a few years. The horse owners then told me (I am the go-between) that their horses had gone lame. So I am trying to organise hedge maintenance again anyhow, but said owners say they'll try it one more time but that if their horses were injured again it would never happen again and we'd have to pay the vet bills.
Any horse owners out there have any advice on this matter? I'm trying to get this resolved in a neighbourly manner and of course without injury to the horses. I did ask if they could fence off along the hedge for a while after the hedge is cut. I'm also happy to walk along afterwards and collect stray trimmings, but I'm not prepared to pay vet bills!
Any thoughts most welcome...
Last edited: 13 August 2016 19:31:17
Pretty certain that it's down to the horse owners to ensure that their field is safe for their horses before putting them back in the field following hedging operations.
However I suggest that the residents club together and get advice from a local solicitor used to dealing with agricultural properties.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.