Something that bothers me - tractors with horses in field

[noonoo]

The horse fields in the village back into farmers land and sometimes they open the gate and drive their tractors right through one of the fields with 3 horses in. To me that doesn't seem right. They did it just now (2 tractors) and one of the horses had to leg it out of the way as the tractor was going right in it's direction.

It makes me wonder if their owners know they do it.

Your thoughts?

[Thingamyjig]

I should imagne the owners probably do know they drive through it, we drive our tractor through our fields and also i drive my car down to the bottom field in winter when its muddy and mine dont bat an eyelid BUT thats just my horses, they move away from the tractor and car when they see it coming, not through fright but they just move, i dont drive fast and if one came near me then obviously i would stop before they got close, i guess it depends on the horse(s) ... maybe keep an eye on it Nicola and if they seem to be not stopping or the horses seem frightened then you could have a word with whoever it concerns.

xx

[black crow]

There are a lot of people who do this - taking machinery into horse fields. They expect the horses to move, so they dont care about it.

Its not right, but too many people do it.

[Kelza]

My old YO used to drive through the horses fields, but it didn't matter how slow they went or in the opposite direction, Sultan used to really over react and leg it away! Maybe these horses are the same?

[Kilota]

Are the horse fields privatly owned or owned by the farmer?????

I used to livery at my friends house and our fields backed on to a huge ditch. Yearly the council would come into our field (and the one next to us) with huge machineary to clear the ditch. There was little we could do about it unfortunatly becuase the council needed access to the ditch. Not quite the same as the above, but we just tried to make sure our horses were in a different field.

I am sure if the field is privatly owned then they should not be doing this, but if it is rented from the farmer there is little that can be done I would I would have thought as they will just see it as their land.
There may also be access rights issues that the horse owners are aware of???? (I used to rent a privately owned house but the neighbour on the end had rights to access our gardens/land if he wanted to bring his car into his garden (not that he ever did).

[Thingamyjig]

hey.. dont pick on me lol... i drive my tractor down to the bottom field to take the trailer to collect the manure... its a really long way and would take all week to collect it in wheelbarrows... as i said before, my lot dont bat an eyelid and i drive like a snail anyway .. i seriously wouldnt do it if they were scared or came over to me, if they did then i'd see them in plenty of time to stop

xx

[Kilota]

hey.. dont pick on me lol... i drive my tractor down to the bottom field to take the trailer to collect the manure... its a really long way and would take all week to collect it in wheelbarrows... as i said before, my lot dont bat an eyelid and i drive like a snail anyway .. i seriously wouldnt do it if they were scared or came over to me, if they did then i'd see them in plenty of time to stop

xx

They do get used to it, the owner of our yard drive tractors inthe horses fields when they cut the weeds, remove poop piles or put in our round bales.

[My Crazy Clan]

I don't like it, nore do I do it, so many do though.

[Spockky boy]

Spock thinks it's fun if there a trailer on the back cos he think theres food in it! lol (As we used to take the tracor and trailer with hay to hay all the horses at one of my old yards). A few horses are wary of machinery, a lot do get used to it though. We never went really fast and most horses moved out the way in plenty of time.

[sazzy925]

Most horses are completely fine with tractors.
My school's a working farm aswell, so often the tractors will be driven through fields with horses in - the horses know to get out of the way, but they aren't at all bothered by them, so long as they're out of the way the horses will often completely ignore it, i've even seen some lying down dead to the world with the tractors going really close and they couldn't care less.
The only time this would annoy me is if the drivers purposefully went after the horses, but if they're just driving through there's really no problem - few horses are at all bothered by tractors if they're always around them.

[Dottie Lottie]

Billy is fine with tractors etc as they would bale the hay right next to his grazing, as long as I knew it was going to happen I didn't mind and I would make sure I was there just in case. What would bother me though was when tractors came in and out and the gates didn't shut behind them, the main reason why I liked to be down there so I could make sure I was around to let them in and out.

[eeek]

I wouldn't mind if people were driving tractors through Vinny's field, in fact it has happened many times in the past.

Neither the horses nor the driver of the tractor (I HOPE) would be stupid enough to collide with each other!

[Lorraine]

At our yard they will drive a buggy into the field to drop off hay, tractors from time to time to carry out other work (including hedge trimming with great big cutters attached). The horses become used to it. Even Tibbs who really doesn't do traffic (so never goes hacking) doesn't get stressed with a tractor in the field but he does steer clear of it.

Apache on the other hand used to follow the tractor around and if they stopped he'd poke his head through the window of it to see if the driver had any treats for him!

In an open field the horses have a choice as to whether go near a tractor or not, when ridden out on the roads they have no choice - riders make them walk straight past them coming the other way, or have tractors drive past them.

[gwar]

I quite like driving into the paddocks with my ute, the float, the quad bike etc etc just to get the horses totally used to vehicles. They're all totally unfazed by it all and in fact usually rush to meet me because more often than not there's food onboard lol!!!

[casper_cb]

We drive our cars through the fields every day, tractor a couple of times a week. Access to my sisters yard is through 3 fields full of horses, the lorries drive through them too a couple of times every day. Our horses don't care about vehicles/ machinery, to be honest they can't afford too. At a competiton they have to cope with lorries/ cars and vehicles passing close.

[Bay Chaos]

I'd not worry too much about it, if they have access to the field then the owners probably know and therefore have made a conscious decision to allow it. I used to drive my car down the field where I used to keep Bridie and they do just get out of the way! Getting through the gate without them escaping is the most difficult bit.

[gem]

I'm quite pleased Saffy grew up around big machinery because it means she doesn't get scared if she sees it now. I don't see the problem as long as the drivers are being very careful and responsible.

[Jan]

Its quite common on my old yard to take tractors into the field, Heidi used to love following them in the 15 acre until they turned round then she would leg it, she found it a big game, needless to say she isnt scared of big farm machinery or tractors now which is a good job as we live on a farm :lol:

[lil_legs]

I don't mind provided the field gates were shut behind them and the driver was sensible. I had an issue where the bloke who used to drive the tractor left the gates open and let my ponies out on road!!!

However that isn't an issue anymore as he isn't working for the landlord at the moment, and my OH does alot round there.

As far as the horses reaction to tractors, Hannah and Jasper couldn't care less, and Alfie is at the curious stage, which Hutch knows so he is very careful around Alfie, and makes sure he is out of the way.

Although the other day i had to go and move Alfie as even when Hutch revved and beeped at him, Alfie carried on licking the tyre haha!!

[fell lover]

I actually find it a good idea as if you are no where near a road (mine aren't) it helps them get used to heavy machinery. All I do is be there to ensure that the gates are opened and shut properly and the ponies don't escape.
My two tend to career off bucking and kicking, but they aren't actually scared - they are just messing round!

[XenaWarriorPrincess]

Xen is really bad with tractors if we meet them out riding so i used to drive our little one round the field to help her get used to them!
I dont see a problem with it either, its hardly as if they are going fast and horses are pretty good at getting out of the way of things like that!

[fairyfeet]

Max and Freya couldn't care less, had tractors, lorries and cars in the field with them. Max has had combines, all sorts of things next to him and he doesn't bat an eyelid.
I drove around the field pulling a trailer this weekend picking up the bags of poo and had to beep him to move! Freya follows the trailer around hoping for food.
I personally think its good experience for them, and if they are unsure they can always move away.

[Savvy]

I always drive all sorts through ours and mine don't bat an eyelid, tractors, cars, combines, quadbikes you name it, they've not reacted to it!

[mrs flyboy]

I really don't get what the problem is???!!!!! If anything it gets horses used to tractors and the horses are far less likely to get injured as they will have an escape route. Horses are primarily flight animals and if they can flee generally are ok. Fine it would be wrong if the landowner did not know that the tractors where gaining access to a field, but other than that no problems!
If on the other hand the people who have put their horses in the firld knows this goes on, then it is hardly their position to complain.

[Betseyboo]

ours are fine with tractors in the field and don't even look, in fact i think the tractor would have to stop before betsey would move out of its way!!

[amandaxx1]

The Farmer at my yard has to drive his tractor into the field ocassionally to get to the water buckets and other things, the horses dont bother at all but he is very considerate

[thelwell]

the yard i used to be at i had to drive the tractor or quad into the fields throu winter and summer other wise they would not get feed or water any horses that was scared of the tractor would soon get used to it. also there was a train line that run throu the side of the field where trains would pass at 50 miles a hour yet the horses would have there heads over the fence grazing the bank and would not even bat a eye lid

[fell lover]

That is awful to hear Mel - but not the normal practice. There will always be one farmer/tractor driver that will be aggressive and impatient with horses, but most have manners.

[claire777]

As long as the tractor drivers aren't reckless and purpously chaseing the horses round then tractors or any machinary in field with horses are generally fine.

My horses are kept on my parents working Farm and them having to put up with Machinery in their field is part of the daily norm for them. They we're in the field the other day with the tractor and hedgecutter. Had no issues at all generally the tractor drivers and the horses just keep out of the way of one another :)

Most farmers are used to dealing with other livestock such as cattle, sheep, pigs etc and they sometimes forget that horses aren't so placid or can't be barged/pushed about like your average bovine species ;)

[Loony]

I don't see the problem with it.. I'm sure they would stop if they thought they were going to hit one of them! Horses will be scared of all sorts of things, we can't wrap them in cotton wool.. we could stop driving tractors through the field incase it scared them, but then 2 seconds later a plastic bag would blow past and they'd go nuts!!