Archived News

20th May 2011

A few weeks ago we received a call from one of our Landlords to say that horses had been unlawfully put in a field we rent over at Normandy.  Fences were taken down and gates removed from their hinges and over forty horses were illegally put out to graze.  In order to reach the field the horses have been walked through our wheat crop.

This particular field was subject to Foot and Mouth restrictions in 2007 when the disease outbreak at Pirbright resulted in the cattle grazing this field being slaughtered.

Law states that the tenant farmer is responsible for having the horses evicted but this comes at quite a cost.  After our own notices on site requesting the removal of the horses was ignored, a bailiff was called upon to handle the situation.  The bailiff posted more signs on site advising the horse owners to remove the animals within a fortnight or they would be removed by the bailiff and held in livery and that the owners will incur costs.

As the horses were still on site two weeks later, the bailiff went in early yesterday morning and seized three horses.  They had hoped to collect more, however they cannot lift mares in foal, nor foals (a fact the owners are fully aware of) and in addition they were probably quite a lively group. 

The three horses were transported to a safe location and will be held until the situation is resolved.  More signs were posted on site to inform the horse owners of these facts and what was now expected of them. 

We have been charged for the lifting, haulage and livery of the three horses and have already received an initial bill of £700 for signage and nigh on £3,000 for the lift and haulage. In theory the horse owners should now pay the bailiff for costs and then the three horses will be returned and we might recoup something.

The bailiff contacted the owners yesterday evening to inform them that three horses had been lifted (they hadn’t realised) and within minutes the site was swarming with people and vehicles.  We understand that by 11pm every horse had been removed from the field; so I wonder on whose land they are now grazing?

We had a dozen calls last night from one number and finally a threatening message was left for Laurence; so that’s been reported to the police.