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Not far from my house is a field which is council owned. Someone (don't know who, other than it's one of the local residents) keeps a couple of horses on there. Now where there's horses, there's horse poo.
Am I within my rights to shovel up the poo and cart it off to my allotment? Or does the poo belong to the owner? As I don't know who he is, I can't ask his permission to take it. I thought if there's a lot of it, then he obviously doesn't want it, but if there's very little then he must be cleaning it up and may be using it himself, in which case I'll leave it.
Any thoughts?

How about putting a note on the gate asking if they mind?

Be a bit careful though, there have been problems with horse manure contaminated with pesticide causing problems on allotments. It's best to check with the owner whether they have used pesticides on the land.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles07 ... manure.asp

Cheers
Zoe

Thanks for your reply, Zoe.

Unfortunately, there isn't a gate to pin a note to. The field has open sides and the horses are tethered.

I understand your concerns about pesticides, but I am certain they are not used on fields around here. We're on the edge of a town and our Council and the Council 'next door' can't decide who owns which bit of land right along the borders, so they're not going to spend money on pesticides. And there are plenty of weeds in the field, too.

Rosendula wrote:Thanks for your reply, Zoe.

Unfortunately, there isn't a gate to pin a note to. The field has open sides and the horses are tethered.

How about... Get a piece of board, tack it to a stake, drive that into the ground out of reach of the horses, and pin the note to that?

I can't imagine that the owner will mind one jot, particularly if you offer to keep an eye out for the beasts when you pass.

Hmm. That might be worth a try. Thank you

I'd suggest finding some way of asking, even if you have to get very creative. Some animals don't react well to having strangers in with them!

If you ask nicely the owner might even haul it for you!

Rosendula wrote:Thanks for your reply, Zoe.

Unfortunately, there isn't a gate to pin a note to. The field has open sides and the horses are tethered.

I understand your concerns about pesticides, but I am certain they are not used on fields around here. We're on the edge of a town and our Council and the Council 'next door' can't decide who owns which bit of land right along the borders, so they're not going to spend money on pesticides. And there are plenty of weeds in the field, too.

seen as most horse owners hate picking up horse poo i expect they wouldnt care but as the the horses are thethered on common type ground are they travellers horses.

Hmmm. Two thoughts - one is that the poo definitely belongs to the owner of the horses so you must ask their permission.

Two - If you are given permission - unless there is poo away from where the horses are currently tethered (i.e. if they are being moved around in the field) do not go within range of the horse to pick poo as they don't know you and vice versa and you could be asking for trouble! You don't want to get kicked or worse.

Oh. And another thought! You need to check with the owners when the horses were last wormed because you don't want poo from freshly wormed horses or bang goes all your nice red worms in the compost heap. Though of course if they are travellers' horses they might not worm them. I'm not very keen on animals being tethered to be honest.

Can't you ask the council? They must know who owns the horses - and if you ask nicely (and find an understanding council employee), they might forward your request to the owner. Of course, they shouldn't just give out their address to you.

moocher wrote:... as the the horses are thethered on common type ground are they travellers horses.

Millymollymandy wrote: Oh. And another thought! You need to check with the owners when the horses were last wormed because you don't want poo from freshly wormed horses or bang goes all your nice red worms in the compost heap. Though of course if they are travellers' horses they might not worm them. I'm not very keen on animals being tethered to be honest.

Good point about the worming, I never thought of that. No, they're not travellers' horses. I do see them go past our house occasionally with a beautiful trap on the back, and I saw them a few years ago (before I got interested in poo) 'parked' outside a restaurpub.

Millymollymandy wrote:
Two - If you are given permission - unless there is poo away from where the horses are currently tethered (i.e. if they are being moved around in the field) do not go within range of the horse to pick poo as they don't know you and vice versa and you could be asking for trouble! You don't want to get kicked or worse.

You're right, and I do get nervous near horses.

I might go for a walk past the houses whose gardens back on to the field, and see if I can see any clues as to where the owner lives. It sounds like I really need to talk to him so that I can
1. ask if I can have it. If I can then....
2. ask about worming
3. double check with him the pesticide thing. If he doesn't know, he might at least know which council is caring for the land so I can ring them to check
4. explain my dicomfort near horses and see if he can leave it in a heap away from them, and how often I need to collect it.

After all this thought and discussion, I bet he says he uses it himself

Thanks for your help everyone