Neighbor Rant

[MyMiniGal]

I sure hope he listens this time. He sounds like he reacted like children do.."Oh, yeah, if you do such and such, I'm going to this and that", sort of thing, with no true meaning behind it. I hope he stops now. I'm glad you filed a report too.

 

[Tab]

I would find and print an article that states that feeding grass clippings can cause impaction colic and death and give it to him.

 

[chandab]

If you haven't already, tell him minis are more sensitive to dietary changes than full size horses, and are more likely to have a negative reaction than full-size horses.

 

[HGFarm]

Find an article talking about the dangers of this and give it to him. Perhaps he thinks he 'knows better' and thinks you are making it up. And yes, I would let him know he will be responsible for any vet bills or the death of one of your Minis.

 

[REO]

Wish you could put up a camera and catch him at it. I feel he WILL do it again, that Mr leopard won't change his spots.

I feel he doesn't care about the horses but is too lazy to dispose of his clippings properly.

 

[dannigirl]

I am curious about his threat to report your barking dogs. Dogs bark at cats. That is a fact of life. Are they doing it all night long or mostly just during the day? I mostly just during the day, I don't think there is much he can do about it unless he works nights and sleeps days and even then it is hard. Also, do your dogs leave your property? If not, then it is a case of them protecting your property from intruders. Since he has made a threat back at you, I don't think that talking to him again--even if you take something of proof to him--will do any good. I think that before next mowing season, I would have some good signs made to put on my fence. I would put them all the way around so that he can't say you are targeting him. The signs would say something like "please do not feed my horses or put anything inside the fence. If you choose to do so and one of the horses gets sick, you will be responsible for the vet cost. If a horse dies as a result of you feeding them, you will be held responsible for the cost to replace that horse with a comparable one." Just make sure that you word it so that it doesn't say you will be replacing the horse, but will be seeing what it would cost to replace it. If push comes to shove, I would get a surveillance camera of some sort to catch him in the act or listen and when he started mowing, I would find me a chair and watch with my camera so that I could take photos/videos of him dumping so that you have evidence to take to the police. Good luck. I am so lucky to have amazing neighbors.

 

[susanne]

What kind of fence do you have on your property line? If it is mesh or wire on t-posts, you can buy extenders and double the height. Too bad you couldn't place an industrial-strength fan to blow all of his cr@p right back at him.

You could have a lawyer write a letter stating your concern, your reasons, and the fact that you have requested verbally that he stop, and demand that he stop immediately. This is not expensive to have done and is much better than vet bills and the risk to your horses.

 

[MajorClementine]

I am curious about his threat to report your barking dogs. Dogs bark at cats. That is a fact of life. Are they doing it all night long or mostly just during the day? I mostly just during the day, I don't think there is much he can do about it unless he works nights and sleeps days and even then it is hard. Also, do your dogs leave your property? If not, then it is a case of them protecting your property from intruders. Since he has made a threat back at you, I don't think that talking to him again--even if you take something of proof to him--will do any good. I think that before next mowing season, I would have some good signs made to put on my fence. I would put them all the way around so that he can't say you are targeting him. The signs would say something like "please do not feed my horses or put anything inside the fence. If you choose to do so and one of the horses gets sick, you will be responsible for the vet cost. If a horse dies as a result of you feeding them, you will be held responsible for the cost to replace that horse with a comparable one." Just make sure that you word it so that it doesn't say you will be replacing the horse, but will be seeing what it would cost to replace it. If push comes to shove, I would get a surveillance camera of some sort to catch him in the act or listen and when he started mowing, I would find me a chair and watch with my camera so that I could take photos/videos of him dumping so that you have evidence to take to the police. Good luck. I am so lucky to have amazing neighbors.

I'm not worried about the dog barking threat. My dogs come in at dark and aren't put out again until after I get up for the day. They are NEVER out to bark at night. They bark at the cats a couple of times during the day and howl at sirens. Also they are always on my property. It is fully fenced and they stay in the fence at all times. We live on a very busy road and them getting out of the yard could be deadly.

Hubby actually took pictures of him dumping his clippings earlier in the spring to show to me. I was out of town at the time and saw him doing it so he snapped a few with his phone. That is when I talked to him the first time. So I do have proof if push comes to shove. I just hope it doesn't come to that because it would break my heart if it killed one of the minis. It would also crush my 3 year old son. They are "his" horses.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Then, in view of the evidence, I think you need to take this to the police now, not wait til he starts dumping again. Is it possible, even though a pain, to actually dump it all back on his land, in the mean time? I doubt the police will do anything now, but it will leave a paper trail for next spring. You need to take pictures a month before he starts cutting, to prove they were not there before hand, and, if possible, of him actually doing it, again, obviously different to the ones you show this time. I know all this is a pain in the posterior, and I am sorry it has to be this way between neighbours, but you have to protect your horses. If something happened to one it would be completely impossible to prove that the cuttings had caused the colic- the most you would ever get a vet or a lab to say would be that it was most probably the cause, which would not be grounds to sue, so better you stop it happening. I like the hotwire along the top of the fence idea a lot, but you give him cause to complain against you, and it descends into a neighbour fight and then the police will not be interested as they see them all the time! Keep it clean and keep the edges clear- HE is totally in the wrong at the moment, try to keep it that way.

 

[BeeBopMini]

send him a bill for picking up trash that he dumped in your yard and include the words "grass clippings" on the bill, then put up signs that say don't feed the horses anything at all without the owners permission. If he keeps it up after a written notice (the bill) then call your local animal control and report him for dumping in your yard and keep a copy of the bills you have sent him as poof to show them. If animal control won't do anything about it, the police will. Some people are thick headed and need the extra nudge

send him a bill for picking up trash that he dumped in your yard and include the words "grass clippings" on the bill, then put up signs that say don't feed the horses anything at all without the owners permission. If he keeps it up after a written notice (the bill) then call your local animal control and report him for dumping in your yard and keep a copy of the bills you have sent him as poof to show them. If animal control won't do anything about it, the police will. Some people are thick headed and need the extra nudge

 

[Lloydyne]

If I had to clean up his clippings from my side of the yard I would have pitched them right back over the fence. Especially if I had evidence he did it. Just giving back what is rightfully his……lol