# Neighbors getting mad about you riding on the right away



## gigem88 (May 10, 2011)

Some people are gonna be unhappy no matter what! Maybe your neighbor should move to a paved and guttered hoity toity neighborhood.


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

Our neighbor is the same way. I just tell my boarders to ride on the opposite side of the road.


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## themacpack (Jul 16, 2009)

Is the right-of-way also the drainage area for the road? I know that we avoid riding on that strip of land (we use the road instaed) in several places as the neighbors along those stretches have mentioned the damage done by the horses/hooves. In wet times the horses can leave deep tracks and/or slide around and tear it up, in dry times the weight/movement can create erosion of the stability of the drainage. 
No one person's "right" outweighs the other, but I am the type that will try to accommodate someone when/if it is possible. To me, it's not the hill I want to die on *shrugs*


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

I had a renter who wanted to live out in the country, well living "out in the country" comes with "out in the country" kinda things. The lady was INSANE! She duct taped the windows so "horse smell" wouldn't infiltrate "her" house. Loved looking at my horses, they never smelled but she wouldn't even go outside because of the "stench"! They were on 20 acres at least 500 feet from her yard! The neighbors around her had kids so instead of walking on the VERY dangerous road they would cross the edges of her yard, well that really po'd the lady so I would get a call about the darn kids in her yard. What the heck were they supposed to do? I told her she would be responsible if one got hurt, that shut her up.
Then the neighbors dogs would romp around and sometimes poop in her yard. According to the contract I had to have her yard mowed. What did she do about the doodoo? CALLED ME TO COME PICK IT UP! I told her she needed to talk to her NEIGHBORS.

Unless she has uber maintained the ditch and has flowers and sod, and if the kids are tearing it up I'd have them avoid it. If she's just out for a fight and you have the right of way I'd parade her "yard" every day! LOL!

But ya gotta keep the peace!


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## Poco1220 (Apr 6, 2010)

Lol I went through this once! A fried and I were riding on the edge of the road but moved into the ditch area to allow a semi to pass (we were in town). Now we never crossed the sidewalk even, just went into the first 3 ft of grass. 

15 minutes later we were pulled over by a cop because the woman had called and complained. The officer said we were not doing anything wrong but they had to let us know there was a complaint. 

The lady's complaint? We walked NEAR her flowers. Not on them, not through them, near them. We were probably a good 10-15 feet from any flowers so both of us and the officer found it hilarious.

Some people...
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## chandra1313 (Jul 12, 2011)

themacpack said:


> Is the right-of-way also the drainage area for the road? I know that we avoid riding on that strip of land (we use the road instaed) in several places as the neighbors along those stretches have mentioned the damage done by the horses/hooves. In wet times the horses can leave deep tracks and/or slide around and tear it up, in dry times the weight/movement can create erosion of the stability of the drainage.
> No one person's "right" outweighs the other, but I am the type that will try to accommodate someone when/if it is possible. To me, it's not the hill I want to die on *shrugs*


All along our road everyone has a ditch, we ride on the grass area close to the side of the road. I don't get on the other side of the ditch even though a lot of that area is considered state as well. I'm pretty thoughtful about avoiding people's ditch/roadside if they have planted things there or it looks like they put down sod. I personally never ride if my yard is still wet then I know other people's area's are the same and I don't want to damage anyone else's. I would have taken it better if she hadn't come and beat down my door and if she hadn't started lying about it happening that day. ;-) This same neighbor made the church beside her plant white pines for privacy. It's not a big church either.


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## chandra1313 (Jul 12, 2011)

Lmbo Flygap that is what my sister wants me to do, and she was like she better be glad that I haven't tried riding on the road yet, I'd go past her yard and wait for my horse to take a poop. I told her please don't I already made a *** of myself. My husband said I should have just let her vent with no reaction until she ran out of steam, then wished her a good day. Which probably would have been better since I think after she posted her signs a week ago and no one had ridden and paid any attention to them she was itching for a argument and I obliged her


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## Country Woman (Dec 14, 2011)

Our land lord is very picky she insists the gate be always closed 
we can't have any thing outside they cut their lawn every other day


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## furbabymum (Dec 28, 2011)

My mom was on my gelding and he was convinced my neighbors road was the road home. My mom is a total noob and had no control. He kept running right up to my neighbors house. My neighbor is an accomplished horse woman so I'm sure she was looking out the window laughing her **** off. lol

I guess some people can be anal about some things. We have a neighbor that lets his cow loose. I've called the sheriff a million times on that stupid cow. I just can't stand going over suicide hill (so steep people have died on it) cresting the top and BAM COW.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

I'm usually a quick fuse and I like to argue. But, I play the "go along to get along" with MY neighbors. I don't know most of the ~200 in our little town, BUT they all know my horses and like them. I try hard to not tick anybody off bc I'm not on my property 24/7. Apologize for the kids and don't let them do this again.


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## dee (Jul 30, 2009)

Your neighbor must be related to my crazy neighbor? She complains about hoof prints...in the road! She filed a complaint with the sheriff's department because horses were pooping in the road and she was tired of driving through it and getting horse poop on her tires.

Now, we aren't the only horse owners in the area, and we certainly aren't the only ones who ride in the rode, but we are always the ones she blames. 

Last time the deputy was out, he told us he had to come out to advise of the complaint...but there was no law broken by us (can't say the same for her!). Then he asked if he could go fishing in our pond for a little while. He wanted her to think he was really raking us over the coals for not picking up the horse poop in the road or smoothing out the hoof prints. (He was also on his lunch hour, not on the clock.)

After he left the neighbor drove her car over and stopped in the road in front of the house. "Guess you got told what for, huh?" "Yes ma'am. We sure did." It sure was hard to keep a straight face!


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## LetAGrlShowU (Mar 25, 2009)

My neighbor is the same way. I live off a "highway"- i use that term liberally since its a small town. None the less, the speed limit is 55. When I ride down the road, I ride on the ditch, and NOT on the side by the road. Why? Because I care more about my life than my neighbors bit$&ing. Screw him, he's old and mean. If I'm nto breaking the law, he can kiss my ****.


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## its lbs not miles (Sep 1, 2011)

dee said:


> Your neighbor must be related to my crazy neighbor? She complains about hoof prints...in the road! She filed a complaint with the sheriff's department because horses were pooping in the road and she was tired of driving through it and getting horse poop on her tires.
> 
> Now, we aren't the only horse owners in the area, and we certainly aren't the only ones who ride in the rode, but we are always the ones she blames.
> 
> ...


Unfortunately for the deputy he just makes it harder on himself (unless he likes driving out there for the complaints :lol. They'll keep complaining and there's really nothing they can do about it. No law broken, so nothing has changed.

Can't say about all states, but in many the easement is public usage. You walk on, ride a bike on it, any of my pecans that fall on it can be picked up by anyone. Someone may not like that it's that way, but that is the law. The two times I've had a deputy called out on me (a very long time ago) I made sure he explained the law to the complainers (although one had nothing to do with riding on the side of the road). It brought the problem to an end. Once they know there's nothing they can do about it they can stew all they want, but they'll stop complaining to the cops.
Of course today I have a young cousin and cousin-in-law who are both in law enforcement. Both love it when they can deal with someone who wants special rules to apply to them.
I think they tend to have too much fun with it, but that's a different story :lol:


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## dee (Jul 30, 2009)

The deputy is out here constantly for one thing or another. She is always filing complaints about people out here (not just us) and the complaints can't be ignored. She's complained about our horses several times - skinny (when we first rescued a couple that were in bad shape, then more recently when they all came down with pigeon fever), ugly (true, but not a crime) no shoes (also true, and also not a crime) no feed (never true).

She complains that I drive too slow (speed limit is 35, and she drives like a bat out of hell), that another neighbor drives too fast (true) and that yet another neighbor's truck is too loud (also true, but not anything to get upset about.)

She doesn't like that my grandkids play in the front yard or that there are always stray dogs in our front yard (true, but we can't help that - they aren't our dogs). 

We've pretty much decided that she's not happy unless she's complaining about something and/or making someone else miserable.

Sad thing is, she never used to be that way. There wasn't a kinder, sweeter, more thoughtful woman anywhere around. Then she got cancer, and either something in the treatment caused a personality change, or she had some sort of stroke during treatment that caused a personality change.


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## chandra1313 (Jul 12, 2011)

Hi Corporal, while I wish I had handled it more like my husband would have. I will not apologize to her. The 11 yr old was with a 55yr old man, just in case you thought I was taking the word of a kid ;-) she is a sweet kid but I know most kids reality can be skewed. I've lived here for 10yrs and other then my husband going out in the night to help her look for her dog with a flashlight after they knocked at our door, I've never had a single convo with her. I can't tell any kid that dirt and grass is more important then giving themselves more room to ride. She was hoping for a fight or she would have talked to my husband, who was outside at the time working on his solar panels on top of our shed. No instead she comes to the front door and she didn't knock she beat on my door, I was napping in my bedroom and at first thought it was part of a dream lol. I have a very long driveway to get to my home and she walked up the driveway with her friend, so they had plenty of time to see him. I'm one of those quiet ones where people usually can get away with a lot, except when it comes to the underdogs of the world, then my mom comes out. My husband is always telling me I should standup for myself more and I'm always telling him once you open the door and the tiger comes out, don't be surprised by what might come out of my mouth. ;-) once I'm forced to deal with stupid, I become stupid lol.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

I personally try to stay off of the right away if someone has obviously been taking care of it. But, when it comes down to personal saftey (semi coming and I need to move over, etc) I'll trample the right away all day long.


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## azwantapaint (Feb 5, 2012)

Oh, the drama, the horror!
I had one of my neighbors come fussing about my dogs barking at 4:30 am, which made his dog bark and wake his kid up.
If he hadn't been such an *** about it, i might have done something about it.
However, since my dogs dont get out of bed till 5, i knew whose dogs they are that are fussing at the butt crack of dawn.
It was all i could do to hold my tongue, and be reasonably cordial.
I SOOOOOOOO wanted to inform him that it takes me 4.3 seconds to retrieve my shotgun and load it. It takes 7.8 seconds to run to the street from the front step.
Buckshot flies at 2600 feet per second. Which do you think will reach the street first?
But, alas, professionalism got the best of me.
Which brings me to another point of interest in that some people love the sound of their own voice, and are so uncomfortable in their own skin that they go out of their way to make others miserable, else they wouldnt have any interaction with others whatsoever.
Its called self loathing, and surprisingly prolific in modern society.
It has caused more than one "open mouth, insert foot up to the hip" moments!


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## GreenBackJack (Feb 23, 2012)

Read all the posts so far and tomorrow morning I'm delivering fruit baskets to all my neighbors! 

Like Flygap said, "it's the country, country things happen"...and they usually involve poop, mud and/or some kind of critter.


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## MisssMarie (Jan 31, 2012)

My dad lives in horse country, and as such, they have the dirt paths for people to ride on. Now enter the problem - he HATES horses. Horses were riding past our house daily. He then put grass in, but that changed nothing. We live right around a slightly blind corner. There are ALWAYS cars in the road or parked on the side. SO you'd have to ride in the middle of the street. I tried explaining but he sees it as his yard, but it's the sidewalk basically - well, it really is. And he just says its his yard so he don't want them on it. What'd I do? Wait for him to be outside, and started Walkin down the road like he wanted horses to do. Car comes roaring round the corner, and yeah. Didn't get hit, but I sure as hell proved my point. So, I know the a**hole who does that, but it's my dad. He still gets ****ed but he stopped complaining to them
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I tell you - you have it easy if that is all she is complaining about!

I live in a rural area of the UK and 15-20 years ago all was peaceful. What you would call 'quaint' old cottages, families who have been in the area for generations, village shops, and most involved in rural activities or knowing about them.

Then they started building houses, several crammed into one area with postage stamps for gardens, to pricey for locals to buy so sold as second homes or 'outsiders' move in.
They complain about anything and everything. Dive to fast on narrow single track roads, complain about old Tom's rooster crowing at dawn, complain about the ewes and lambs bleating to each other, complain about tractors on the roads, complain about cows being brought in for milking and holding them up.

This has been going on for many years. One farmer I knew had an estate built on some land he sold. The incomers complained as above. Then one summer when it was wet, he had the driers on to dry the harvest, they ran until 10 p.m. When the estate complained they were told that he could run them legally 24/7.
It was the start of a rural war! 
Farmer took no notice of complaints and did all he could to annoy them whilst sticking to the letter of the law. 
The final battle was when farmer rented out the field next to the houses for a four day pop festival! That sorted the complaints!


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

its lbs not miles said:


> Can't say about all states, but in many the easement is public usage. You walk on, ride a bike on it, any of my pecans that fall on it can be picked up by anyone. Someone may not like that it's that way, but that is the law.:lol:


At least around here on the 2 lane roads, what folks typically call the road easement is not actually an easement at all, i.e. it's _not_ part of the homeowners land even though they care for it. It is owned by the state and they do come by about every month with tractor mowers and cut it. If anyone really cares, you can look at the plat and/or find the boundary stakes. At our home closer to town, the property boundary is about 15 feet from the road asphalt.

In any case, folks do obviously care for this strip of state land when it is in front of their house, and I always try and be respectful of the effort they make. I typically ride on the asphalt, but will ride in the 'easement' if need be based on traffic, and I avoid this as much as possible when it's been very wet so as not to leave deep hoof prints. To be honest, however, considering the dangers of riding on/near the road, my safety and that of my horse are a much higher priority than worrying about the grass in the 'easement', and if I need to use all of that space to stay safe, I certainly won't hesitate to do so. BTW, this strip of land gets more torn up with tire ruts by the mail carriers driving half on/off the road delivering the mail than by any horses.

I have never had complaints from our neighbors except in the newer subdivision (with an HOA) that sprung up down the road. They complain if you just ride through the development on the road (which is public).


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## chandra1313 (Jul 12, 2011)

Missmarie, I'm glad you didn't get hurt. ;-) My dad would have felt the same way about his yard too. He would have complained but he wouldn't have wanted a neighbor upset with him either. He would have vented to my mom and that would have been the end of it. 

My next door neighbor has big ole cows and it had been raining for about week and they got out and they completely butchered my backyard, till this day it still looks different. We helped round them up and get them back to his place and that was the end of it, our neighbor didn't want his cows on our place, it was pretty simple just get on with it. Those cows got out regularly that summer but by the end of summer he fixed his fences and he is like 70, I'm not going to harrass a 70 something person. It's life.


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## its lbs not miles (Sep 1, 2011)

PaintHorseMares said:


> At least around here on the 2 lane roads, what folks typically call the road easement is not actually an easement at all, i.e. it's _not_ part of the homeowners land even though they care for it. It is owned by the state and they do come by about every month with tractor mowers and cut it. If anyone really cares, you can look at the plat and/or find the boundary stakes. At our home closer to town, the property boundary is about 15 feet from the road asphalt.
> 
> In any case, folks do obviously care for this strip of state land when it is in front of their house, and I always try and be respectful of the effort they make. I typically ride on the asphalt, but will ride in the 'easement' if need be based on traffic, and I avoid this as much as possible when it's been very wet so as not to leave deep hoof prints. To be honest, however, considering the dangers of riding on/near the road, my safety and that of my horse are a much higher priority than worrying about the grass in the 'easement', and if I need to use all of that space to stay safe, I certainly won't hesitate to do so. BTW, this strip of land gets more torn up with tire ruts by the mail carriers driving half on/off the road delivering the mail than by any horses.
> 
> I have never had complaints from our neighbors except in the newer subdivision (with an HOA) that sprung up down the road. They complain if you just ride through the development on the road (which is public).


17.5 feet off center at the farm. I only know because I had to find out last year when I started putting in fence posts along the hwy portion of the farm to get an extra 3 acres of grazing. And some pecans will fall on the other side of the fence, so I hope someone will stop and pick them up so they don't go to waste :lol:. I'll be happy if someone will ride by and let their horse eat the grass along the outside of the fence so I won't have to cut it, or lead one of mine out to graze on it, because the state only cuts maybe 10 feet off the side. That leaves me a narrow strip to keep down along the outside of the fence (maybe I should plant something there that doesn't need to be maintained).

We don't really care since some people think we're the local trouble makers anyway. (the rest think we're great :lol
e.g. about 20 years ago guy down the road had a blue berry patch that he planted and did a "pick and pay" with them. He had fits if someone ate a berry while they were picking. So my father took a section of the orchard and planted 10 times the number of blue berry bushes and let people come and pick for free :lol:. Nothing the other guy can do about it if we let people pick our berries free vs paying for his.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

its lbs not miles said:


> I'll be happy if someone will ride by and let their horse eat the grass along the outside of the fence so I won't have to cut it, or lead one of mine out to graze on it, because the state only cuts maybe 10 feet off the side. That leaves me a narrow strip to keep down along the outside of the fence (maybe I should plant something there that doesn't need to be maintained).


;-) Agreed...same here and they give the road signs and mailboxes a very wide berth while mowing, too.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

its lbs not miles said:


> 17.5 feet off center at the farm. I only know because I had to find out last year when I started putting in fence posts along the hwy portion of the farm to get an extra 3 acres of grazing. And some pecans will fall on the other side of the fence, so I hope someone will stop and pick them up so they don't go to waste :lol:. I'll be happy if someone will ride by and let their horse eat the grass along the outside of the fence so I won't have to cut it, or lead one of mine out to graze on it, because the state only cuts maybe 10 feet off the side. That leaves me a narrow strip to keep down along the outside of the fence (maybe I should plant something there that doesn't need to be maintained).


By my parents there is a couple mile stretch that is ~30ft wide between road and RR tracks. Their neighbor had a talk with the county and he now hays that stretch, county is grateful not to have to mow it as it saves time and money. He has hay for the critters that didn't cost to much, win win.


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## Skipsfirstspike (Mar 22, 2010)

Darrin, that is good the county is letting your dad use the land. What if hypothetically a group of horses or dirt bikes were to ride over that stretch? Honest question.


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## AlexS (Aug 9, 2010)

I guess I am the only person who thinks that it would be better manners to not ride on that piece of grass. I don't know the legalities of who owns that piece of land, but taking the OPs word for it - even if she doesn't own it, she maintains it, and she has to look at it every day. 

Horses do tear up grass just by walking over it. At my barn, which is at my trainers house there is a piece of grass that is a short cut to my horses field. I walk on that but when I am leading my horse we go down the road and use the driveway instead. 

If the 11yr old rider isn't safe to be on the road, she probably shouldn't be next to the road either. It would take next to nothing for her horse to have a reaction and end up in the road.


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## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

We have similar issues here. In fact a lot of our issues were created by the people who originally created the homes in this community. A builder bought the land, blocked it up in 3-10 acre parcels and built homes. No big deal except when they sold these homes they told people what they wanted to hear. Half the people here were told that this would be a community of families looking for the country feel or hobby farms while the other half were told it would be a retirement community and the houses would only be marketed to the elderly looking to stay out in the country but still have a community. 

So of course we got a mixture of each and as luck would have it - the retirees aren't next to each other, but between the hobby farms. Each and every one of them is adjacent to one of the farms with horses. 

They complain about the horses, the cows out back (not even part of the same area - they were here before the "community" was built 10 years ago!), horses stepping on the right-of-way (which btw - part is gravel even), and even the local wildlife. My favorite is still the one who called the dog catcher on a fox!


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Skipsfirstspike said:


> Darrin, that is good the county is letting your dad use the land. What if hypothetically a group of horses or dirt bikes were to ride over that stretch? Honest question.


There wouldn't be anything but a bit of grumbling because it is county property. As it is the only people that step foot on the strip is druggies. Dealers drive down the road, slow down and toss a baggy out with drugs and within minutes another car shows up, stops, picks up the drugs and race off again. Since it is a long, straight stretch of road the cops are easy to spot so the drop just wont happen there. They are aware of the problem but have not been able to catch the culprits in action.


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## themacpack (Jul 16, 2009)

AlexS said:


> I guess I am the only person who thinks that it would be better manners to not ride on that piece of grass. I don't know the legalities of who owns that piece of land, but taking the OPs word for it - even if she doesn't own it, she maintains it, and she has to look at it every day.
> 
> Horses do tear up grass just by walking over it. At my barn, which is at my trainers house there is a piece of grass that is a short cut to my horses field. I walk on that but when I am leading my horse we go down the road and use the driveway instead.
> 
> If the 11yr old rider isn't safe to be on the road, she probably shouldn't be next to the road either. It would take next to nothing for her horse to have a reaction and end up in the road.


You're not alone *shrugs*


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## RoosHuman (Dec 27, 2011)

themacpack said:


> You're not alone *shrugs*


Ditto.


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## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

AlexS said:


> If the 11yr old rider isn't safe to be on the road, she probably shouldn't be next to the road either. It would take next to nothing for her horse to have a reaction and end up in the road.



Well if you use that train of thought then it could be extrapolated out to none of us should ride because it would take "next to nothing" for a horse to have a reaction and a person end up hurt. 

When you ride you try to minimize dangers to a minimum as much as possible and I think I would rather see an 11 year old riding on the grass next to the road rather on the road. It just seems overall safer for the child - "what ifs" aside. One of the reason easements are there are so people don't have to be on the road with the traffic. In the country this tends to include horses.

And really - how much does a horse tear up grass as long as its dry out? If they truly tore up established sod that easily then we would never be able to maintain them in pastures. They'd destroy them before they could graze them! Not sure where you are located - maybe you have less sturdy grass than we have here in KY - but ours can withstand horse hooves very easily. I can understand wanting someone to stay off if its wet or newly turned up or seeded soil, but dry established sod? They don't cause damage and again - those easements are there for a reason and one of those is for safe travel.


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## its lbs not miles (Sep 1, 2011)

AlexS said:


> I guess I am the only person who thinks that it would be better manners to not ride on that piece of grass. I don't know the legalities of who owns that piece of land, but taking the OPs word for it - even if she doesn't own it, she maintains it, and she has to look at it every day.
> 
> Horses do tear up grass just by walking over it. At my barn, which is at my trainers house there is a piece of grass that is a short cut to my horses field. I walk on that but when I am leading my horse we go down the road and use the driveway instead.
> 
> If the 11yr old rider isn't safe to be on the road, she probably shouldn't be next to the road either. It would take next to nothing for her horse to have a reaction and end up in the road.


I'll qualify all the following with the fact that I have no idea what a shod horses foot might do. All my comments are based on unshod horses, since we've never put shoes on our's. It could be that a shod hoof does terrible things to the ground. I never paid attention during the few times in my life that I rode someone's shod horse, so I'm not qualified to say what a shod hoof will do. (except that shod feet get worse traction on pavement....that I do know first hand)

I've allowed my mare and filly to graze along the same 1/4 mile stretch of shoulder almost every day since before the start of Spring when I've taken them out for training/conditioning and except for where you can see their tracks on the dirt road at the points they step onto and off of the shoulder (where we start grazing and stop grazing) you can't tell a horse as been on the shoulder unless they happen to crap while there. Even at the 4 mail box areas that the people keep cut and maintained. People have ridden up and down this shoulder for years and I've never seen any sign of it being torn up. There's not even an indicaiton of a "trail" along the shoulder, since the horses don't follow the exact same line every time they walk along the shoulder. Unless you've got a mostly "dirt" shoulder, or the horse is running (which can tear up chunks of sod), or the horse is acting up and moving erratically (which will twist the sod up) there's not going to be much if any indication that a horse was there if they're just waking. Well, unless of course the horse happens to answer the call of nature, but that helps the grass instead of damaging it.

You would have to have an awful LOT of horse traffic on a well sodded road shoulder to start tearing it up. I know from 1971-1980 three horses almost daily going out and coming in never messed up the shoulder. That was from a working farm, so there weren't many days we didn't ride out. Although there were times when all three didn't go, it was extremely rare if none did. (Riding fence lines beats walking them.)

While we didn't mind riding on the road, and usually did ride on the paved road when available to help with hoof wear and hardening, but that piece of highway between the road to the house and the third pasture had a sudden drop where the land natually dropped towards the stream and they rose back up. That made that section of highway blind to any driver until they crested it. Only a crazy person would ride on the highway there. But even after 9 years that I was there with that shoulder being ridden on very regularly it still didn't show any signs of it, unless you caught it on a day the horse left a deposit.

I've seen smaller pastures with turf damage, but that's with a lot of horses being on it for longer periods of time. You get group of horses running or playing around and they can tear up some turf and mess up a small pasture. But that's a different condition than riding along the shoulder.

What it really boils down to is dealing with reality when you select where you want to be. I enjoy things the city has to offer (plays, restaurants, conerts, etc....), but I dislike the "light and noise" polution and I would rather have my horses in my back yard vs boarding them. So the country, where that is normal is a better choice for me and I can visit the city if I feel the need for what offers. If I disliked "farm" animals doing what they do, smelling how they smell or looking how they look then I shouldn't live in the country, but move to a city or the "burbs" and just visit a State or National Park for a pic-nic or stroll, etc... when I want to enjoy the country invironment.
If I have a problem with someone riding legally in front of my house then I should live someplace where it's either not allowed (good luck finding many of those outside a large city), or where it's extremely unlikely to happen. The country is not one of those places.


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## xJumperx (Feb 19, 2012)

Neighbors ... we had one family down the road think that it was okay to come ride our horses!! I'm serious!! We came home to see Oats CAKED with sweat (He's 22!) and went to their house and confronted them. They admited it. We chewed them to no core. We don't speak anymore. I'm usually very kind to adults, respectful, and good to neighbors. But these people I just blew up ... 

On the flipside, our direct next door neighbor is a sweetie ^.^ She is retired, and when her grandkids come over, she asked if they could feed the horses grass from across the fence (like pulling up the reg. grass from the ground,) and obviously we said, of course! But make sure they watch thier fingers. Well, one got bit, but she said that it wasn't our fault, and procedded to feed, pet, and enjoy the horses  We love her! She also lets me come over and chill out in her in-ground pool if we're bored  She comes over for dinner ... 

So there is a good side and a bad side to neighbors. I hope you find some good neighbors! Maybe your nasty-neighbor will move and nice people will come in ^.^


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## ohmyitschelle (Aug 23, 2008)

Where I board my horses is on a farm at the end of a street. Subdivisions in the past 15yrs have been built into this particular area, as it is in town, albeit the land is quite swampy and was much better for animals than housing - it's cost a LOT of money to build houses up onto this land in some areas. 

Anyways, when I was younger (about 8 years ago), a group of us would get together and hack our horses around the area every weekend. We road specifically on the roads - normally in single file - and never on the footpaths. All the neighbours in the houses loved the sight of the horses - minus one, but she didn't cause us much trouble. I even remember one Asian family stopping us in our tracks on their moving in day and begged us to stay for a photo, haha!

I left the property, but returned about 3 years ago. It's a completely different story now. If you ride your horse on the road and it poops, you get abused by several of the residents. If you're not careful, one particular resident if he's in his truck revs the engine and zooms passed you, yelling "get some real horse power" etc. I personally don't ride down the road at present, but fellow boarders are always getting notes left to their cars that are quite nasty now - for not even doing anything except riding (ie the horse hasn't left any mess). I took the opportunity a week ago to lead my mare down the road for training (she's never been ridden on it yet) and thankfully had no mishaps, and encountered one of the few remaining neighbours who actually remembered me (might have something to do with my mare being the same colour as the mare I used to own haha). 

I wouldn't be trying to train her out there if I didn't want to ride up to the pony club. It's the only route from our paddocks... and the property behind ours has a lot of pony clubbers/adult riders who use the all weather arena up there. With winter coming, I too want to use it, but I am nervous about the idiots... the horses and riders have more to worry about than the residents do now. 

Some of the people from the property behind ours do ride on the footpath because of the driver I mentioned above... and this has only aggravated the community more. There are many horses in the area, and it never used to be an issue, but now it is. It's a true shame that its gone this way. I understand people are property proud down this street (and of course they are, their houses are modern homes but paid fraction of the price cos its next to a main rail track so they have been able to put more into their homes than other areas) but the road is public property. I plan to respect as much as I can, but they don't own the street as well.


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## chandra1313 (Jul 12, 2011)

Thanks to all the people who can see my point of view, as for the rest, well I don't know.

First my horses are not shod. I don't ride out off my place if it has rained in the last 2 to 3 days. 
I'm 46 and I have lived on this road since I was 16, moved about a mile down the road from where my parents are. My husband and I bought our place and we were surrounded by pasture everywhere and then the boom came and a developement went in behind us and our road got a lot more busy. I understand all about being polite neighbors, my father was in the military and we lived most of our lives on one post or the other, we know about following rules. 
This incident that annoyed my neighbor was the very first trip off our place this year. I went and looked at the rightaway area and there is nothing wrong with it, I can't see any hoofprints nothing. 
You don't come beat down my door and threaten me with the county attorney and expect me to just roll over and play dead. If she had really wanted to reach an agreement with me she could have asked nicely. I'm sorry but when you don't have right on your side you have to ask. If I was in the wrong then come over and give it to me and correct me and I will follow the rules. Not to mention she came over exactly to the day a week after my niece went on a trail ride, she put her sign up a day or two later and no one had even trail rode since. She was looking for a fight, family and friends had been over all day playng with horses on my property, having a good time and I think it annoyed the crap out of her. 
We never consistantly going trail riding the same way either, so technically my niece can only go if she has a experienced person with her, and since that can't happen every week and we don't leave out the same way twice, just how much traffice is there going to be on the lawful rightaway.
Believe me when I told my family and friends about this they thought I should go trail riding that day and show her, I did not, I don't want a war but I have rights too. 
The amish ride all the time in this area, I don't think anything about it, even
before I had horses. I enjoy seeing something out of the ordinary. 
I tease my husband all the time about his fence building, we have a perimeter fence as a last resort, plus they have their fences for their pasture. We did this for the safety of others and we learned that horses can be very smart, we don't want a neighbor to walk outside and find our horses chomping up their flowers or ruining their lawns. I have to open and close a gate to my driveway which sometimes annoys the heck out of me,(hubby really needs to make it electric lol) but its the price I pay for having them, so I get on with it.


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## AlexS (Aug 9, 2010)

Cat said:


> Well if you use that train of thought then it could be extrapolated out to none of us should ride because it would take "next to nothing" for a horse to have a reaction and a person end up hurt.


 Not really, I am capable of riding on the roads, so I do so. The original argument was something along the lines of reducing risk for an 11 year old. I'd never ride on the grass verge in front of someone's house. 




chandra1313 said:


> The amish ride all the time in this area, I don't think anything about it, even
> before I had horses. I enjoy seeing something out of the ordinary.


 Yup totally, but they are on the road, where they should be. 




Cat said:


> And really - how much does a horse tear up grass as long as its dry out?


 I don't think a horse is going to tear up the grass that much in the use that is described, but the home owner should not have to feel like she is the grass police either and on guard if it has rained or it is starting to show signs of getting torn up. That's just not her job. 




its lbs not miles said:


> I'll qualify all the following with the fact that I have no idea what a shod horses foot might do.


Not epic amounts of damage. But it leaves marks, sometimes divots, if it has rained the whole shoe mark is visible. 







chandra1313 said:


> You don't come beat down my door and threaten me with the county attorney and expect me to just roll over and play dead. If she had really wanted to reach an agreement with me she could have asked nicely.


It sounds to me that your issue is more about the way she presented her issue to you. 





As a horse person myself, any horse owner could ride through my yard. I'd be totally fine with them doing whatever they wanted to do if it made them feel better. However, the entire world does not think this way and we need to understand this. Some people don't like animals, heck some people don't like children. If she doesn't want horses riding over land that she maintains even if she doesn't own that land - this should be respected in my opinion.


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## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

> Not really, I am capable of riding on the roads, so I do so. The original argument was something along the lines of reducing risk for an 11 year old. I'd never ride on the grass verge in front of someone's house.


Ummm...yeah. Read the rest of what I wrote not just a snippet. 



> I don't think a horse is going to tear up the grass that much in the use that is described, but the home owner should not have to feel like she is the grass police either and on guard if it has rained or it is starting to show signs of getting torn up. That's just not her job.


But its not even owned by them - its public property which was intended for safe passage. Its not like someone is trying to walk over a flower bed. In fact - try planting a flowerbed in that area and watch how quickly the county "respects it" when they come by and mow it down. Anyone who moves out to the country should know that they risk humans, equines and/or canines walking on that part of their "property" since its not theirs. They may maintain it, but its not theirs and really, everyone in that county pays taxes towards the maintenance of it because usually the county does mow every so often and repair ditches that have been over eroded.


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## chandra1313 (Jul 12, 2011)

AlexS said:


> Not really, I am capable of riding on the roads, so I do so. The original argument was something along the lines of reducing risk for an 11 year old. I'd never ride on the grass verge in front of someone's house.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I want to respect your opinion, you have the right to it, but I can't. 
When I told her to get off my property and why was she opening my gate and walking on my grass and dirt and she replied it's the only way she could get here. I told her can't you hear how stupid you sould when you say that. It's fine for her to come on my property and make a fuss, and I haven't even violated her stupid sign. 
My husband did go to the police department and made sure that we weren't doing anything we shouldn't be doing and was told that as long as we were 30feet from the center line we were fine, she doesn't own that, the state does. 
I noticed she used the rightaway to get to my home. 
If she had been nice about it, I probably would have avoided her rightaway just to keep a neighbor happy and I might avoid it anyways, just so I don't have a conflict with a neighbor. I haven't made my mind up yet on it.


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## Scoope (Oct 19, 2010)

I am rural , well semi rural - we have moved from out in the sticks to somewhere much closer to 'town' and while , at our old home where we were well off the main drag with a long drive way I would not have cared should someone ride/move sheep or cows down the road (as they regularly did) here It would irritate me greatly and I have steps taken to avoid this.

We are near the pony club and get the prissy 'im so awesome' 11-17 year old pony clubbers coming down the road , ride all over my mothers well tended front lawn - yes this includes right down to the kerb, ruining her plants and dragging up the grass. I don't think that it is fair that you destroy her grass (and yes , if she is tending it regularly , putting hours into grass she has had seeded herself for a particular type and look and grass that she pays to water via her sprinkler systems even if it is owned by the government). 

It is not so much the riding that bothers us, and if a lorry was baring down on them of course we would want a child to move over but there is gravel to ride on , there is the road to ride on - there is no reason otherwise to be riding on the grass , and it is rather self righteous to say otherwise. Why do you have any more right to it than her??

Our issue , more than the damage to the grass , is the blatant disregard for our feelings towards our obviously well tended yard. We make an effort to make our surroundings look nice and feel nice to live in - and for you to come and deliberately ride across and potentially ruin that for us is unfair. Please note , that should a lorry be coming of course you move over , but I don't read this in the original post - I read it as just riding on it for the sake of riding on it.

We often get loose stock on the road, this week alone with have had a recurring loose cow that has appeared in our front yard several times, once we had some 200 sheep that were loose running on the road. We got the neighbors son and his dog to round them up and stick them in the back paddock until the farmers union could find where they had come from and they could be picked up. Im not un-neighborly at all , I'd rather his sheep safe in the paddock than loose on the road where not only could they do a damage to themselves , more importantly they could cause a serious car accident. I didn't 'have it out' with the shepherd when he came to get them (a week later) and he was grateful that somebody had taken the time to get them to safety and put effort into tracing him (he was away on holiday and his hand had bailed on him). Were good friends now and when he kills a beast we regularly get a good roast and the most gorgeous sausages and steaks off him... being accommodating and friendly has its benefits.. 

Honestly , I find you (at least what you have described and the way you have done so) , very rude and full of a sour sense of self importance and get the feeling that you have little regard for the feelings of others and what they find important. I also agree with Alex , if your child is not equip with the skills to ride on the road , than she should not be on the grass verge either. Yes she could have perhaps presented herself better but you saying 'she beat on your door' as if that is some sort of excuse for your bad manners does not fly either.


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## AlexS (Aug 9, 2010)

Cat said:


> Ummm...yeah. Read the rest of what I wrote not just a snippet.


 I did and I felt like I addressed that, I just didn't think a wall of quote was needed so you knew I was responding to your comments. 




chandra1313 said:


> I want to respect your opinion, you have the right to it, but I can't.
> When I told her to get off my property and why was she opening my gate and walking on my grass and dirt and she replied it's the only way she could get here. I told her can't you hear how stupid you sould when you say that. It's fine for her to come on my property and make a fuss, and I haven't even violated her stupid sign.


How on earth would she address an issue with you without coming onto your property? 
Should she put a letter in your mailbox? (I think, not sure, that's illegal to do). 
It's a perfectly normal response for neighbors to go to the door of a neighbor that they want to discuss something with. Or would you prefer she went to the police and they came to talk to you about it, without her having tried to resolve it at all personally?




chandra1313 said:


> My husband did go to the police department and made sure that we weren't doing anything we shouldn't be doing and was told that as long as we were 30feet from the center line we were fine, she doesn't own that, the state does.
> I noticed she used the rightaway to get to my home.
> If she had been nice about it, I probably would have avoided her rightaway just to keep a neighbor happy and I might avoid it anyways, just so I don't have a conflict with a neighbor. I haven't made my mind up yet on it.


Why deliberately keep upsetting a neighbor when it can be so easily avoided? I guess I must be some amazing neighborly person or something as I would never do that. 

I really truly believe that if the child is not safe to ride on the road, then she is not safe to ride just slightly in from the road either. Of course if there is something terrible happening, ride right through their yard, but to just routinely do this just seems so unneeded. 


I am trying so hard to wrap my head around this, and I guess I must be missing something. The point appears to be that she came onto your property and you are angry about that. I don't really see how that's particularly relevant to the riding issue - as this seems to be your issue not the neighbors. 
Then it's for the child's safety that she simply MUST ride on this land rather than the road. How is she any safer being a couple of foot in from the road in an unfenced open area? 
If the child safety is at risk from riding on the road why is she permitted to ride RIGHT NEXT to it? 

I am really failing to get it. Your neighbor obviously doesn't share your love of horses, or your concern for the child. And there is no law that says she should. 



Cat said:


> But its not even owned by them - its public property which was intended for safe passage. Its not like someone is trying to walk over a flower bed. In fact - try planting a flowerbed in that area and watch how quickly the county "respects it" when they come by and mow it down. Anyone who moves out to the country should know that they risk humans, equines and/or canines walking on that part of their "property" since its not theirs. They may maintain it, but its not theirs and really, everyone in that county pays taxes towards the maintenance of it because usually the county does mow every so often and repair ditches that have been over eroded.


I have no idea about the legality of who owns it. And I don't really see why it matters all that much. The neighbor maintains the land, she looks at it, it is attached to her property. She doesn't want the child riding on it, and there is no reason why the child should ride on it. 

Is it really worth escalating this issue just because? What happens if they start passing their car too closely while the child is riding the horse on the road or the verge next to the road? Or sounding a car horn repeatedly while the child is riding past? 
There are a million and one situations where this could get so ugly and it is so easily avoided. I just don't see the point at all.


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## Scoope (Oct 19, 2010)

I wonder what happens if she does what the little old man down the street does when ever people ride on the grass out front of his home - and turn the sprinklers on.. I've not met a horse yet who does not freak out if an rotary sprinkler is switched on under his feet..

and there is not a thing you can do legally if your horse leaps sideways into traffic / dumps you because he/she is afraid of the scary water spitting dragon hissing under their feet.


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## AlexS (Aug 9, 2010)

Exactly Scoope, and it is all so avoidable. 

And the other horse owners in the area could well be the ones who pay for the stubbornness. 


If I were the neighbor, as a horse owner and lover myself and someone who cares about children even I would be scratching my head wondering why she has to ride over the grass rather than not riding on the road entirely. 
If there is an emergency ride through the yard, do whatever needs to be done but just to do it routinely seems so pointless.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

its lbs not miles said:


> What it really boils down to is dealing with reality when you select where you want to be. I enjoy things the city has to offer (plays, restaurants, conerts, etc....), but I dislike the "light and noise" polution and I would rather have my horses in my back yard vs boarding them. So the country, where that is normal is a better choice for me and I can visit the city if I feel the need for what offers. If I disliked "farm" animals doing what they do, smelling how they smell or looking how they look then I shouldn't live in the country, but move to a city or the "burbs" and just visit a State or National Park for a pic-nic or stroll, etc... when I want to enjoy the country invironment.


Exactly how I feel but sadly, the burb developments are forever expanding into the country around here, and you have the problem of burb mentality/expectations in a non-burb zoned area (along with the traffic, noise, etc).
In our county, there is no such thing as 'residential' and 'agricultural' zoning. All non-commercial/industrial/special use/etc properties outside the town/city limits are zoned 'residential agricultural' whether it is a 1/2 acre lot or a 1000 acre farm, and there are _no county restrictions_ on farm animals (except roosters). 
Personally, I enjoy waking up and hearing the roosters and the cows in the morning and falling asleep hearing the tractors/combines in the evening during the planting/harvesting season.



> If I have a problem with someone riding legally in front of my house then I should live someplace where it's either not allowed (good luck finding many of those outside a large city), or where it's extremely unlikely to happen. The country is not one of those places.


There are a few in this general area. They are very expensive subdivisions with HOAs, restrictive covenants, private roads, and private trails. Some are gated, some not, but they all have a set of no trespassing signs at the entrances and I avoid riding anywhere near them.


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## Susan Crumrine (Oct 5, 2009)

There is a guy in our neighborhood, (if you want to call it that, its mostly farm fields..), who does yell if you ride on the right of way. I just cross the street. No big deal and it makes him happy.
As to damage done by hooves, you should see my "riding area" in the front yard. It is so bad we can't ride there anymore and will have to be dragged with a weighted roller to fix it...


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## chandra1313 (Jul 12, 2011)

Scoope said:


> I am rural , well semi rural - we have moved from out in the sticks to somewhere much closer to 'town' and while , at our old home where we were well off the main drag with a long drive way I would not have cared should someone ride/move sheep or cows down the road (as they regularly did) here It would irritate me greatly and I have steps taken to avoid this.
> 
> We are near the pony club and get the prissy 'im so awesome' 11-17 year old pony clubbers coming down the road , ride all over my mothers well tended front lawn - yes this includes right down to the kerb, ruining her plants and dragging up the grass. I don't think that it is fair that you destroy her grass (and yes , if she is tending it regularly , putting hours into grass she has had seeded herself for a particular type and look and grass that she pays to water via her sprinkler systems even if it is owned by the government).
> 
> ...


Dislike.


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## its lbs not miles (Sep 1, 2011)

Scoope said:


> I wonder what happens if she does what the little old man down the street does when ever people ride on the grass out front of his home - and turn the sprinklers on.. I've not met a horse yet who does not freak out if an rotary sprinkler is switched on under his feet..
> 
> and there is not a thing you can do legally if your horse leaps sideways into traffic / dumps you because he/she is afraid of the scary water spitting dragon hissing under their feet.


Actually in some States (like SC) there is something you can do. That "little old man" is going to pay a hefty fine and almost certainly go to jail if the horse or rider was injured.
Many states have laws making it illegal to do something that will endager a horse or rider. Even to the point that to open someones gate to deliberately allow their horse to get out, which may endanger the horse or someone else can carry a $10,000 fine in SC.


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## chandra1313 (Jul 12, 2011)

AlexS said:


> I did and I felt like I addressed that, I just didn't think a wall of quote was needed so you knew I was responding to your comments.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
Omg, its your lecturing that is the most annoying about all this. Your not listening. It was one time, she put the sign up, no one rode on the state owned rightaway since she put the sign up, a week passed then she came to my home.
She is a neighbor I understand that, my rights aren't more important then hers (legally she doesn't have any). 
The 11yr old is learning to ride down this particular road, she spent 2mos learning to trail ride off a road with about a 100feet right away. She is learning, there are going to be mistakes and trying to figure out how to do this without upsetting someone. Believe me if we were riding down this road, in the road and traffic was being held up, the police would tell us to ride in the rightaway. The police officer told my husband that they prefer people to ride there so as to avoid hangups with cars and slowing traffic. 
Your approach is the same as this particular lady's it's not very endearing it doesn't bring out the best in people. You should work on that.


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## chandra1313 (Jul 12, 2011)

Scoope said:


> I wonder what happens if she does what the little old man down the street does when ever people ride on the grass out front of his home - and turn the sprinklers on.. I've not met a horse yet who does not freak out if an rotary sprinkler is switched on under his feet..
> 
> and there is not a thing you can do legally if your horse leaps sideways into traffic / dumps you because he/she is afraid of the scary water spitting dragon hissing under their feet.


This statement amazes me, just to set your mind at ease. In the state of Kentucky if you do something to spook a horse your going to be in trouble and can be held liable. 
Our legislature believes that equine use should be encouraged and falls on the side of the equine owner.


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## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

Exactly - which is also why horses are allowed in the easement area and maybe it totally baffles us from KY that anyone would discourage a safe riding area along the road. 

Another thing - I know where I used to live up north the roads were fairly straight and rarely was there a blind curve - so riding on the road was relatively safe to do. You could see easily what was coming and move over only when needed. Here in KY you usually do not have that luxury. Our roads are mostly curves and even most saddle clubs (adults - not children) when going down on the road will ride on the side rather actually on the road due to safety.

Guess there is just a different mentality in our state.


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## its lbs not miles (Sep 1, 2011)

AlexS said:


> I am really failing to get it. Your neighbor obviously doesn't share your love of horses, or your concern for the child. And there is no law that says she should.
> 
> I have no idea about the legality of who owns it. And I don't really see why it matters all that much. The neighbor maintains the land, she looks at it, it is attached to her property. She doesn't want the child riding on it, and there is no reason why the child should ride on it.


No there's not law that says the woman has to worry about the child, but.... there is a law that says the child, or anyone else, can ride on the shoulder.

I, along with the rest of the residence of the county and state, help pay to maintain the roads. So does that mean we can drive 100 MPH down the road? We also pay for whatever maintenance is done on the shoulder (if some does more that's there call, but it doesn't change the law). I don't like motocycles driving past my farm...I find them excessively loud and unpleasant, but the law says they have the right to use the road just like any other street legal vehicle. So while it may force me to deal with some noise polution, it's legal and I just have to learn to live with it. My complaining, getting upset and eventually making an *** of myself to every person I know or meet who rides a motorcycle is not going to change the situation. Motorcyles are not going to suddenly stop being ridden on roads in the country and it's still going to be legal for them to do so.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Scoope said:


> ...I don't think that it is fair that you destroy her grass (and yes , if she is tending it regularly , putting hours into grass she has had seeded herself for a particular type and look and grass that she pays to water via her sprinkler systems even if it is owned by the government)...
> 
> ...Why do you have any more right to it than her??
> 
> Our issue , more than the damage to the grass , is the blatant disregard for our feelings towards our obviously well tended yard...


If it is public land, why does she have any more right to it than I do?

Where I live, the side of the road is about 15 feet from where private property begins. If your mother wants to water public land, that is OK by me - but it doesn't make the land hers.

We don't have much traffic, so I ride on the pavement to the desert trails (Arizona). If a car comes, I move over. It isn't an easement. It is part of the public road system.

After a ride, I go clean up any poop my horses make. It isn't required, but it is nice. But when I ride beside the pavement, I'm not on anyone's personal property. I'm still on the road system.

Here is a rule of thumb: If you cannot fence it, then you do not own it.


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## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

You at least have to giver her some credit for talking to you directly about her concerns which she has the right to do instead of calling the law or something.
I would offer an aplogy for loosing your temper and that you will talk to the kids and respect her wishes.


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## its lbs not miles (Sep 1, 2011)

bsms said:


> Here is a rule of thumb: If you cannot fence it, then you do not own it.


:lol: I tried that same argument with the highway dept when I wanted to fence some land along the hwy (it's an easement here). According to my title and plot I own it. I pay taxes on that frontage. And I was willing to leave 8 feet of shoulder between my fence and the edge of the road in case someone gets a flat tire :lol:. (I wasn't asking for all of it :lol:, just wanted to squeeze in more grazing area). I was told I could plant up closer to the highway (forgot the distance, but it was good bit closer), but I could not put in a physical barrier AND anything I planted could be subject to destruction if needed (that person is worried about a little grass????.... you see people's tree tops cut out because of power lines running through an easement and you should see it if you live close to town and they want to run water mains or underground cables to a new development....they don't leave it like they found it). I may own it, but I don't really have control of it.
So 17.5 feet of cenerline it was. I actually made it 17' 7" just to make sure I wouldn't have to take down the fence and move it afterwards if my measurements weren't exact .


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

its lbs not miles said:


> :lol: I tried that same argument with the highway dept when I wanted to fence some land along the hwy (it's an easement here). According to my title and plot I own it. I pay taxes on that frontage. And I was willing to leave 8 feet of shoulder between my fence and the edge of the road in case someone gets a flat tire :lol:. (I wasn't asking for all of it :lol:, just wanted to squeeze in more grazing area). I was told I could plant up closer to the highway (forgot the distance, but it was good bit closer), but I could not put in a physical barrier AND anything I planted could be subject to destruction if needed (that person is worried about a little grass????.... you see people's tree tops cut out because of power lines running through an easement and you should see it if you live close to town and they want to run water mains or underground cables to a new development....they don't leave it like they found it). I may own it, but I don't really have control of it.
> So 17.5 feet of cenerline it was. I actually made it 17' 7" just to make sure I wouldn't have to take down the fence and move it afterwards if my measurements weren't exact .


That brings up a statement my dad made 30yrs ago and I still haven't forgotten it. 

We don't actually own land, we pay the state for the privilege of taking care of state land.


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## chandra1313 (Jul 12, 2011)

churumbeque said:


> You at least have to giver her some credit for talking to you directly about her concerns which she has the right to do instead of calling the law or something.
> I would offer an aplogy for loosing your temper and that you will talk to the kids and respect her wishes.


 
I am not going to apologize, and if she had come, say the day of or the day after and explained her position, I wouldn't have even posted this. She came a week later no one had rode on the road since and when she started off, I tried to tell her that we were under the impression that it was state owned, then she started with the I'm going to get the county attorney on you. I found her to be intolerable by that point.

I wished I had handled it the way my husband would have, let her vent not say anything till she ran out of steam then wished her a good day and carried on with how I was going to ride off my property based on the law. My husband rule of thumb was she was looking for a fight, don't give it to her and she will leave more disappointed then when she came. 

Some people think I'm a bad neighbor but when the church moved in next door and couldn't access their land we let them drive over our lawn to get to it, she on the other hand inacted a law where if a business moves next door to you they have to plant a tree screen, so the church had to go out and buy 20 white pines to place between their property and hers. I guess she doesn't know that when they reach full maturity the pine needles will kill some of her grass and pine combs will litter her yard. 

My husband runs a free petting zoo here on the weekends for families and kids, some kids have never touched a baby chicken or felt the wool on a sheep. We have emus and a llama and have people on our lawn parking all the time. They bring their lawn mowers up here so my husband can fix them, hell one of our neighbors asked if she could borrow our truck to go get mulch and her exact words were, "our friends have newer trucks and don't want them to get messy" lol and we let them borrow it. So all you preachy souls out there, you don't have to worry that I don't look after people and their needs.


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## chandra1313 (Jul 12, 2011)

churumbeque said:


> You at least have to giver her some credit for talking to you directly about her concerns which she has the right to do instead of calling the law or something.
> I would offer an aplogy for loosing your temper and that you will talk to the kids and respect her wishes.


If she had called the law, they would have set her straight about it, it's not her property. I would rather she called the law, I wouldn't have known anything about this. ;-)


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## RoosHuman (Dec 27, 2011)

On most roads where I am, the "easement" is not distinguishable from yards along the road. In the few instances that I have ridden on a road (to get to connecting trails) I felt awful if I had to get off of the road and onto someone's lawn. We always listened carefully to hear oncoming traffic, and if possible tried to go into a paved area instead of grass. IMHO ride on the road, not from lawn to lawn. Emergencies excluded, lawn hopping is not very polite.


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