# Disturbance from clay pigeon shooting?



## Dry Rot (21 July 2015)

Not sure if this is in the right section, but here goes!

Can anything be done about clay pigeon shooting just over the hedge from grazing horses?

I am not anti-shooting but am anti-inconsiderate neighbours. I have one of the latter!  What's more, he is on steroids which increases aggression and the last time we had a face to face I was told, "It's my land and I'll do what I want on it". I've tried the police but they tell me he is not doing anything illegal which may be true in criminal law but I am not so sure about civil law.

So, has anyone experienced this nuisance and has had a successful outcome? Each time he has a shoot there are horses within 100m. On the previous occasion they were heavily in-foal mares. If I knew when he was going to have a shoot, I could move them. But he wouldn't bother to tell me that, would he? After all, it's his land and he'll do what he likes on it!


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## ihatework (21 July 2015)

He sounds like an ignoramus but doesn't sound like he is doing anything he can't unfortunately.

Your best bet would be to make peace and get him compliant enough to warn you so you can move the horses.


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## Shoei (21 July 2015)

I feel your pain.  Our neighbor does this every Sunday at 3pm come rain or shine and I don't know what he got for Christmas but it's blooming a lot louder.  Luckily we are not as close as you and it does tend to be the same time and day so we try and plan around it.  It might be worth talking to your council re nuisance noise levels.


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## webble (21 July 2015)

quick google came up with this http://www.cieh.org/uploadedFiles/Co...hootingCoP.pdf which is quite wordy

 and this, a lot of which is guidance to the Surrey area but the bottom part is legal advice

http://www.tandridge.gov.uk/environm...n_shooting.htm


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## chocolategirl (21 July 2015)

Dry Rot said:



			Not sure if this is in the right section, but here goes!

Can anything be done about clay pigeon shooting just over the hedge from grazing horses?

I am not anti-shooting but am anti-inconsiderate neighbours. I have one of the latter!  What's more, he is on steroids which increases aggression and the last time we had a face to face I was told, "It's my land and I'll do what I want on it". I've tried the police but they tell me he is not doing anything illegal which may be true in criminal law but I am not so sure about civil law.

So, has anyone experienced this nuisance and has had a successful outcome? Each time he has a shoot there are horses within 100m. On the previous occasion they were heavily in-foal mares. If I knew when he was going to have a shoot, I could move them. But he wouldn't bother to tell me that, would he? After all, it's his land and he'll do what he likes on it!
		
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What actually happens with the horses when the shooting is going on? Do they gallop round frightened or what? Reason I ask is we run one of the most successful shooting grounds in the UK, and we also run a livery yard. Yes I know what you may all be thinking, how on earth does that work, but you know what, all our horses bar one (and he doesn't actually do much apart from the odd toss of his head) is totally bombproof and completely unphased by the noise of the shotguns! In fairness, our shooting ground isn't right next to where the horses are, but the farmer on the other side of us shoots pheasants in season and now that really is close to them, but they still totally ignore it! If there's nothing you can do, which it sounds like, apart from move lol!, can you not just try and see it as a positive thing? After a while it really does just become white noise to them, honestly! When the daughter does the pony club relay at our local county show, the pony clobbers are sited in between the clay shooting and the fairground, guess who's pony is one of the best behaved out of the lot of them lol!? Good luck I hope you can find a Solution.


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## Dry Rot (21 July 2015)

Thanks for the replies. I've seen the cieh page and it has some interesting suggestions regarding acreage and distance from neighbours. I notice it also suggests advising neighbours whose in foal mares might be upset! I have sent in a complaint to environmental health citing this document so we will see what happens. The Tanridge site seems to have been removed as I got page unobtainable.

I had one 3yo pony bolt down a long field and demolish not only the wooden field gate but the hanging post with it! The infoal mares just looked unhappy but did not bolt or career around, just looked alarmed and upset which no one likes to see. My stallion has always been nervous of cracks and bangs. I'm told his (very experienced) trainer doesn't use a lunging whip to train but an Australian stockman's whip which can make a loud crack, so maybe that's the reason. He was flinching in time with each bang, poor old chap, and that was not nice to watch.

Yes, I do realise that horses can be habituated to most things. I sold a 2yo to a lady who was worried how the horse would react to shooting parties. As she did not need delivery for a couple of weeks, I trained the horse to come for feed at the sound of a gunshot! The cavalry used to do the same thing. I am rather hoping she is now mugging shooting parties!  But my horses are literally over the fence from the shooters separated only by a thin shelter belt and the shooting is intermittent and unpredictable. My youngsters seem more tolerant. I do live next to an MOD bombing range so the horses are already pretty tolerant.

The cieh document that Webble posted the lnk to does mention that the site should be large enough so shot does not land on neighbouring ground, but I am not sure how strong an objection that would be. Frankly, this neighbour is such a pain that anything I can do to curb his belief that he can do whatever likes and to hell with everyone else has got to be progress! (Yeah, I know!).


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## Prince33Sp4rkle (22 July 2015)

ihatework said:



			He sounds like an ignoramus but doesn't sound like he is doing anything he can't unfortunately.

Your best bet would be to make peace and get him compliant enough to warn you so you can move the horses.
		
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this.

our neighbour decided to start paragliding taking off and landing practice less than 10m from our horses, literally on the other side of the boundary fence and then couldnt care less fig had run himself in to a white lather,tucked up and panting 

i tried asking him not to (he has a huge L shaped field so mostly does it at the other end of the L which is nearly 5 acres away but on certain days he can only catch the wind along the boundary so i asked if he could not do take off/landing practice on those few days) but he wasnt having it so in the end we settled on he would come and tell us if he needed to come up to the boundary and that he would never come up to the boundary whilst we were riding.

you cant stop them, but all you can do is explain that if a mare aborts due to stress you will pursue him for costs and explain that prior warning allows that to be avoided. as soon as legal action and money was mentioned our neighbour piped down!


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## 9tails (22 July 2015)

Make friends with him and join him on his shoot, that way you won't find the noise annoying.  My horse is stabled at a place that has clay pigeon shooting not 20 yards from her field, there are big hay bales around the actual shooting area but the clays land in their field depending on wind direction.  It happens every Saturday and they lift their heads at the first bang then get back to grazing.  As long as they're not aiming their guns at the horses I'm not at all bothered.


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## Dry Rot (22 July 2015)

Prince33Sp4rkle said:



			(Snipped)

you cant stop them, but all you can do is explain that if a mare aborts due to stress you will pursue him for costs and explain that prior warning allows that to be avoided. as soon as legal action and money was mentioned our neighbour piped down!
		
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I'm afraid this ^^^ might be the answer. This character is a rather pushy individual who thinks he can do as he likes. Apparently, he is on his third wife who seems absolutely delightful! I opened the door to a knock on Christmas Eve to be confronted by a small female person who flung her arms around me in a big hug! (I hadn't the faintest idea who she was and as a 75yo bachelor this was quite alarming!). It turned out to be wife No. 3 with a bottle of wine and a cake! She went on to explain that I needed to make allowances for her hubby as he is on steroids (which increase aggression) and is not well. Fair enough.

I'm afraid I am a coward and prefer to hide behind the law and third parties when it comes to confrontations. I did start to list the selfish activities of this character but it is all rather boring and of no interest to you. He really has no consideration for others and I can see why he has two divorces behind him. If the shooting persists, I will probably write him a polite letter pointing out that he has the legal right to shoot clay pigeons but that he will also be liable for the consequences. I think this is the reassurance I was looking for so thank you P33S. If he is aware that his actions can cause harm, and he will be held liable when they do, he might discuss it with his wife and end up being reasonable. If I confront him, even politely, I can predict his reply. "It's my land and I'll do what I want on it". There's only one answer to that!


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## Tiddlypom (22 July 2015)

I agree that horses can get used to the sound of shooting, but the shattered remnants of a clay can be very pointed and sharp. Very unpleasant when falling out of the sky onto the horses and lethal if picked up in a foot .


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## oldie48 (24 July 2015)

I'm very close to a shooting ground but I have found that all the horses get used to the noise. They shoot every Wed and Sunday, with extra days during the year. Fortunately they have a website so I can check if they are shooting as although horses in the field are OK with the noise, hacking past is not a safe option.


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