Shared fence line question

EquineAlberta · 11-02-2009, 08:03 PM

For the most part our horses are kept in paddocks to the front of our property. Our neighbours to the south have horses, so when we built our paddocks we left a runway between our paddocks and their fence line so our horses couldn't touch. To the north they have a deer fence with a runway, so we don't have to worry about them. To the east they had cattle, but on their side of the fence was a lot of thick trees, so the cattle rarely came near the fence, and we only have horses back there in the winter, so we didn't worry about it. A few times the cows broke the fence, but we dealt with it.

Last year we didn't put horses out back (east fence), and the fence fell into disrepair; trees fell on the fence, the moose tore out posts, tresspassing snowmobilers cut the fence and so on. This year with hay prices so high, we fixed the fence up; replacing posts, clearing the fallen trees, and fixing the broken fence. We finished in October, and put our horses out soon after. We didn't ask the neighbours to help, as they didn't have animals, so the fencing was to our benefit only at the time.

Today I go out to look for my gelding to find the neighbours to the east now have a motley assortment of horses; mares for sure, maybe some geldings. My gelding was flirting over the fence with one of the mares who was "winking" at him. Now I don;t know these horses...for all I know they are auction finds carrying strangles, so I herded my horses back and locked them in the front...plus i don't want my geldings trying to climb the fence to breed the mares.

I also know that on the neighbour's side there is loose wire, and partly destroyed cross fencing in the under brush....and it is still there, so they didn't check the fencing before putting their horses out. If we hadn't fixed the fencing, I am guessing their horses would be loose on our property.

So I want a second line of fence to seperate the horses...ideally on their property as there side is unsafe trees/old wire, and ours is hay feild...I'd rather not waste our pasture. Really, I am tempted to just tie some yellow rope to the trees to make a temp fence for the winter and take it down in the spring when our horses are brought back up front...but hubby wants the neighbours to do something about it.

Thoughts?

Karen

Sonseeahray's_girl · 11-02-2009, 08:22 PM

Is your fence electrified? If not, I would consider doing that, with electric on both sides of the fence posts.

I wouldn't count on your neighbours...I think you could give it a try to reason with them on the wisdom of repairing their fence, but in the end, it's you that's worried about your horses, and too often other people's standards are lower

If it were me, I'd do what I could to protect my horses, even if it meant extra work and expense. But make sure that whatever extra fencing you put in is inside your property line, and that you have your property line clearly surveyed.

Horselady44 · 11-02-2009, 08:33 PM

Yes...electric is def the way to go

IMO

EquineAlberta · 11-02-2009, 10:46 PM

Electric is possible, but would be a lot of work; there are trees all along our fence out back (20 acres) so we would have to do even more tree trimming including on our neighbours property.

Karen

qtrhorse1993 · 11-03-2009, 08:25 AM

take pictures, and record all the work you did, contact the other property owners and ask them if the will put up a second line of fence, showing them the work that you did, they dont have to due the same thing, but that for safety and health reasons the horses need an extra barrier. (my friend went thru something similar last year) if they do not follow thru with some thing in a short amount of time, contact your local town court and get it enforced. its a pain in the butt, and in my friends case, the other people were pissed, but it turned out for the best and now they are fine about it.....there stallion broke thru my friends fence and attacked her gelding, she had 6 foot wood fence and electric ...she was willing to forgo the vet cost if the put up a second row of fence, needless to say they payed vet bills and new fence to replace her broken fence plus had to but up wood fence themselves. hopefully they will be willing if you express your concerns.

EquineAlberta · 11-04-2009, 05:10 PM

We went to talk to the neighbours about the fence...the wife was very pissy (I think we woke her from a nap) and kept throwing the fact she was a lawyer at us! Told us it was within her rights to tear the fence down if she wanted to! (it is on our side of the property line, and not true regardless!). But from her we got that they aren't their horses...they are the neighbours.

So my hubby called her hubby and he was WAY nicer and even offered to let us bale his feild next year! We then talked to the neighbour, and he agreed to not run horses back there without telling us and/or helping put up a second fence line.

So all ended well!

Karen

**taelesean** · 11-04-2009, 09:29 PM

I'm not at all sure about the laws in your area, but here in VA, and many other states, you can require your neighbor to pay for half of any fence that divides your property from thiers.

Linebacker55 · 11-05-2009, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taelesean

I'm not at all sure about the laws in your area, but here in VA, and many other states, you can require your neighbor to pay for half of any fence that divides your property from thiers.

I was going to say the same thing!

peacecountrycowboy · 11-05-2009, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EquineAlberta

We went to talk to the neighbours about the fence...the wife was very pissy (I think we woke her from a nap) and kept throwing the fact she was a lawyer at us! Told us it was within her rights to tear the fence down if she wanted to! (it is on our side of the property line, and not true regardless!). But from her we got that they aren't their horses...they are the neighbours.

So my hubby called her hubby and he was WAY nicer and even offered to let us bale his feild next year! We then talked to the neighbour, and he agreed to not run horses back there without telling us and/or helping put up a second fence line.

So all ended well!

Karen

Well, glad it ended well but if you have future problems with them, contact RSD (Regulatory Services Division) of Alberta Agriculture at (403) 340-7172. They deal with the "Line Fence Act" which is the legislation that deals with these types of disputes over shared fence lines.

You can read the act here,

http://www.canlii.org/en/ab/laws/sta...00-c-l-13.html

You'd be wanting to read the second section on "Adjoining land owners" and maybe inform the lawyer of the law

.

cascy · 11-05-2009, 08:47 PM

Glad yours ended better then ours did.

Our neighbors were hateful about helping with fencing too... And we even offered to pay for all of it, just wanted thier help putting it up

Needless to say, we did all the fencing. I put up hotwire about a foot away from the fence on our side.

Then they wanted to complain because thier horse got cut on the barb wire, and wanted to hook hot wire on thier side too, but connect it to ours! (So WE would be stuck paying the electric bill for it)!

Needless to say, that didn't happen! and they still have done nothing to thier side.

paintedpastures · 11-05-2009, 10:02 PM

our back pasture we had a similiar problem.We put up the fence all around our property.We intentionally built it just inside our property line as to not have it questioned who's side the fence was on. At the back of our property we have a nice open hay field the horses love to go.The field beside at the back was a 10 acre hay field.Well we ended up with new neighbours that had horses they fenced off the hay field but used our one fenceline that was deviding the 2 pastures.they preceded to put there horses out one a proud cut gelding.Well my horses ended up with cuts on them from the visiting/sqabbling over the fence.I had to remove my horses from that field.

One day their pony ended up in our field so when he came to collect him I mentioned his using our fence as a common fenceline as his horses were fighting with mine& now I can't even use my own field!! Ok I wasn't so nice,upset that he was oblivious to it all & that I had injured horses.He asked what was he suppose to do about it I told him either put up his own fence on his side or electrify the fence.Well he did comply & put up solar electric fence.Our horses then cohabitated with the common fence line.

EquineAlberta · 11-05-2009, 11:45 PM

Thanks PCC, hubby found that online too.

T, up here you can have them pay half if they receive equal benefit from the fence, and the type of fence is considered reasonible, so you can't just put up a fence and send a bill. Regardless, the lawyer was way out of line...she is lucky her hubby was so much nicer as hubby was on the phone with OUR lawyer right away after her threats.

Karen

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11-02-2009, 08:03 PM
EquineAlberta Kid Safe Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 6,015	Shared fence line question For the most part our horses are kept in paddocks to the front of our property. Our neighbours to the south have horses, so when we built our paddocks we left a runway between our paddocks and their fence line so our horses couldn't touch. To the north they have a deer fence with a runway, so we don't have to worry about them. To the east they had cattle, but on their side of the fence was a lot of thick trees, so the cattle rarely came near the fence, and we only have horses back there in the winter, so we didn't worry about it. A few times the cows broke the fence, but we dealt with it. Last year we didn't put horses out back (east fence), and the fence fell into disrepair; trees fell on the fence, the moose tore out posts, tresspassing snowmobilers cut the fence and so on. This year with hay prices so high, we fixed the fence up; replacing posts, clearing the fallen trees, and fixing the broken fence. We finished in October, and put our horses out soon after. We didn't ask the neighbours to help, as they didn't have animals, so the fencing was to our benefit only at the time. Today I go out to look for my gelding to find the neighbours to the east now have a motley assortment of horses; mares for sure, maybe some geldings. My gelding was flirting over the fence with one of the mares who was "winking" at him. Now I don;t know these horses...for all I know they are auction finds carrying strangles, so I herded my horses back and locked them in the front...plus i don't want my geldings trying to climb the fence to breed the mares. I also know that on the neighbour's side there is loose wire, and partly destroyed cross fencing in the under brush....and it is still there, so they didn't check the fencing before putting their horses out. If we hadn't fixed the fencing, I am guessing their horses would be loose on our property. So I want a second line of fence to seperate the horses...ideally on their property as there side is unsafe trees/old wire, and ours is hay feild...I'd rather not waste our pasture. Really, I am tempted to just tie some yellow rope to the trees to make a temp fence for the winter and take it down in the spring when our horses are brought back up front...but hubby wants the neighbours to do something about it. Thoughts? Karen __________________ New Hillside Website The Art of Praise

11-02-2009, 08:22 PM
Sonseeahray's_girl Started Join Date: May 2006 Location: On Top of the World! Posts: 2,868	Is your fence electrified? If not, I would consider doing that, with electric on both sides of the fence posts. I wouldn't count on your neighbours...I think you could give it a try to reason with them on the wisdom of repairing their fence, but in the end, it's you that's worried about your horses, and too often other people's standards are lower If it were me, I'd do what I could to protect my horses, even if it meant extra work and expense. But make sure that whatever extra fencing you put in is inside your property line, and that you have your property line clearly surveyed. __________________ Horses don't always stand quietly and wait for you to get smart -Beth

11-02-2009, 08:33 PM
Horselady44 Started Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Montana Posts: 2,437	Yes...electric is def the way to go IMO __________________ A happy horse equals a happy rider!

11-02-2009, 10:46 PM
EquineAlberta Kid Safe Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 6,015	Electric is possible, but would be a lot of work; there are trees all along our fence out back (20 acres) so we would have to do even more tree trimming including on our neighbours property. Karen __________________ New Hillside Website The Art of Praise

11-03-2009, 08:25 AM
qtrhorse1993 Yearling Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Johnstown, New York Posts: 707	take pictures, and record all the work you did, contact the other property owners and ask them if the will put up a second line of fence, showing them the work that you did, they dont have to due the same thing, but that for safety and health reasons the horses need an extra barrier. (my friend went thru something similar last year) if they do not follow thru with some thing in a short amount of time, contact your local town court and get it enforced. its a pain in the butt, and in my friends case, the other people were pissed, but it turned out for the best and now they are fine about it.....there stallion broke thru my friends fence and attacked her gelding, she had 6 foot wood fence and electric ...she was willing to forgo the vet cost if the put up a second row of fence, needless to say they payed vet bills and new fence to replace her broken fence plus had to but up wood fence themselves. hopefully they will be willing if you express your concerns. __________________ The world meets no one half way, but your horse will meet you all the way.

11-04-2009, 05:10 PM
EquineAlberta Kid Safe Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 6,015	We went to talk to the neighbours about the fence...the wife was very pissy (I think we woke her from a nap) and kept throwing the fact she was a lawyer at us! Told us it was within her rights to tear the fence down if she wanted to! (it is on our side of the property line, and not true regardless!). But from her we got that they aren't their horses...they are the neighbours. So my hubby called her hubby and he was WAY nicer and even offered to let us bale his feild next year! We then talked to the neighbour, and he agreed to not run horses back there without telling us and/or helping put up a second fence line. So all ended well! Karen __________________ New Hillside Website The Art of Praise

11-04-2009, 09:29 PM
taelesean Administrator Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Virginia Posts: 6,319	I'm not at all sure about the laws in your area, but here in VA, and many other states, you can require your neighbor to pay for half of any fence that divides your property from thiers. __________________

11-05-2009, 08:47 PM
cascy Bombproof Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: arkansas Posts: 7,741	Glad yours ended better then ours did. Our neighbors were hateful about helping with fencing too... And we even offered to pay for all of it, just wanted thier help putting it up Needless to say, we did all the fencing. I put up hotwire about a foot away from the fence on our side. Then they wanted to complain because thier horse got cut on the barb wire, and wanted to hook hot wire on thier side too, but connect it to ours! (So WE would be stuck paying the electric bill for it)! Needless to say, that didn't happen! and they still have done nothing to thier side. __________________ "How smooth must be the language of the whites, when they can make right look like wrong, and wrong like right."~Black Hawk

11-05-2009, 10:02 PM
paintedpastures Yearling Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Sherwood park,AB Posts: 567	our back pasture we had a similiar problem.We put up the fence all around our property.We intentionally built it just inside our property line as to not have it questioned who's side the fence was on. At the back of our property we have a nice open hay field the horses love to go.The field beside at the back was a 10 acre hay field.Well we ended up with new neighbours that had horses they fenced off the hay field but used our one fenceline that was deviding the 2 pastures.they preceded to put there horses out one a proud cut gelding.Well my horses ended up with cuts on them from the visiting/sqabbling over the fence.I had to remove my horses from that field.One day their pony ended up in our field so when he came to collect him I mentioned his using our fence as a common fenceline as his horses were fighting with mine& now I can't even use my own field!! Ok I wasn't so nice,upset that he was oblivious to it all & that I had injured horses.He asked what was he suppose to do about it I told him either put up his own fence on his side or electrify the fence.Well he did comply & put up solar electric fence.Our horses then cohabitated with the common fence line. Last edited by paintedpastures : 11-05-2009 at 10:06 PM.

11-05-2009, 11:45 PM
EquineAlberta Kid Safe Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 6,015	Thanks PCC, hubby found that online too. T, up here you can have them pay half if they receive equal benefit from the fence, and the type of fence is considered reasonible, so you can't just put up a fence and send a bill. Regardless, the lawyer was way out of line...she is lucky her hubby was so much nicer as hubby was on the phone with OUR lawyer right away after her threats. Karen __________________ New Hillside Website The Art of Praise