Naughty horse owners. Old pump plumbed into Manor lake. Over half of eastern North embankment flattened. Part 5. 2nd October 2022

Our final part to this week's update concerns horse on Fleet Hill farm. It seems that there are horses loose on the Fleet Hill farm part of the nascent Longwater road nature reserve.

I have seen, over the years, horses loose on Fleet Hill farm part of Eversley quarry. I had assumed they might have belonged to Fleet Hill farm proper. Yes, it still exits (as does Manor farm), and it keeps horses. Indeed, the farm either owns a strip of land within the boundaries of the nascent reserve along the Blackwater or they lease it from Cemex. I often wondered if the horses had somehow got loose from this land.

However, there is a field, just north of the Fleet Hill farm quarry entrance, sandwiched between allotments and the Longwater road. This field has a farm gate leading directly onto the Fleet Hill farm part of the nascent Longwater road nature reserve. Thus, these stray horses might belong to whomever owns this field.

On the other hand, they may belong to an unidentified third party.

In any case, Cemex has served notice that the horses are to be removed by 5:00pm on the 5th October 2022. Failure to do so will see Cemex remove these horses.

I'm pleased that Cemex are on the ball. A few years ago, I reported to Cemex that there were horses loose on Fleet Hill farm. One of the horses was very skittish, and I had to give it a wide berth. The horses were removed a week later.  Other horse owners ignore signs to keep horses off the footpaths.  The one leading from Fleet Hill farm to Finchampstead - along what was the old Llama farm, was used illegally by horse owners. They made a right mess of the footpath, turning it into a quagmire.

It isn't fun meeting a skittish horse on a narrow footpath. They are hulking great huge things, and you have no alternative but to get off the footpath, and hope the horse doesn't do something nasty to you as it passes by.

The worst activity of horse owners was to campaign to have Cemex remove a kissing gate from the footpath that leads from Fleet Hill farm to Finchampstead. This gate was put specifically to stop horse riders using the footpath and endangering walkers.  Finchampstead Parish council reinstated the kissing gates.