Horse breeder left ‘paranoid’ after neighbours complain about ‘constant neighing’

A horse breeder living in a tiny village near the UK’s horse capital is stunned after receiving a noise complaint about her foals.

Mandy Young, 59, has said the letter from West Suffolk Council this week about the alleged noise complaint had left her ‘paranoid’.

The letter, dated October 30, reads that it had received a complaint regarding the ‘disturbance caused by constant neighing of horses’ on neighbouring properties.

Mandy, from near the tiny village of Stradishall, in Suffolk, has 12 horses in total, which she breeds, but denied that her animals were making excessive noise.

The keen equestrian lives just 10 miles south of Newmarket – known as the ‘headquarters’ of British horseracing for its race course.

She said: ‘The only thing I can assume is I have just weaned three of the foals. There has been a little bit more neighing than usual, but not a lot.

‘The foals and mares are separated into different fields and can call out to each other.’

Mandy said she lives just outside of ‘horse city’, Newmarket, and easily counts about ’25 horses in a half-mile stretch’.

The equestrian also owns a stallion, five broodmares and four foals, as well as riding horses.

She added: ‘It is ridiculous and petty, or there’s an ulterior motive. Horses do whinny but it’s not a big deal. It makes me feel a bit paranoid.

‘If there was a lot of noise, I’d be there checking there wasn’t a problem, and I’d hope others would come to me too.’

The letter from the council states it is ‘required to investigate all complaints where noise significantly and unreasonably affects neighbouring properties.’

It adds that if the alleged disturbance continues, the person affected will have to provide further information on how they are disrupted.

But the letter added that the claims had not been substantiated.

Mandy said if she had been informed there was a problem, she would have moved the horses.

‘If there is a problem, it is clearly something I am not hearing, so why not come and knock on my door?

‘If they told me it was causing a disturbance, I would have moved them,’ she said.

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