Beware, don't clap.

When we lived at The Falls, just outside Ulverston, we lived in an old farmhouse built in the seventeenth century, with its rose growing outside the front door and two feet thick walls.

The field, that one drove in through was owned by people in the town .

One morning , looking out of the front of the house, there was a large working horse on the front lawn outside . It didn't belong there, but in the field we drove in through to reach the farm, so my immediate reaction was to shoosh it off back to where it belonged.

What did I do?

I opened the front door and clapped loudly. Result : two very deep holes about a foot deep in the lawn  as the horse took off at speed with its back legs. It had a lot of weight to shift quickly.

So if you see a horse on your front lawn, speak to it quietly and ask it to leave slowly!