Woman who plays classical music to soothe horses told to get licence

A woman who plays classical music to her horses to keep them calm has been told she must pay for a public performance licence.

Rosemary Greenway: Rather than pay the fee, she now leaves the radio off except on Sundays when she is alone at the stable yard.

Rosemary Greenway has been playing passages of opera and orchestral symphonies on the radio to the animals at her stables for more than 20 years, convinced that it helps soothe them.

While not all of her staff are quite as fond of the output of Classic FM as she is, Mrs Greenway, 62, kept the radio tuned to the station religiously while mucking out because of the apparent benefits.

Because her stables, the Malthouse Equestrian Centre in Bushton, Wilts, employs more than two people it is treated in the same way as shops, bars and cafés which have to apply for a licence to play the radio.

She received a telephone call from the Performing Right Society – now officially known as PRS for Music – which was targeting stables as part of a drive to get commercial premises to pay for licences.

Rather than pay the fee, she now leaves the radio off except on Sundays when she is alone at the stable yard.

“I actually use my radio for the benefit of the horses as Classic FM helps them relax,” she said.

“The staff are not bothered whether they have the radio on or not, in fact they don't particularly like my music and turn if off when I'm not around.”

Mrs Greenway, who keeps 11 horses at the stables, added: “You would have thought that playing music to your own horses was allowable but apparently not.

“Especially on windy days I try to play it – it gives them a nice quiet atmosphere, you can only exercise one horse at a time so it helps the others to stay calm.

“We are right next to the RAF Lyneham air base so it dulls the noise from the aircraft as well.”

A spokeswoman for the society said: “Of course, we don't ask people to pay for music played to animals.

“Mrs Greenway was only asked to pay for music played for staff, like any other workplace.”

She added that the stables might qualify for a new reduced fee of just over £50 if there are fewer than four employees.

It is the latest in a series of seemingly unlikely places to be told that they constituted performing venues and were liable for a licence if they played the radio.

Charity shops run by the mental health group Mind were told to switch off their radios last year while the organisation held discussions with the society after discovering that it was liable for licence payments.

Chris Doran, senior executive at the British horse Society, said that the organisation had received several calls from stables reporting calls from the society.

“I think they are an easy target because these people are working outside all the time, they are more likely to put the radio on while mucking out or feeding,” she said.

She added that because of the “abrupt” tone of some of the calls many stable owners suspected initially that it was a hoax call.

Last year a study at Belfast Zoo found evidence that playing Elgar, Puccini and Beethoven to elephants helped reduce stress related behaviours such as swaying, pacing and tossing their trunks.