advice and help needed! tethered ponies north somerset!

[china]

hi all!
my friend is concerned about a number of youngsters that are tethered on the A370 in Congresbury (opposite Souvsta Greek Taverna Resturant) on the tow path next to the river Yeo, Nr Weston-Super-Mare. North Somerset.
they have been there for about 5 weeks and through the cold weather, my friends have been giving small amounts of hay to these ponies and giving them water as they are without both of these dailey. they have recently been given a few scraps of maky hay from the owners but nothing more, when they are given water most of them unable to quench there thirst and wanting more but there is only so much they can take at one time. my friend has seen the owner move them abit further down but without food and water, they have eaten the hedges down. the rspca have been contacted twice a week ago and one was removed shortly after, wether it was the rspca or not we dont know. we have contacted WHW but they said they wouldnt send some one out straight away as they didnt want two charities on the case. if my friends hadnt been feeding them dailey they would be starving as we speak! we are aware that tethering is legal but surley these horses are deprived of there 5 freedoms ? particularly freedom from hunger and thirst!!
i have some photos to post which i will put up in a second.
im hoping some of you in the area will feel the same way as we do and conatct WHW to get these ponies moved or get them constant food and water! some of you may think we are interfering, if they had food and water it wouldnt be such an issue but they dont! i will post photos below!
advice and help much appreciated!!

 

[wysiwyg]

Contact the BHS Welfare for your area.

Sadly the WHW have recently become the RSPCA's little brother

 

[china]

we have emailed lee from bhs for advice. i will be contacting bhs welfare myself 2moro

 

[Laurenm01]

Sorry to hear lack of responsibility the owner is taking. Well done for helping them though.
Very frustrating. Is there a website local to the area that you could try or write to local newspaper?

 

[xbuzzx]

What a shame! How could anyone do that?! sorry i live nowhere near so can't help, but hope they get sorted out soon as they are deprived of everything they should have!

 

[phoebeast]

http://www.bhs.org.uk/Horse_Care/BHS_Welfare/Reporting_a_concern.aspx

i live in the mendip area, haven't seen them but i hope something can be done for them, the email for the BHS welfare is on the linked page x

 

[china]

sorry they are big, havnt got time to resize, the hay you see is what friends have put out. they are rather skinny underneather there coat.

 

[wysiwyg]

Harsh as it seems, but your friend needs to stop feeding and watering them.

The RSPCA/WHW cannot do a thing whilst she is doing this.

The BHS might be the best bet.

 

[ester]

I see where you mean now, I didnt realise there wasnt a field there and it dropped off so quick. Email these to the BHS now and see what they say, tbh if I could play dim that I didnt know the RSPCA was involved (ie if it wasnt you that made the RSPCA call) I would for the time being as understandably they never want to tread on eachother toes.

I know local BHS welfare removed a pony for being overweight and owners not managing lami (pony had to be kept at an approved yard on full livery) I know that was years ago but they were good then.

I dont really understand why they are tethered tbh, it is like the strip along the side of the M5 and that is narrow with a huge ditch one side but they never tether there.

 

[wysiwyg]

Are they alongside the drainage ditches near West Rollestone?

If so, they belong to one of 2 **** families there.

I'd be VERY careful if i were you, DON'T mention to the authorities you think tey are **** ponies, as they wont turn up.

 

[china]

its the river yeo.

 

[lastphoenix]

No they are on the A370 leading to Congresbury, alongside the river Yeo.

 

[Donkeymad]

They are all youngsters, last years foals by the looks and I would highly suspect they belong to a certain community.

 

[tickety_boo]

I saw these a couple of weeks ago. They were further down on the left then. They belong to the travellers at the park by Murphys, I guess they've put them there as they'd run out of grazing. Not ideal I appreciate, however this is how they live and have done for eternity. It won't change any time soon.

 

[TheMule]

Lucky owners, having you feed and water their horses! Must be saving them a fortune- no wander theyre not doing it themselves.

 

[tabithakat64]

Your friend needs to stop haying and watering them as the RSPCA and WHW can't act if she is doing so.
Unfortunately I doubt if anything will be done if they belong to travellers as this deters the the RSPCA etc from getting involved.
They look like last years foals to me too, what a bunch of cuties, hopefully this arrangement is just temporary due to the weather and they'll be moved soon.

 

[lastphoenix]

Yes we stopped feeding them 4 days ago, but when i say feeding them i mean a very small slice of hay everyother day, i wouldnt have done it if we hadnt had the weather but they had nothing in all that snow and i couldnt just leave them knowing they had nothing, and as you can imagine now i feel quite attached but...i have contacted the appropriate authorities and i will leave it in their hands now and just visit them every so often. Just hate the thought of them stood there day in day out, no stimulation and an obvious lack of food and water.