Concerned members of the public! Oh Dear!

My TB's are rugged but still living out and we have over 2ft of snow. They have access to stables but choose not to use them and they are as happy as larry. The natives are out naked and are oblivious to the snow.
 
When we lived in Cheltenham we were reported to RSPCA as our daughters pony had a bib clip and was not rugged. RSPCA called a vet, who by chance happened to be ours!! He asked vet whether pony should be rugged as surely it would get cold. Vet said he thought not as his horses were clipped the same and none of them had rugs on!!! Off went RSPCA chappie. Never knew who reported us.....the field we had is now full of ragwort and ponies....bet no one has reported THAT to anyone!
 
We could look on this more positively - at least people are interested in animal welfare even if they are not very knowledgable. Why would anyone who doesn't own horses know lots about them? Why would the know ragwort is poisonous? Better to voice your genuine concerns than leave it until its too late.

Wild native horses with the opportunity to roam and find food, shelter and water are surely completely different to a horse kept enclosed in a field or stable where it's entirely reliant on humans to provide what it needs?
 
I was berated back in February, during that last cold snap we had, by a very sweet old lady when I was out walking my dog - she was appalled that my dog didn't have a coat on in that weather. It's a Labrador! This is a dog that will literally break ice to get into water and hates any temperature above about 2C!!
 
sussexbythesea said:
Wild native horses with the opportunity to roam and find food, shelter and water are surely completely different to a horse kept enclosed in a field or stable where it's entirely reliant on humans to provide what it needs?
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I don't think anyone on here is advocating people leaving their horses out in the snow without water, hay or some form of shelter (which doesn't mean a stable or field shelter - just a thick hedge, trees, land formations etc).
 
TGM - I didn't say that either - but someone mentioned how do wild horses cope? or words to that effect - my point being they are not the same thing therefore the concerns are different.

I'm just waiting for the next post to moan about people not reporting welfare issues.
 
MochaDun said:
Interestingly they've had a piece on breakfast news this morning with reporter up with an RSPCA woman talking about what you need to do for livestock, wildlife and pets during bad weather and one of the things they covered was the amount of calls the RSPCA get about horses in fields without rugs...the woman said they had had 20 such calls yesterday and attended and all of them were fine. So she did try to explain that native breeds with thick coats and option of shelter can cope.
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Suppose its nice that people are concerned. I met a local dog walker whilst out riding who was really worried about a field of unrugged traditional cobs. After I'd explained that they were all a good weight and grazing happily, I said I was envious of the large field, the social group, the freedom they had and wished I could provide my horse with such a lifestyle.
The man was much happier to understand a little more about horses' needs and went off to educate his neighbours who had also expressed concern and had been feeding them all sorts of vegtables.
It must be difficult for people to understand why some horses are rugged up to the eyeballs and others are left without. Guess it makes the owners of naked horses look uncaring, when its quite the opposite.
 
sussexbythesea said:
TGM - I didn't say that either - but someone mentioned how do wild horses cope? or words to that effect - my point being they are not the same thing therefore the concerns are different.
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But I think they were referring to the issue of whether natives should wear rugs or be stabled in the snow and pointing out that the native coat has developed to withstand wintry conditions.

I do remember having a neighbour who was concerned about our old Section A not wearing a rug - she had a huge thick coat (and was part stabled anyway as laminitic). We did try to explain that she had been born on a Welsh mountain and her type had evolved to cope with much harsher conditions, but the woman still didn't get it! I wouldn't mind but our field has got tons of natural shelter as well, with lots of thick holly hedges and adjoining woodland.
 
horserider said:
The man was much happier to understand a little more about horses' needs and went off to educate his neighbours who had also expressed concern and had been feeding them all sorts of vegtables.
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I think this is an important point - fair enough for people to raise concerns, but some people will listen and learn from reasoned explanations, whereas some people won't!
 
It makes me smile when I pass a field of welshies on my way to work and see them out unrugged and fluffy enjoying the snow. They have a huge bale of hay and although no field shelter they have a tree line and the field boundary is high stone walls so they can shelter if they want. Something really nice about it :)
 
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