Could you condition score this horse for me please? The RSPCA...

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undertheweather

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say that... "We are not that worried it has a belly on it and has just lost it's back muscle because it is old" after visiting it today.

A horsey person removed the rug that the horse has been wearing since summer to see what the horse was like underneath to find this:


1544_10151377686456014_1026504296_n.jpg


:mad: :mad: :mad:

It's not rocket science is it?!


WHW have been notified, hopefully we can get this horse moved before the next cold snap.
 
Definitely looks emaciated to me :(

I'm not surprised with the RSPCA though, there was a field of young horses (so it wasn't even age related) in a field near me that were in a similar state and desperately eating anything they could find, including twigs and wood from a fallen tree. I was told that this was completely normal, never mind the fact that the poor things were stood in solid mud and never given any hay whatsoever.

They had dozens of complaints about them. The RSPCA inspector gave them a bale of hay once a week at the finish, which probably just prevented them from dropping down dead.

I hope you have better luck with WHW.
 
I imagine the RSPCA were too busy prosecuting that chap in Wales cos he had lots of horses... to waste their time on that pony

Do they actually employ anyone with any equine knowledge at all! I hope you have more luck with the WHW!
 
It looks very similar to the one I reported several years ago, the inspector told me that it was old so had lost topline plus the fact that it had had a foal meant it was not putting weight on, the "foal" was at least 2!!! As far as I know that horse died or was pts as did the foal before anything was done for the 2 remaining horses left to starve in the field.
I, and several other people reported and nothing was done, there is much more to this story, one day I witnessed the inspector feeding these horses and she left a note for the owner to say that she had done so, which when questioned she told me that the owner had been out of contact for a few days so she thought it best to give hay and water, not try and remove them as "he was trying his best" I felt that as the owner was an educated man he could get himself out of being harassed more easily than some of the people that they find more easy to prosecute.
 
RSPCA were called to a horse near me (not by me, I would have gone to WHW), he and a field mate had the odd slice of hay and nothing else in the middle of winter. It was a TB and apparently a bag of bones, the RSPCA told the owner that they would have taken it off her but because her other pony was not as poor (ribs showing but not a hat rack) they would give her the benefit of the doubt. The other pony was a welsh type but obviously the RSPCA couldn't work out that it would cope better in those conditions and was not an indication that the horses were actually being fed, which is what the owner told them. Hope the WHW are able to help that poor horse OP.
 
Looks like a condition score of 1 to me, whichever scale you are using.

I'd be horrified if I thought that our oldie looked like that. She's an ex-broodie and does indeed have a dipped back, which she has lost muscle from but I certainly can't count her ribs.

Let's hope that WHW can help.
 
Good god! It's a one, and will soon be a 0 (= dead) if something's not done. What is wrong with the RSPCA? Don't they know anything about horses?
 
Patterdale said:
The RSPCA have got bigger fish to fry, like spending £300k+ prosecuting the Heythrop and hassling old men with 22 well fed horses....
Click to expand...

clearly :)................
but ! i have known two cases of horses who were this thin and were actually very well loved and cared for oldies who there owners just could not keep weight on
they both went on for a couple of years and were quite happy although looked terrible , one girl kept hers rugged because the rspca were constantly being called , this resulted in the poor old horse being far too hot and uncomfortable in the summer and then loosing more weight
the other old horse was on a main road and they eventually put a notice up explaining to passers by why the horse looked the way he did

i'm not saying this is the case with this horse as i don't know all the details but is there a reason why the horse is thin ,if it is simply neglect i agree something needs done but if it was my well loved veteran i was struggling to keep weight on and thinking about maybe loosing him/her i'd be furious if someone entered my field and removed its rugs then posted the pics on a forum

(tin hat on :) )
 
Sorry but if I had an oldie that looked like that despite careful worming, teeth, vet investigation of bloods and huge amounts of appropriate feed, I would have to seriously consider his quality of life and for who's benefit the horse was being kept alive.

Uncomfortable rugging to hide the sight would sit uncomfortably with me.
 
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