Don't understand why some people keep horses...

[Nudibranch]

Near my work there are a number of tethered coloured cobs and personally I don't think their welfare is adequate. I've had a certain charity inspect them but they couldn't do anything "because you can't see their ribs". Some of them are kept on a cliff top, with no shelter whatsoever. I know they're hairy but even so, kept on a tether they have no choice to get out of the howling gales and driving rain we've had a lot of lately. Two of them hadn't had their tethers moved for nearly a week, and one had no hay either. None of them have access to water. All the horses are tethered out of sight of one another so they must be incredibly lonely. The charity said that the fact they are alive must mean someone is taking them water and as I said earlier, because you can't see ribs they must have something to eat....

Quite apart from the fact I don't think their conditions are acceptable, I wonder why their owners even bother to keep them. They mustn't see them for days on end, why would someone keep a demanding animal like a horse without being able to provide at least their basic requirements? Don't even battery hens have to have shelter, water and food?

I just don't understand....

 

[stencilface]

Are they all mares? They keep them to pop out of a foal every year ime

 

[Mare Stare]

Near my work there are a number of tethered coloured cobs and personally I don't think their welfare is adequate. I've had a certain charity inspect them but they couldn't do anything "because you can't see their ribs". Some of them are kept on a cliff top, with no shelter whatsoever. I know they're hairy but even so, kept on a tether they have no choice to get out of the howling gales and driving rain we've had a lot of lately. Two of them hadn't had their tethers moved for nearly a week, and one had no hay either. None of them have access to water. All the horses are tethered out of sight of one another so they must be incredibly lonely. The charity said that the fact they are alive must mean someone is taking them water and as I said earlier, because you can't see ribs they must have something to eat....

Quite apart from the fact I don't think their conditions are acceptable, I wonder why their owners even bother to keep them. They mustn't see them for days on end, why would someone keep a demanding animal like a horse without being able to provide at least their basic requirements? Don't even battery hens have to have shelter, water and food?

I just don't understand....

Probably gypsy dealers.

 

[team barney]

There owners must go to them at least twice a day water them.

Sadly it isn't a legal requirement to have free access to water, it should be in my opinion, but it isn't. Don't quote me but I believe as long as the horses are watered twice daily that is deemed sufficient.

However much I disagree with this style of horse care I would still prefer to be one of those horses than a battery hen, the two aren't comparable in my opinion.

If you aren't satisfied with the charity's inspection ask the opinion of another, but I think in todays climate they are having to take in an awful lot of animals so those they do rescue have to be in a very poor way

 

[Miss L Toe]

Near my work there are a number of tethered coloured cobs and personally I don't think their welfare is adequate. I've had a certain charity inspect them but they couldn't do anything "because you can't see their ribs". Some of them are kept on a cliff top, with no shelter whatsoever. I know they're hairy but even so, kept on a tether they have no choice to get out of the howling gales and driving rain we've had a lot of lately. Two of them hadn't had their tethers moved for nearly a week, and one had no hay either. None of them have access to water. All the horses are tethered out of sight of one another so they must be incredibly lonely. The charity said that the fact they are alive must mean someone is taking them water and as I said earlier, because you can't see ribs they must have something to eat....

Quite apart from the fact I don't think their conditions are acceptable, I wonder why their owners even bother to keep them. They mustn't see them for days on end, why would someone keep a demanding animal like a horse without being able to provide at least their basic requirements? Don't even battery hens have to have shelter, water and food?

I just don't understand....

Name and shame the charity, I would write to the Chairman, copy to Patron, head it Animal Welfare Act 2006.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/45/crossheading/prevention-of-harm
These animal deserve of your protection, and there is no longer any requirement to wait for the death or dreadful suffering of the animal, as was once the case.
You have to realise that people keep animals for all sorts of strange [to you and me] reasons, they can be regarded as a commodity to be traded, and they consider these methods you describe to be OK, but they are NOT, keep at it, did you try the World Horse Welfare, aka ILPH?, the BHS Welfare section, and the RSPCA?
Take photos, keep a diary of events, and make sure the owners do not know who you are.

 

[*hic*]

They're not thin - so not cold, hungry or thirsty. It may not be how you choose to do things but they are obviously surviving perfectly well - as the charity have said. Arguably they are better off than the pandered to ponies that live in stables getting stiff and sore because they have no space to move around.

I'm sure you'd hate the conditions I keep two of mine in - out 24/7, minimal shelter, rugged only as much as strictly necessary, no hard feed, very little grass. They are both oldies as well - and are doing far better this year than other years when they have been kept in.

 

[Nudibranch]

They're not thin - so not cold, hungry or thirsty. It may not be how you choose to do things but they are obviously surviving perfectly well - as the charity have said. Arguably they are better off than the pandered to ponies that live in stables getting stiff and sore because they have no space to move around.

I'm sure you'd hate the conditions I keep two of mine in - out 24/7, minimal shelter, rugged only as much as strictly necessary, no hard feed, very little grass. They are both oldies as well - and are doing far better this year than other years when they have been kept in.

Oh dear. They are thin; if you do a condition score and feel the coats they are poor. They have short tethers so little room to move, and in my opinion are indeed far worse off than a stabled horse.

Recognising poor welfare doesn't mean someone is automatically a pony smotherer - I have an arthritic cushinoid oldie who lives out 24/7 along with my youngster. The baby has a lightweight rug to keep rain off and no more, the oldie is clipped so is rugged but that's a cushings issue. However they do receive suitable diets matched to their needs, ad lib hay when necessary and 24/7 access to stables with permanently open doors, veterinary and farrier care, and constant access to water.

I'm no fan of stabling but keeping a tethered animal on a north east cliff top with no grazing, no water and no choice to get out of sub-zero easterlies and pouring rain is, imo, cruel.

 

[peaceandquiet1]

Nudibranch, I agree with you, it is cruel, well done for trying.

 

[Tinsel Trouble]

Sadly it isn't a legal requirement to have free access to water, it should be in my opinion, but it isn't.

I thought under the animal act owners had to comply with the 5 freedoms which included freedom to water. If the animals are grazed on agricultural registered land or common land then they are classed as agricultural animals and there subject to the 5 freedoms.

IME the RSPCA are next to useless, WHW isn't much better. What about redwings? Everyone knows a batty old woman who runs a 'charity' why don't you try her!!!

 

[Mithras]

Of course no shelter in Northumberland in winter is cruel. I seriously wonder how any decent person could question this. Tethering isn't like keeping a horse in a field, where it can seek out a windbreak, or indeed companionship from other horses. And if they are hairy cobs in winter, not being able to see their ribs can be totally misleading.

I would report to another animal charity. At least if they cannot do anything, they can be monitored for deterioration. Its only sheer luck that the winter has been quite mild so far.

I would also look into who owns the land. It sounds like a bizarre way of keeping horses. Its so rare to see horses tethered where I live at all, never mind on an exposed hillside in winter.

 

[Wagtail]

It is disgusting, but unfortunately just so common that nothing will be done about it. The community that keeps them is beyond reproach.

 

[Ibblebibble]

in answer to your question as to why some people keep horses, it's simple, they see them as a way to make money by breeding every year, they don't consider them in the same way most of us do, to them they are just a commodity and the less they have to spend on their care the better
As to what can be done, well until the authorities stop being scared of members of this certain 'culture' they will continue to get away with treating all their animals this way

 

[Arizahn]

If you are that concerned and the authorities don't care, then why not befriend the owners and take the horses in question some hay and water? Offer to keep an eye on them; say it's because of those attacks that have been occurring.
My mum adopted one such group of people and they were very fond of her for as long as we lived near them. She used to swop vegetables from her garden for home brew... Of course, she also had Jehovah's Witnesses that mowed the lawn and did the dishes every Tuesday in exchange for their tea, and young offenders who would carry her shopping home for her! She just assumed everyone liked her. Strangely, they always did

 

[Moggy in Manolos]

Near my work there are a number of tethered coloured cobs and personally I don't think their welfare is adequate. I've had a certain charity inspect them but they couldn't do anything "because you can't see their ribs". Some of them are kept on a cliff top, with no shelter whatsoever. I know they're hairy but even so, kept on a tether they have no choice to get out of the howling gales and driving rain we've had a lot of lately. Two of them hadn't had their tethers moved for nearly a week, and one had no hay either. None of them have access to water. All the horses are tethered out of sight of one another so they must be incredibly lonely. The charity said that the fact they are alive must mean someone is taking them water and as I said earlier, because you can't see ribs they must have something to eat....

Quite apart from the fact I don't think their conditions are acceptable, I wonder why their owners even bother to keep them. They mustn't see them for days on end, why would someone keep a demanding animal like a horse without being able to provide at least their basic requirements? Don't even battery hens have to have shelter, water and food?

I just don't understand....

Here, here, makes me very angry people that have animals who cannot even provide them with the basics of food water and shelter, poor animals

 

[Miss L Toe]

If you are that concerned and the authorities don't care, then why not befriend the owners and take the horses in question some hay and water? Offer to keep an eye on them; say it's because of those attacks that have been occurring.
My mum adopted one such group of people and they were very fond of her for as long as we lived near them. She used to swop vegetables from her garden for home brew... Of course, she also had Jehovah's Witnesses that mowed the lawn and did the dishes every Tuesday in exchange for their tea, and young offenders who would carry her shopping home for her! She just assumed everyone liked her. Strangely, they always did

Troll Alert ? :big grin:

 

[Fellewell]

If you are that concerned and the authorities don't care, then why not befriend the owners and take the horses in question some hay and water? Offer to keep an eye on them; say it's because of those attacks that have been occurring.
My mum adopted one such group of people and they were very fond of her for as long as we lived near them. She used to swop vegetables from her garden for home brew... Of course, she also had Jehovah's Witnesses that mowed the lawn and did the dishes every Tuesday in exchange for their tea, and young offenders who would carry her shopping home for her! She just assumed everyone liked her. Strangely, they always did

Aww. Nice cuddly post for a Monday

Years ago I was driving to a yard at the crack of dawn and I passed some traveller ponies. One of the mares was foaling and there was no one in sight so I stopped at a distance, just to keep an eye on her.
The minute I stepped out of the car a man appeared. Within minutes a car drove up and two more men got out.
I approached them and said I thought she was alone and as soon as they realised I wasn't 'establishment' they were really friendly and thanked me. She had a filly, they were chuffed to bits.
The owners of those ponies are about; don't you worry

 

[Brandy]

Ah now this is a hard one. There is a similar group of ponies on my way to work, i drive past them at least twice a day, as does someone I know. She told me one day that she was going tp report them to a welfare charity as they had no food or water. While I don't like ponies being tethered, without free access to water, I did have to put her right. The time that she drives past each day is about half an hour earlier than me. When i go past, there is a truck goung round the field where they are tethered, dispensing water into their large buckets (which they often knock over with their tethers but they are filled twice a day) and hay.

Its not ideal but they are by no means neglected.

I'm not saying that this is the case with yours, but if they have been looked at, and are well covered (no ribs) then they must be being fed and watered surely? They would also grow a longer thinner coat if they were really going without (as I discovered when I visited my pony at her loan home last april but thats another story)

 

[touchstone]

Aww. Nice cuddly post for a Monday

Years ago I was driving to a yard at the crack of dawn and I passed some traveller ponies. One of the mares was foaling and there was no one in sight so I stopped at a distance, just to keep an eye on her.
The minute I stepped out of the car a man appeared. Within minutes a car drove up and two more men got out.
I approached them and said I thought she was alone and as soon as they realised I wasn't 'establishment' they were really friendly and thanked me. She had a filly, they were chuffed to bits.
The owners of those ponies are about; don't you worry

In some cases I dare say that the owners keep a close eye on them, but it has to be said that tethering is far from ideal as a way of keeping a horse.

Even the RSPCA, while they can't act on it are against it, http://www.horseandcountry.tv/news/2011/08/16/rspca-warns-tethering-risk

and as for this poor chap, words fail me:- http://www.charity-charities.org/news.php?artid=1035037

 

[Kenzo]

I don't like to see horses teathered as much as anyone else on here but if they are being checked on, watered and fed at some point through the day and are not showing any signs of being neglected or mistreated they won't be intersted, they would have large job on there hands if they were going following up or remove every teathered horse that is in the country.

Teathering is not ideal, far from it but the way I see it is..if travellers are going to keep and breed these type of horses, I'd rather see them being kept like this than hidden away in back fields, sheds, barns where Joe Public can't see them, where they are left in starving in empty fields be it through winter, scorched summer grazing or swamped up the knees in mud/floods during a long wet spell, or them left with rugs on so you can't see the conditon of them.

Most of them are moved about onto fresh grazing, they go round and offer them water once a day, more than what some horses get, a lot of neglected horses that suffer are not the ones that travellers tend to teather at the side of the road.

 

[Nudibranch]

I'm pretty sure these horses aren't travellers' horses. For some reason in the area near my work it seems to be accepted for ordinary people to keep horses tethered on wasteland in this way. There are quite a few next door to the hospital where OH works but they are checked daily. That's what makes me concerned about the cliff top ponies, their situation is completely different. The first return call from the certain charity confirmed that no-one had been to them for at least 48 hours under their watch, so they went back 24 then 48 hours later and thought someone had been; one had been moved to a new patch. The other had not. Therefore all was apparently well!

I go back to my original point which is lack of water, lack of food, lack of shelter. And their condition score is poor, no you can't see the ribs but you can feel them very clearly under their scraggy coats. Not acceptable imo. I might try a different welfare organisation.