Horse kept in living room...

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MagicMelon

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http://www.scotsman.com/news/odd/council-action-against-woman-who-lives-with-horse-1-3129702

Seriously? Is she mad? It sounds like the horse clearly doesn't have enough headroom in the house, her saying that if she removes its bedding then its fine - well thats great... but then I guess it suffers when the bedding IS down which is likely all of the time! Hate her comment "I don’t think any horse or pony should be put out in this climate in winter – and that is where she’ll end up if they force me by the end of the month." I'm rather confused as this article is dated today, yet the current climate here in Scotland is 14 degrees today?! Hardly depths of winter, and even then horses are perfectly fine outside where they belong! She sounds like she has no clue about how to keep horses. Sad really.
 
I remember this from long ago but then the council said there was noting they could do as there's no law that says you can't keep a horse in your house.
Interesting that they are now taking action because the horse needs to have 2' clearance above its head. Do we have laws about stable height in this country ?

The woman is barmey of course, but interesting angle the council are going for.
 
So the Scottish equivalent of the RSPCA (sorry forget what they're called) say they're happy, the horse is OK??:(:(:(

Words fail me, they really do......... IMO this is downright cruel and they SHOULD be taking an interest.

Poor horse having a fruitloop like this for an owner, looks a really good type too. Such a pity, it deserves better.
 
Don't see the problem m'self? I saw this on TV a while back and the room's no different to a (spacious) stable. I've worked on plenty of yards where horses had to go through doors and down corridors to get to a stable.

They'd have a point if it was a council property but if it's her own, leave her to it! With the lack of grazing I'd only worry about lack of exercise and stimulation. but maybe she rides/walks it everyday?
 
I remember being a child invited to this old ladies house . Tea was served in the lounge and a Falabella trotted in and got on the sofa. The weirdest thing was that to the lady it was quite normal but to us a but novel. Apparently it went through the lounge French doors into the garden to do its business and then came back in.
 
This lady is clearly eccentric but as long as the horse is healthy leave her be, I'm sure the Scottish RSPCA has far more pressing cases of neglect to deal with. The only time I'd say sort it out is if the horse was distressed or the neighbours were affected by a unkept dung heap or similar .
 
The SSPCA, unlike the RSPCA, will not take action unless the animal is in obvious bad health or seriously at risk. Frankly, I don't think they have the money. I attempted to post the story on here of a woman not far from me who left her dog on a chain while she went away for three months.

The dog was (according to the SSPCA) fine because someone was coming in once a day to feed and water it. They did eventually serve a notice under animal welfare legislation in response to public pressure but never followed through when the time limit was exceeded. Some caring member of the public eventually removed the dog. (Not me!).

She also left four small ponies on a ragwort infested plot with hardly any grazing. Although DEFRA declared the ragwort a "serious infestation" and did eventually take action, the SSPCA inspector could not see it. I suspect the inspector was unable to identify the plants after they had died off at the end of the growing season. I saw the ponies eating the ragwort as there was nothing else.

Apparently, this dog owner was in court a while ago for neglecting some 50 ponies. I am told she also kept a sick foal in an up stairs bedroom and the house had to be virtually gutted when they eventually moved because the urine had seeped through both the floor and the ceiling. There's a lot more where that came from.

Publicity is one way to deal with this sort of problem but I got severely reprimanded by TFC for trying to publish the story (with names and telephone numbers!) on here. If anyone can suggest how to publicise this sort of case, please PM me.

I suspect there is something in the legislation about height as I seem to remember horses need to be transported with at least 760mm clearance above the withers.

I also met a close neighbour of the woman from Lewis and that is another one with complications! In spite of the obvious problems, there is often nothing much that can be done legally if the animal is otherwise in good health.
 
I totally get that the SSPCA have worse cases to deal with and they have limited funds etc. and I'm not slagging them off for that - I think they do the best they can. But I do feel pretty sad that they never seem to act even if the animal is clearly being kept wrongly. I can think of a stallion I was shown years ago when I was a kid - it was kept in a tiny barn, totally closed up and only brought out very occassionally to serve mares. What a rubbish life it must have had :( No grass, no contact with other horses (very often), no view / fresh air, could never even get up a trot. And I remember the owner wondering why it was so grumpy (it was pretty aggressive but hey, who could blame it) - BUT it was in good condition so I guess the SSPCA could have done nothing. Thats what saddens me, its the mental aspect they should take into account too IMO.
 
MagicMelon said:
I totally get that the SSPCA have worse cases to deal with and they have limited funds etc. and I'm not slagging them off for that - I think they do the best they can. But I do feel pretty sad that they never seem to act even if the animal is clearly being kept wrongly. I can think of a stallion I was shown years ago when I was a kid - it was kept in a tiny barn, totally closed up and only brought out very occassionally to serve mares. What a rubbish life it must have had :( No grass, no contact with other horses (very often), no view / fresh air, could never even get up a trot. And I remember the owner wondering why it was so grumpy (it was pretty aggressive but hey, who could blame it) - BUT it was in good condition so I guess the SSPCA could have done nothing. Thats what saddens me, its the mental aspect they should take into account too IMO.
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Is that the mental state of the animal or the owner??

In the case I mentioned, the woman is highly intelligent and articulate, just has no feeling for animals other than as things she owns. She is a hoarder, as seen on TV, and will not part with anything although she goes through the motions of advertising her livestock for sale in response to the latest pressure from the authorities, when push comes to shove she won't actually sell. She also seems to have access to unlimited free legal advice and is always quick to state her good intentions which never come to fruition. (A mess of derelict old cars and caravans on site have been "in the course of renovation" for at least 15 years!). These people can be very difficult to deal with, especially by the local welfare inspector who probably has more urgent cases and not the same level of education (to be kind!).
 
Dry Rot said:
Is that the mental state of the animal or the owner??

In the case I mentioned, the woman is highly intelligent and articulate, just has no feeling for animals other than as things she owns. She is a hoarder, as seen on TV, and will not part with anything although she goes through the motions of advertising her livestock for sale in response to the latest pressure from the authorities, when push comes to shove she won't actually sell. She also seems to have access to unlimited free legal advice and is always quick to state her good intentions which never come to fruition. (A mess of derelict old cars and caravans on site have been "in the course of renovation" for at least 15 years!). These people can be very difficult to deal with, especially by the local welfare inspector who probably has more urgent cases and not the same level of education (to be kind!).
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Alot of highly intelligent people seemed to have missed the queue when common sense was being handed out. Double the grey matter, and zero nous. I was at school with a few people like this and I always wondered how they were ever going to survive in the world!
 
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