Horse Rescues in Kent

Who supposedly rescued them and put out that figure, it seems far too high for just 1 county to have let alone cope with, I don't believe it could be anywhere near that number, that is almost 800 every month where are they all going?
 
Would be interested to know whether this the number of horse rescued by bona fide registered charities in the area?
 
On the BBC news lunchtime there was a bit about abandoned horses, and asking for people to give them a home. Most of them seemed to be of the coloured cob variety, wonder who they belonged to !
 
Its just been on the BBC 6 o'clock news. Irony is its been going on since 2008 and the ones shown were not were as bad as the ones seen on the welsh commons. Who ever the RSPCA spokes women was a bit out her depth.
 
So, these countless coloured cobs and the like (i.e. badly bed and conformed animals-moorland/welsh ponies aside) reported dumped, do they belong to the travelling community? Are the police and RSPCA just too scared to call a spade a spade here? Its a long time since I've been that far south so its a genuine question.
 
MotherOfChickens said:
So, these countless coloured cobs and the like (i.e. badly bed and conformed animals-moorland/welsh ponies aside) reported dumped, do they belong to the travelling community? Are the police and RSPCA just too scared to call a spade a spade here? Its a long time since I've been that far south so its a genuine question.
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I'm not sure it really matters which section of the community are more likely to abandon animals. Why should the police or RSPCA cause contention by sugesting the possible ethnic origin or culture of the perpetrators?

I work in an area which is full of travelers. However the term's confusing as most don't travel these days, and they have intermarried with the local community so labels aren't too useful. Many have horses. Some are well cared for, some aren't.

Surely horse welfare and the law are what should be being looked at, not trying to identify any group or community as more responsible?
 
I have just been on the RSPCA web site, which is not very good by the way. And About 3/4 of the animals are of the "coloured cob"variety, and I am sure most come from "ethnic origins" community's, travellers, Even if they don't travel any more. So why don't the RSPCA and WHW get proactive and go into these sites talk to the leader/elders and try to sort these animals out before they get to this state. Or at least start a dialogue with them about the problem.
 
Penny Less said:
What happened about the horse culls proposed last year ? This is unfortunately the way forward I feel.
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Sadly I have to agree with you. :( Pts all the poor quality unwanted horses and bring in some sort of license system for controlling breeding. We know not everyone will abide by the rules, but we should make it hard to breed horses without a license and inspection.
 
Welly said:
I have just been on the RSPCA web site, which is not very good by the way. And About 3/4 of the animals are of the "coloured cob"variety, and I am sure most come from "ethnic origins" community's, travellers, Even if they don't travel any more. So why don't the RSPCA and WHW get proactive and go into these sites talk to the leader/elders and try to sort these animals out before they get to this state. Or at least start a dialogue with them about the problem.[/QUOTE
Whether you like it or not a lot of travellers consider having ponies as their heritage, but because of changes in society some have lost the skills that used to be handed down on how to keep them. There is still certainly a market for prettily coloured well feathered, small gypsy cobs which are kept like owning a top end car, not the mass of black and white that you see.
The police have enough trouble avoiding confrontation with traveller communities even when they are good reason to want to go on to camps. The sight of most RSPCA inspectors in uniform with their lack of tact and minimal diplomacy skills would cause more trouble and the chances are that any animal who did need intervention would be moved on. I think local councils should take a more proactive approach, how many so called respectable livery yards have animals who basic needs are not being met, but they are tucked away and its left to another livery to report them or the YO moves them on. Councils already need to provide sites for travellers so why not include provision for rough grazing where possible with welfare checks as part of the deal, but the same should apply to livery yards. Most of the people I have met who used to own ponies or horses for driving have down sized or got rid of them all together, just because their home has wheels they are not stupid or uncaring. There has been lots of discussion on here on how owners want to shift the responsibility of the lame and worthless animal on to someone else, I would imagine most of the owners of these live in houses, in some parts of the country these animals are just as likely to be dumped on waste ground.
At the moment everyone is playing shove a'penny with horse welfare as its expensive, emotive and time consuming, existing laws are not being enforced, there probably will be nothing done until there is a RTA where many people are killed not just the stray ponies.
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