I've just seen a foal tethered....

[JenHunt]

coming back to work after lunch I passed a few horses tethered by the side of the (dual carriage way) road. Not unusual around here as a lot of travellers pass through.

but, there was a youngish (2yo?) tethered up, and then a mare and foal tethered next to each other. The foal was less than weaning age as it was suckling, but surely that's not good for the foal to be tethered at sucha young age when they should be larking about and learning about the world and themselves!

 

[AmyMay]

Please call the WHW - there are rules about the ages when horses can be tethered from.

 

[Bug2007]

I am against teathering all together, i believe they should be allowed to have a field to fun and play in but not everyone have these facilities... Travellers tend to look after their horses well and in this case it's better for it to be tied than to be leaping around on the edge of a road.
Whe the travellers move on they may have other areas they go to, which allow them to let them off the teather.

I think as long as they look heathly and have access to water then not much you can do however much we disagree with it.

 

[JenHunt]

I don't have a problem with tethering as long as its done properly, and the other horses seem fine, they all have water and they're moved regularly. it really is just this foal, poor little mite. He appears to be in good condition, he is close enough to mum for a drink and a cuddle.

I just feel that he won't get a chance to learn to be a horse, and to use the incredible set of legs he has if he's tethered. thanks amymay, I'll at least seek their "advice" about how young a foal can be tethered!

 

[JenHunt]

further to the post yesterday...

I spoke to the RSPCA and they said they'd send someone to have a look.
This morning as I came to work the van was there but no sign of people around.
Just now as I drove past the mare and foal are in an elec fence corral and the other horses are still tethered. I guess the foal was too young to tether and the owners have taken the advice they were given

 

[3Beasties]

Huge well done for acting Jenhunt and well done to the RSPCA for actually doing something about it. Good result all round I think

 

[AmyMay]

further to the post yesterday...

I spoke to the RSPCA and they said they'd send someone to have a look.
This morning as I came to work the van was there but no sign of people around.
Just now as I drove past the mare and foal are in an elec fence corral and the other horses are still tethered. I guess the foal was too young to tether and the owners have taken the advice they were given

Brilliant outcome.

 

[jessicabeau1]

is it just gypsies that tether horses?

 

[OWLIE185]

Under the rewcently introduced animal welfare act it is a lot easier to prosecute people that are not looking after their animals. Water and food is no longer the only criteria.

Take a look at this link:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/cruelty/documents/cop-horse.pdf

 

[JenHunt]

round here, i think so, but traditionally tethering was used for working horses and horses travelling any distance so that they could graze but not stray.

 

[chickeninabun]

is it just gypsies that tether horses?

I was wondering about taking my horse camping with me and tethering it alongside the tent, but I'm reckoning it'd just knot itself up in the rope! Gypsy horses must be smarter than our standard field kept variety!

 

[Aoibhin]

is it just gypsies that tether horses?

No, my little mare is now teathered for her own safety as no fencing keeps her in.
the Electric she walks through, post & rail she rams down or squeezes under/over, stock fencing she rams untill it twists & gives, hedges she bushes through & the round pen that was tried she simply kept running into untill she had cut her face,chest & legs open on.

she now has a teather stake & long chain and is no longer at risk from straying onto the major A trunk toad we border onto.

 

[cindydog]

when on holiday in st lusia, there was horses some with foals and they are allowed to wander around hotel grounds for grazing, some mares were tethered to trees by road sides whilst the foals tear all around and same for the cows, standing in dung was not very romantic.