kerilli
Well-Known Member
This is from the Society for the Welfare of Horses and Ponies newsletter... it's a great charity, and i'm sure Jenny won't mind me quoting it verbatim. This kind of sums up why we must all be alert and never assume that people will do the right thing, i guess:
"The Nutters.
Inevitably, many of the owners who have abused or neglected their horses are thoroughly unpleasant people. Others are just profoundly stupid when it comes to looking after animals. Sad to say, education doesn't seem to help much. Clever doesn't always mean sensible. We've had to take animals into care from lawyers and accountants who didn't realise that they were failing in their duty to their horse.
One owner told us that she couldn't feed hay because the wind blew it away. Another said that her horse would get cold standing still eating the hay. Fear of laminitis prevented one owner from feeding hay when there was no grass whatsoever, while a vet's advice to starve an excessively fat pony was so literally interpreted that the animal nearly died.
In a somewhat disreputable do-it-yourself yard we were told, solemnly, that you must not give horses too much water or they'll get diarrhoea. A thoroughbred in ramshackle shed, deep in muck, could not have straw bedding because she'd eat it.
A couple of Shires had never been handled but needed to have their feet trimmed. The owner received advice from an expert; run the horses up and down the road and the hooves would wear down. My favourite tale came from John Smales, who met a lady who had bought a pony for her daughter. I hope that you've got a good farrier, said John. Oh, we don't need a farrier, was the reply. "Luckily the pony had shoes on when we bought it.""
If you have ever heard anything as daft as those, please post them here...!
Btw, i'm not advocating busybodying, but just keeping a kindly eye out maybe... for the horses' sakes.
"The Nutters.
Inevitably, many of the owners who have abused or neglected their horses are thoroughly unpleasant people. Others are just profoundly stupid when it comes to looking after animals. Sad to say, education doesn't seem to help much. Clever doesn't always mean sensible. We've had to take animals into care from lawyers and accountants who didn't realise that they were failing in their duty to their horse.
One owner told us that she couldn't feed hay because the wind blew it away. Another said that her horse would get cold standing still eating the hay. Fear of laminitis prevented one owner from feeding hay when there was no grass whatsoever, while a vet's advice to starve an excessively fat pony was so literally interpreted that the animal nearly died.
In a somewhat disreputable do-it-yourself yard we were told, solemnly, that you must not give horses too much water or they'll get diarrhoea. A thoroughbred in ramshackle shed, deep in muck, could not have straw bedding because she'd eat it.
A couple of Shires had never been handled but needed to have their feet trimmed. The owner received advice from an expert; run the horses up and down the road and the hooves would wear down. My favourite tale came from John Smales, who met a lady who had bought a pony for her daughter. I hope that you've got a good farrier, said John. Oh, we don't need a farrier, was the reply. "Luckily the pony had shoes on when we bought it.""
If you have ever heard anything as daft as those, please post them here...!
Btw, i'm not advocating busybodying, but just keeping a kindly eye out maybe... for the horses' sakes.
