OMFG reported to the RSPCA for muddy field!!

Echo Bravo said:
Zebedee. I think any horse owner that looks after their horses well, that gets a notice from RSPCA would be bloody upset, these people know very littleabout each animal,and lets face it after the heavy snow falls and now heavy rain, those of us that have restricted grazing have seen said paddocks turn into mudbaths and yes I think you will find they are fed hay or haylage, while they are out during the day. I take it your horses have hovershoes, so they don't churn up your paddocks
Click to expand...


As I said I HAVE had a note left. It didn't upset me in the least. I just rang, outlined the situation & answered their questions. What's there to get upset about? You say yourself in the post above that the inspectors tend to have a broad general knowlegde, rather than a species specific expertise, therefore they may need additional information rather that just what they see before them to ensure that there isn't a welfare issue.
I personally would far rather a concerned member of the public made a report (out of genuine concern) than just turned a blind eye - wouldn't you?
Where would Carrot & Spud be if the couple who found them had just ignored it & gone home?
 
Last edited:
Zebedee said:
As I said I HAVE had a note left. It didn't upset me in the least. I just rang, outlined the situation & answered their questions. What's there to get upset about? You say yourself in the post above that the inspectors tend to have a broad general knowlegde, rather than a species specific expertise, therefore they may need addition information rather that just what they see before them to ensure that there isn't a welfare issue.
I personally would far rather a concerned member of the public made a report (out of genuine concern) than just turned a blind eye - wouldn't you?
Where would Carrot & Spud be if the couple who found them had just ignored it & gone home?
Click to expand...

Agree with this. I can understand why you would feel upset but they don't know how realiable the information is when they get it. The term mud may only have been used just to put something on form as an indicator that they had been and what they had seen not that they think it is unreasonable that fields are muddy. As to some comments about ethnic minorities - you just make yourself sound really ignorant.
 
Achinghips said:
how deep is the mud then?:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

What is that supposed to mean? Depends on your soil and the amount of acreage and horses.

Look. I sympathise with the OP, We were threatened last year with reporting because our horses had to 'walk' through a poached area after three months of snow, huge thaw, soaking wet ground and then the aftermath of mud to get to their hardstanding and shelters, bear in mind that they still had higher dry ground they could get to besides the shelter and hardstanding.

I do agree to an extent that the GP should report what they are concerned about but just recently I reported horses being left out in the two months of blizzards and crap we have had here with just frozen troughs in the field and no hay or supplementary feeding, took weeks for them to respond, hey ho!!
 
I cannot and will not move them onto the other field until the end of winter (feb) as then i would have two identical mud baths and then where would the RSPCA like me to put them then? Will they pay for me to rent out extra land?

The horses normally have access to a dry flat bit but with the weeks torrential rain thats wet now too.

They have a huge field shelter thats dry and surfaced that they can go onto should they so choose

I dont LIKE keeping them in the mud but i am making the best of a bad situation. And doing whats best for my horses long term. Mud for a few more weeks or mud and no grazing for months.
 
I completely understand why you are upset - I would be if it happened to me. I agree with Zebedee in that I think you should ring them up and explain your circumstances and how your horses aren't neglected at all. If they feel they need a visit, yes, it's annoying but it could be far worse. Try to remember that as frustrating as the situation is, these people have to respond to every call they get and are only doing their jobs.

I really feel for you though and I hope the situation gets resolved quickly. As annoying as it is, at least it shows that somebody cares about the horses' welfare, even if they don't understand horses enough to know what's going on.
 
If they have access to a huge field shelter that could house them all if they all wanted to stand under it, and I assume the ground under it is dry due to the the cover?? And if the weight of your horses is fine and they have water then you have absolutely nothing to worry about, call the inspector and leave a contact number if you wish, it won't do any harm to chat to the inspector and let them know about the access to shelter and the fact that they are hayed at x time of day, and your reasons for not ablib. Don't get mad at the officer if they received a call stating in mud/no food etc, they have to check it out. Better for them to attend speak to you and see everythings good than not and there possibly be a problem. If you call them back they will at least have your telephone number for future reference if a problem such as entangled/colic/escapee etc etc ever occured.

And with regard to people saying they should be dealing with more severe situations... How do they know what a situation will be like without attending it!!!! They only have the publics description to work off....
 
Alphamare said:
thank you!

many fields look like this. we are on clay.

I plan to move them in six weeks. yes the field is trashed. but i cant lose both fields. I hate that they are on the mud. but they do have the shelter to go into if they choose, which they normally dont.
Click to expand...

My winter field looks like this, take on Wednesday.

IMG_0421.jpg


You may find a member of the public, who doesn't own horses, is concerned about seeing them on mud. There's a tiny field down the road from us, it's only about 3/4 acre and has five little hairy cobs on it. They come to hay them once a day, with lots of hay, but the paddock is a disgrace. There's no shelter, the horses are breaking the fencing trying to get to the grass verge and they just look in a sorry state. I can look at them and think it's not ideal but "they'll cope" but some of the locals here think they look very neglected.
 
Im sorry but i resent the RSPCA having my phone number or address AT ALL. To me its rude and intrusive

So what they are just going to keep tabs on me now. This is just infuriating.

Im sorry but the whole organisation is infuriating. Fine deal with horse calls, but have some sense to know that this is england, you cant see half of my field (or the other field) from the gate (or the shelter might i add)) and that its MUDDY here, I have seen horses in fields worse than mine or at least the same. They dont get checked.

Sorry but your reply has just wound me up. I shouldnt have to answer to the general bloody public or Joe blogs.

I will talk with this inspector. ONCE and thats it. Im not playing some frigging game with a charity that has no right sticking its nose in my business. He can come once, i do a good job with my horses. Hell ill even get my god damn vet to ring the guy. Then leave me the hell alone.

I have horses to get away from the general public not to be harassed by them

By the way should i add that my fields are down a lane. A PRIVATE lane. So how did someone see them?
 
Tormenta said:
What is that supposed to mean? Depends on your soil and the amount of acreage and horses.

Look. I sympathise with the OP, We were threatened last year with reporting because our horses had to 'walk' through a poached area after three months of snow, huge thaw, soaking wet ground and then the aftermath of mud to get to their hardstanding and shelters, bear in mind that they still had higher dry ground they could get to besides the shelter and hardstanding.

I do agree to an extent that the GP should report what they are concerned about but just recently I reported horses being left out in the two months of blizzards and crap we have had here with just frozen troughs in the field and no hay or supplementary feeding, took weeks for them to respond, hey ho!!
Click to expand...

How deep is the mud means how deep is it!! Does it come up to the top of the hoof, the fetlock, the hocks etc... How muddy a field gets depends on the things you mention, but that wasn't what was asked.

I'm with Zebedee and others who think that its better for people to feel that theyare able to report things that they think is an issue, even if it turns out to be something stupid, rather than animals suffering because people didn't. I would be mortified and upset if someone rang and reported me, but I wouldn't stop anyone coming - theres nothing to hide after all. Telling them to * off and that they've got no rights etc just makes you sound like someone who needs checking out imo! I'm sure thats what James Gray said when they called! I also think its right that the reporter is not identified - they may get attacked/shouted at in the heat of people's anger, and then be afraid to report again. A lot of the serious offenders that are prosecuted by the RSPCA are pretty nasty looking characters - would you want them to know that you reported them?

We have very muddy fields. Its hard to say without seeing the fields, but it depends on how many horses are on your land - if there are a lot on a small field with no dry bits at all, then I would sacrifice the other field. Its amazing how fields come back from being churned up as soon as the grass grows - yes it does slow it down, but if you have good doers thats not actually a bad thing is it?

Please don't think that this is an attack by the way - its just my opinion.
 
sadly I think field kept horses are more likely to get reported esp in the winter as the general public don't understand that horses don't need the same living conditions as humans and they are more visible.

If they have a field shelter with dry ground in it could you feed them in there to preserve the ground outside or would they fight?

Lots of stabled horses do not get ab-lib hay only people do not see this as they are away from the public eye.
 
Sorry...I think I quoted your reply to the post I meant to be quoting which was

"Who doesn't have muddy fields in this weather"..or words to that effect.

I was not meant to be directly replying to you. Apologies again.

As I said, the horses down the lane to me are on a very muddy paddock. Five hairy vanners on 3/4 acre at the most. Muddy hairy horses always look worse anyway...they're mud monsters at the best of times.

As I also said, I looked at them (broken fencing, no shelter at all (it's post and rail to three sides and a ditch/brook to the other) and thought it wasn't ideal...the land isn't big enough to support five in this weather..but also said I knew they'd cope. I certainly wouldn't complain about them!

Other locals have made comments to me as I've ridden past and I just say they're hardy cobs and can cope perfectly in those conditions...are well covered etc. They do stand huddled together and sad looking if it's raining, but they don't look in dire danger at all.

Spring is around the corner.
 
SO1 said:
sadly I think field kept horses are more likely to get reported esp in the winter as the general public don't understand that horses don't need the same living conditions as humans and they are more visible.

If they have a field shelter with dry ground in it could you feed them in there to preserve the ground outside or would they fight?

Lots of stabled horses do not get ab-lib hay only people do not see this as they are away from the public eye.
Click to expand...

No they would definitely fight. they are fed separately. A fair majority of the field should dry out with better weather coming for a few days.

I know they use the shelter as there are droppings in there sometimes.

as i have said before on this thread, the mud is about hoof deep, sometimes a little deeper in the worst places and not as bad in the better places
 
Thank you patches! I was not ranting at you i am sorry!

Your winter field looks lovely!

I cant wait to move my neds.

But there is no point moving them as then i would have two bogs instead of just one :) then where would i put them?
 
A fb friend recently posted a pic of 2 ponies in a very small muddy patch, they were expressing horror at the conditions. However both ponies were rugged, and there was a hay rack with some hay left in it. I pointed out that whilst it was not ideal a lot of fields are in a similar state at the moment, and the horses did appear to be cared for. Not sure if they were totally convinced, and I did suggest if they were genuinely concerned they speak to WHW not RSPCA, but it does show that non horsey people see a muddy field and immediately think neglect.
 
But from what you've said alphamare you won't need to move them as they have access to dry lying under the shelter... you've said the inspector cannot see this from the gate so they do not know it exists?
 
Last edited:
Alphamare said:
Thank you patches! I was not ranting at you i am sorry!

Your winter field looks lovely!

I cant wait to move my neds.

But there is no point moving them as then i would have two bogs instead of just one :) then where would i put them?
Click to expand...

YAY...I quoted the correct reply this time! :grin:

I am fortunate to live on a large dairy farm with 250 acres at my disposal. My five are on a 15 acre field at the moment, stabled overnight.

As they're all good do-ers I have two small fields and a riding paddock for summer use (when the cows are out) which probably total just under 3 acres. If I had mine on that all year around, I can assure you mine would also be grazing in mud right now.

I also wouldn't want to trash my other paddock, but would be looking to move them across at the end of next month/beginning of March if possible. I move back to my summer paddocks then, as I have to let this field grow and get fertilised for the cows to go back outside come April/May. I always find that I can cope with my own paddocks from the end of February and not trash them. Heck, last year they were living out by the end of Feb as it was so dry.

Cling on to that hope! It's amazing how much land can dry with a few dry, windy days.

I really think you'll find they've been reported by a dog walker, etc who was well meaning and genuinely alarmed at seeing that mud. They'll be the same people who would think it's cruel to have my shetland muzzled in summer and my lot chewing the roots as they're all fatties. Those people think horses should probably be on the grass mine are currently on all year round....yet most of us know that many horses would soon end up dead on summer dairy grazing!

The RSPCA have to act. It's not personal, it's just duty. I had walkers call them once because I was starving my shetland...as he was muzzled. As soon as they came out and saw him we had a good giggle about it. Same as you, my horses aren't kept anywhere near the public footpath that runs through our farm, so the walker was clearly trespassing off the marked path. They've also been here when someone on the motorway (that runs through our farm) has reported a cow having something hanging out of her (calving). RSPCA call because people think we're not tending to her. We usually let them get on with it, checking the calf is presenting properly and resorting to binocular watching the "nursery field" from the house.
 
Patches thats exactly when i had planned on moving them! :D last weekend in Feb

I always intended to sacrafice the smaller paddock as its due for a good harrowing and over seeding.

Both fields were a mess when we got them.
 
Some people have absolutely nothing better to do with their time apart from stick their noses into other peoples business - so annoying. My winter paddock is revolting too but there is no way I would ruin my other paddock just for the sake of it. If you are happy to do so then let the RSPCA look at your horses if only to prove them wrong, but bear in mind that some inspectors don't actually know anything about horses at all so don't even know what they are looking for/at.
Hope all goes well.
 
Unfortuately we live in a very small country and are neighbours are often not horsey, in fact some people who own them seem to think they should be tucked up in nice clean box with rugs on when it rains. I rent 3 paddocks, all are near houses or footpaths so at the back of my mind all the time is what will passers by think. So I act accordingly leaving bucketss/haynets where people can see them, explain to passers by what I am doing and why and every winter expect a call from the RSPCA.
The Rspca is not really a lot of use, and its a lot easier to 'haress' people who are not going to thump them in the face and have an adress, you are just another tick in their box try not to lose any sleep over it.
 
OP, I know you're upset because you are a caring owner, making sure your horses are looked after properly. But how many people looked the other way when they passed Jamie Gray's place? Personally, I'd sooner be reported 100 times and it be just a well meaning but ignorant passer-by than another Amersham horror get missed until it was too late. I'd actually use the contact with the RSPCA welfare officer to build up a relationship. They have a job to do same as anyone else. When it's done correctly (I expect someone reported your fields to them) it has to be recognised, even if the times nothing gets done means their reputation is regularly tarnished.
 
Alphamare said:
Im sorry but i resent the RSPCA having my phone number or address AT ALL. To me its rude and intrusive

So what they are just going to keep tabs on me now. This is just infuriating.

Im sorry but the whole organisation is infuriating. Fine deal with horse calls, but have some sense to know that this is england, you cant see half of my field (or the other field) from the gate (or the shelter might i add)) and that its MUDDY here, I have seen horses in fields worse than mine or at least the same. They dont get checked.

Sorry but your reply has just wound me up. I shouldnt have to answer to the general bloody public or Joe blogs.

I will talk with this inspector. ONCE and thats it. Im not playing some frigging game with a charity that has no right sticking its nose in my business. He can come once, i do a good job with my horses. Hell ill even get my god damn vet to ring the guy. Then leave me the hell alone.

I have horses to get away from the general public not to be harassed by them

By the way should i add that my fields are down a lane. A PRIVATE lane. So how did someone see them?
Click to expand...
I doubt they will keep tabs on you- in fact if I got remported I'd rather they had my number so that IF any other issues cropped up- i.e they escaped they could contact me asap. Their job is for the welfare of animals- you have said yourself that you cant see the non muddy patch or field shelter from the road- so he won't know- talk to them and tell them, they are just following up a call- you also said they are not adlib- so sometimes it may look to the general public that they are neglected.

RE: other people not getting checked on- how do you know they have never been visited? they may also have been checked on once in the past.

Our field were horrific last year and we have footpaths running through them- so people have called before- but the local inspector has been (before my horse was liveried there) and saw that the horses were brought in every night to dry off and YO showed the resting paddocks ready for spring- the inspector never visits now as he is on good terms with the YO. How did someone see them- took a wrong turning? Their dog ran off up their which they went to catch-who knows but I'd rather the RSPCA did come and check things out - you just never know who is neglected...
 
Box_Of_Frogs said:
OP, I know you're upset because you are a caring owner, making sure your horses are looked after properly. But how many people looked the other way when they passed Jamie Gray's place? Personally, I'd sooner be reported 100 times and it be just a well meaning but ignorant passer-by than another Amersham horror get missed until it was too late. I'd actually use the contact with the RSPCA welfare officer to build up a relationship. They have a job to do same as anyone else. When it's done correctly (I expect someone reported your fields to them) it has to be recognised, even if the times nothing gets done means their reputation is regularly tarnished.
Click to expand...

^^^ This.

Irritating as this is you know your horses are being well looked after. Lots of us are in the same boat with mud everywhere so I really do sympathise.
 
I'm not surprised you're angry, I would be fuming. You could always offer to give the RSPCA/whoever is being nosey the number of your vet. That worked for me years ago. I had two laminitics on restricted grazing in the summer - though with Hifi and hay - and got a snotty phone call from the neighbour complaining they didn't have enough grass. She said her vet had looked at them (she was a bloomin' horse owner as well) and the vet had said they shouldn't be on restricted grazing. AND she'd been feeding them herself! WTF???

I had to seriously control my anger but wrote her a letter explaining their condition, gave her my vet's number, and told her in no uncertain terms that if either of them had an attack of laminitis I would hold her directly responsible and sue her for the vet's fees. It seemed to do the trick.
 
I can totally understand why you are so cross. Our field is also on clay and it is muddy and wet. Are our horses badly looked after and miserable - no!!! Show me a field that isn't wet and muddy ATM, the RSPCA are useless, they should perhaps be using their resources to investigate real neglect cases! More often than not unless there is a camera filming they arn't interested xx
 
Supertrooper said:
I can totally understand why you are so cross. Our field is also on clay and it is muddy and wet. Are our horses badly looked after and miserable - no!!! Show me a field that isn't wet and muddy ATM, the RSPCA are useless, they should perhaps be using their resources to investigate real neglect cases! More often than not unless there is a camera filming they arn't interested xx
Click to expand...

How do they know what is a real neglect case without attending?

Where were the cameras here??
 
i think the lengths that people go to looking after their horses properly they have every right to feel indignant when intruded upon by a cruelty inspector, cause that's what they are, and if the inspector can't see a cared for horse when its in front of him he should go and buy some new glasses or get a job as a shop assistant. (no insult to shop assistants)!
 
just read the andiamo thread about being assaulted on a livery yard and the disgraceful abuse and neglect alleged to be perpetrated on the poor horses on some of the yards, if there's any rspca inpectors reading this they should get down there double quick cause there's too much of this in the horse world.
 
jendie said:
Interesting to note that this thread has more than 5,000 views. I suspect that is an indication of how many of us have muddy fields!!!
Click to expand...

Actually I believe it's more likely because the title has RSPCA in it!!! I get the impression (understatement!) that there is alot of negative feeling towards them on this forum!!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top