Reported to the RSPCA

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Babypony

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Just found out I’ve been reported to the RSPSCA for not having a field shelter. Apparently the big thick hedges that surround the paddocks aren’t sufficient for four native ponies according to the non horsey locals. I shouldn’t be surprised as we live in one of those Hot Fuzz villages and there’s a footpath bordering the land. Anyone else been reported before? Commiserations appreciated.
 
maya2008 said:
We got reported once to WHW for… having a grass free paddock for two EMS ponies with ad lib double netted haynets and ample water.

They came round, congratulated us on having such a good setup for laminitis prone ponies (food, friends, freedom without making them poorly) and left.
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Sorry to hear that. It’s so stressful isn’t it when you know you’re doing the best for them.

I’m surprised I haven’t been reported for my strip grazing to be honest. I was almost expecting it. Of course the strip is moved every day to give them enough new grass but I was sure I’d be reported for starving them.
 
Yes I have been reported and visited. Mildly amusing as I work in animal welfare.

Many years ago, lots of snow on the ground and 2 retired hunters living out on a huge field with a footpath running alongside the stream. It was a decent walk from the yard, uphill going back and I am a lazy wotsit. So I used the car to go to the bottom gate and then carried the hard feeds into them. Needless to say they would stand at the gate looking into the lane when their internal clocks said Mum's coming.

The report was horses starving and out in the snow with no hay. What could not be seen was a piece of woodland with thick shelter belt in a u bend. In there was a heston in a feeder. Got to love the public ! Both horses lived to a huge age, one going at 29 and infirm and the other at 27 who was in rude health but dropped dead whilst galloping across for his tea.
 
I'm frantically touching wood, but I've never had a visit. A friend did though, because her ducks were standing in water! 😂 (They did have plenty of dry ground and sheds to stand in, but they chose the water, as they would). It would have been funny if there wasn't a pony stabled 24/7 a hundred metres away and they refused to even go and look at it once it was pointed out. The owner of the pony was later prosecuted for neglect of another pony.

I'm afraid the RSPCA wouldn't get past my gate without the police and a warrant, such is my dislike of them.
 
They visited when I was renting grazing along a footpath. Called for another pony (morbidly obese) but did look over the fence at mine too. They were good with the owners of the fat one who promptly ignored all advice.

My neighbours have donkeys. They're on pretty barren grazing and have been reported twice for not letting them on the lush grass. RSPCA visited but weren't worried.
 
meleeka said:
I'm frantically touching wood, but I've never had a visit. A friend did though, because her ducks were standing in water! 😂 (They did have plenty of dry ground and sheds to stand in, but they chose the water, as they would). It would have been funny if there wasn't a pony stabled 24/7 a hundred metres away and they refused to even go and look at it once it was pointed out. The owner of the pony was later prosecuted for neglect of another pony.

I'm afraid the RSPCA wouldn't get past my gate without the police and a warrant, such is my dislike of them.
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If I lived where they’re kept I’d have locked the gates in case they come. Worried (stupidly) now about coming back and finding they’ve been seized. That’s crazy they wouldn’t even look at the confined pony. Did they expect you to call them so they could make a separate visit?
 
SEL said:
They visited when I was renting grazing along a footpath. Called for another pony (morbidly obese) but did look over the fence at mine too. They were good with the owners of the fat one who promptly ignored all advice.

My neighbours have donkeys. They're on pretty barren grazing and have been reported twice for not letting them on the lush grass. RSPCA visited but weren't worried.
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Ok that’s good to hear that they were sensible. I heard awful things years ago of them going after people with laminitics on restricted grazing. Hopefully they’ve wised up over the years.
 
blitznbobs said:
I had the RSPCA called on me for having a v fat section a in a very small paddock… with signs on the fence saying “do not feed the pony”… they came out cos they had had numerous complaints that I was starving said pony. They took one look at the fatty and said bye…
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Four fat welshies here too. Bare paddocks with fences moved daily to allow a new strip of fresh grass. I appreciate it might look awful to non horsey people but there’s nothing else you can do for overweight natives.
 
I got reported to RSPCA for having a dead sheep in a paddock next to a main road. The Inspector visited all guns blazing to be shown the lining of a turn out rug that had been pulled off the gate onto the ground by one of the horses! Did he apologise NO but decided to stomp around the 2 paddocks inspecting the water troughs (both clean) and then thought he needed to examine 2 Soay ewes that had lambed that morning at that point I told him very bluntly NO. Soay sheep are skittish at the best of times and need to be left alone when they have given birth as they will reject their lamb/s. He was told him to leave our property.

Prior to this some years previously I was dragged into a real acute welfare problem by police and fire brigade (ponies in a flooded field standing on the only bit of higher ground but in flood water up to their bellies) RSPCA declined to attend.

I have zero respect for RSPCA.
 
Babypony said:
That’s crazy they wouldn’t even look at the confined pony. Did they expect you to call them so they could make a separate visit?
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They'd been called numerous times and I don't think had even attended. If they had, the owner had ignored all advice. It carried on for years until another pony was found dead in its stable by the Coincil Animal Welfare Officer, who attended when the RSPCA wouldn't. Of course they then took over the prosecution and totally excluded the council. They found out via the press, as we all did, even though I had also given a witness statement.
 
Got reported for starving ponies. Most went absolutely nowhere, as ponies were fine, just typical natives needing some restriction
The only time it was valid is when a Highland of mum's was REALLY skinny. She dropped a lot weight suddenly in summer, and wasn't interested in the piles of different food we left to tempt her to eat. Unfortunately we lost her, and post mortem showed internal melanomas - RSPCA saw the piles of food and couldn't say anything as we were really trying to get her to eat
 
A friend was reported for blindfolding her ponies. RSPCA inspected and realised they were fly masks.


I was reported for not providing water to my horses. The person who reported me was emptying taking the water buckets out of the field and stacking them outside the fence after I left of an evening. I spent every evening sat up the road so I could see when the people left and I'd go back and replace the waters for my boys. RSPCA came and spoke with me and then had words with the people who reported, caused a massive amount of conflict. I moved my horses pretty quickly after that and never looked back. Some people are just plan nasty!
 
dorsetladette said:
A friend was reported for blindfolding her ponies. RSPCA inspected and realised they were fly masks.


I was reported for not providing water to my horses. The person who reported me was emptying taking the water buckets out of the field and stacking them outside the fence after I left of an evening. I spent every evening sat up the road so I could see when the people left and I'd go back and replace the waters for my boys. RSPCA came and spoke with me and then had words with the people who reported, caused a massive amount of conflict. I moved my horses pretty quickly after that and never looked back. Some people are just plan nasty!
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People who report out of spite really are the lowest of the low. They are what's stopping the RSPCA from helping animals in need, because they are wasting so much time on the pointless calls.
 
@Babypony, commiserations coming your way.

I feel the general public reporting out of ignorance can be stress inducing for the owners, but understandable. A lot of what we consider normal can be quite baffling to the non-initiated. We would complain an awful lot more if no one reported a real welfare case. I try to preempt any issues by chatting to my horses' neighbours and in particular explaining fly masks (often mistaken for blindfolds - one neighbour though it was so I could better control the horses when leading them through the village) and fly rugs as people wonder why I'm covering my horses up when it's hot. I also spend a lot time explaining that horses can and do survive get a bit wet if it rains - weirdly, no one worries about cows or sheep getting wet.

Reporting out of spite is despicable, but happens more than it should.

I remember seeing a video of a highly emotional owner of an elderly horse that frankly looked rather skeletal complaining about hikers regularly reporting her horse to welfare associations. Saying that it was causing her mental health issues, she didn't want to "hide her horse away in a distant field", he was seen by the vets and she was trying to find a solution for him (IMO, given his age, there weren't any solutions she would have liked) and that she might have to PTS "early" if the reports carried on. Lots of people were commenting on busy-bodies with no knowledge of horse that should mind their own business, which I found unfair. I personally felt that a) if the owner took a step back and really looked at her horse with fresh eyes, she would understand why people were reporting him b) a random video on internet won't necessarily reach the people reporting as I think they were mainly out of town hikers, try a sign on his gate c) horse should probably have already been PTS.
 
Yes I've been reported. I presume it was because it had been a particularly wet winter and the top of the field near the gate was very muddy. The lower half where the ponies actually were was fine.

They weren't actually in that field when the inspector came as I'd already moved them over the road to the spring grazing that morning. I only knew he'd been because he pinned a card to the gate as a courtesy.

Ive also had a pony who had active laminitis let out of the stable and given a whole bale of my hay that they'd pulled out of my hay shed. I was absolutely incandescent and put a note on the gate saying that when I found out who had done it they'd be receiving my vets bill.
 
Recently made a point of telling the owners of my rented field that I've moved the boys water into the shelter to keep it cool in case some fuzz brained 'local' reports me for not having water.

We've so many nosey parkers in this village who have moved here in the last few years, and some of them just can't resist sticking their beaks where they're not wanted just because they've got too much time and not enough common sense. I've had someone nearly report me for not attending to my horses enough because they'd not seen me at the field other than occasionally at weekends - that would be because its the middle of winter and I'm there when its dark as I have to work (they didn't) and you've got the bloomin curtains shut! Of course you won't see me!!!
 
During the first lockdown, beautiful weather, lots of ‘newbies’ out walking, we were reported to Council animal health officer by a couple of townies who ‘walk here every morning and all these cows always standing on concrete, every day, while other farmers keep all their cows grazing in the fields’....
Yes, ours, all of them, same bloody cattle.
Said suffering cows were up for morning milking, waiting to go through the parlour, before heading back down through those very fields to graze - if the silly pair had actually looked at the numbers branded on their backsides, or herd numbers on the ear tags, by the time they’d completed their walk would probably have met self-same cows grazing down the valley....
AHOfficer just had a good laugh and cup of tea.
However, it’s quite possible today that some ignoramus could post pictures of ‘cruelty’, and create all sorts of vicious backlash for animal keepers - certainly happened to farmers elsewhere, and probably horse owners, too.
 
During the first lockdown, beautiful weather, lots of ‘newbies’ out walking, we were reported to Council animal health officer by a couple of townies who ‘walk here every morning and all these cows always standing on concrete, every day, while other farmers keep all their cows grazing in the fields’....
Yes, ours, all of them, same bloody cattle.
Said suffering cows were up for morning milking, waiting to go through the parlour, before heading back down through those very fields to graze - if the silly pair had actually looked at the numbers branded on their backsides, or herd numbers on the ear tags, by the time they’d completed their walk would probably have met self-same cows grazing down the valley....
AHOfficer just had a good laugh and cup of tea.
However, it’s quite possible today that some ignoramus could post pictures of ‘cruelty’, and create all sorts of vicious backlash for animal keepers - certainly happened to farmers elsewhere, and probably horse owners, too.
 
During the first lockdown, beautiful weather, lots of ‘newbies’ out walking, we were reported to Council animal health officer by a couple of townies who ‘walk here every morning and all these cows always standing on concrete, every day, while other farmers keep all their cows grazing in the fields’....
Yes, ours, all of them, same bloody cattle.
Said suffering cows were up for morning milking, waiting to go through the parlour, before heading back down through those very fields to graze - if the silly pair had actually looked at the numbers branded on their backsides, or herd numbers on the ear tags, by the time they’d completed their walk would probably have met self-same cows grazing down the valley....
AHOfficer just had a good laugh and cup of tea.
However, it’s quite possible today that some ignoramus could post pictures of ‘cruelty’, and create all sorts of vicious backlash for animal keepers - certainly happened to farmers elsewhere, and probably horse owners, too.
 
I've been reported for the blindfold ('blinkers') thing and the fact that the same pony (my sweet itch Connie) was 'sweating to death in a coat.' :rolleyes:

Nothing came of that complaint. However, we got interrogated during a visit from an RSPCA bod when someone complained that we were neglecting our cat because his fur was matted.
The cat in question was a rescue Persian Chinchilla, who did indeed have matted fur when we got him. He had to have a GA so that the vet could shave off the worst mats, so he did look a bit strange just after the op. The RSPCA bloke saw the cat, we told the story, we showed him the medication for polycystic kidney disease we'd got from the vet... still he carried on.
We showed him the receipt from the vet for the de-matting. I'd even had a letter published in 'Your Cat' magazine and we showed him that. Eventually he was satisfied that we weren't cruel monsters.
Meanwhile, there were horses literally dying in a field about 6 miles away and the RSPCA did nothing in spite of many complaints, including regular complaints from the neighbouring riding school.

I think that this is what gets to some people - the inconsistency in the way that these things are dealt with is crazy.
 
Exasperated said:
During the first lockdown, beautiful weather, lots of ‘newbies’ out walking, we were reported to Council animal health officer by a couple of townies who ‘walk here every morning and all these cows always standing on concrete, every day, while other farmers keep all their cows grazing in the fields’....
Yes, ours, all of them, same bloody cattle.
Said suffering cows were up for morning milking, waiting to go through the parlour, before heading back down through those very fields to graze - if the silly pair had actually looked at the numbers branded on their backsides, or herd numbers on the ear tags, by the time they’d completed their walk would probably have met self-same cows grazing down the valley....
AHOfficer just had a good laugh and cup of tea.
However, it’s quite possible today that some ignoramus could post pictures of ‘cruelty’, and create all sorts of vicious backlash for animal keepers - certainly happened to farmers elsewhere, and probably horse owners, too.
Click to expand...
Something the matter with this forum? Replication, won’t post / posts multiples.....never used to be so complicated......tech!
 
Babypony said:
Just found out I’ve been reported to the RSPSCA for not having a field shelter. Apparently the big thick hedges that surround the paddocks aren’t sufficient for four native ponies according to the non horsey locals. I shouldn’t be surprised as we live in one of those Hot Fuzz villages and there’s a footpath bordering the land. Anyone else been reported before? Commiserations appreciated.
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Lol

Oh well I would not worry, I bet you won't hear anything from them that is their trait.


Anyone remember this TV Programme?? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8026566/

Yes I got what it Takes Sir.


1. I can wear head phones
2. I can answer the phone
3. I can speak clearly to people when they call
4. I can make tea and coffee
5. I can sit round a table and chat to other RSPCA about anything you like
6. I can ignore requests to go check an animal out.
7. I have a full driving licence
8. I don't mind wearing a uniform.
9. I am always on time to work
10. Happy to contribute to the morning cakes
11. I can drive







WAYYYYY do I pass my Theory exam ???🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
 
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