Shetland pony on lush grazeing

S

Snugglebum

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Today I rode passed a field probabley about 4 acres with 1 shetland pony in it , it was in a field that ive only ever seen cow's in before and the grass was probabley 5 inches long ! I couldn't believe it ! especially after spending all morning looking for my grazeing muzzle to put on my pony as i was worried about a few shoots of spring grass comeing up in our paddock - I am going to ring the RSPCA in the morning to report it as I think now they can get involved to stop problems before they start am i correct thinking this ?- If i knew who owned the pony or who the land belonged to I would think about going to see them but I haven't a clue.
Would you guy's report it to the RSPCA ? I don't like to get involved in these things but feel responsible now that i have seen it
 
I wouldn't involve the RSPCA in anything! Absolutely useless! Is the pony going to be there 24/7? or just an hour or so a day? Don't know how much a welfare organisation would be able to do unless the pony was severely obese?
 
Suppose I'll never find out and suppose i'm just jumping to conclusions - I could keep going and checking, It's feet were over grown though and it didn't look well cared for it had mats under its belly and a head collar on that was secured with a knot as the buckle was broken i felt even more sorry for it when i could see how many flies were swarming round it.
I was just thinking surely i'm better to report it and it get checked on and i'm completely wrong as the pony is only in there for an hour a day and the owners are completely aware of laminitis etc rather than forgetting about it to ride past again in a month to see the pony crippled. I just feel bad if i completely ignore it.
 
You might have thought the same if you'd walked past our roadside field yesterday with dodgy fencing, and even dodgier fencing by the stream and lovely lush and very long grass (due to proximity to stream and rain it's not been grazed this spring) and seen a chunky bay NF and a ginger one absolutely gorging themselves, you might have thought the same but wouldn't have known they were only chucked down there for about 3/4 of an hour while the top paddock was being harrowed (and we knew there was so much grass to eat compared with the top paddock, that they wouldn't get too far from the gate let alone go near the fences)
 
I'm not sure how much you guys know about Lami but even half an hour on lush grass can have severe problems - I know this first hand! The pony DOES NOT have to be in any way obese to have or get Lami....in fact, ponies that are grazed constantly on good grass are less likely to get it than thin ponies who are put onto it....

Whether there is a problem or not would you not feel better reporting the pony and it coming to nothing or not reporting and then watching the poor thing hobbling around and being PTS when you knew there was something you could've done?

If the pony was in a dust paddock with nothing to eat begging for food what would you do? In terms of welfare the two are exactly the same to me....
 
I would maybe ring some welfare society so that they could have a chat with the owner, they maybe new to owning ponies ?.

My shettie will live on a patch of grass no bigger than a menage, spring summer and autumn. He developed cushing last year and now I am paranoid about lami, I would rather keep in on bare pasture and throw tiny bits of hay in am/pm if required.
 
Or perhaps you could do something as simple as leave a note on the gate!
Leave your name and number, offering your help if you can, or the promise of the numbers (WHW etc) who can give them good advice on the care of their pony.
 
Thanks for your advice everyone , There isn't actually a road side gate the gate is just into another field so there isn't a gate that I can get to - I have rang the RSPCA on the non emergency number and an inspecter has rung me back already - She was very nice I explained that for all i know it may only be in there for a short time and she said that it's better to be safe than sorry and to report anything of concern and If i turn out to be wrong then no harm done , She was concerned and will let me know the outcome.
 
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