Unweaned foals thrown over a hedge and abandoned

[Fii]

To all those that have jumped in and assumed that this was the work of gypsy's, how do you know that? I can't see antwhere where it says that. There are plenty of coloured ponies about that are owned by people who are not travelers!!

 

[Amaranta]

Disgusting...shoot them for christ's sake if you really can't cope...an awful thing to say but far better than being thrown over a hedge and left to fend for themselves...WTF?? Saying this, the 'travelling community', aka dirty thieving scumbags never cease to amaze me at their cruelty. Sorry if this strikes some people as harsh, or unfair, but all my experiences of these people have been horrific...

We so need a LIKE button on here!

 

[Rosie Round The Hills]

Go Shilisdair. The Very Voice of Reason.

 

[hairycob]

Although I havn't read the article I can see where Shils is coming from. I can remember headlines such as:
"Queens Racing Pigeon Eaten By Sparrowhawk" - read the article & it's a prize pigeon didn't return from a race & one of the things that might have happened was it was eaten by a sparrowhawk - it could also have been a lot of other things.
"Foot & Mouth Outbreak Caused By Carelessly Discarded Sandwich" -read the article & it's one of a number of wild guesses.
I think what Shils is trying to say is read the article & engage brain rather than emotions. We don't know what actually did happen, so it's probably not a good idea to hang anyone just yet.

 

[ladyt25]

Doesn't matter whether they were thrown or not, it doesn't make dumping a badly injured foal right surely does it? Plus, I actually don't think it is that hard for 2 or 3 strongish people to lift a foal that size over a gate, hedge, fence TBH. How do you know how large the foal is?

It isn't impossible at all to lift a young animal over a gate - you'd only need to get the back or front over after all, the rest you could shove over!

As for the how do we know they're travellers comment? Well we don't BUT there are no many people who own numbers of coloured cob foals/horses are there? They do seem to be the type that the travelling community favour so i suppose the assumption is based on that. To be honest, I would pretty much bet my money that IF they actually found the people who dumped them (they won't) they would turn out to be from the travelling community.

 

[Fii]

There are plenty of people who are not gypsy's who breed coloured cobs!
And yes it is an assumption, badly treated/dumped coloured cob=gypsy pony, not always !
There are also plenty of "settled" people who are cruel to their animals!

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Oh dear Shils, I fear a lot of that fell on stony ground.
I am constantly amazed by the number of people who see something in print and think it must be true, without bothering to think about the language used or even whether the 'facts' are possible. Some people even make up more 'information' of their own to add to it.

 

[Shilasdair]

Oh dear Shils, I fear a lot of that fell on stony ground.
I am constantly amazed by the number of people who see something in print and think it must be true, without bothering to think about the language used or even whether the 'facts' are possible. Some people even make up more 'information' of their own to add to it.

There should be some sort of aid for the hard of thinking.
I love the way they are still ranting at me about condoning cruelty - comprehension skills at their finest.
S

 

[AmyMay]

There are plenty of people who are not gypsy's who breed coloured cobs!
And yes it is an assumption, badly treated/dumped coloured cob=gypsy pony, not always !
There are also plenty of "settled" people who are cruel to their animals!

Big travellers commuminity in that area, and whilst I agree that we shouldn't jump to conclussions - it's not the first time there have been incidents of abandoned animals there, and the problems generally are pretty well documented in that area.

 

[Bertthefrog]

Read the story again - and the facts would seem to be:
1. We have found 5 foals on council land. We don't know how they got there - ergo we think someone 'threw' them over a fence (incidentally - I challenge you to try to throw something as heavy as a 3month cob foal anywhere ). Could also just mean that the foal's owners cut fencing, and restapled it, or took a gate off the hinges (most fields do have an entrance somewhere!).
2. We estimate that they are 3 months old, and we haven't a clue if they are weaned or not (let's face it, they're weaned now )
3. The council are trying to contact the owners, to get them removed from council land, but have to follow the legal process. The four remaining dumped foals are healthy enough and therefore can't be legally removed - besides legally I believe it is now the Council's responsibility to attend to their welfare.
4. The rescue centre have only taken one of them, and it's pretty lame. They don't know why it's lame, but guess it is stifle and pelvis. They are giving it painkillers and antibiotics and anything else they can think of, but they haven't confirmed a diagnosis yet.
5. The rescue centre would really like you to donate money (hence the heavy hints about winter, and not being able to take them).

On the plus side, it's a registered charity, and seems to be approved by larger registered charities such as the BHS. On the down side, it may be struggling financially which is why it needs support from Redwings etc.
There are worse charities you could give your money to.
However, in the current recession, there are more horses than good homes. The solution is to put anything without a viable future to sleep. If you have 40 homes, say, and 50 horses, you ought to 'cull' the 10 least healthy, if you are trying to make a moral decision.
S

PS Apologies for the essay!

Fair enough - reckon you have a point!

 

[Fransurrey]

Haven't read the article and don't know the facts, so won't comment, but...

...when I lost my shettie in 2009, the huntsman and my OH lifted him quite easily into the back of the Huntsman's Hi-lux. He weighed nearly 200Kg, so I can well believe that two men could throw a 3 month old foal over a fence! It's not easy, I imagine, but seeing the stuff that gets fly-tipped round here, I imagine they're quite fit people!

 

[Rose Folly]

Whoever posted the bit about "high-quality youngstock being weaned at 4 months" might care to take another look at the photo that accompanied the article. A Derby potential if ever I saw one.....

 

[Ladylina83]

Whoever posted the bit about "high-quality youngstock being weaned at 4 months" might care to take another look at the photo that accompanied the article. A Derby potential if ever I saw one.....

In her defense she was clearly stating a fact about the domestic equine population ie some high-quality youngstock are weaned at 4 months, and not passing comment on the picture

 

[Shilasdair]

Whoever posted the bit about "high-quality youngstock being weaned at 4 months" might care to take another look at the photo that accompanied the article. A Derby potential if ever I saw one.....

Yet another poster with poor comprehension skills.
Incidentally, on this story in the OP, a HHO journalist is bemoaning the fact that these foals have been taken from their mothers at only three months old, and yet in another article, they are lauding a business which removes foals from their dams at three WEEKS old, and bucket feeds them like calves.
Link here
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/308777.html

S

 

[MrVelvet]

There is a public appetite for such stories of cruelty - they are like gold mines for the charities involved as you can post up pics, with exaggerated emotive stories, and the donations come flooding in.
The original owners don't gain - but the charities certainly do.
I wonder what the evidence is that the foals were 'thrown' over the hedge?
And many high value stock are weaned at 4 months...in fact some cobs are used as surrogates so their foals are deliberately weaned from them to allow a high value competition foal to have a foster mum.
I wish HHO would have a better class of journalism.
S

Not a truer word spoken.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Poor things were only 3 months old, should still be suckling on their moms.

believes five, three-month-old foals were thrown over a fence into the field on Wednesday 3 August

.
Poor things must be scared and traumatized.

 

[Shilasdair]

Poor things were only 3 months old, should still be suckling on their moms.

.
Poor things must be scared and traumatized.

Should they still be suckling? Who decides what age is appropriate for weaning?
And what should it be - 3 months? 4 months? 6 months? 12 months?
Should it reflect nature? Is it just for nutritional requirements?

And do you mean that the foals are still 'scared' now, a week on? Or emotionally traumatised (you can't mean physical trauma as only one was injured, I believe)?
And how do you diagnose fear or 'emotional trauma' in a horse.

So many questions, so few answers!
S

 

[china]

well my first thought was why hasnt it been put down?? If it has a suspected broken hip/pelvis why pump it full of pain killers and keep it alive, surley it would be kinder to PTS and use these resources elsewhere? they say they are stretched. Sorry if i seem harsh but it just seems so silly to keep it alive for suspected injuries like that on something so young...

 

[Shilasdair]

well my first thought was why hasnt it been put down?? If it has a suspected broken hip/pelvis why pump it full of pain killers and keep it alive, surley it would be kinder to PTS and use these resources elsewhere? they say they are stretched. Sorry if i seem harsh but it just seems so silly to keep it alive for suspected injuries like that on something so young...

Agree.
Of course some cynical people might say that a foal with a broken pelvis would be a good fund raiser...I would never say anything so unkind, though.
If it were mine, I'd be wanting a more definite diagnosis and then would make a decision in terms of both its quality of life, and its future viability in a depressed market.
S

 

[Trakehner]

please dont shoot me for being naive but i thought the travelling community looked after there animals

No, they cut off your gate locks or your fencing, and drop their horses/ponies in your fields and yards to eat your grass and hay....until they want to sell them etc. and stop by to take them back. A month or so ago H&H had an article on a company who would remove Gypo horses in the dead of night. Just because it's their culture doesn't mean it has any value.