wasn't sure where to put this..

[sj_xc_hannah_]

i know it is completely none of my business but there is a pony in the village that is pritty much neglected, its fences are falling down, its barn/shed thing has fallen in and is electric taped off, its friendly but is quite wild (eg would worry someone who doesnt spend there life with naughty ponies or not knowing about horses) it has a pipe comming up from the river to fill up its trough, it has random bits of electric tape all in its field, it doesnt look as though it has been groomed in a year, it looks pritty bright, energetic, plump, and the only thing touched about it was its feet had been shod, but it was a typical white welsh a or b its about 12.2 i think, i havent been overly worried about it for a while but my mum had mentioned it to me again so we went to see it. we are not sure if we know who the owners are, but we have a vage idea. mum said that when its fence falls over and it comes running up our road mum will take it up to our horses

is there anything i can do about it as it is completly on its own too? and i think it may have sweet itch or mites (was doing serious rubbing). i really doubt there is but i would do things with it (or have it) if they didnt want it. just wandered what people thought.

 

[brighteyes]

Keep ane eye on it - feet, weight etc., and as soon as anything starts to get iffy, contact an animal welfare association. Other than that, not much you can do except offer them some quids for it. It's coming up to Christmas, yukky weather, dark nights and so on. They might just accept.....

 

[sj_xc_hannah_]

thats what i was thinking of me doing, but i don't know how you could go up to some (quite posh we think) and say could we have your pony without them taking it really badly. if it got bad and i called a welfare association, would i be able to rehome the horse or not?

 

[_April_]

To be honest if it's fed, watered and gets it's feet looked after then I doubt any Welfare people would get involved.

 

[sj_xc_hannah_]

its not fed as far as we know, its just in a small field that is broken-ish. i think i will just try and find out who the owners are and see if i could have or do something with it.

 

[jayvee]

you could place a note where the owners might find/see it, and say you would like to buy or have the pony and leave your number. You don't have to say why you want it in the note incase it backfires and offends.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

I have to go along with Molly1314. The pony has food & water & his feet have been looked at. He may not be kept as most of us would want but unless things get considerably worse for him I doubt if horse welfare groups will get involved.

I would keep an eye on him to see if things deteriorate & re-appraise the situation then.

 

[jemima]

You could be talking about my littlest Welshie there! Apart from the shelter that is - mine doesn't even have one when she's out.

I've just had to remove her from her patch of mud because she's too fat but she looks like she hasn't been groomed in a year (due to ALWAYS finding the muddiest patch to roll in). We have had well-meaning people come up a 200 yard track to her field to feed her ("Poor thing's got no grass") helpful things like cakes, bread and biscuits when she's in her laminitic starvation paddock!

By all means write a note offering to help and/or buy it but if it's as plump and energetic with its feet decently shod as you say then no welfare organisation is going to help out - because there IS no problem with its welfare!

 

[emmajanerushton]

Think people forget that some natives dont need feed & rugs etc and are very quick to jump on the "ring a welfare group" band wagon, in actual fact providing the horse has fodder ( not buckets of hard feed) some form of shelter ( not nessicarily man made) and feet are trimmed regularly i dont see a problem at all, in actual fact probably kinder & healthier than them wearing rugs and being over fed ! ( NOW SAYS SHE whose 2 welsh section a`s are in fed and rugged hahahahaha) But my gripe is that Doooooo gooooders get involved to easily and not always needed in a genuine case like what i went through last year with a extreemly over wiight horse they werent interested and in my opnion thats worse than being slightly under, horses should lose weight in winter as part of the NATURAL way of doing things, and our man made ways of keeping them warm so they dont have to do it themselves, keeping the right weight all year round rather than letting it drop of and come back with natural grass etc , maybe we are all cruel ?

 

[Magicmillbrook]

Hi - If feet are shod and not too long the owners are obviously having some input, normaly something exspensive like farriery is the first thing to go.

I have two weshies out with my TB x mare, they are filthy fur balls, despite being regulary groomed. I get absolutely fed up when people say - poor things, why havent they got a nice rug like the big one. Over the summer a neighbour felt I was cruel for keeping the welshies on sparse grazing when their friend was in a field with lots of grass. One of my fields is next to the local village hall. I have resorted to electric taping them away from the gate which now has barbed wire and a sign asking peole not to feed, they are on a diet.

The worst thing is that when the farrier or vet visit I get told off again for them being overweight - aggghhhh

 

[Alibear]

One note

If it's living out then you'd better not groom it .

If you groom horses it takes the oils out of their coats that they require for warmth and waterproofing. If it's not ridden it doesn't really need grooming. Occasional lice checks but that's it.

 

[dieseldog]

Doesn't sound like the owners are doing anything wrong as you say it is bright, energetic, plump and shod - what more does it need? Ok the fencing might need looking at but the pony isn't escaping so not really a problem