Welfare issue? Who shall I call?

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atot

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Walking to the village yesterday I passed a field with a shetland and little welsh type. The shetland look well, but the welsh was a hatrack. I didn't have my camera to take a photo, but hip bone and ribs protruding. It had trouble getting up, although it did look old. I couldn't see any water, but then again I didn't have a complete view of the field.

I don't want to jump the gun, but it just looked like crap, and just had a very sad look in its eye when it pottered over. It had very curly hair on its legs - cushings?

Should I call someone to just go and have a routine check? If so, is the WHW a good first port of call?

Any advice grateful, thank you.
 
Personally I'd be a little bit wary about doing this. Do you knwo who owns the horses, do you know how old the particular pony is? Maybe check anothertime as you say you are not sure whether thaey had water or not - double check this.

We had a very old and difficult-to-keep-weight-on pony years ago and, although he looked cr*p copmpared to the rest and was a miserable little s*d (always was) he was checked by our vet and he was well fed and watered and we went off our vet's advice.

It can be very upsetting for people who care for their horses to have a welfare officer knocking on their door. The horse could have medical issues and / or could just be very old. It may well be under supervision of a vet anyway.

I would find out some facts first if i were you - maybe track down the owner, ask them a bit more about it.

If you have done all this and are still concerned then go down the route of a welfare organisation.
 
I would also be wary of reporting this pony. it sounds as if it is old, and may be that the owners are fully aware and dealing with it. Who knows?
 
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I would also be wary of reporting this pony. it sounds as if it is old, and may be that the owners are fully aware and dealing with it. Who knows?

[/ QUOTE ]

I recently rang the WHW over a pony that I was concerned about - I estimated a body score of around 1.5 - 2. The inspector told me it was more like 0.

The pony was terribly old, and when contacted the owners did fully understood the WHW's concern, as well as the person who reported it. However, I didn't know it was that old when I reported it and neither did the Inspector.

Report it - if there is nothing untoward, then no one will mind in the slightest that a concern has been raised.
 
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