Another depressing piece on ponies kept on common land, this time on the Gower peninsula. It’s from This is South Wales:
It costs as little as £2 to buy some foals — less than a pint of beer — but around £200 to put them down and dispose of them, according to the Gower Commoners Association (GCA).
This has led to more people buying ponies and horses who then find out they can’t afford vets’ bills and rising feed costs.
…Concerned residents and walkers have contacted the Post saying they have seen dead or malnourished horses and ponies on the peninsula.
John Lovett of Cockett was confronted by a dead horse last Sunday while walking along cliffs near Overton last Sunday.
“It was one of a group,” he said. “It didn’t look too old. Its eyes were gone. You could see the ribs of another one. It’s been a really harsh winter. They don’t have much to eat. I sometimes bring carrots to feed them.”
There are people who still breed these horses. Who fail to give them minimal care. Who cling to the “tradition” of keeping horses even when it makes no economic sense to raise them as a cash crop, and when the horses are dying under their eyes.
Horses don’t “need” to be kept on any common land. It’s nice to have them there, but not when they’re corpses with their eyes pecked out.
I entirely agree.