Fly Grazing: Legal Precedent?

Vale of Glamorgan council are moving faster now, perhaps in light of the episode in which forty horses were left to trash Woodland Trust land. Sixty horses dumped on land near Cardiff Airport have been rehomed via charities like Redwings, Horse World and the Bransby Home of Rest for Horses. The BBC reports: … as …

Wave of Mutilations

Last weekend two British horses were found dead and mutilated in their fields. The first, a seven-year-old rescued pony called Barney from Carmarthenshire was found with his eyes gashed and a long slash in his side. The second, a two-year-old Friesian called Erik from Cornwall had been castrated, blinded, gutted and had its teeth pulled …

“Fly Grazing” – the New Name for Crappy Horseownership Practices

The BBC reports on a herd of forty cobs dumped on a conservation area in the Vale of Glamorgan and left to decimate the grazing and starve to death. The police cannot get involved as this is a “civil matter” and the villagers have explored every legal avenue, so the horses will probably be destroyed. …

The Further Adventures of the Littlest White Pony

Wales Online has snagged an exclusive interview with Joe Purcell and his white Welshie Ruby, aka the Train Pony. And the 68-year-old said pregnant section A pony Ruby would have been as “good as gold” on the Wrexham to Holyhead train from which they were both turned away last Saturday. He said: “Ruby’s bomb proof. …

Training Your Pony

From the BBC: A man has been captured on CCTV trying to board a train accompanied by a pony. Shocked staff watched as the man tried to get on the train at Wrexham General station with the white pony in tow After a conductor refused him entry, the man returned to the ticket booth where …

Keeping Tradition “Alive”

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 …

Keeping Large Numbers of Horses during a Recession

HOW NOT TO DO IT: Some 250 horses have been dumped in Bridgend by owners who, it seems, could not afford to feed nor care for them. There are rumours that some have been killed on the roads already, and a few have died of lung infections or starvation. In the photo on the Daily …

“And a Grisly New Year…”

mutilated pony found in Hampshire ditch, police say “it would appear that its body has been mutilated to prevent it from being identified or its owners traced.” filly with broken neck found in Buckinghamshire. “It was emaciated, had a broken neck and both hind legs were bound together and the rope tied to a gatepost. …

Happy Eponalia!

Don’t forget to leave an apple, some beer and a candle out for Epona, the goddess of ponies! Alternatively, enter her virtual shrine here. Goodness knows, Britain’s ponies could do with the help: Dartmoor Hill Ponies, Welshies and now even New Forest ponies are being hit hard by the recession.

Welsh Rareties

The Welsh Pony and Cob Society Museum has re-opened in Bronaeron, near Felinfach, according to the BBC. Artefacts on display include medals, paintings, books and copies of its Welsh Stud Book, published annually since 1901. This is a little fanciful though: King Henry VIII believed that the only horses of value were those capable of …