This Pony..

Just lately, down the road from us, in a local park (we live in the countryside and it has a tiny children's area and looks over countryside) there has been a pony chained up. It has seemed to coincide with a large gypsy like mobile home (a bit like an old mobile library) that has been parked up in a lay by next to the park and has all pot plants outside it, so someone's obviously living in it.

Anyway, this pony is quite young and obviously used to pull some kind of cart, as he is quite big and has Shire Horse type feet. The chain he is on is about (and this is a very rough guess) 25ft feet and he has no shelter, except for a couple of trees within reach, but these are very young apple trees, which don't give much cover. He looks very well fed, except once his water bowl was empty, but it has been full ever since and he is very friendly.

The thing is, I just feel so sorry for him. Firstly, he is on his own all the time and secondly, his chain is really much too short for him to run and exercise himself. I have been spending a bit of time with him today, just to keep him company and he seemed really sad and was staring for ages at the distant fields and hills, probably wishing he could run free.

I just wish he: 1) had company, perhaps another horse to graze with and 2) had a little longer chain, or was even in a large enclosed field, with no chain, so he could run about as horses like to do.

Apparently, on speaking to some locals, when we took him some water on the day it was empty (he had most likely kicked it over when he had drank it all), a lady from one of the nearby houses had rang the police and RSPCA when the horse had first appeared in the park. But the horse is still there, so I don't know if anything's been looked into.

Makes me so sad.

mosdt of the travlleing comminity do look after their ponies as lonf as hes got water and grass/food they ar quite hardy. i got told today my pony didnt have enough grass well if i gave her any more shed have laminitus and be dead! you can tell the horse/ponies that arnt well looked after and thats when you should call the rspca

Travellers ponies/horses don't have shelters they are usually used to being without and quite hardy, alot will be chained up to stop them from coming to harm if they got on the roads etc.,
In Tipton (Black Country) and surrounding areas of Dudley there are often travellers ponies on the side of the roads chained up, sometimes alone or in pairs, the travellers usually look after thier ponies/horses TBH you may find in a week or two they will have moved on after having a rest.
Im sure they will not mind you chatting to him

Sounds as though the horse is just fine to me! Animals (and humans) live in a variety of ways very successfully and to anthropomorphise is human but unecessary.

If the RSPCA prosecuted any owner of (insert relevant animal) that occasionally kicked over/emptied etc their water bowl, then there would be a lot of homeless animals.

The chain is the length it is because it is SAFER to have a short one than a long one; they are not designed for the horse to run about on but tether it safely so that it can graze, these tethers are generally moved every 12 - 24 hours if not more frequently.

A friend of mine, a farmer, eventually had to put a sign up in his fields telling walkers that the NEXT time the RSPCA were called about his "poor donkey in a field, without a coat" he would shoot it! He used to get complaints about his cows outside in the rain too!

You may not agree with the way this horse is kept any more than I might agree with babies having their ears pierced; but it does not make it "cruel".

They are probably heading to appleby fair..

"shire type feet"...It will be a cob..a GYSPY COB..they have feather..

My friend had a visit from the RSPCA a few weeks back, she has two Shetlands in a small paddock at the bottom of her garden, the garden backs onto a park,

The complaint consisted of... they )ponies) had no shelter, (they do trees) they also have a field shelter. they had no water, (they kick the water bucket over ) they were wet, (it was raining,) they had no grass) they are on a starvation paddock...

She also had a call (guess from the same woman) telling my friend what a bad owner she was, and how sorry she felt for those poor ponies

Friends has now put a very amusing laminated poster up on the fence asking if anyone has any concerns, to please come up the drive and voice them with her... the wording is hilarious, and gives many people a good chuckle on reading it.

if its a travellers pony they are quite hardy to be honest. not all horses need a stable, my friend has 20 shires, and they are turned out all year, no matter what the weather. they dont wear rugs, they dont have built shelters, they use the trees for their shelter. and they are perfectly happy healthy horses. the only ones that are stabled are the pregnant mares when they are nearly due, and a couple of months after the foal is born.

i wouldnt worry, he sounds like a perfectly happy pony to me

I don't agree with babies having their ears pierced either and I do not think these people are necessarily cruel. But, I would just like to see all animals provided with everything they need to be happy. But that's a bit too idealist unfortunately.

That's sad, horses are herd animals, I hate to see a horse/pony alone..

Horses are prey animals, they take flight from danger, so not ideal to be tied up 24/7, I hope it doesn't cause itself an injury one day..

Very sad

but the people are travelling. its a way of life for them, and when they get to where they are going, there will be more ponies, travellers are often in groups, so there will most likely be more than one pony. they cant let it run round and wander when they are parked up by a road, thats more unsafe than being tied up and not being able to run away from a predator, which there arent really going to be many of really.