What an amazing coincidence that I should post a picture of a lovely healthy horse I saw yesterday, and today in the post I received a copy of Bransby Life, the newslettter of Bransby Rest Home for Horses. This is a charity I have supported for the last five years. I have visited them several times, met the dedicated staff and volunteers, and have seen first hand the work they do.
I settled down to read my newsletter as I ate my breakfast. I wasn't very far into it, page three in fact, the News page, when I had to stop eating and wipe the tears from my eyes. There are pictures of two horses which were removed from their owner and taken into care at Bransby, both of which were severely mal nourished. The rescuers gave them the names Carrot and Spud. Carrot looked terrible, I have never seen a horse looking so skinny with all it's bones protruding from it's skin. How anyone can be so cruel is beyond me.
All charities are struggling for donations at the moment, it can't be easy raising funds. I shall continue to do my bit for the horses, I wish I could do more. If you want to see Carrot and Spud here is the link to their page on the web site, but I warn you, you will cry. They are making good progress on the road to recovery.
www.bransbyhorses.co.uk/news/articles/62/carrot_and_spud_secure_a_safe_future_at_bransby_home_of_rest_for_horses.html
Freedom to speak.
14 hours ago
You were right. It`s terribly sad to see animals in such desperate physical states. Some owners are downright ignorant to the needs of their animals or just totally calous.
ReplyDeleteEither way, those poor horses will hopefully be looked after extremely well from now on.
Lovely to see horses brought back from such a poor state, but I would just add a cautionary tale - not to detract from the work done by horse rescue societies by the way.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago we had several horses. One of them developed a mystery illness and went downhill fast losing all condition. One morning I was in the house when I noticed a man wandering the stables then disappear - the poorly horse was the only one inside at the time and the others out of sight in a distant field. The next day he came back saying someone had reported us for maltreatment and he'd come with an RSPCA officer to check all our animals, our stabling and kennelling and our food stores. They had to agree that the others and our dogs were fine but they insisted on talking to our vet and revisited several times before they agreed that there was nothing suspect. I have every respect for the work of the animal charities, but you can't imagine how horrible it was to be under such suspicion. The horse, by the way, recovered as mysteriously as it had become ill.
Thank you for your story, Jee, I can understand how circumstances can easily be misunderstood. My friend has two horses kept in a paddock next to her house. On three separate occasions someone has reported her to the RSPCA because the ground gets very muddy in the winter, and it appears that the horses are not happy. An officer comes to see them, then goes away without any further action being taken. She looks after her horses properly, they have plenty of food, they have shelter, she has the vet and the farrier out to them if needed. It's good that people are concerned about the plight of animals, but as you say, horrible if you are the one unjustly under suspicion.
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