abandoned horse

[taxidriver]

There is a horse in a field its owner is not known it has no shelter,no coat and the field is running low on grass, passers by feed it as i do, .What is what is the minimum legal requirement for a horseto be kept.the land is owned by the county council.so i doubt if the owner has permission to keep the horse on the land.What should i feed the horse in the mean time to keep it going.In the past i have found the rspca to be useless, any suggestions

[jules77]

Yep, the RSPCA wouldnt do anything for some stray horses by me a few months ago, then one got run over and killed and I hit the roof.

anyway, with regard to food, you can take potato peelings, together with any veggies, and apples and a lot of horses like bread, and if you are very kind you could buy him some haylage from your local equine store. With the cold weather coming in, he will need quite a bit of feed to keep him warm, and of course access to fresh water. If you have a local farm/vegetable shop they may let you have anything they have left over that they may otherwise be going to throw away if you explain it is for a good cause.

I used to feed some abandoned horses years ago and actually bought them some hard feed and took them a bucket every day, but there again I am too daft and couldnt bear to see them going hungry.

[taxidriver]

thanks at least im not the only one.I take it water everyday,i have bought it hay etc but it seems its owner is getting away scot free .it makes me mad.

[TIGGERLIT]

hi the law has now changed (since april). the horse has to have access to food and water, also there has to be shelter of some kind. where abouts are you in the uk?, if you tell me i can get you a number for the horse warden.
also as its getting to the winter it has to have other food desides grass. do you know if there is ragwart or something like that in the field, it normally has yellow flowers. if you can find a pic of it on the net and then look in the field, if you think that there is and quite alot then ring rspca they will come straight out as it would kill the horse, and they would remove the horse. let me know where you are?

[taxidriver]

Thanks I live in county durham near consett and stanley ,post code dh9.There is ragwort close by but i have not seen any in the field.There is no shelter apart from some bushes and she has no coat by the way she is called "bramble" the owner hasnt been seen since may.

[Dassie]

Poor horse. In the cold weather/rain a horse REALLY needs a coat. It's back is the most susceptible area for catching colds and infections. You can also buy special horse cubes to mix with the hay if you can afford to help the poor animal.

[taxidriver]

The problem seems to be no one will act ubtil they see the horse suffering but how can you stand by and watch this process without doing something to prevent it.which stops any action being taken.

[jules77]

Tiggerlit, can you give me the horse warden number for my area too - Dudley/Birmingham, in case I need it again.

I started by feeding one stray horse, every day for three months, then lo and behold another one appeared with it, I couldnt believe it, so then there were two! Then one night, while I was trying to groom the poor thing as it was being pestered by flies, the owner turned up. The RSCPA had pinned a note on the gate and he started moaning, saying the horse was well and had gained a lot of weight by being in the field. I couldnt believe it, it had only gained weight because I was feeding it. He then asked me if I wanted to buy it, like a fool I said I would, then asked if I could buy both of them, he wanted �700 each!!

The week after, he put another three horses in with them, and I decided enough was enough and called the RSCPA again, and then they all disappeared, quite sad really as they used to see my car pull up and come galloping over to meet me, and I got quite attached to them. The field was also full of ragwort, and I tried to get rid of as much as I could, but never saw them actually eating it.

[Lily_b]

Call the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH), the RSPCA call them in for a lot of equine cases.

Welfare Hotline: [phone]

[lankeela]

While I am sure you mean well, please be very careful feeding someone else's horse. without permission. You are better to contact the ILPH who will investigate, and remove it if necessary. A lot of horses do live out during the winter, although I agree its not ideal, so get the experts to check in case someone feed the horse something that will make it ill, such as grass cuttings.

The RSPCA won't want to know unless it is on its last legs or being cruelly treated, and even then will take ages to do anything.

[fairkatrina]

Horses won't eat ragwort if it's visible, the main danger comes when it's in a hay field and is mixed up then in the horses' food, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

[horsestache1]

Please only feed the horse some hay, and perhaps a few carrots/apples. Do not give it hard feed or pony nuts as you do not know what anyone else is giving it. Hard feed ( oats, barley , pony nuts, horse cubes, etc) can cause collic which can kill the horse. Call the ILPH straight away.

PLease Please only give hay and water.

[jaspercarrot]

hi if you dont know or cant find the owner to this pony-horses go to the web page passports for horses all ponys &horses have a passport now with the owners name &address on .

[taxidriver]

to horsetache1 thanks for your answer.I am buying it bails of hay and have recruited some other people to keep feedong and watering bramble.I have asked about giving it some cool mix and have been told this is ok

[Vasquoy]

Just a quick post in reply to one of the earlier posters - potato peelings should not be fed to horses! In the right amounts they are poisonous!