What Do You Think About This?

[Rhoumblestiilliness]

We stayed on a campsite where you can take your horse with you. In a paddock as far away from the farmhouse as you could get, was a pony. It was in a dreadful state. It had lumps of poo hanging from its rear end, mixed in with horsehair. It looked awful. I have some experience of horses but never in my life have I seen something like that.

Apparently the pony was a rescue but clearly in the week we were there, they did nothing to rehabilitate it. No one was attending to it, it had just been left.

Surely that can’t be right?

Doesn't sound great but presumably you weren't watching the pony 24/7, how can you be sure he wasn't being attended to? Did he have food and water? How was his weight? How were his feet? Was he able to walk around his paddock comfortably?

The poo in the tail is unsightly but not the biggest problem in the world, horses do do that and some of them find it really stressful having it washed or matts cut out. I can imagine that if they'd only just rescued him and particularly if he isn't used to being handled or is anxious around people, the priority might well being getting food into him and teeth and/or feet sorted then leaving him to chill as much as possible the rest of the time. Him being alone without horsey company is a concern but again if he's a new rescue they'll be quarantining for at least 2 weeks before putting him with a friend.

Basically it's hard to tell if it's a concern purely based on your post, if you are worried maybe give a welfare organization a call and see if they'll pay a visit to check?

Was it a muddy field? Are you sure it was poo and not mud? ( I ask because our darling of a horse seems to love cantering through the muddiest bit of the field and being on clay, it splashes up and forms balls in the tail. If you don't attack the tail with a hosepipe and brush while the clay is still damp, it dries rock solid and is almost impossible to get out. )

Maybe it's unhandled/very nervous. Might not be able to get near it with out causing it stress. It can be a slow process!

I think what bothered us was the fact that it was as far away from the farmhouse as you could get and no one was checking on it. Yes we didn’t have eyes on it 24 hours a day but nothing was happening with it. It seemed like a friendly inquisitive pony, as it came trotting up to me every time I walked down there. It was out in full sun without any shelter.

I hear you, could mean the pony's neglected, could mean not. If you own paddocks and have livestock on them you do need to rotate to maintain the grass, so that does mean using the fields furthest away from the house/stables sometimes even if you aren't using the in between ones, doesn't mean you don't like or don't care for the animals you put in that field.

The most worrying thing to me would be that he's without company, being with other horses is way more important than having human attention (horses that are recuperating from illness or retired from active work are perfectly happy eating grass in a field all day so long as they have a friend), it does sound like he might be lonely, but it would make sense if they're quarantining him, like I said they'd want to keep a good distance between him and any other animals on the property until they're sure he's not incubating any bugs, particularly guest horses of course. Like I say you could give the BHS welfare line a call, they could probably advise better than people on here?

Thank you for all the replies. I’ll give it some more thought.

I'd expect the pony is quarantining. Even fully vetted and strangles tested horses have to quarantine when coming on to our yard for at least 2 weeks. Chances are with a rescue it might be more. Anyone handling the horse needs to wear a dedicated over coat and gloves and wash hands etc. no mixing of buckets or haynets. Maybe they are being cautious. Would be unusual on such a property to have one poorly cared for animal when the rest are fine