# what to do..??



## LostSoul (Sep 29, 2012)

For around the last 2 years horses have been kept in a fenced off area behind my home, when they first turned up i rang the council as it is council owned land, they said as far as they knew no horses were there, which was helpful 
i rang the rspca who told me to keep an eye on them and contact them if there seemed to be a problem...and to contact the council.
People do feed these horses, i never see anyone in the field but do hear them early hours of the morning... but the problem i have is the weather, there isnt any shelter there just trees which at this time of year dont provide any shelter and the field is getting more and more water logged, last winter it was about a foot under water and when i (again) rang the rspca i was told it was fine and horses like that dont need extra shelter...the council have since gated off the alley way next to my home so i have no access anymore just a view to them over the hedge, the only proper access to the fence is now a good 15 minute walk away and i have mobility issues which makes it hard for me to make the long walk a round to it.
Honestly i dont know if these horses are ok or not, they arent skinny but surely they should have some shelter or cover, these are photos taken from my window this morning


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## Wiz201 (Jun 13, 2012)

they might likely be gypsy people. I suspect the RSPCA will only act if the horse is in actual danger; the fact he is being fed obviously by his condition which looks good and he has plenty of water is probably preventing them from doing anything. Not ideal though as no good horse owner would use a field like that.


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## LostSoul (Sep 29, 2012)

Yes im pretty sure they are gypsy horses, there are actually 2 in the field right now but i could only photograph one this morning, there have been up to 6 of them in there, maybe im worrying over nothing but it just seems awful when they are covered in mud and wading through puddles...


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## Wiz201 (Jun 13, 2012)

If I'm honest our field is very boggy at the moment, but difference is the horses can go up to the top so they have better areas to graze.


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## LostSoul (Sep 29, 2012)

when we had the bad rain last year the whole field was waterlogged, i did have photos (which i cant find now) that i sent to the rspca of 4 horses bundled together on an area no bigger than 15ft square, that was the only part that wasnt around a foot under water...one of my neighbours fed them then too because no one came near or by for weeks.

but right now things arent that bad, i hear a lot of my neighbours moaning and saying how awful it is but none have tried to do anything about it, i just didnt want to sit back and do nothing if something needed to be done...but i also dont want to be causing trouble if the horses are fine.


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## Hanwombat (Sep 5, 2013)

My horses live out 24/7 and have 'natural' shelter such as hedges and trees. My fields are very much similar to this at the moment - not AS wet as their fields are on hills but certainly muddy in areas.

As long as they're fed fresh hay and water, look to be a good weight etc there isn't really much that can be done.


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## bingolitle (Dec 6, 2014)

All you can really do is keep an eye on them. If they start to look poor or the flooding gets worse, give the RSPCA another ring.

Horses are tougher than we think and quite often prefer to be outside in the weather even when they have got shelter they could use. It's heat and flies they really hate.

http://www.bhs.org.uk/~/media/BHS/Files/PDF%20Documents/Condition%20Scoring%20Leaflet.ashx

This is a link to a leaflet about how to tell what sort of condition a horse is in (forgive me if teaching granny to suck eggs here).


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## toffee44 (Oct 21, 2011)

RSPCA are never interested if horses are fed and watered. the horses from afar look in good condition. 

Horses actually get a lot of warmth from forage rather than shelter. In a nutshell the digestive system produces heat when they eat. Therefore they must be quite comfortable to keep good weight on.


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## LostSoul (Sep 29, 2012)

Thankyou for the replies, not being a horse owner myself or knowing any I wasn't sure what was right or wrong, I will just keep an eye on them.


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