Horse found in river with legs tied together
Paralympic gold medallist Natasha Baker is calling for authorities to tighten up on microchipping enforcement after the body of an unregistered horse was found in a river in her neighbourhood.
A passer-by raised the alarm after spotting a dead Welsh cob in Frays River, Uxbridge on 10 March. The mare was pulled out of the river by some horsey locals, who asked not to be named.
As the horse was not microchipped, the owner has not been identified and local authorities were unsure whose responsibility it was to remove the horse. The body was eventually removed the following day by a fallen stock company at the request of Hillingdon Council.
The mare, who was severely underweight, had her hooves tied together. The lady who pulled her from the water believes she was “dragged in”. However, the RSPCA said: “There is no evidence to explain how the horse ended up here and whether the animal slipped or had some kind of accident”.
Natasha told H&H that the incident just 5mins from her yard was “a massive shock”.
“I was in the US at the time, but I saw it on Facebook,” she said. “It’s disgusting. It’s not a horsey area, so you really don’t expect this kind of thing.
“It touches your heart to see an animal treated like that, even if you’re not horsey. We have to campaign for the microchipping law to be enforced so that we can find owners like this and have them prosecuted.”
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There is a peaceful protest planned in Parliament Square on 16 April to campaign for better enforcement of the microchipping law.
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.