Two dumped mares, one whose leg was “severed” by a metal gate, died in separate incidents in Ireland during the weekend.
My Lovely Horse Rescue, a sanctuary based in Dublin, was notified on social media about a mare who was stuck under a gate in County Meath, Ireland on Saturday (23 November).
Co-founder Martina Kenny told H&Hvolunteers spent two hours trying to find the 14.2hh mare, whom they named Francesca.
“We found her stuck in the mud under a steel gate. She was wearing a headcollar and tied to a post. We think she had slipped under the gate and got stuck,” she said.
“She was thrashing around so much she made a hole in the ground. The weight of the gate had severed her leg and gone through the bone and tendon, it was awful.”
Martina said a vet was contacted, but was unable to get to the scene immediately due to attending another emergency.
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“We were able to lift the gate off its hinges to free Francesca,” she said. “We made the decision to get her on to a horsebox and take her to our farm where the vet met us and she was put down on the box – it was unbelievably sad.
“Someone must know who she belongs to, but no one will come forward. She was wearing shoes and it looked like she had recently had her feet done.”
Martina said the following day the sanctuary received a call about an injured 13.2hh one-eyed mare who had been stuck in a ditch, with a foal at foot, in Dublin at 8pm.
“We took her to the vet hospital but there was nothing that could be done for her and she was put down. We named her Amy; no matter what, we always give a horse a name, it doesn’t matter if they aren’t with us long, we want to give them that last bit of dignity. The foal, who we have named Aaron, is receiving treatment but it is expected that he is going to be ok. He’s very frightened of humans but he’s very sweet.”
Martina said Francesca and Amy did not have microchips.
“Things like this will keep happening because no one enforces the legislation. We live-streamed the rescue of Francesca on Facebook because people need to see what is going on and how bad things are here,” she said.
“We have almost 80 volunteers working 24 hours a day to help horses all over Ireland. We get calls constantly, we do as much as we can but we rely on people supporting us.”
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.
