Twenty ponies rescued from Preston scrap yard
A group of 20 ponies rescued from a scrap yard in Preston are recovering well after being taken into the care of World Horse Welfare.
The group, which consisted of mares, nine stallions and youngsters, had been allowed to breed indiscriminately in squalid and dangerous conditions at the site, say World Horse Welfare.
Many of the mares had foals at foot and were pregnant again and one pony had a three-inch nail imbedded in its foot.
The ponies, some Shetlands and other native types, were removed from the site in January but after their owner died the charity was not able to make their story public until an ownership dispute was resolved
World Horse Welfare field officer Chris Williamson said: “The site the ponies were living in resembled a scrap yard and the owner had been given numerous chances to improve the conditions. After he failed to act on the improvement notice we issued, we had no choice but to step in and remove the ponies.
“Wading through thick, putrid mud and living amongst broken glass and jagged metal had been the only existence that many of the ponies had ever known.
“We even found a mare and foal caked in their own faeces, forced to live in a cramped, filthy lorry container.”
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The ponies thrived at the charity’s Penny Farm Recovery and Rehabilitation Centre in Blackpool and four foals were safely born in the charity’s care.
For further information about how you can help more horses like this, please visit www.worldhorsewelfare.org
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.