Horsey Talk

Woman charged under 1847 law of "furious horse riding" through countryside

Elizabeth Millard, 65, was charged under rarely-used legislation from 1847
after the incident on Horsell Common in Woking - www.mirror.co.uk

A 65-year-old woman has been successfully prosecuted for the 167-year-old offence of 'furious horse riding', it has been reported.

In an incident straight from the pages of a Victorian novel, Elizabeth Millard is said to have rode past a woman and her 10-year-old daughter "at great speed, shouting at her horse".

On another occasion she pushed past two fellow riders without stopping or slowing down, GetSurrey reports.

Both incidents happened on Horsell Common in Woking last year.

So incensed were the victims they reported Millard to the police.

She was eventually charged with the 167-year-old offence of 'driving a horse furiously' contrary to the Town Police Clauses Act of 1847.

Millard admitted the offence at Guildford Magistrates' Court and was given a conditional discharge.

Fiona Taylor, defending, said the backlash to the incidents had led to a Facebook group being created about her perceived lack of safety awareness while riding.

“She has never been in court before and this is mortifying for her," said Ms Taylor.

"A Facebook campaign was set up against her and a police officer told her in November not to go on the common because they could not guarantee her safety.”

Horsell Common Ms Taylor said that Miss Millard had, in the first instance, been between 50 and 75 yards from the witnesses when she was riding through the common.

“My client was riding a horse and was not actually that close to these people at the time,” she said.

“She has accepted that she shouted at her horse while riding which could have led to the daughter jumping. She says she did apologise at the time but they may not have heard.

“At the time of the second incident, she was riding on the path and arrived at the point in question at the same time as the other two riders.

"She says it is possible that her horse made contact with the others and that she is sorry if that is the case."

Miss Millard was ordered to pay £85 court costs, and a further £15 victim surcharge.

Sentencing, chairman of the bench Ms Smart said: “We have heard about these incidents and they are quite unfortunate.

"We hope you can now continue to ride peacefully.”

Horsell Common - www.mirror.co.uk

Biosecurity - Tackling Ringworm images in folder - ringworm1 & 2

Whether you are regularly competing up and down the country, based on a large livery yard or just a single horse owner with your own stables, it is important that you try and protect your horse from infectious diseases.

Biosecurity is just that. A simple routine of preventative measures to help protect against bacteria, viruses, spores, vector carriers and fungi, such as ringworm.

If you regularly compete and stay over at shows have you ever thought about the infectious diseases that your horse could pick up? When buying a new horse and bringing it home, do you really know where it has come from and if it carries any infectious diseases? Do you really know of everything that lives on your livery yard?

What is ringworm?

Ringworm is a skin infection caused by a dermatophyte, a skin ‘loving’ fungus that is highly contagious. The fungi which cause ringworm in horses include the Microsporum and Trichophyton species, which can infect not only horses but other animal species, including humans.

The skin lesions usually start as small raised spots from which the hair is lost. These spots spread and usually become scurfy or a thick dry crumbly scab may form. Sometimes the lesions are sore and often itchy. In many cases there may only be a couple of lesions but if left untreated and especially if they are spread by grooming, the condition can become extensive.

How does it occur?

Ringworm is transmitted from horse to horse by direct contact between horses, tack, grooming equipment, clothing, and contact with infested stables or horseboxes. The fungi are quite resistant to environmental factors and can remain on fence railings and timber structures for up to 10 years. The most common method of spread is on tack such as bridles, boots, girths and grooming equipment.

The fungi can remain on the skin for up to three weeks before the lesions develop so the disease can be spread before there are signs of infection. By the time the first horse breaks out, it is possible that most horses will be carriers and will break out in the near future, this creates a difficult situation as all areas touched by all horses, staff and equipment in the previous weeks are now likely to be contagious. Younger animals are more likely to be affected than older ones, although all are susceptible.

Difficult to eradicate?

Many people see ringworm as difficult to eradicate but it is actually very easy to kill. It is usually an oversight of something untreated that creates the impression that it will not die, or the fact that by the time the initial horse breaks out, others are already infected and so in spite of disinfecting, others will still break out.

Once a horse carries ringworm it will potentially infect other horses before it is even spotted, either by direct contact or indirect through communal head collars, wagons, tie up areas, and horse walkers. To help stop an on-going scenario all areas used or used by staff, horses and visitors should be thoroughly disinfected.

Top Tips for eradicating Ringworm:

• If you have a horse on a busy livery yard, check what measures are already in place for biosecurity.
• Use Protek Envirocair Veterinary disinfectant on every surface on the yard and in the horsebox to ensure ringworm does not spread. Include all areas that any horses, staff or visitors have been in contact with for the few preceding weeks to the outbreak.
• Don’t forget stables and every exposed area including horse walkers, wash boxes, solariums, treadmills, stocks etc. Pay particular attention to disinfecting door catches where the fungi can easily hide.
• Bedding is also susceptible to recontamination and should be sprayed.
• Tack rooms, storage rooms and feed rooms. It is a good idea that each horse has their own head collars, tack, grooming brushes and buckets including feed and water buckets. These should be disinfected too including tack cleaning sponges, twitch and chiffneys if you have them.
• Haynets, buckets, mucking out equipment, brushes and wheelbarrows will need to be disinfected. Pay particular attention to any handles, almost all staff when mucking out a stable give the horse a pat having held mucking out tools!
• All exterior rider clothing and footwear including whips and gloves will need to be treated.
• The Protek shampoo allows horses to be cleaned and disinfected, and leaves the horses really soft. It is great on sensitive skin.
• All rugs including fly rugs and masks, turnouts, summer and coolers, travel rugs and boots.
• Pay particular attention to tie up areas and window frames in horseboxes and all lorry equipment and buckets.
• When travelling to shows use Protek Envirocair Veterinary disinfectant spray on stabling and horseboxes to help protect your horse when away from home.
• Paddock fencing, gates and rubbing posts such as trees and water troughs will need to be treated.
• Clipper blades and associated accessories will also need disinfecting.
• All staff, blacksmiths, vets and visitors should use a hand gel to stop cross contaminations, remember they can be contagious before they show signs by which time a groom may have patted every other horse on the yard.

For further information please contact HAYGAIN hay steamers on 0333 200 5233 or www.haygain.com

ANOTHER YEAR OF SUFFERING FOR DONKEYS AT PEROPALO FESTIVAL

The Donkey Sanctuary has been strongly campaigning to end the use of a donkey in the Peropalo festival in Villanueva de la Vera, Spain since 1986. This tradition centres around a donkey being taken through the narrow village streets being ridden and led through drunk crowds who also fire shotguns and bang drums next to the animal.

Staff from The Donkey Sanctuary’s Spanish Sanctuary, El Refugio del Burrito attended the event and also met with local officials to once again demand improved conditions for the donkey.

Veronica Sanchez, Country Manager at The Donkey Sanctuary in Spain, has sent this report:

"On 3rd March 2014, we held meetings with the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, the two workers in charge of the donkey during the year and the President of the Association that oversee the protection of the donkey, a position created by people from Villanueva de la Vera to address public welfare concerns. We discussed the walk and the proposals that we have been making for several years to change the walk and minimize the stress of the donkey during the walk.

They all, with the exception of the President of the Association, agreed that things needed to change and that the donkey suffers during the walk. They also agreed that it is not fair that this happens just for some drunk people to have fun and were advised that the two men that take care of the donkey during the year couldn´t even attend the walk because of their worry for the suffering for the donkey.

The Mayor and Deputy Mayor also admitted that it was very difficult to stop using a donkey for the parade but that slight changes can be made, like having the guns and drums on the back of the crowd and far from the donkey.

We believe that this could be a good point to start changing things and were surprised to hear what they think about the walk and the use of a donkey.

The President of the Association for the protection of the donkey, ironically, was against making even slight changes and heated discussions followed this.

The donkey was wearing a head collar provided by us since the one they used last year was completely ruined and mended with rope, and he was conducted by two members of the Association for the protection of the donkey that were trying to keep people away from him, with no success, since the crowd of people was enormous and most of them were drunk, as is usual during the event.

After attending the event and unfortunately having to see the donkey collapse three times due to the crowd surging around him leaving him almost no air to breathe, I believe the only way of stopping this unnecessary suffering is to stop using a donkey."

Grants for British Young Breeders

A group of four young breeders who are members of the British Young Breeders' (BYB) programme have received financial awards to enable them to fine tune their knowledge of conformation, handling and breeding of horses over the next few months. A generous donation made to the charity the British Horse Foundation by the Elise Pilkington Charitable Trust has been earmarked for four recipients to use during 2014 to attend breeding events and to expand their knowledge and skills.

Selected when they took part in the training and competition for the 2013 International Young Breeders' (IYB) Championships in Bollerup, Sweden, these young people will be using the funds to attend a range of events across the UK and Europe, enabling them to build on their successes. Where they are still within the eligible age brackets, they will also be seeking squad selection to represent British World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses studbooks at the next International Young Breeders' Championships at Hartpury College in 2015.

The bursaries made available by the Elise Pilkington Charitable Trust mean that British young breeders can, for the first time, benefit from real investment in the future, bringing them more in line with their continental counterparts. With British bred horses having experienced some high profile successes in the last few years, it is important that investment enables this to continue and helps to shore up the future of British breeding.

Recipient of the senior bursary is Rebecca White who was individual fourth at the IYB Championships, and the junior bursary goes to Rosie Bown who was the top scoring junior, in spite of having joined the programme late in the day.

Additional bursaries are also awarded to Felicity Aldridge-Newman and Stena Hoerner for their commitment to the young breeders' programme and their overall performance in Sweden.

Top showjumper facing £150,000 bill for 'selling dud horse to novice'

- Patricia 'Paddy' Muir sold one of her riding pupils, John Palmer, an elderly horse 'ready for knacker's yard', a court heard

- Mr Palmer claims the 'defective' horse had to be put down just months after he bought it from the three-day eventer

- Miss Muir, who runs a riding stable at Stokesley, North Yorkshire, has said she never owned the horse and that she acted as an agent in the purchase

Read more ..........

Pony Club’s 85th Anniversary Conference
A Big Success

The Pony Club’s Annual Conference was held at Epsom Downs Racecourse and welcomed around 500 delegates to it’s a jam-packed line up, expertly compèred by equestrian commentator Mike Tucker.

With the 85th Anniversary year a firm focal point, the day acted as a chance to celebrate everything that’s great about The Pony Club, as well as looking to the future.

The day was opened by the new Chairman, Mary Tuckett, former Area 12 Representative, District Commissioner and Pony Club Mum! Mary spoke on many of the projects that are being taken forward following the 2013 Strategic Review, including an improved governance structure, increased staffing at national level, improved systems for volunteers and a re-focussed view on training as The Pony Club’s main remit.

Continuing along the training theme, Pony Club Training Chairman William Blane FBHS, spoke about The Pony Club’s progressive staircase that encourages and motivates older Members to become coaches within their Branches and Centres. William also spoke on the new Rider Development Pathway, supported by the Sport England funded BEF Excel Talent Programme, due to get underway shortly commenting

“This is a great opportunity for our most talented young riders, who will have the opportunity to really develop their skills which will be a real bonus in their Pony Club competitions during the year”.

The pathway The Pony Club provides could clearly be seen in the success stories who also took part in the day talking about their Pony Club experiences, including Junior European Gold Medallist Yasmin Ingham from the Isle of Man Branch of The Pony Club, and National Ladies Point to Point Champion Jacqueline Coward a former Member of the Vale of York Branch of The Pony Club, who commented that The Pony Club “definitely helped with my Point to Point career, and we should try and encourage all young people to go to Pony Club”.

Several of the Pony Club Ambassadors were also a part of the day’s line up speaking on what Pony Club has meant to them, and why they are proud to be a part of the scheme that gives them the opportunity to present a young person’s perspective to many of the discipline committee’s and projects that The Pony Club is undertaking.

“Leadership is just one example of how The Pony Club experience helps you in life in general” commented Ailbhe McCormack from the Wormwood Scrubs Branch, “We would like to thank The Pony Club for all the opportunities it has given us and we really look forward to giving something back”.

The afternoon session provided some great entertainment with Christine Morgan-Owen, who played a big part in the re-development of The Pony Club after its renovation at the end of World War two. In 1947, Christine was a teenager who had just completed a Secretarial course, and worked in the London office of the British Horse Society for the next 18 years. She was given the daunting task of “sorting out The Pony Club”; a job which led on to her becoming The Pony Club’s official secretary in 1952!

All round favourite Julian Seaman, equestrian commentator and author, also gave the audience plenty to laugh about with his recollections of his Pony Club days, the highs and lows of his eventing career and many of the equestrian ‘hats’ he has worn in life.

A revised question and answer time saw delegate’s engaging and ‘posting’ their ideas onto discussion boards which carried four hot topics. “We were really pleased with how everyone got involved with the discussion boards concept” comments Mary Tuckett. “We have had some fantastic feedback and there are some clear themes that we will be following up on. We hope to make the Conference even more interactive in 2015 so watch this space!”

Constable's Heavy Horses drawings,
which inspired his most famous work, sells for £42,000 - SIX times the estimate

Storm clouds, thought to have been drawn near East Bergholt, fetched £44,000

- Works by 18th century painter hung in home in Norfolk without family realising who they were by

- Sketches bought in 1952 by current owner's father for £500

- Heavy Horse At Rest Beside A Plough - said to be inspiration for The Hay Wain - was drawn while Constable was on honeymoon in Berkshire in 1816

A collection of previously unknown drawings by the Suffolk artist John Constable, found in a house in Norfolk, have sold for £187,000 at auction.

The seven works, and an eighth by his son Lionel, were bought in 1952 for £500, but went unnoticed until the owners decided to move house.

They were authenticated by fine art auctioneers Cheffins in Cambridge, who valued the collection at up to £60,000.

The drawings sold for three times that to a number of anonymous buyers.

They had initially been valued at between £4,000 and £12,000 each by an expert at the Cambridge auction house.

This tiny drawing made in a pocket-sized sketchbook sold for £42,000

The seven Constable drawings eventually sold for between £9,000 and £44,000 each.

His son's drawing fetched £2,000.

The most expensive lot, Storm Clouds, an 8cm by 12cm (3ins by 5ins) drawing had an estimate of between £6,000 and £8,000.

It is believed to date from between 1815 and 1818 and is thought to show a view near East Bergholt in Suffolk.

Digital screens monitored the bids as each lot went under the hammer

Constable's picture of a Heavy Horse at rest beside a plough, estimated at the same value, sold for £42,000.

It is believed Constable drew it while on his honeymoon with his wife, Maria.

Auctioneer Jonathan Law, said: " It's been massively exciting. It's gorgeous when you get a collection like this and then it goes so well."

He described the pre-sale interest as "incredible and from the right people".

This drawing from the tow path of the river Stour at Flatford sold for £24,000

"On top of that, there are the private buyers and collectors like one of the ladies - who has loved Constable since she was 20 - and I'm not sure how old she is now, but for all her time she's wanted to collect a little sketch.

"It's an attainable value, as opposed to buying the oils which are many millions," he added.

HorseWorld Trust confirms closure of Whitchurch Visitor Centre

Says Amy Williams

The Board of Trustees at the leading equine charity HorseWorld Trust has announced that it will close its Whitchurch Visitor Centre on 28thFebruary.

Like many UK charities, HorseWorld has suffered from plummeting voluntary donations – particularly legacies. At the same time the number of horses needing rescuing has sharply increased. Despite some successes in increasing its income, particularly through increased visitor numbers, HorseWorld has desperately needed to expand, modernise and redevelop its Visitor Centre so that it could accommodate increased visitor numbers and encourage those visitors to stay longer.

To secure those benefits for HorseWorld, planning applications were submitted to Bath & North East Somerset Council (B&NES) in May 2013 for an enabling development of housing on the visitor centre site with the sale proceeds used to construct a new, purpose built visitor centre on the charity’s adjacent land. By accommodating more visitors, who would spend more money on an improved facility, the proposed new visitor centre would have allowed the charity to increase its income to a level where it would become entirely self-funding.

It would also have resulted in significant cost efficiencies by merging the welfare yard with a new visitor centre. The applications were considered by B&NES Development Control Committee (DCC) in November 2013 and despite recommendations for the applications from the planning officers the DCC members chose not to approve the applications.

This decision was made by councillors despite being advised of the possible consequence that a refusal might result in the closure of the existing Whitchurch visitor centre.

The planning refusal meant that the Trustees needed to review all possible options for saving costs, including the closure of the visitor centre, which for many years has been incurring a deficit of income over expenditure because the centre was no longer fit for purpose and required significant expenditure simply to maintain the old and unsuitable buildings and facilities. It is also a costly operation to staff because of its separate location from HorseWorld’s main facilities.

The combination of steeply diminished legacy income together with reduced voluntary donations and the deficit incurred at the visitor centre has resulted in HorseWorld incurring significant deficits for the past few years. Whilst there was the prospect of the planning applications being approved the trustees were prepared to meet the shortfall from the charity’s reserves for a limited period. However, when the planning application was refused the Trustees looked at all possible courses of action but, following the consultation process with affected staff, reluctantly came to the conclusion that the visitor centre would need to close.

The decision to close the visitor centre follows an extensive collective consultation process held with affected staff to explore ideas and ways in which to avoid potential redundancies. One of the ideas put forward as part of this process was to utilise the land, facilities and highly skilled equine staff located at the Visitor Centre to help address the widening equine crisis in the UK, where some 7,000 horses have been identified as being at risk of serious neglect. (Click here to see the Equine Crisis Report).

HorseWorld is now considering this option in more detail. Accordingly, it hopes that some of the equine roles, which have been identified as being at risk, may be saved. Other roles are also likely to be saved in the organisation by centralising its cleaning and “tack-shop” operations. Horses currently at the visitor centre will be moved to HorseWorld’s Equine Welfare facilities - Keynes Farm or rehomed via HorseWorld’s loan scheme.

Mark Owen, HorseWorld's Managing Director said “I am very sad to have to announce the closure of one the areas much loved attractions. However, I am optimistic that it might prove possible to turn this negative into a positive. We hope to be able to help more horses by concentrating on our core charitable objectives, the rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming of horses and of using the horses in our care to work with children and young people who are disadvantaged or have special educational needs.

It is important to make it clear that no redundancies have been made at this stage, and we are now commencing individual consultations in an effort to avoid or minimise redundancies wherever possible.”

DONKEYS ABANDONED IN ROMANIA

The Donkey Sanctuary has rescued three donkeys that had been abandoned in Romania and left to fend for themselves through the bitter winter.

The trio, including a mare who may be pregnant, were found on a strip of wasteland in the city of Constanta on the Black Sea coast.

They were spotted several times running beside a major road before local people herded them onto the grassy area to save them from the traffic.

Local authorities searched extensively for the owner but after none would come forward The Donkey Sanctuary, which has a holding base in Cernavoda, 60km away, was contacted. It has now given sanctuary to the two males aged 1.5 years-old and 2.5-years-old and the mare aged 10.

Vet, Roxana Topor, said the rescued donkeys had sweet natures so could be working donkeys abandoned due to the cost of feeding them over the winter.

She said: “Unfortunately there is a big problem with abandonments in Romania. In the winter period donkey owners just release their donkeys to eat whatever they can find and hope to find them again in the spring. It usually gets really bad during the years when there’s no rain and the price of food reaches the ceiling.”

She added: “Although we’re getting really full now we’ll never turn away from a donkey in need. We’re working really hard with our outreach program to try and help donkey owners with education, advice and veterinary help to try and reduce the abandonments.”

The Donkey Sanctuary’s Cernavoda centre is home to 63 donkeys and also operates a mobile clinic to support working donkeys in the region.

To find out more about the work of The Donkey Sanctuary and the Romania project please visit www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/project/romania

BEF FUTURITY 2014 DATES AND VENUES

Pentire Chilli Edge Credit Eclipse PhotosLR

The dates and venues for the 2014 Baileys Horse Feeds/British Breeding/BEF Futurity evaluation series have been announced.

The Futurity is the fastest growing young sport horse evaluation programme in the UK and 2014 is set to continue this trend.

With capacity for well over 900 entries, the Futurity aims to identify British bred young potential sport horses and ponies destined for top level careers in dressage, eventing, show-jumping or endurance, and may even find the Olympic champions of the future.

Horses and ponies are entered for the Futurity discipline they are bred to perform in, with age groups for foals, yearlings, two and three year olds.

Each horse is evaluated in hand and loose in an indoor school as well as undergoing a vet’s assessment.

Breeders value the Futurity because it allows them to get their youngstock out in public, but in a low stress enclosed environment.

The Futurity is held at 11 venues with 14 days of evaluations throughout the UK during July and August.

The young horses go home with a Premium score (grade), an attractive rosette and a detailed, informative score sheet.

Entries open online on the 1st July and some venues fill up within 48 hours so breeders need to respond quickly to be sure of a place.

Several changes have been made for the 2014 BEF Futurity. In previous years, entries opened on the 1st June.

The decision to change the date to the 1st of July in 2014 is because it has been found that many foals are now being born later and to help people making entries, the opening date has been put back to enable foals to be on the ground.

Another first for 2014 is the decision to incorporate some weekend dates into the schedule. Previously, the Futurity has always taken place on weekdays, Cat Wood, Executive for Equine Development at the BEF said, “We are looking to improve the running of Futurity in line with feedback we have received and in order to increase the consistency of the evaluation panel we have needed to make a greater range of dates available.

It is also the case that venues are busy as well so we have had to be flexible. Some traditional venues could not fit us in at all so we have had to find alternative venues on alternative dates”.

Three year old horses and ponies are encouraged to attend for their final futurity year as a score of 8.5 and over will result in an invite for the Futurity Equine Bridge selection day under saddle in the following year. Previous attendance is not compulsory.

Horses and ponies selected will receive match funding and training sessions with industry professionals. The aim of the Equine Bridge is to provide direction and support to riders and trainers and to help owners and breeders realise the best of their horse’s ability.

The BEF’s Head of Equine Development Jan Rogers commented on the positive feedback they have had from the series, “The Futurity is showing itself to be an assessment system which British breeders value, and this is because we always respond to feedback and make changes so that the programme continually evolves to meet its objectives and the needs of breeders”. For more information, visit www.britishbreeding.org.