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Local Life - Wigan - May 2021

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20<br />

Rein It In<br />

A Billinge horse owner is asking<br />

members of the public not<br />

to feed horses whilst out and<br />

about.<br />

With country walks on the<br />

increase during the pandemic,<br />

horse owners across the UK<br />

have reported incidents where<br />

horses and ponies have suffered<br />

and died due to well-meaning<br />

passers-by feeding them<br />

without permission.<br />

Jenny Walsh, along with fellow<br />

horse owners on the same<br />

Billinge yard, is the latest horse<br />

owner to take action to stop<br />

these incidents happening.<br />

Jenny said, “We have put new<br />

signs on the field fences and<br />

gates and have posted messages about this issue on<br />

local community blogs, but some people continue to<br />

disregard all this.”<br />

“Horses have delicate digestive systems and are unable<br />

to be sick, so ingesting something that their body cannot<br />

deal with can often lead to a very painful and distressing<br />

death”.<br />

“Just as you wouldn’t give a child some sweets without<br />

permission or feed a dog a treat<br />

without asking its owner, don’t<br />

feed a horse or pony”.<br />

“Look at the horses and take<br />

pictures, but please don’t touch<br />

or feed them. I know people<br />

mean well but, whilst they can<br />

just walk away after feeding<br />

horses, owners can be left<br />

with vet’s bills for thousands of<br />

pounds because of their actions”.<br />

Fellow horse owner Tracey<br />

Holland, pictured with 11-yearold<br />

Troy, also warned against<br />

petting horses. “If you pet horses<br />

at the gate, they think that<br />

they are being fed, so they can<br />

bite your fingers”, said Tracey,<br />

admitting that her own horse<br />

Troy had even bitten her a few times.<br />

The campaign to stop the public from feeding horses<br />

gathers momentum, with extensive coverage in national<br />

magazine, Horse and Hound, and the campaign has<br />

also reached social media. ‘Stop Feeding our Horses’ is a<br />

Facebook group consisting of almost 10,000 members<br />

and was created by former horse-owner Hannah<br />

Johnstone whose Welsh gelding Lightning died after he<br />

was fed a raw potato.<br />

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