My tethered friend wasn’t there on Monday evening when I drove by. There were two flattened, grazed rings where he had exhausted the grass on that steep slope near the A1. Part of me was grateful he’d gone; another part worried where he’d gone to.So, imagine my surprise when I finally – a number of weeks after my original report – received a phone call from an RSPCA inspector last night. Unfortunately, I was out, so he left a long answer phone message and there was no opportunity to ask questions.
I was even more surprised to hear that the black horse I reported was “bodily fine” and there was nothing to worry about. The horse I reported has gone.
Apparently, horses are tethered so close to busy roads to get them used to heavy traffic because they will be broken to harness and expected to drive among it. Oh, so that’s all right then.
There are often no buckets because the owners come twice a day to water their horses. To disprove this, said Mr RSPCA man, they would be obliged to stake out a tethered horse for 24 hours. I think that would be a day well spent if it meant a horse didn’t get dehydrated.
I look at our horses here, living in herds as nature intended, with freedom to graze and interact with their friends, and soppy humans to satisfy their every whim; then I look at their tethered cousins who drew the short straw, and I sigh.
I wish I’d spirited that black cob away. Alas, life’s not like Follyfoot.
