Wild Horses ?

[rfsteel]

My back garden, backs onto woodland, which currently has 4-5 horses in it, today, 3 of them have taken up residence right by my back fence, and just standing in boggy mud, with mulching leaves only, should I be concerned for their welfare, and if so how do I find out who is responsible for them, or should I just ring the RSPCA ?







To me it looks like they think they have stranded themselves due to the flood water, but I've just fed them some carrots, which they wolfed down, and this tempted the larger horse that was grazing on the grass, so they are not stranded at all, as you can see in the last 2 photos. It's the white horse I'm most concerned about, as he was just head first into a tree and hollybush, with nowhere to go.

I've checked the land registry, and the fields are registered to a owner in Gibraltar, and looks to be managed by a firm of solicitors in London. So there is nowhere locally I can find out any further information.

[Willy Nilly]

They look ok to me.

[rfsteel]

Willy Nilly said:

They look ok to me.

Surely horses prefer grass to standing in leaf only mud ?

I suppose time will tell if they are still there by sunset.

[rfsteel]

It looks like having spent 90 or so lying in the mud, the horses decided to catch up with their mate and trot off into the sunset;

[Nightmare]

Look okay to me - we have several horses at our stables which are 'grass livery only' which basically means they live outside all the time. Those 3 look the right sort for that and pretty woolly. Looks like there's plenty of grass the other side of the mini flood lake?

And yes - they will definitely enjoy spending ages rolling around and standing in wet mud. Ours currently has grass wedged between his ears that's he's managed to scrape up whilst apparently trying to do head stands - looks very pleased with himself too

Good on you for keeping an eye on them

[surveyor]

Free Carrots... They'll be back

[Evanivitch]

They're not wild, they're ferrel.

As long as the weather is mild and there's plenty of meat on them I wouldn't worry. If we get 2 foot of snow then might be worth trying to find the owners.

[Willy Nilly]

rfsteel said:

Willy Nilly said:

They look ok to me.

Surely horses prefer grass to standing in leaf only mud ?

I suppose time will tell if they are still there by sunset.

Horses are browsers and have a nibble at this, a nibble at that and a nibble at the other. They'll have a rummage in the leafs and at the trees, which are giving them a little shelter. I'll stick my neck out here and say they are probably in better nick than most pet horses. With large animals like this, as long at they have enough to eat and somewhere to get out of the worst of the weather, they're quite happy outside.