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Stray horses dangers to be tackled in talks
Wednesday 27th January 2010, 11:30AM GMT.
Problems with stray horses causing a nuisance on roads and open spaces in the Black Country will come under the spotlight during talks aimed at thrashing out a solution.
Tomorrow’s meeting comes days after a horse wandered onto the road causing an accident. One of the main trouble spots is the Fens Pool area of Pensnett where residents and councillors have raised concerns about who is responsible for care of the animals.
Police say a car hitting a horse in Pensnett High Sfeet hion Monday highlighted how important it was.
Inspector Simon Bradbury will be at the meeting which was planned before the latest incident.
He said: “We get quite a few complaints and the issue is one which should not be swept under the carpet.
“From a police perspective I want to know what my officers can do when called to deal with a stray horse as it is unclear.
“Officers are not trained to deal with stray horses so there are health and safety issues if they intervene.
“There are also concerns around risk of injury to the public. We are looking at working with the council and other partners to see how best we can move forward on this.”
Horses were seen grazing on grass verges near the accident and emergency department at Russells Hall Hopsital, Dudley, last year.
Last week three horses were grazed on playing fields at Brook Primary School, Wordsley.
Dudley Council says notices are regularly placed at sites where horses are illegally grazing advising owners that horses will be impounded if not removed.
It has resulted in a reduction horses left to graze illegally over the past 10 years.
A clampdown on illegal grazing, introduced last year after talks between Dudley Council and the RSPCA, had been hailed a success but Pensnett councillors said the crash this week showed no adequate solution had been found.
The horse had cuts and a leg injury. The driver, a woman in her 20s, was badly shaken but uninjured.
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Leave the osses alone!
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The council should make grazing land available for horse owners. There are plenty of fields lying empty not being used!
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To leave the horses alone is just totally stupid. Soon, someone will be killed!
As for keeping a horse on a housing estate is totally unacceptable and should be banned. If someone wants to own a horse they should pay to keep them in stables and designated fields, as any other responsible owner would do. It would be nice to see looked after horses unlike the ones left on fens pool.
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they were loose again in the side roads of pensnett again on tuesday. it shoul be noted that they have no running water and no grazing in some of the fields and that they can open gates. the police and council will never resolve this situation with talks.
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I’m sorry but any responsible horse owner should ensure that their horse is either in a securely fenced field, or at the very least tethered securely if on common ground. It is not the councils job to supply grazing land for irresponsible owners, they should pay rent for fields like normal horse owners have to, or if they cannot afford it, they shouldn’t have the horses in the first place. Horses are beautiful, loyal creatures and deserve better than being left, on a whim, by the roadside.
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No 1 & 2. While there is a tradition of keeping horses in this area, it does beg the question why irresponsible people aquire animals without the means to support and care for them and then as in the case of Kerry demand that the council ( i.e. public money) be made available to provide grazing. While fields may be empty that does not mean they are “common grazing land”, that they grant grazing rights or are public property. Grazing land is available Kerry but you have to put your hand in your pocket, after all you don’t expect your neighbours to buy your dog its food do you ?
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There were 2 on the verge opposite Brierley Hill fire station last night. rush hour traffic, fire engines, horses – accident waiting to happen.
I wonder if the owners of these horses would be willing to pay for council run grazing and stabling so they could be clean and safe ….nah!
I wanted a pony when I was 12 my mum said we hadn’t got anywhere to put it so that was that. Times change
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Well, as a victim of a road traffic accident, caused by a panicked horse running into the road, I feel the need to comment.
I do acknowledge the local tradition of horses being kept on grassed areas and perhaps it is a tradition that has ran its course.
The horse that hit me was panicked, malnourished and completely abandoned by its owners. It had been running around main roads, in peak traffic, for over an hour. He was not merely wondering onto the main high street, he charged panicked across traffic into my vehicle. My encounter with the horse has left me with whiplash injuries and the added cost of my insurance premium going through the roof and losing my no claims and excess. Where are the owners to help me with these costs?
I can at least be comforted in knowing that the incident on Monday night has left the horse with a much happier life, in a sanctuary where he will not have to worry about constant traffic and when his next feed will come. It is a shame that the other horses put in this situation are not being given that opportunity to a happier life.
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i have horses and have been on the council waiting list for years but with no joy at all. i do say my horses are in proper fields that i pay for. kerry is only asking for more grazing land to be come available in the area i surpose she does not want it for free. all the people in the pensnett area all wont grazing land near by and are willing to pay for it, just because they graze there horses on chains does not mean they are tight with the money they would be willing to put there hands into there pockets if it was possible for there horses to be safe why doesn’t the council give them a try.
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They are always on our front garden and down the road from where I live on the green there. Numerous times we have looked out of the front window to see a horse there grazing on our lawn. They get kept in the wrong places, then people let them loose because they think it is funny and then these accidents happen. If you are going to buy a horse you should have to prove that you have a sufficient place to keep it.
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Sorry I forgot we are currently in the age of the idiot where we care more for animals then our fellow human beings, it,s more important to give a horse a roof over it’s head than the tens of thousands of homeless human beings in this country that no-one likes to mention. It’s only a matter of time till every horse owner is forced to feed a race horse diet to their horses for fear of prosecution.
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If I owned a pack of dogs I would not be allowed to let them loose to forage through peoples bins.
Bear baiting was a tradition, that has gone. Loose free grazing or chained horses and the modern age of the car are not compatible. Just because it is traditional does not mean it should continue.
Unfortunately we seem to live in a “I want it, you have to support me doing it” culture where personal responsibility counts for nowt.
It is the horses and the poor beggars they run in to or get run over by that suffer, never the owner.
Having said all that , if there is suitable grazing land that can be made available that is not being used for anything then by all means, the council and the authorities ,make it available . At the owners cost of course.
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As manager of one of many teams that use the facilities in the photo at Brook School I think it is a disgrace. These animals were placed on this field for 5 days to keep them out of harms way, whilst we had to cancel all training sessions and fixtures for the whole weekend (which was really unhelpful after an enforced 5 week break due to weather)the owners of the horse’s and other organisations ignored the problem and left the school to fend for itself to try and get rid of the horse’s.
The lack of half decent football facilities in the area is bad enough without being used for this, who will pick up the tab for the cleaning bill after they have left?
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If I had been left in your position I would have walked the horses up to the nearest council office and tied them to the door handle. I bet they wouldn’t have been there long!!
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The problem is the owners are not responsible people that is clearly evident. Who on earth would buy a horse and leave it in a field for god knows what to happen to it. Has the owner of the horse injured Monday come forward to regain possession of his animal, I doubt it very much. If you can not provide adequate facilities for your animals then you shouldn’t have them. The common ground is still council owned land and therefore the council should ensure that these stray horses (that is what they are because no one admits to owning them) are all rounded up and put out of their misery if they do this for 12 months I think the idiots will soon get the message.
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Common land is one thing. Secured horses not causing a problem I have no problem with.
Housing estates and road side verges are quite another.
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as a member of the emergency sevices in the pensnett area i have been to numerous incidents involving stray horses , tethering a horse on a chain makes it vunerable to attack by youths also stray dogs to see a pony that has been chased into a canal so it can escape dogs is pitiful as leaving them roaming the roads so like monday they put road users members of the public and amegency service workers in danger , so often the result is “dont worry mate leave it to me ill sort it with owner” is no answer to the problem its about animal welfare ,p.s. the pony monday night had been tethered it was stuck under the wheel of tha car if not the likely hood is that pony would now be dead !
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