Attention people who donāt have horses:
Sorry to break in with this on a very much Sherlock-only kind of blog- I promise not to make a regular thing of this, but this is something thatās happened TWICE now.Ā
This is Beyli. Heās a two-month old foal and heās adorable. He belongs to a friend of the family.Ā
So adorable, in fact, that a member of the public spent a nice afternoon feeding him. You feed the ducks and thatās ok. right? Itās a nice thing to do.Ā
They fed him turnip. He choked and gave himself a stomachache as a result.
The problem is that horses canāt really burp and horses canāt vomit. Their digestive systems are fine-tuned and when they go wrong, they go really wrong. Colic in horses is difficult to treat and in Beyliās case, like many others, proved to be insurmountable. With pain medicine not working, after 4 hours of doing their best with no improvement, the vet called time on his suffering rather than let him go on to a very slow and painful end.Ā
A horse needlessly suffered and died because someone fed him the wrong thing. They werenāt necessarily malicious, they were just hugely ignorant. And worse, they were hugely entitled. There were already signs asking people not to feed the animals.Ā As I said, this has now happened TWICE to the same family, and theyāre by no means alone.Ā
PLEASEĀ Donāt feed horses that donāt belong to you.Ā
Horses can have disorders, diabetes, allergies and dietry requirements and you have NO IDEA if what youāre giving them is acceptable or not. EvenĀ āsafeā things like carrot and apple could beĀ āwrongā for this particular horse. Grass clippings? Not okay. Grain? Not okay for a horse that hasnāt been regularly eating it.Ā
Donāt assume.Ā i have seen walkers pull up random plants and offer them over the fence INCLUDING TOXIC, DEADLY weeds like ragwort. Iāve seen horses offered dog-biscuits and bread. Iāve heard of horses being regularly fed by strangers thinking they were being under-fed, when the horse in question was on a vet-given diet to control weight and other conditions.Ā
Donāt feed horses that donāt belong to youĀ even little treats and things like sugar cubesĀ because it gives them bad manners. They start biting and harassing people. Itās bad for their teeth and tooĀ much sugar is terrible for them.
In some places if the owner has liability insurance, if you can be identified, YOU will be legally responsible for the vetās bills. And if youāre thinkingĀ āwell, theyād never identify meā, then thatās besides the point.Ā
Please. You wouldnāt feed someoneās dog without asking, I hope. You definitely wouldnāt feed someone elseās child.Ā
TL;DR: Donāt feed other peopleās horses. You can make them SERIOUSLY ill. Treat animals inĀ fields like animals at the zoo: youāre welcome to look, but donāt meddle with their care.Ā
PLEASE DONāT FEED OTHER PEOPLEāS HORSES.Ā
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