Due to a change of circumstances and relocation abroad for their previous guardians, Ruby and Ebony have come back to the Dordogne for a short while.

They have their own little paddock and barn, next door to my horses and Mimi. Madge is totally besotted by them, she’s gone all moon-eyed, and is desperate to be their friend.

Ossie, although initially indifferent, is now furious at her betrayal, and is exhausting himself trying to act as a physical barrier between them whilst Mimi chunters about in the background looking alternately piqued and pleased that she’s no longer the new kid on the block!

They are looking somewhat portly as they’ve had a few years of idle living since they were last here! I’ll start to do some work with them shortly if they haven’t been rehomed in the interim. They are both fit and well, and if you think you could offer one or both of these gorgeous girls a forever home, please get in touch!

An adoption fee will be payable, all future homes will be checked, and both will go out on loan under contract.

Mimi is still looking for a new permanent home, but in the meantime her education will continue here.

As she came off the lorry, both my horses – who have never seen a mule before – were astonished at her. Especially when she talked, as she sounds like nothing they (or I) had heard before – eyes on stalks all round at the big-eared girl with the voice of a hoarse dog!

She arrived late afternoon, so due to fading light she was kept in a stable overnight to allow the meeting with the others to take place under supervision. She was quite taken with the shavings bed, and seems to have spent most of the night ensuring she wore a covering of them at all times. Mucking out is going to be deeply joyous!

Out into a temporarily fenced off separate paddock, and away she went showing off her flash trot whilst trying to find a way to escape – I can see this is going to be fun!

Next step a chat with horses, the look on their faces was priceless!

Especially this one –

I’ve never dealt with a mule before, and already the differences between mules and horses are obvious. She is highly inquistive and very brave – the minute I turned the tap on in the barn to fill the trough she came charging in to see what the noise was, whereas a horse would have been far warier about entering an enclosed space. She’s wary and defensive at human contact, so that will need addressing, but is keen for attention although on her terms at the moment. She will have a week or two to settle in before any work starts.

All seems quiet and settled now, so hopefully in a day or so I’ll be able take down the temporary fencing to turn her out with the horses.

Watch this space for those pics!

Our gorgeous Shetlands, have moved to pastures new.

Unfortunately we had to take them back from their previous guardian as he had not fulfilled the necessary health care for the ponies.

It never ceases to amaze us that people will happily accept the conditions of a contract, sign it, and then blatantly ignore their obligations. Luckily our contract ensures we can take any equine back if the conditions are breached, and that is exactly what we have done.

Their new guardian, Shirley Ann, is diligently reporting every action to us, and the ponies are much happier now. I’m sure they’ve finally found their horsey heaven!

A couple of years ago, we at ERF fought a long and difficult battle with the ‘rescue’ sites in the UK, trying to explain to them that most of the French ‘rescue’ sites were merely fronts for dealers, and the ludicrous prices being paid for very sick and sorry animals, or youngstock, were simply lining the pockets of dealers who laughed all the way to the bank.

ERF has been alerted to one of the former sites trying to continue their import of supposed ‘rescues’ under new ‘management’. This particular forum name and ethos was handed over to the current webmaster by the previous webmaster under the proviso it was to be used to try and help UK horses in trouble, and that the French horses were to be left for the French sites to deal with. The previous webmaster had seen the sorry mess of ‘French Rescue’ to the UK for what it really was, transporters and dealers making a fast buck out of soft hearted people.
The site is operating behind closed doors in this particular instance, trying to secretly raise money for a meat bred foal to be imported into the UK.

What ERF cannot understand, is that despite this site having been unable to sustain permanent homes for horses previously imported via it’s forum, the members are continuing to try and import more horses. Especially considering that several of their previous ‘rescues’ have fallen on hard times and are now are placed in UK welfare organisations using up UK donations that should have gone to help UK horses in need.

Whilst that in itself is bad enough, what is really abhorrent is the group are planning to use a transporter that their current webmaster knows exports UK horses live to France for slaughter.
Whilst they pay him to collect their foal, (who incidentally will have a ridiculously long and likely illegal journey back to the UK for such a young unhandled horse) they are in effect also funding him to export horses to slaughter who may not have faced such a fate had the site’s previous abandoned animals not filled places in a rescue centre.

This particular transporter has admitted that a huge proportion of his international trade and income was based upon the ‘rescue’ horses.

He exports UK horses to meat farms/dealers, funding the trip by selling the animals to the farmers/dealers, then has many of the same animals put on a forum at way over meat price. People have their heartstrings tugged at, buy them to ship them back to the UK to ‘save’ them, he does the shipping making money on the inflated transport prices he charges.

To demonstrate how ridiculous the situation is – the costs that one foal will incur simply to be bought and arrive in the UK are this -

Purchase price of 800 euros – £615.38 approximately. (Well over meat value)

Travel costs are £600 plus vat at 20% which is £120.

Total amount to raise for both purchase price and transport is £1,335.38.

Yes, that’s right – £1,335.38.

How much hay/food/farrier visits would that buy for the shelters currently housing their already unwanted animals? How many UK native breed foals going to slaughter could that help?

The UK is overflowing with unwanted equines – why import another who will have no vet checks, no vaccinations and have a real possibility of carrying a vector bourne disease such as EIA?

We believe the horse below waiting to go to Italy for slaughter from France is a UK TB. He was there around the time that the ‘rescue’ sites were at their most busy. Perhaps he might have found a home in the UK if not for those exporting to slaughter to fill their coffers.

Please, use your energies to stop those that export live to slaughter, rather than helping fund their trips to do so.

Read THIS LINK to see how the trading operates.

A few months back we received a very sad email to say that Hugo’s adopters were sadly having to hand Hugo back to ERF due to relocating back to the UK. It was an emotional time as Hugo, our first rescue, had been with the family for so long and their daughter,Pippa, had built up an amazing bond with him.

Luckily for Hugo, fate was on his side! The family who adopted Perry from us decided that maybe Hugo would fit in well with them. Their daughter, Katy, was needing a bigger pony to move up to after Perry and Hugo could also then be a companion for Perry.

Katy and her mum immediately fell in love with Hugo when they went to try him, and this past Saturday, Hugo moved in with them. Not only are Perry and Hugo now best of friends, the 2 girls have also now created a friendship… thanks to Hugo.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Hugo’s past adopers for providing him with the special care and attention that Hugo, as a fragile and untrusting rescued pony, needed. We wish Hugos new family all the very best and we look forward to receiving updates on how he is doing.

Hugo (left) Katy and Perry (right)

Hugo investigates his new field!

Two very contented ponies

We have been asked about the traffic of horses to slaughter between the UK and Mainland Europe, so I have drafted this to try and help raise awareness of how the trading of horses destined for the dinner plate works.

At ERF, we are fully aware that despite public statements to the contrary from various official bodies, horses are still exported live from the UK to France. There are many myths put about to try and deflect from this, so this blog is to try and dispel them.

Myths and Facts

1. There is a minimum value in place to make it illegal to export animals under meat value.

There was a minimum value, however, as no checks are made at the ports, it is not policed. And it only applies to ponies, not horses.

2. It’s not worth exporting horses and ponies for meat.

The dealers that export for meat, also import from the European abattoir queues. It works like this -

In the UK are horses that nobody wants, for many reasons. Too old, lame, behavioural problems, loss of form (racing, dressage, eventing, endurance, even just happy hackers). If the current owner no longer wants the horse, does not want to retire or responsibly euthanase the horse at home, getting rid of them, or recouping some money from them is difficult. These horses are impossible to sell genuinely, so are habitually passed on to dealers to sell on as part exchange where they frequently have their passport redone to hide their identity, or are doped up to sell; either to mask pain, or with a calmer to make them rideable.

Those that don’t sell in that manner are then sent through a sale ring with no reserve, or to the dealers that send to slaughter.

Unwanted horses end up in a downward spiral where they can be sold for as little as £100 or even less, with ponies selling for a few pounds at a downmarket unmonitored sale, so at that price are still a financially viable proposition to send to slaughter.

On the continent, as in the UK, are horses that nobody wants, for many reasons. If not responsibly euthanased at home, these are normally sent to dealers who take them to the abattoirs.

This is where international trade fails horses.

Dealers from the UK and France/Belgium/Holland etc all interact with each other. Dealers are traders – the most money for the least effort is their aim. They are often also registered International transporters. It’s common practice amongst dealers to buy ‘job lots’. Horses are only another commodity to them, so they are traded no differently to other commodities. And buying in bulk always brings reductions in price.

Here is a link to the Dartmoors we found a major meat sale in France.

Dartmoor Ponies

So as a hypothetical (but likely) example – British Dealer (Brit) has 10 horses that cost him about £1,000 in the UK. He doesn’t bother feeding them, he just keeps them until he has a lorry load. He ships them across to France, and leaves them with a European Dealer (Euro) there. When there, he buys/swaps them for horses that Euro, or a business aquaintance of his, has. As long as the weight per load is equivalent, Euro doesn’t really care about the types, because his interest is the numbers of kilos, but he’ll probably still make a bit of money on top of it for doing nothing but swapping horses over.

Brit then goes back to the UK with 10 horses, often with great European bloodlines, that were in the abattoir queues for the reasons the Brit horses were. However well bred the horse is, if it’s unrideable it shouldn’t have a resale value.

But Brit (depending on his reputation) has no qualms about doping a 400€ horse to sell it for between £3,000 and £10,000.

Without x-rays and blood tests, it’s impossible for a vet to know whether or not a horse is full of bute and what problems exist under the skin. Very few people thinking they have found their bargain dream horse will even consider how they are being duped. Tendon injuries can be constricted with a blister, deep soft tissues injuries and low grade arthritic conditions can be masked by painkillers.

So for each horse he has cherry picked fron Euro’s holding yard, for looks, movement, pedigree etc, he can make a significant profit, with several horses, even with perhaps a couple of them still being impossible to sell. And those will either go to a UK abbatoir, or end up sold within a job lot to another dealer. And so it repeats.

Dealers can import foreign horses because nobody in the UK will recognise them or trace their chip numbers, and be able to inform the new owner of the real history, unlike the UK. As the exported horses are going to the abattoir in Italy, their history doesn’t matter. A good horse has the same value as an injured one.

This horse is a typical example. We found him, but even then he was used by us to highlight the trading. Luckily, he has a future because of our using him.

Corran Ard

The biggest problem faced by those of us wanting to prevent this trade in live horses for meat, is that it all done on the quiet, because the UK doesn’t acknowledge the horse as a meat animal, so there is no traceability whatsoever in those shipped abroad.

3. Slaughterhouses in the UK.

Currently there are only three publicly licensed to slaughter horses for meat. Potters in the SW, and Turners who have one in Cheshire and the other in the SE.

The UK slaughters approximately 20,000 head of horses each year, roughly the same as France. Horses are being shipped from the UK to France because the abattoirs are too busy. On welfare grounds, it would be better for the horse who is destined to meet that fate if there were more abattoirs licensed for horses in the UK. At least then the more stringent regulations generally applied in British abattoirs would make the final journey for these horses a shorter and more humane one.

4. Trade in the EU

One of the biggest issues limiting export for slaughter is the TPA. It is gone into fully on this link to our site. Please read it and see just how difficult it is to stop the dealers importing and exporting legitimately under such an agreement.

This is the actual agreement.

Tripartite Agreement (TPA)

And this is the ERF suggestion as to why changes are vital, and how it could be policed more effectively.

Proposed Changes to the TPA

A petition has been set up to help prevent malpractice in the live export of all animals to slaughter, and can be found here.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/16024

Please sign, as all awareness raised is important. If conditions improve for some species, then there is a knock on effect onto others. There needs to be a change in the law whereby animals are not classed as trade, and the journey times to slaughter are vastly diminished. Each small step forward will bring us nearer to more humane treatment for all animals.

Last month we were reported a case of 2 donkeys with terribly overgrown hooves. We see so many cases like this, often on a weekly basis, but it nice to be able to report such a rapid and positive outcome. We have to thank not only the person who alerted us to their plight, but also the DDSV in department 79, who have always responded to our welfare cases so efficiently and swiftly, as they went straight out to see these donkeys after receiving our written plainte.

These 2 donkeys have now had their feet attended to and a vet and farrier report were submitted this week to the DDSV confirming this. We hope that the owner will now respect the law and not allow his donkeys to suffer the pain and discomfort that this type of neglect brings.

Investigating and reporting welfare cases uses up a lot of our resources each year.We do not receive outside funding, so please help us by donating or fundraising so that we can continue to help them.

ERF rescued Trotter mares, Lily and Marcy, are once again looking for their forever home. You can read their story here of when we originally rescued them from shocking conditions and their subsequent rehoming in January last year here.

Very sadly, and to our disgust and dismay, their new adopter did not give these beautiful horses the care and attention they needed and flouted the conditions of our adoption contract, under which we place all our equines. ERF swiftly intervened by taking Lily and Marcy back into ERF care where they were placed under the watchful eye of ERF volunteer and fosterer Lizzie, to receive some much needed care and attention.

A few months down the road and the mares are now ready to be rehomed and we are looking for an extra special home for these 2 girls. They are both very kind natured and good to do. Due to their previous neglect it’s unlikey that they could be ridden in the future and so we are looking to rehome them together as companions to live out their days in peace where they will receive plenty of TLC.

Please contact us asap if you feel you could offer Lily and Marcy their forever home, these girls really do deserve some luck in their lives now!

Please have a look at Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/groups/125209700909004/ and pass the details around. If you click on the photos below they’ll open in a new window.

“Stolen from south of Kunszentmiklos, Bacs-Kiskun county, central Hungary 16/08/11, 4 horses:

Dora: palomino highland x cob, white blaze, long mane and tail, lots of feathers. approx 15hh, 14 years old. Freezemarked DORA on her saddle area nearside, but you can’t read it anymore – I know where it is.

Ingrid: Chestnut Hungarian Sportshorse (Magyar Sportlo), (TB type) white star, snip and narrow blaze…. approx 16.1hh, 13 years old. Branded on her back in saddle area, nearside: Crown shape and underneath the number 562, offside: 98.

Kicsi: Rose/dapple grey/roan heavy cob x (Hungarian Sodrott/Mura), approx 16hh, 8 years old. Branded on neck: nearside BK 03, offside: 67

Kis Vihar: Bay with white star heavy cob, approx 15.2hh, VERY HEAVY BUILT, (Hungarian hidegveru tipisu, nem tistaveru), 4 years old, Kicsi’s son.”.

Today we went out to see ERF pony Perry who has been with his adoptive family for a year now. The first thing I noticed straight away was how svelte perry was now looking compared to the rather rotund pony of last year. The sweet itch that he suffered from last year also seems to  have improved no end. To help keep the flies at bay his young guardian Katy says he loves his typically French diet of daily garlic and, perhaps not so French, marmite sandwiches!

Perry enjoys going out regularly on hacks around the Vienne countryside and can even stretch to a bit of a canter and jump now! We are really impressed with how Perry is looking and are very grateful to his guardians for the wonderful care and love they give to Perry….he is one very lucky pony!