Our campaign for horses on mardyke plains

Firstly, we hope you had a restful Christmas and New Year and spent some quality time with loved ones. This is, after all, what Christmas is about!

During the Christmas period, we have spent our time working to help remove the horses from the flooded Mardyke plains and take them to a safer site, better suited to their needs. There were more than 20 horses left grazing on land hit by the recent flooding in the UK, they were seen wading through the floodwaters!

The dangers associated with horses and flooding are extremely serious. Mud poses serious threats for horses. If they are tethered, trapped or immobile they can fracture a limb or injure themselves whilst struggling to move in the deep mud.  Indeed they can get stuck in the mud and need rescuing by fire rescue crews. They can develop rain scald, mud fever, foot problems, pneumonia, wounds and infections and waterborne diseases.

The Mardyke plains are totally unsuitable living conditions for horses in flood conditions. The situation was getting more serious and was in desperate need of a resolve as the horses were at a very real risk of drowning if the water levels continued to rise

The local Authority who owned the land refused to take action to help these horses so we launched a Campaign on facebook and in 2 days our petition had 8,000 signatures – testimony to the amount of people who were concerned for the welfare of these horses. Horses have died on these plains in the past and others have had to be dragged out of the mud, which could have been avoided.

We were delighted when the Council did a massive u-turn and issued a statement saying that the horses would be moved and would never be allowed to graze the land again between November and March.  This is a huge success and will save those horses from possible death.

We would like to say a BIG thank you to all of those who have supported this cause!