Dr David Marlin Calls for More Support for Stop Feeding Our Horses Campaign

• Stop the public interfering with our horses – Dr David Marlin Calls for More Support
• Recent poll reveals worrying statistics

Equine scientist Dr David Marlin has thrown his support behind the national Stop Feeding Our Horses campaign, designed to educate the public on the dangers of feeding equines without owners’ permission.

The initiative, set up by Hannah Johnstone and actively promoted by former groom Natalie Munir, was set up in the wake of a large number of incidents which resulted in horses and ponies suffering illness, injury and death after unauthorised feeding by members of the general public.

DrDavidMarlin.com – the science-based independent information resource for equestrians – ran a dedicated survey addressing public interference with privately owned horses and received 2,745 responses – demonstrating the strength of emotion felt by horse owners on this subject. While the poll was not exclusively related to feeding horses – rather it covered incidences where members of the public interacted with privately owned horses without consent, for example entering fields, chasing horses, leaving gates open, damaging fences and gates – it did include this aspect of intrusion.

The poll revealed the following worrying statistics:

• 79% of horse owners reported experiencing members of the public interfering with their horses/ponies on private property (No timescale was specified)
• 59% stated that this had got worse during the past year whilst 15% said they had not experienced this at all (i.e. interference)
• 44% of respondents said their horses/ponies had suffered as a result of the actions of the public, with 90 cases where the classification was significant (the examples for ‘significant’ were specified in the survey as euthanasia or fatality)
• 72% of owners who had experienced trespass had not reported this to the police. Of 294 incidents reported to the police, in 20% of these the police were considered to have been helpful and 20% they took action, leaving 60% of incidents where the respondents said the police declined to help

Commenting on the responses to the survey, Dr David Marlin said,

The current pandemic has seen a marked increase in the number of people walking in the countryside which should be viewed as a positive, but sadly, due to the unacceptable actions of a minority, the UK’s horses, ponies and donkeys are now being exposed to an unacceptable level of risk. There is clearly an immediate need to educate members of the public to understand the potentially grave consequences of their actions. We’d hope that in most scenarios, this is a case of ignorance rather than intent but regardless, we need to put an end to this abusive behaviour. As per the current enhanced concerted efforts by the police to raise awareness of the appropriate protocol for drivers when they see a horse being ridden (or led) on a public highway, we would welcome a similar proactive response regarding this type of interference, and this would of course include support for the Stop Feeding our Horses campaign. We would also urge other key stakeholders to join forces to effect change in relation to these matters.”