Horse Hoarder on C4 *+ RSPCA petition by SS3*

[megnum]

What do people think?

I may be shot down and I realise what he is doing isn't healthy, but what an inspirational man. He loves those horses so much. I understand the RSPCA taking a few away but considering a lot of things you see, those horses didn't look too bad to me. Admittedly he needs to cut down but still. What a bloke.

Please sign petition linked on pg3 by ss3

[rifruffian]

He's a good old guy who needs a housekeeper.

[bertie666]

Very similar to an old lad I know ....

RSPCA came out looking like muppets as per usual - 2 days and a tranq gun to catch one and he had 3 in a coral without breaking a sweat.....

Prosecuting him is such a waste of money, far better to castrate the colts and keep an eye and get him help with his personal welfare.

[megnum]

I agree, detest the RSPCA from personal experience, they are a total waste of time, they ignore real rescues and instead try and make themselves out to be heroes in more high profile cases such as this. Hopefully people will realise what a group of pillocks they are after seeing their treatment of this old man.

[Liz]

I totally agree with the all the above comments. Thank the Lord for Michelle. She's got it right and applied a dose of common sense to helping Clwyd. The rspca really should stick with small animal problems as they haven't a clue how to handle anything with 4 legs and hooves - I personally know of one occasion when they caused 2 ewes to abort due to their inept attempts to round up a couple of strays during the last FMD disaster.

[shan]

OH said "I knew it'd wind you up" when I commented on the RSPCA's 'catching' techniques... Clwyd was dead right when he said they're supposed to know better than him...
I think it's sad but true that so many people who have an overload of animals fail to look after them properly - I've seen it too much, but at least Michelle is there to help. I hope now the programme's gone out, some knowledgable & caring people will be able to rehome some of his horses.

[mrsfields]

i managed to see it too, and got quite choked up at seeing what the poor guy had been thru with losing his daughter... thought the lady helping him was wonderful - what a special relationship they have - she's like his angel...

[Dragonmaster]

Just watched it on Ch 4+1.
Tried to guess the location as it's very near to me but could not recognise it.
So annoyed with RSPCA action, first they stress out that black pony and probably scar it for life mentally with the way they handled it, then they prosecute him! Horses were not that bad and he was doing his best. He needed help not prosecution.
A lot of the same on Facebook
www.facebook.com/groups/396113847079721/?fref=ts

[Catrin]

Just about to write to the RSPCA at Gonsal. They have staff who have completed the Foundation Course, in fact one of them did Handling the Untouched Horse with me and Shan. I think a Flying Squad is desperately needed so the local RSPCA gangs stop looking like idiots. We'll all recognise Kelly's famous words, when Clwyd said, "They don't have a Plan B do they?"

Gonsal email [e-mail] if anyone wants to join me.

[bernadette]

how is it than when we developed 'civilisation' we decided that people have to comply with a one size fits all set of rules. Clwyd seemed to be a man who just doesn't live the way society accepts but he seems settled and at peace with himself. My daughter just said the documentary makes out that the death of his daughter has caused him to have mental illness but maybe that event actually caused him to realise what is really important to him. So instead of taking his ponies away, especially when most of them look better than some people's single animals, why not spend the money the 'rescue' and prosecution cost in worming and gelding them and support him in an effort to rehome them. There are hill ponies and mountain ponies who get considerably less care than his ponies do and nobody seems to be getting prosecuted for breeding and neglecting them. Quite saddened by the 'gung-ho' method of the welfare people handling of the ponies too.

[highlanderpony2002]

I did wonder when they first said they were calling in the RSPCA that they thought the ponies were too fat didnt see a single poor looking one on that film, they annoyed me more with the way they handled the so called sick pony and again when they prosecuted they really do need to get back to grass roots and start educating and helping people and use the money for what it is meant for helping the animals

[lizpurlo]

I wasn't any sort of fan of the RSPCA before, but this programme has made them fall even further in my estimation. What an appalling display with the so-called 'sick' colt, which looked pretty fit and healthy to me. Tranq. guns have their uses, I suppose, but that was bloody cruel. And I feel sure that had the wonderful Michelle not been there, Clwyd would have fared much worse in court.

What on earth is the point of prosecuting such a man? Their court costs would have been far better spent in worming and castrating and helping; if they really cared about human and animal welfare they could have set him up with a little herd of his old mares and a few geldings and supported him, rather than bullying him - and looking like a bunch of cruel and incompetent prats at the same time.

[cbc]

I too cant help but feel that the RSPCA handled this case with all the sensitivity of a sledgehammer cracking a nut. There were problems for some of these horses. Clwyd needed support to control his hoarding and indiscriminate breeding. But for cryng out loud this didnt come from the RSPCA it came from a member of the community!

Michelle was the one who gave him practical help, challenged him when he let more horses in, got the horses wormed and the colts out. She helps him reduce his herd. She also helps him start to get his personal life together and that counts for something too.

Someone mentioned on the other thread that they thought she had an ulterior motive for selling these horses, I am not so sure, we dont know from the programme. I felt that she saw in him a kindred spirit and genuinely wanted to help. After all she couyld have just stood back, pointed a finger and rung the RSPCA.....
The shot of Michelle and a colleague pulling one of the colts about is not good but compared to the RSPCA's handling of the supposedly sick youngster is a joke.
Worse when you consider they have as Catrin points out some staff who have had training to handle wild horses at their disposal (at the very least, phone someone up?? ask for advice???)
You only see what the programme wants you to see as ever but it seems to me that the RSPCA's handling of the case from all angles was a waste of money and was more about kicking people than addressing a problem.
God help them if they had to go out and do the work that Brooke Hospital for animals does abroad

[specialsparkle3]

My old Riding Mistress ended up living in similar conditions with that ignorant shower the RSCPA after her. This chap needed help looking after himself and his horses as Michelle was giving him. I too, did not see a single horse that appeared to be suffering at his hands. Help was obviously needed worming and castrating them, and I was a little mystified by the death of that poor foal who looked fat and well but what good was prosecuting him going to do for Heaven's sake?


The person who needed prosecuting was that woman who darted that poor pony. If I had been there, I'd have felt like darting her. The RSPCA are a load of money grabbing charletons who should not be allowed near a horse, and this program served to make them look as bad as they are.

[horsefeed]

Michelle is on facebook, we have a mutrual friend, I very much doubt she is making any money from this at all, the ponies seem to generally sell for between £300-500 which is peanuts when you consider cost of worming etc