A load of Pony
I thought I would share something that happened over the Easter weekend
We had just returned on the Saturday from the mandatory visit to the Garden centre with the largest bag of compost I have ever seen, well perhaps not seen but certainly had to lift into the back of the car (peat free of course), and a shit load of bedding plants. I had just sat down with a cup of tea before my other half found me something else to do when my eldest son said “ Dad there are some horses in the garden and they are eating all the plants” my response was the usual yeah yeah have you been at the blue smarties again and got up to see. Lo and behold there were some animals eating our plants but unless they look a lot bigger on the TV these were Shetland ponies.
Six in all and chomping quite happily on not only the plants already planted but the newly acquired bedding plants waiting to be planted, they must have been hungry cos they had even taken chunks out of the compost bag (presumably cos it was green).
The kids thought it was great and kept asking “ can we keep them ….Plllleeeeaaassssssssssss. I mean what did they expect me to say oh yeah that’s ok we can keep them all in our garden.
After a good scout about and not being able to find anybody searching frantically for six ponies we telephoned the police, who were less than helpful but said they would get someone out to us when they could, surprise, surprise we are still waiting.
A neighbour then arrived back from her shopping trip and saw the ponies, she told us that the police had found them the night before and had put them in the play park just round the corner, the park however does not have a gate so the Policemen decided to use “Police crime scene do not enter tape” which kept the hungry and thirsty ponies in for at least 5 minutes and then they wandered around looking for food and water. Finally arriving in our garden. By this time the ponies had eaten every piece of veg and fruit we had in the house and were still chomping at the bit (excuse the pun)
I had a closer look at the ponies and they didn’t look in great shape coats all matted and dull eyes all glazed, hooves severely over grown, I wondered if one of the passing travellers had off loaded them and then done one.
I could really see myself getting lumbered with these ponies
I thought I know who can help and at 4.30 pm telephoned the RSPCA call centre, where a very nice lady explained that she would make it a priority case and someone should be out to see us within the hour.
8.30 pm still no sign of the RSPCA so I telephone again and speak to the most apologetic person I have ever spoken to who said they had a back log of work, I said I wouldn’t want to add to their work load as they were busy but if they could get the local inspector to telephone me and perhaps we could discuss the problem on the phone as I wasn’t bothered if the ponies had to stay until the following day. They said they would get someone to call me within the next 30 mins.
About 9.30 pm the ponies had eaten absolutely everything we had that they could .. I am sure they were considering becoming carnivores with some of the looks we were getting off them…. and still no call so I phoned a friend of mine who owns a farm and he agreed to let me have a bale of hay for these ponies.
11.30 and now I am getting a bit pissed off, a simple telephone call wasn’t a lot to ask was it? But obviously too much for the RSPCA
So I telephone again and once more speak to the lead representative from the apology society. After about 15 minutes of solid we are so sorry sir and we appreciate the action you have taken on behalf of these animals I hang up non the wiser.
My other half meanwhile has been on the net and got the number of a local Equine Vet she telephones him and he tells us he has just got of the phone with the local collections officer form the RSPCA and gives us the number. We telephone him and he tells us the reason no one has been out to us is that the officer on duty was only on from 9 to 5 and when we tell him about apology central the call centre he explains that the people don’t work for the RSPCA but just take messages. He arranges for someone to call on the Sunday morning either before 10 or after 12 as we would be out between those times.
No sign before 10 so off we go and we arrive back just after 12 to see the RSPCA van leaving our yard. The young lady RSPCA officer informs us that the ponies are gone which surprised us as they were in the garden and the gates were pad locked! When we looked the gates had been lifted off their hinges and left leaning against the fence.
The lady from the RSPCA explained that this was the 4th time in 5 months she had had to inform the owner that the ponies had escaped and said over and over again yeah he’s a nightmare. She also told us that they couldn’t take them off him as they “weren’t bad enough”.I did despair a little cos I hate to think of those poor ponies not being looked after but looking on the bright side we did get some good natural fertilizer for the plants we went out to replace the ones they ate.
I dont seem to be able to post any pics at the moment but will keep trying
We had just returned on the Saturday from the mandatory visit to the Garden centre with the largest bag of compost I have ever seen, well perhaps not seen but certainly had to lift into the back of the car (peat free of course), and a shit load of bedding plants. I had just sat down with a cup of tea before my other half found me something else to do when my eldest son said “ Dad there are some horses in the garden and they are eating all the plants” my response was the usual yeah yeah have you been at the blue smarties again and got up to see. Lo and behold there were some animals eating our plants but unless they look a lot bigger on the TV these were Shetland ponies.
Six in all and chomping quite happily on not only the plants already planted but the newly acquired bedding plants waiting to be planted, they must have been hungry cos they had even taken chunks out of the compost bag (presumably cos it was green).
The kids thought it was great and kept asking “ can we keep them ….Plllleeeeaaassssssssssss. I mean what did they expect me to say oh yeah that’s ok we can keep them all in our garden.
After a good scout about and not being able to find anybody searching frantically for six ponies we telephoned the police, who were less than helpful but said they would get someone out to us when they could, surprise, surprise we are still waiting.
A neighbour then arrived back from her shopping trip and saw the ponies, she told us that the police had found them the night before and had put them in the play park just round the corner, the park however does not have a gate so the Policemen decided to use “Police crime scene do not enter tape” which kept the hungry and thirsty ponies in for at least 5 minutes and then they wandered around looking for food and water. Finally arriving in our garden. By this time the ponies had eaten every piece of veg and fruit we had in the house and were still chomping at the bit (excuse the pun)
I had a closer look at the ponies and they didn’t look in great shape coats all matted and dull eyes all glazed, hooves severely over grown, I wondered if one of the passing travellers had off loaded them and then done one.
I could really see myself getting lumbered with these ponies
I thought I know who can help and at 4.30 pm telephoned the RSPCA call centre, where a very nice lady explained that she would make it a priority case and someone should be out to see us within the hour.
8.30 pm still no sign of the RSPCA so I telephone again and speak to the most apologetic person I have ever spoken to who said they had a back log of work, I said I wouldn’t want to add to their work load as they were busy but if they could get the local inspector to telephone me and perhaps we could discuss the problem on the phone as I wasn’t bothered if the ponies had to stay until the following day. They said they would get someone to call me within the next 30 mins.
About 9.30 pm the ponies had eaten absolutely everything we had that they could .. I am sure they were considering becoming carnivores with some of the looks we were getting off them…. and still no call so I phoned a friend of mine who owns a farm and he agreed to let me have a bale of hay for these ponies.
11.30 and now I am getting a bit pissed off, a simple telephone call wasn’t a lot to ask was it? But obviously too much for the RSPCA
So I telephone again and once more speak to the lead representative from the apology society. After about 15 minutes of solid we are so sorry sir and we appreciate the action you have taken on behalf of these animals I hang up non the wiser.
My other half meanwhile has been on the net and got the number of a local Equine Vet she telephones him and he tells us he has just got of the phone with the local collections officer form the RSPCA and gives us the number. We telephone him and he tells us the reason no one has been out to us is that the officer on duty was only on from 9 to 5 and when we tell him about apology central the call centre he explains that the people don’t work for the RSPCA but just take messages. He arranges for someone to call on the Sunday morning either before 10 or after 12 as we would be out between those times.
No sign before 10 so off we go and we arrive back just after 12 to see the RSPCA van leaving our yard. The young lady RSPCA officer informs us that the ponies are gone which surprised us as they were in the garden and the gates were pad locked! When we looked the gates had been lifted off their hinges and left leaning against the fence.
The lady from the RSPCA explained that this was the 4th time in 5 months she had had to inform the owner that the ponies had escaped and said over and over again yeah he’s a nightmare. She also told us that they couldn’t take them off him as they “weren’t bad enough”.I did despair a little cos I hate to think of those poor ponies not being looked after but looking on the bright side we did get some good natural fertilizer for the plants we went out to replace the ones they ate.
I dont seem to be able to post any pics at the moment but will keep trying
posted by Steve @ 6:10 am
3 Comments:
At Tue Apr 12, 04:28:00 pm,
Cheryl said…
Excuse me? The RSPCA gained access to your property without your permission, dismantled your gates and left them like that, and what else?
I figure the 'owner' (blood from a stone) is responsible for the damage to your property up to the time that the RSPCA first said they would be there, after that all the damage, hay etc should be covered by them.
If they told you that yes, they would take responsibility for the animals at a given time, then I dont give a hoot if they didnt turn up, from that time they were responsible.
Piggin 'eck!
At Thu Jun 09, 08:32:00 am,
Cheryl said…
Steve - TAGGED YOU for a meme. See my blog. You HAVE to play! It should introduce you to some fun people, and vice versa.
Because you are new, if you are stuck for people to tag, then pick from my list and I'll pass the message for you.
At Sun Dec 31, 01:51:00 pm,
Anonymous said…
the ponies were not taken from the garden by the rspca any dim witt can see that the owner has turned up found them and decided to take them back himself!!!! Rspca do a good job with alot of red tape stopping a lot of animals being taken from shit holes they are in
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