Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Fury as horses used by disabled children attacked
Centre blasts thugs after animals beaten
HORSES trained for disabled riders have been abused and beaten in a shocking attack at a riding school.
The animals at the Fort Riding Centre for the Disabled in Maghera, Co Derry, were targeted over the weekend. A number of horses and ponies were left with injuries around their bodies and rope marks on their necks after a group of youths broke in on Saturday. Volunteer riding instructor Noeleen O’hagan said the animals were so traumatised they were frightened of staff. She added: “We went down on Sunday to check the horses and the padlock on the gate was broken. “They had chased the horses on to a laneway and there were visible marks where they had beaten them and a couple have suffered cuts. “This has been going on for years. We actually had a horse stabbed a couple of years ago. “This is not the first time and it may not be the last but it needs to stop. “People say we need CCTV but we get no Government funding and anything we do is done by volunteers. We don’t have the funds for CCTV. The horses were extremely distressed, so much so they wouldn’t even come near us and we work with them all the time. They were very scared.” Noeleen said the knock-on effect touches disabled adults and children, many of whom have few other activities. She added: “We offer riding lessons to children and adults with all kinds of disabilities, it’s free and we are all volunteers. Our horses are specially picked and it takes a long time to train them so an incident like this puts them completely off their way of going. “I’d tell the people who did this to come and see what we are doing, and see how valuable it is. “Maybe that would show them what impact their actions have on others.”