A picture of grief, New Forest ponies guard mare hit and killed by a motorist
STANDING at the side of the road, these New Forest ponies appear deep in grief.
On the opposite verge is the body of one of their group who had been missing for 36 hours.
Hazel Hill Scrap, a chestnut mare, had been clipped in the dark by a speeding car in the national park in Hampshire.
She was knocked over and died at the roadside from internal injuries and a broken leg. Her mother and half-sister were among the ponies who found her and watched over her body all night – as motorists continued to speed past.
The deeply moving photograph was taken by Sarah Simmons and shared on social media. ‘I hope people realise it’s not just the owner of the horse who it upsets, but their herd members, too,’ she wrote.
Nine-year-old Hazel was owned by Cathy Stride, a housewife from Minstead, near Lyndhurst, and is the third of her ponies to be killed on this stretch of road.
‘We had a young pony before whose mother was killed and she stayed there until we dragged her away,’ she said.
‘Horses get distressed. It’s a very good photograph because it shows that the animals care as much as we do.’ Many owners and vets insist that ponies and horses display a high level of understanding. Generally when one of a pair dies, the survivor is severely affected, losing condition and weight – and becoming so clinically depressed that vets occasionally prescribe Valium.
If a foal passes away, some mothers display extreme grief.
Mrs Stride said the driver who knocked Hazel down did stop. But many motorists who hit animals do not, leaving injured ponies to suffer.
‘They go too fast and don’t give the ponies enough room. Ponies have no road sense whatsoever. If only people would slow down and give them a wide berth.’