How feeding horses can land you in hot water with the law
Alegal story which caught my eye recently was the case of a grandmother who took pity on a horse she feared was being neglected in her village.
Margaret Porter, 67, fed the horse called Nelson carrots and apples after seeing him standing in a frozen field. In November she was convicted at York Magistrates’ Court of harassment after feeding the horse. She was fined £180 and ordered to pay costs of £310. She receives state pension and will pay it at £10 a month.
The owner of the horse had a sign next to the field asking people not to feed Nelson. The owner described in February 2021 challenging Ms Porter who had a bucket of carrot ends and apples which she was throwing into the field. She asked Ms Porter
if she knew she might poison the horse or give him colic. The owner stated Ms Porter replied, “you can ring the police, I’m not bothered.” The owner described how she was tired of Nelson being fed without her knowledge and being given food which might make the animal ill. After repeated complaints made to the Parish Council that the horse was underfed by his owner, and a report to the RSPCA (who concluded the horse was being well looked after), the owner decided to call in the police. One of our solicitors quickly corrected my naive thinking that a few carrots wouldn’t do any harm, pointing out: a. If animals are fed without the owners’ knowledge there is a real risk of overfeeding; b. Owners are unable to monitor the animals’ diet being unaware what they have or haven’t eaten; c. Apples contain sugar. A horse may have an insulin issue and therefore should not have fruit. In any case, more than one or two apples a day will cause stomach distress in any horse and may also cause issues with a horse’s teeth. Who knows how many people may feed a horse as they pass by in a single day?; d. The feeding of carrots etc by hand teaches horses to bite the food given to them, and therefore teaches them to bite generally; e. If there is more than one horse in a field, then it can encourage horses to fight to be the one who has the treat; f. Grass cuttings are often fed by passers-by to horses however the grass breaks down after being cut and will become poisonous to horses.
For Mrs Porter, who appeared to have had good intentions towards Nelson, it was unfortunate matters escalated to the point of a criminal conviction, but it is clear animals should not be fed without the owner’s approval.