Jenny Macgregor
Sheep farmer who became the fearless leader of the Society for the Welfare of Horses and Ponies
JENNY MACGREGOR, who has died aged 85, was the chairman of the Society for the Welfare of Horses and Ponies (SWHP); during her 40 years with the charity she rescued more than 2,000 horses and ponies and her activism was instrumental in the passing of the Control of Horses Act 2015.
She was born Jennifer Tod on August 30 1932 at Alverstoke, Hampshire, and came from a long line of indomitable and striking women, including her grandmother, the Olympic tennis champion Gwendoline Eastlake-smith.
Expelled from Parsons Mead Girls’ School, Surrey, at 15 for being a “bad influence”, Jenny was an unlikely debutante, and began working at Vogue, though she spent much of her time asleep at her desk, often having arrived directly from a party.
She met her husband, Alasdair, at a Cambridge Ball after he asked her to hold his wallet before jumping into the Cam to save some people who had toppled off a punt.
Following their marriage in 1953, the Macgregors moved to a sheep farm in Monmouthshire and had three children. The couple and their family became a familiar sight on the roads with their banged-up Rolls-royce, which on one occasion accommodated a donkey in the back seat.
But life on the farm was hard; more than once Jenny had to make hay with a baby tied to the back of the tractor, and one winter’s evening, eight months pregnant, she rescued the sheep from drowning in a frozen canal.
The couple took on extra jobs where they could. Styling themselves the “County Decorators”, Jenny Macgregor and a girlfriend painted houses around Monmouthshire. But the enterprise came to an end after Jenny fainted from fumes while on scaffolding painting golf leaf on to the ceiling of Clytha Park.
In the late 1970s the Macgregors agreed to take on the horse rescue charity, the SWHP, and found their true calling. The growing number of horses and ponies under their care meant that they soon had to move to a larger set-up that could take up to 70 ponies.
Jenny Macgregor became well known all over Wales, swinging around corners slightly too fast in her horse ambulance and leading midnight pony rescues well into her eighties; no animal was left to suffer, no matter tricky the situation. The local police and fire services were often called upon to help the SWHP save ponies from frozen ponds, mountains, and, on one occasion, the middle of a busy roundabout.
In 1996, in a landmark animal welfare case, the Macgregors disobeyed a judge’s order by refusing to hand a traumatised pony back to an owner who had been found guilty of causing the animal unnecessary suffering. After a year of bitter legal fighting a judge finally ruled that the pony could stay with the SWHP, setting an important precedent.
It was also Jenny Macgregor’s petition against “fly grazing”, a practice where owners would abandon their horses on other people’s land, which lead to the Control of Horses Act 2015.
For the SWHP no case was too dangerous and Jenny Macgregor did not mind stepping on toes if an animal needed saving. Anyone who mistook her for a sweet old lady would find themselves mistaken.
Determined and brave, she made enemies of negligent or cruel horse owners and traders. One man threatened to poison her tea; “I’d like to see you try,” she replied. Another vowed to set her house on fire.
She had shotguns waved in her face and countless other threats of violence, but met all attempts at intimidation with a devil-may-care shrug.
In 2005 she was appointed MBE for services to the welfare of horses and ponies. Among many other honours she received awards from the British Horse Society, Blue Cross and the British Equine Veterinary Association. She started the Monmouth and the Chepstow horse trials, remaining president of both until her death.
She approached every problem with common sense and good humour. Her house was always open to the innumerable children and adults who sought her advice. There they might find a foal warming by the Aga, chicks hatching on it, or an injured duck recuperating in the bath.
Alasdair Macgregor died in 2010, followed by their beloved son, Duncan, in 2014. Jenny Macgregor continued to work for the society with her characteristic vigour and lack of self-pity. She is survived by her two daughters and many grateful dogs, horses and ponies.
Jenny Macgregor, born August 30 1932, died November 6 2017