“ We have to walk past this field with the poor little ponies in and you want to feed them”
Gazette: “It was only born six months ago – still a foal. She was a tiny little thing as her mother is only a Shetland pony.
“The day she was born we all saw her and she was no bigger than a dog and she kept falling over so we called her Whoops-aDaisy. She must have been six months and and to see her like that. It’s just not necessary.
“We have to walk past this field with these poor little ponies in and you want to feed them but that’s not the answer because then the owners don’t feed them. They have a very small patch of grass and there’s six ponies in there now.
“They’re always waiting at the fence hoping someone will feed them.”
The small field in which the ponies are kept in, has ragwort growing in it, a plant highly poisonous to horses if eaten.
The woman continued: “I rang the RSCPA when I first saw the ponies. They previously put a sticker on the fence asking the owners to feed them but it’s poisonous plants that I think killed this pony.”
The concerned passerby called the RSCPA again to inform them of the carcass but was told to ring Hillingdon Council.
She added: “I went down yesterday and they’d dug a big hole and buried it. I want to do as much as I can to get these ponies removed, they don’t feed them, they just keep breeding. They keep a stallion in the field with all the mares, so they all get pregnant and have foals.
“I’ve contacted the British Horse Society (BHS) as I’ve given up on the RSPCA – it’s supposed to be prevention of cruelty to animals but if they’d done something about it this pony wouldn’t have died.”
The RSPCA confirmed they had been alerted to the problem in October this year.
A spokesman said: “An inspector attended the location and checked the animals but there was no evidence of any suffering.
“A member of the public called our national call centre on December 1 to report a dead pony in a field in Harefield. A member of staff advised the caller to report it to the council, which is responsible for disposing of the pony’s body.
“We are saddened to hear of the death of this pony and understand the sight of the body must have been very upsetting for members of the public.”
Anyone who wishes to report concerns over an animal’s welfare can do so 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, by calling the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.