I WISH to comment on the recent court case involving seven people who were prosecuted for offences regarding horses and a dog (The Press, November 23).
You stated in your article that the prosecution came after a woman in Dunnington had seen horses tethered on roadside verges last winter.
I have farmed and lived in the area all my life and it has been usual to see horses of the travelling community tethered where there is a wide verge.
I see nothing wrong with this, providing it is done responsibly.
This case goes back to March of last year, when these animals would have been coming out of a long winter period and would not have been looking at their best.
I pass most of those horses and have never seen anything that would warrant reporting them.
These horses are tethered from being small and accept this way of life. Most looked a picture of health last summer.
Horses are a way of life for their families and they spend a lot of time tending to them.
They are an important part of their culture. I do not believe they would have these animals short of food or water.
The sentence was out of all proportion. Is this what our society does to a family on the bottom rung of the ladder?
David Pearcy, Heslington, York.
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