A way of life (From York Press)

A way of life

9:42am Wednesday 12th December 2012 in Letters By Reader's letter

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.