I WISH to congratulate and heartily thank Julian Sturdy MP for his tireless work to help the tethered and abandoned horses left to fend for themselves in all weathers on our roadsides.

He has now succeeded in steering his Control of Horses Bill through its second reading in the House of Commons.

As Mr Sturdy so rightly states, “abandoning horses to a life of neglect has no place in a civilised society”.

The time it takes to rescue these horses will now be reduced from two weeks to four days and new powers will be created to allow horses to be sent to animal welfare sanctuaries.

His tenacity in dealing with this crisis is to be applauded. The miserable existence to which so many are condemned will be eliminated.

None of us will ever forget the horrendous stabbing of a defenceless, tethered horse in York just a few weeks ago, resulting in its death.

That someone cares enough about these poor horses to ensure this effective enforcement is just inspirational to horse lovers and, ultimately, gives hope for animal welfare everywhere.

Thank you again, Mr Sturdy. I respect and admire you.

Pauline McSweeney, The Ridings, Wetherby Road, York.