For the past year or so we have been pushing the authorities to act in a case of neglect to 4 Shetland ponies feet in the Charente. Their feet had been grossly neglected for years making it extremely difficult for them to walk about.

Strangely though, they were otherwise reasonably cared for with ample hay and shelter provided. We are very pleased to report that the ponies feet have now been attended to and we hope that they see a farrier on a regular basis now and not allowed to get into that state again. Hoof neglect is a large problem in France that  regularly gets reported to us – a neglect that the authorities still do not rate highly enough on their list of concerns. We constantly have battles with the authorities to get help to those equines most vunerable in France. It is a difficult job we have to get someone to listen to our concerns, and we ask that people  please be patient whilst we try and get help to them. We try to do our best on the limited resources we have and our small but dedicated team of volunteers at ERF.