Posted by on May 15, 2010 in General News, Welfare | 0 comments
The appeal against the sentencing of James Gray and his family was rejected on Wednesday the 12th of May at Aylesbury Crown Court. All sentencing was upheld, with Gray receiving a a lifetime ban from keeping horses, a 26 week prison sentence (sadly the maximum allowed for such an offence) and instructed to pay £400,000 costs. The other four family members had minimum disqualification periods...
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Posted by on May 7, 2010 in Horses, Welfare | 0 comments
A fascinating chiropractic study has been undertaken in two French riding schools. A worrying 74% of horses were found to have severe back problems, with only 26% with mild problems, or unaffected. About 60% of horses had problems in more than one area.
Nineteen horses were examined and assessed at work and rest, and the resulting findings then compared to the way the individual horses had been...
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We thought Nanette deserved a post all of her own as the transformation in her from the neglected little donkey we rescued in June 2008, is nothing short of inspirational! Those of you who remember Nanette will also remember the dreadful state her feet were in, they had been neglected for many years.
After x-rays were taken of her feet to assess whether she has any pedal bone rotation, the...
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Posted by on Apr 26, 2010 in Association News | 0 comments
We always love hearing how our adopted equines are getting on with their new families and this month we have these lovely photo updates for you….
Belle is getting on really well in her new home having an important role as a companion (and eating of course!)
Balto & Jenna have just had their annual check up with the dentist. Balto is sporting a very smart fly rug as he suffers from a...
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Posted by on Apr 21, 2010 in General News | 0 comments
After wreaking havoc in the north of France, the often fatal condition, atypical myopathy , has now claimed the lives of yet another five horses within a few days in the area of Ham (Somme). Two cases were reported in Saint-Gobain and a third suspected case is near-Frières Faillouël.
Affected animals exhibit symptoms such as weakness, stiffness, difficulty or refusal to move, stand up,...
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Posted by on Apr 15, 2010 in Association News | 0 comments
To our wonderful supporter who gave us a very unexpected donation – one we hadn’t had to beg for or spend hours ‘earning’. As you can tell, donations rarely happen in the ERF world but they make a huge difference to our ability to follow up on welfare cases and campaign to improve welfare standards. Every cent of this donation will be used to help us make a difference,...
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Posted by on Apr 8, 2010 in Association News | 1 comment
We’d like to say a huge thank you to those that attended the quiz night at Harvey’s restaurant and bar in Montcaret last Friday. ERF supporter Helen Barnes and other attendees on the night raised a fantastic 75€, which will go towards our fund to buy a specialist camera for our investigations work.
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Posted by on Apr 3, 2010 in Disease | 0 comments
Two more cases of EIA have been found (30th of March this year) in Prigonrieux, in the DORDOGNE.
The outbreak in Prigonrieux is epidemiologically linked to the index outbreak (outbreak in Montcaret) since the infected horse in the index outbreak came from the outbreak in Prigonrieux.
The two horses have been removed from the premises, and will be euthanased. The remaining 19 horses will be...
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Posted by on Mar 30, 2010 in Welfare | 0 comments
Spring is in the air, newborn lambs and calves can be seen dotting our countryside and we are also heading into prime breeding season for many equine Stud farms. Breeding equines is not something to enter into lightly though. Sadly often retired, lame or old mares are looked upon as ideal candidates for becoming broodmares. Their owners thinking along the lines that breeding a foal from them...
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Posted by on Mar 22, 2010 in Uncategorized | 5 comments
I am about to do something that we don’t normally do …….. rant! Why? Because once again, we’ve invested our precious time and money in trying to help out a family who called us in desperation, only to be told they’ve changed their mind after all – here’s the story:
Living in France hadn’t turned out to be the dream life the family expected and they...
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Posted by on Mar 20, 2010 in Association News | 1 comment
Last Saturday Helen Barnes, from the Dordogne, organised a 20 km fundraising walk in aid of ERF. Helen was joined by a band of walkers, some with their dogs, all keen to kindly help raise funds for ERF.
The walk was initially organised as a sponsored ride on horseback, but the EIA outbreak in the vicinty that week meant that plans quickly had to be changed as it was decided to be too great a...
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Posted by on Mar 10, 2010 in General News, Horses | 0 comments
One horse has tested positive, and 28 horses were Coggins tested on the 8th March for EIA in MONTCARET, DORDOGNE. The horses have been under surveillance since the 25th of February 2010.
This is a very serious notifiable disease with any positive horses facing compulsory slaughter. The symptoms are listed HERE, the second disease on the list.
There is no current indication where the disease may...
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Posted by on Mar 9, 2010 in Association News, Rescues | 0 comments
Sometimes we are asked to take on and rehome equines, that often for health reasons or their age, are too vunerable to be advertised for sale by the owners. Belle is one of those ponies who had some physical difficulties, probably as the result of being used as a broodmare in the past, and could therefore only be used as a companion in the future.
We are fortunate to have some excellent people...
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Posted by on Mar 2, 2010 in Uncategorized | 1 comment
Our friends at PMAF (Protection mondiale des animaux de ferme) have produced an excellent set of materials aimed at helping both individuals and organisations understand if animals are being maltreated here in France. The materials clearly show what is acceptable alongside the laws that are in place to protect animals in farming. Their website contains a vast amount of information on all farm...
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Last week ERF’s young male donkey, Vinnie, was successfully castrated. This is the first time that we have had an equine castrated lying down over here, normally they are left standing. Everything went smoothly and Vinnie was soon up on his feet and is now healing up nicely.
If you are interested in becoming Vinnie’s guardian then please contact us at ERF. Vinnie’s new home...
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