Police often get calls to help with horses that have got out of their fields and with a kind donation, our officers will be better equipped to corral them to safety.
Bransby Horses often help us when it comes to horse welfare and horses that have become loose. We’re very grateful to receive 20 head collars and lead ropes, which will make it easier and safer to handle and return horses to wherever they should be. The head collars will be placed in police stations across Lincolnshire and in every rural crime team response vehicle.
The head collars were initially donated to Bransby Horses by David Cobb of Cobbs Country Store, Darlton, Newark, and Bransby Horses then kindly donated them to the force to help our officers. This was after an idea raised during a meeting with the Rural Crime Action Team (RCAT) about best practice when handling loose and abandoned horses.
During the last 12 months we have attended more than 130 incidents where horses have been reported loose. Officers can now use the head collars and lead ropes to keep the horses safe and sound. When a horse roams away from where they should be, they can cause a serious risk to road users with the potential of a collision causing serious harm to all involved.
We will always try to locate the owners of any horse who becomes loose, as they know how best to handle them. Often horses are nervous and frightened so it’s important to get them back home safely and quickly. Where we are unable to contact owners, we will try other local contacts including Bransby Horses to see if they have room to temporarily board the equine whilst we look for an owner.
Horses that are microchipped can be traced to their home address, although some are not chipped which causes problems. The RCAT team carry chip readers, while vets and animal charities also use them. If an animal is unidentified – or not reported as stolen and an owner cannot be traced – then legislation can be utilised for recovering and re-homing them. In effect taking over ownership.
Bransby Horses is dedicated to improving the lives of horses, ponies, donkeys and mules. For over 50 years they have been rescuing and caring for equines in need. As part of their continued efforts to work collaboratively with emergency services, they approached Lincolnshire’s rural crime team to share their knowledge and experiences and to gain a better understanding of how they could best support us with equine related incidents. Bransby Horses cannot respond to loose equines on a road, only assist, as they need the services of the police to make the area safe for all road users.
Attached to the donated headcollars are QR codes which, when scanned with a smartphone, provides information on how to approach, catch and lead an equine as well as useful information such as Bransby Horses contacts and other charities that can assist.
David Cobb, Cobbs Country Store, said: “When Bransby Horses came to me with the idea I said yes straight away, it was a fantastic idea. We are looking forward to working with Bansby Horses and Lincolnshire Police in the future on other projects.”
Bransby Horses’ Welfare Manager, Rachel Jenkinson, said: “We are grateful to Cobbs Country store for their support and we look forward to working with Lincolnshire Police in the future.”
PC Karen Irving, from our Rural Crime Action Team, said: “We’ve all been to jobs where we’ve used belts or similar to hold onto a horse. While crisps or a packet of Polos sometimes works, this equipment will help secure a horse and reduce the chance of things going wrong.
“We are very grateful to both Bransby Horses and Cobbs Country Store for kindly donating the equipment. We’ve talked about horse abandonment and other issues and this idea was brought up as a positive way to contain them and keep our colleagues safe.
“The work we do in the Rural Crime Action Team is aimed at keeping our rural communities safe, preventing and investigating rural crime and protecting the welfare of animals.”
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