"Think not what the Shetland pony can do for you - what can you do for the Shetland Pony?"
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click for list of ponies that have been stolen

11th March 2010
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The South East Group AGM was held yesterday lunchtime at The Star, Alfriston.  The members and invited guests were treated to The Star’s usual hospitality.  There was a very successful and well supported auction of items both equestrian and most definitely not equestrian, following on from the formalities and the lunch – also the usual bumper raffle.

During the AGM Gerry Hart shocked many of those present by informing everyone of his intention to step down from the post of South East Co-Ordinator with immediate effect.**  Jill Jones gave a vote of thanks to Gerry for all his unselfish hard work over the years and all present echoed her sentiments.

Gerry has run the Group unassisted for many years and only latterly have I helped out with the back office work and the finances.  I appreciate how many hours he puts into a thankless job for the benefit of all of us.  I would like to personally thank Gerry for his leadership, good sense and good humour in the time that I have worked with him.  His legacy and influence will undoubtedly live on in the new blood tasked with taking the SE Group forward, who will strive to attain the same success in running the Group that Gerry has enjoyed over the years.

Caroline Sear. Membership Secretary/Treasurer.

** Chance would be a fine thing! Thank you for your kind words, but I have the Group/Sussex spring show to run as I am committed, SCHEDULE HERE NOW and to set out forms / rules for the Awards exclusive to S East group members relating to  4 named shows eligible for 2010. The group needs new blood, I have other projects in mind and short of leaving 'with immediate effect' no one or persons would ever step up to the plate. It is amazing how the prospect of it folding without 'a leader' inspires people. An immediate offer of a show venue, £100 raised on the raffle, raffles were something I never held except at Christmas! £51 raised on entry fees for the auction goods and £20  from a donated item. To repeat my good wishes yesterday, "It's your group, make of it what you will, support it's events, make a useful contribution, help where you can. Good luck for the future".  

Sat 13th MARCH - Carlisle -The 4th Spring Show & Sale
116 REGISTERED SHETLAND PONIES
(under the auspices of The Shetland Pony Stud Book Society)
18 Yearling Colts 30 Mares, 25 Yearling Fillies 6 Licensed Stallions,
26 Fillies 385 Lots of Tack. 11 Colts & Unlicensed Colts

9am - SHOW CLASSES. 10am - SALE OF 385 LOTS OF TACK
11.00am - SALE OF SHETLANDS followed by sale of 50 other Horses and Ponies
to be held at Borderway Mart, Rosehill, Carlisle (adjacent to J43 M6 Motorway)

CATALOGUE - http://homepage.mac.com/tumpline/100313horse.pdf

On a lighter note, as there is a paucity of news, take a look at this clip of a labrador eating its dinner, as the person said who sent it to me, 'some people have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much time on their hands'. ENJOY Click

My Mother had an unconditional love for the Shetland Pony, and in her words," There is no other pony to compare to a Shetland" Zoe Snape

Reading catalogue for March 10th here now.
Pictures of some  lots on last page. click

Yearling Colts12,     Yearling Fillies 37,      Mare/fillies  36,      Entire Males   3, Licensed Stallions    24, Geldings        3

FOLLOWING THE SALE OF SHETLAND PONIES.......Spotted filly    1

Good entry of over 100 ponies entered for Reading 10th March..more later

Just following on from your coverage of the Horse Tax issue.

On Friday, my mother had an unscheduled visit from the council.  Apparently they were checking horse passports.  They wanted to know how many we had and to see and check all their passport. Luckily, all was in order and they went on their way.  It was a completely uncontrolled check as they didn’t check passports against ponies and we could have shown them anything!  However, I do smell a rat regarding the horse tax.  Why suddenly visit us to check up on what we have got?  So they know how much to tax us?  So, I queried this with the lady and she said she knew nothing of this nor why she’d never been to check before – funny that!  I also checked on where she was visiting and from what we could gather they were all farms/registered agricultural holdings – like mother’s.  Of course, I didn’t mention the three ponies at my own domestic property just up the road, and wonder when and indeed if they might visit me.  It seems, as with all things, that if you go ‘legit’, keep all the right records etc, it makes you much more accessible and therefore in this instance, more likely to be taxed!  Do you think our lovely govt. could be that devious!??

Sarah Ready. East Berks.

She also agreed that the other horse needed to be removed which the RSPCA organised IF this had not happened then we would have had to put a notice on the gate asking for it to be removed with-in 14 days and if this was not done we would have been able to claim the horse . Really didn't want this to happen as didn't want another one and we would have also had to arrange for it to have a passport and chipped which all costs money as everyone knows and also you had an equine which you really didn't know what to do with.

The Vet took samples of the dead horse in case at some point the owner could have been contacted due to it having a chip and also its condition, Because the horse being dead on PRIVATE land, we as land owners were responsible for removing it which also cost us money! When it wasn't even ours, but that's the law. Alive horse was removed by RSPCA and they put a sign on the gate telling the owner to contact them which surprisingly they did the very next day! From what I can gather false name and address and also they claimed that the dead horse was not theirs it was someone they met in a pub and asked if they would look after it. Strange how they both turned up in a empty field on the same day and looked very similar.
CONCLUSION OF WHOLE EVENT - RSPCA found out that chip in dead equine was from France but breeder sold it as a yearling and was not registered to new owner .The live horse also had a chip but not in the  usual place and had come from Belgium but authorities there had not had any information on it   And due to it not being claimed will now be re homed Hope you have found this interesting especially the bit about the microchips as even though they both had them you  still cant find out who actually owns them! KG..

This is potentially crippling, please read it and sign the petition. 10,000 Oppose Horse Tax Bill

Ministers are under pressure to reconsider controversial plans to introduce a new tax on horse owners after over 10,000 people signed a petition opposing the move.  Even before the Government’s draft Animal Health Bill was published yesterday afternoon it had drawn criticism from the horse sector unhappy that the Government is pressing ahead with the plans despite overwhelming opposition from horse owners. Campaigners have been logging on to the 10 Downing Street website since September to have their say on the proposals, which would see every horse owner in the country hit with a ‘tax in all but name’ on each of their animals to help pay for a new Government agency to oversee animal health. 

Yet despite Minister for the Horse Jim Fitzpatrick telling MPs last week that the Government is “keen for there to be as much scrutiny as possible”, the publication of the Bill comes well before a cross-sector Advisory Group set up to examine the proposals has had a chance to have its say.

Horse owners have been highly critical of the plans since they were published last year, with many angry that the proposed new system of charges would place a heavy burden on the horse sector without offering any clear benefits to riders, breeders and trainers in return. 

Critics have also pointed to the poor value for money which taxpayers would receive from such a move, arguing that any new body would spend much of its time collecting charges from people who own just a single horse; a group who make up 65% of all owners.

With the administrative cost of collecting the charge almost outweighing the charge itself in these cases, an estimated £2.3m would need to be spent to collect just £4.5m, says Rethink the Horse Tax, the campaign behind the petition.

Veterinarians, too, have warned that creating a new layer of bureaucracy will complicate the process of responding to animal disease outbreaks.

Welfare groups have also joined animal keepers and vets in expressing opposition to the plans, as they artificially separate animal health and welfare.

A spokesperson for the British Horse Industry Confederation, Tim Morris, said:

“The horse sector has said it will work with the government to achieve the benefits of reduced risk of disease and enhanced animal welfare. But all we are seeing the extra cost and complexity of an expensive new quango, which will be an unnecessary burden to both the taxpayer and horse owner, with none of these benefits.”

“We have been assured by the Ministers that the contents of the Bill are still wide open to debate, but publishing a draft Bill without saying what it will cost and with no visible benefits make this a very hard sell to horse owners.”

“The Government need only look at the response that this petition, even before horse owner saw the details, to see that there is a great deal of opposition to this Bill. The Bill in its current form is expensive and unworkable and we urge the Government to now wait until its own Advisory Group has fully considered and costed these proposals.”

Notes to editors

A)   The Petition:

1. The Rethink the Horse Tax petition: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Horse-Rethink/

2. The petition opened on 11^th September 2009 and will run to 11^th September 2010

3. The petition is currently the 15^th most popular on the 10 Downing Street website, out of a total of 4,766.

B) The Government’s Proposals:

4. Source for the Jim Fitzpatrick quote above: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmhansrd/cm100121/debtext/100121-0011.htm#10012163001237

5. A press release announcing the publication of the Government’s Draft Animal Health Bill is available on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs  website here: http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2010/100125a.htm

6. A copy of the Draft Animal Health Bill can be downloaded here: http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/policy/animalhealth/sharing/ahbill/index.htm

7. The Government’s initial Responsibility and Cost Sharing proposals are available to view here: http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/new-independent-body-ah/index.htm

Further information is also available here: http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/policy/animalhealth/sharing/index.htm

8. Under the proposals, horse owners would be charged an annual fee of £10.50 per animal (as set out in Defra’s Impact Assessment: http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/new-independent-body-ah/impact-assessment.pdf).

9. Plans to bring in legislation to create a new animal health agency were announced in the Government’s legislative agenda in July 2009. In the same month a joint industry and Government Advisory Group – headed by Rosemary Radcliffe and attended by representatives from across a number of sectors including the horse industry – was tasked with making recommendations on the proposals. Source: http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2009/090707a.htm

10. The Minister responsible for the proposals, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, indicated in Parliament on 22^nd January 2010 that a draft Bill will be published “soon”, whilst the Advisory Group will not publish its recommendations until the end of 2010. Source: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmhansrd/cm100121/debtext/100121-0011.htm (Column 486)

11. Under the plans, horse owners will be asked to pay an estimated charge of 10.50 per horse. However, if the Government decides to keep the contribution of the horse sector at 20 per cent as outlined in its initial Impact Assessment (see above), and if additional collection/registration costs were included, the levy could end up being much higher. The horse industry has calculated that it could be up to £125 per horse.

C) About the Rethink the Horse Tax Campaign:

9. Rethink the Horse Tax is a not-for-profit campaign led by a coalition of organisations representing all parts of the UK horse industry, encompassing horseracing, leisure riding, competitive sport, professional breeding and veterinarians. Organisations behind the campaign include:

·         The British Horseracing Authority (BHA)

·         The British Equestrian Federation (BEF)

·         The Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (TBA)

·         The British Horse Society (BHS)

·         The British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA)

·         The British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA)

·         The National Trainers Federation (NTF)

·         The Racecourse Owners Association (ROA)

10. For further information on the campaign please see: www.RethinktheHorseTax.org

D) Some facts about the UK Horse Industry:

11.  4.3 million people went horse riding last year. Riding is one of the most popular means by which more and more people are enjoying the British countryside.

12.  Burdening horse owners with new costs without justification will have a negative impact on an industry which makes a significant contribution to the UK economy in terms of tax revenue and the 270,000 people whose livelihoods depend on the horse sector.

13.  Much of the horse sector is funded out of taxed income, making a horse tax a form of double taxation.

14.  Horseracing attracts 6 million spectators each year, making it the UK’s second most watched sport.

15.  The horse racing industry alone contributes around £750,000 per year to central funding aimed at preventing and controlling infectious diseases.

NPS Area 20 South East, Winter / Spring show, Ardingly,
South of England Showground 13/Feb
https://www.nationalponysociety.org.uk/uploads/assets//Areas/Area_20_Winter_Schedule_2010.pdf