I have to say, i think Grimmy has the right of the matter - it can often be harsh, rough and is less regulated than auction marts etc (I don't think I've ever seen anyone nutting a horse - or a cow for that matter- but I have seen heads severely yanked, sticks, thumps etc). Rough handling is probably one of those very greay areas that the RSPCA would be necessarily cautious about getting involved with - they have slightly more power nowadays with the new Act - but ....

I'm NOT saying that the event is full of animal cruelty - not by any stretch of the imagination - but there are elements there, for whom bravado and the occasion of the Fair - the spectacle, whatever, causes them to act in very macho ways - treating the horses, as I said, more like a roadster than flesh and blood. Perhaps they hope it will impress the girls? I don't know.

I will agree that part of me loves the tradition and spectacle of the Fair - I see the vardos going up and returning from the fair every year - even spent part of my wedding night with a group of travellers, round their fire (long story) - but, let's not forget that they are real people - often rough - many of them are not strangers to a good punch up - they aren't (or most of them aren't) recreating a tradition - they aren't social workers / teachers who dress up once a year (although there is some sense of occasion - and I know it's a kind of holiday for many). I've been drinking in the pubs with many of the traders / associates - would not want to be on the wrong side of them.

I'm rambling incoherently here but ...

(I'm a a girl Ruth!)