Grimmy

I suggest you get back behind your circle of wagons, take your paranoia and your twisted imaginings with you, and leave this thread to those who actually care about the welfare of horses.

Well, you did ask.

I'm sorry you felt the need to respond in that manner. I have done my best to communicate in as polite a way as I could in the face of some very disturbing statements.

May I remind you of some of the things you have said?

I've witnessed horses being kicked, punched, head-butted, whipped, beaten with sticks, run into the ground.
Indeed, the reason I no longer attend is because of the mindless cruelty inflicted on those poor beasts YEAR AFTER YEAR.
I can also tell you that you won't get many eye-witness accounts from the local residents (many of whom are my relatives) because they stay in their homes with all the windows and doors locked during the fair week.
That's the 'reality' of Appleby Horse Fair.

The RSPCA and the local police are sh*t scared to intervene in case they provoke an 'incident'.
Besides, the travellers are very adept (having been doing it since 1685) at conducting their activities out of sight of the authorities. There is an 'official' fair for the benefit of the visitors and an 'unofficial' one for the serious dealing - and that's the one very few people get to see.

Where are the dog fighting images? The sheep stealing pics? The drunken fighting photos? The cottages with ivy around the door and human excrement on the lawn?
For a proper balanced view, speak to the locals as well as the visitors. Except that they'll still be clearing up the mess for the next two weeks.

You also cited the following web pages. Could you explain what they have to do with cruelty to horses?

http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/search/display.var.951592.0.appleby_horse_fair_arrest.php
http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/search/display.var.500103.0.incidents_mar_horse_fair_success.php
http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/search/display.var.497266.0.fire_crews_attacked_at_appleby_fair.php

You say "If we're including accidents, then my figures go through the roof.", yet you include these horse deaths amongst the Appleby score -

On Tuesday (June 6) a horse, which was being ridden by a traveller, was killed after it ran out in front of a Land Rover Discovery driven by a 19-year-old woman from Ingleton at Devil's Bridge, near Kirkby Lonsdale.

Police also believe that a horse killed by a van on the A65 at Newby, near Ingleton, belonged to a traveller.

In your more recent postings -

it's not the number of horses which die every year, it's the manner of their deaths.

So what do you really care about, the horses or the motivation of their owners?

An animal-loving nation .......... will not baulk at calling for an end to the Appleby tradition if it perceives that the deaths are unnecessary and preventable.

What are you saying, that the deaths in National Hunt and Cheltenham Festival and Badminton are "necessary and unpreventable"?

While the incident at Appleby was clearly appalling, the Fair seems to have a far better record than the "establishment" horse events. Please decide exactly what you are attacking.

As for being paranoid about right wing infiltration, I've a few issues to work out locally but I may be starting a new thread on the subect.