British Horse Society announces Ragwort success story!

The British Horse Society is delighted to announce a real success story in its campaign to prevent horses dying from ragwort poisoning. The Society has been contacted by Rick Lewis, from Kirkham in Lancashire, who, as a result of the BHS' Ragwort Action Week (July 21-27), spoke to his local county council about clearing some land occupied by horses that was full of ragwort. He was particularly concerned as there was a foal in the field.

Rick told the BHS, "On 28 July I contacted Nick Bower of the Rural Estates section of Lancashire County Council's Resources Directorate to raise the issue, referencing your Ragwort Action Week web pages. They replied that they would contact the tenant and within two weeks, before the ragwort had seeded, the entire field had been cleared of the weed. I was surprised at the prompt action and very pleased, especially for the foal's sake.

"I should stress that it was because of your Ragwort Action Week that I decided to take some action. I think it is very worthwhile and you should repeat it next year."

The photos above show the field before (left) and after (right) Photos submitted by Rick Lewis

BHS chief executive, Kay Driver, commented, "The Society is delighted at the outcome of Rick's intervention and we would like to thank him, and Lancashire County Council, for their concern and prompt action. It is action such as this that makes our campaign so worthwhile and may well have saved the lives of all the horses in the field. We will definitely be running the campaign on an annual basis to ensure we minimise the risk of poisoning from ragwort ingestion to all equines."

www.bhs.org.uk

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