Thugs attack horse
Sick thugs have slashed a pony used to help people with special needs in Maghera.
By Connla Young
The Dark Bay gilding known as Pharaoh is believed to have been slashed across the right shoulder with a knife or a broken bottle while it grazed in a field belonging to the Fort Riding Centre on Saturday night.
The serious injury, which required ten stitches, was discovered on Sunday morning.
Pharaoh is one of seven horses used by the riding centre to offer therapy to people with special needs.
John McCloskey, who runs the centre, branded the attack “sick”.
“It was a very vicious attack,” he said. “After the previous incidents we moved the animals to this field because we thought it would be safer. I didn’t think anybody would do something like that, it is sick.
The vet told us the injury wasn’t caused by barbed wire. It was a clean deep cut right to the bone.
The horse will now be out of work for two months and I think about how many kids will miss that pony.
“He was an easy target among all the horses and ponies we have. When you go to a field to bring the horses out they are usually reluctant because they know they have to work. Pharaoh is not like that, if you stop at the gate he is the first over to you. So, maybe he went over to his attacker.”
Mr McCloskey explained that the loss of the horse will have an impact on vulnerable children and their families.
“The horse will not be available for two months and that will have a knock on effect,” he said. “Not only do the children get exercise by riding the horse but parents and carers get some respite. This will happen for less people now.”
A spokesman for the PSNI said they were investigating the incident.
The latest attack is the second time this month animals at the Fort Riding Centre have been targeted. The County Derry Post reported last week how young tearaways tried to spear some of the animals with electric fence posts.
