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Message: Emoticon Listing HTML Help	[quote]Daily Telegraph Feb 1969 "When Margaret Bell tries to get on with housework, it's Fred who gets in the way. He just marches into the house and monopolises the kitchen,which is surely his right as the retired member of the family. Fred is one of 1500 remaining pit ponies whose twilight world down the mines is coming to an end. Within the next 18 months the Coal Board plan to have found them all homes, or if they are too old and ill they will be destroyed.For 26 year old Fred, with 22 working years behind him, it's time to rest. He is not being "put out to grass", as left alive under those circumstances he would probably fret or fight.NCB officials and the RSPCA have thoroughly inspected his new home, sleeping quarters and family's ability to feed him through the year.The Bells wanted Fred for a pet 15 months ago, like thousands of others in England they had to wait four months, they could not choose him,the question was whether the Bells were fit enough to give him a good home.Pit ponies probably get a better life than their relatives above ground, their stables are spotless, handlers dote on them taking sweets and sandwiches for tid bits. Quote from RSPCA chief "They have to be kept at a reasonable temperature, the same as wine kept in a cellar,the NCB go to great lengths to help us find new homes, inspect accomodation and landowners. So often we receive requests from children who just don't have facilities or knowledge for looking after them. At one time they were turned out to grass because people thought it was a good thing to do, but they charged about, broke fences and kicked. Vandals tease and frighten them. They are just not used to life above ground and need careful handling.50 years ago 7300 ponies were working in Britains mines. "The best miners in the world" was the tribute of one who had looked after them for thirty years. Pony and handler have always been very close. In Yorks pits they play "snap" with their handlers-sneaking pieces of sugar from pockets, trotting forward to sample sandwiches and fruit which should have been the miner's lunch. Tale goes that the late Sir Harry Lauder, when a miner, called his pony Catherine. Catherine refused to budge and minutes later there was a pit fall just in front of Catherine-they say she saved Harry's life.The table has also been turned-6 years ago a 19 year old miner died trying to save his pony when it galloped into mine workings in thick gas in a Derbyshire mine. Such is the bond between man and beast..... Now the end is near, Mr Gordon Bagier, MP for Sunderland, has sought-and got-from NCB chief Lord Robens an assurance that these stalwarts of the black industry will not be exported for slaughter. Next month on May 9th,is the 3rd reading of Sir Robert Cary's bill calling for greater assurance of the ponies wlefare. The fear is they will be exported for slaughter.So stringent are the NCB and RSPCA about new homes for ponies even Lord Pobens himself was turned down when he asked if he could keep one. The RSPCA decided his home at Walton on the Hill did not have suitable stabling. The NCB gets 20 letters a day with offers of new homes.The RSPCA deal with 4 or 5 requests a day. Always the two bodies point out it costs £5 per week to feed and stable a pony. The ponies have led a sheltered life down the mines. NCB "They are probably more spoilt than other animals" They must be hand fed as they lose the ability to crop grass like other ponies.Certainly many are "put down"-that depends on a vet's advice and it will be by humane methods. Both bodies insist the ponies must not be ridden. They are not cheap pets as many parents think. Fred, the Bells' pet, breaks the rules now and then. He is led around their 3 acre field with their 5 year old son at the reins. Technically it is not allowed, but Mr Bell said "Only for 5 minutes and they both loved it." To a nation whose conscience suffers more than most over the fate of its four legged friends, the hope is that the Freds of the twilight world will retire gracefully"[/quote]
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Pit Ponies
replied on: 9/20/2005 4:25:34 AM

Daily Telegraph Feb 1969
"When Margaret Bell tries to get on with housework, it's Fred who gets in the way. He just marches into the house and monopolises the kitchen,which is surely his right as the retired member of the family. Fred is one of 1500 remaining pit ponies whose twilight world down the mines is coming to an end. Within the next 18 months the Coal Board plan to have found them all homes, or if they are too old and ill they will be destroyed.For 26 year old Fred, with 22 working years behind him, it's time to rest. He is not being "put out to grass", as left alive under those circumstances he would probably fret or fight.NCB officials and the RSPCA have thoroughly inspected his new home, sleeping quarters and family's ability to feed him through the year.The Bells wanted Fred for a pet 15 months ago, like thousands of others in England they had to wait four months, they could not choose him,the question was whether the Bells were fit enough to give him a good home.Pit ponies probably get a better life than their relatives above ground, their stables are spotless, handlers dote on them taking sweets and sandwiches for tid bits. Quote from RSPCA chief "They have to be kept at a reasonable temperature, the same as wine kept in a cellar,the NCB go to great lengths to help us find new homes, inspect accomodation and landowners. So often we receive requests from children who just don't have facilities or knowledge for looking after them. At one time they were turned out to grass because people thought it was a good thing to do, but they charged about, broke fences and kicked. Vandals tease and frighten them. They are just not used to life above ground and need careful handling.50 years ago 7300 ponies were working in Britains mines. "The best miners in the world" was the tribute of one who had looked after them for thirty years. Pony and handler have always been very close. In Yorks pits they play "snap" with their handlers-sneaking pieces of sugar from pockets, trotting forward to sample sandwiches and fruit which should have been the miner's lunch. Tale goes that the late Sir Harry Lauder, when a miner, called his pony Catherine. Catherine refused to budge and minutes later there was a pit fall just in front of Catherine-they say she saved Harry's life.The table has also been turned-6 years ago a 19 year old miner died trying to save his pony when it galloped into mine workings in thick gas in a Derbyshire mine. Such is the bond between man and beast..... Now the end is near, Mr Gordon Bagier, MP for Sunderland, has sought-and got-from NCB chief Lord Robens an assurance that these stalwarts of the black industry will not be exported for slaughter. Next month on May 9th,is the 3rd reading of Sir Robert Cary's bill calling for greater assurance of the ponies wlefare. The fear is they will be exported for slaughter.So stringent are the NCB and RSPCA about new homes for ponies even Lord Pobens himself was turned down when he asked if he could keep one. The RSPCA decided his home at Walton on the Hill did not have suitable stabling. The NCB gets 20 letters a day with offers of new homes.The RSPCA deal with 4 or 5 requests a day. Always the two bodies point out it costs £5 per week to feed and stable a pony. The ponies have led a sheltered life down the mines. NCB "They are probably more spoilt than other animals" They must be hand fed as they lose the ability to crop grass like other ponies.Certainly many are "put down"-that depends on a vet's advice and it will be by humane methods. Both bodies insist the ponies must not be ridden. They are not cheap pets as many parents think. Fred, the Bells' pet, breaks the rules now and then. He is led around their 3 acre field with their 5 year old son at the reins. Technically it is not allowed, but Mr Bell said "Only for 5 minutes and they both loved it." To a nation whose conscience suffers more than most over the fate of its four legged friends, the hope is that the Freds of the twilight world will retire gracefully"

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