IN her ‘Between The Lines’ column on Saturday, January 4th, the Irish Horse World editor, Isabel Hurley, wrote about some dreadful “incidents of neglected horses and ponies” that had made for “shocking viewing” on social media platforms during 2019.

Sadly, neglect and cruelty cases were among topics covered in the paper again this year, with one of the first cases we read about being the dumping of horses in a Leitrim forest. Then there was a “serious animal welfare issue” in the north-west of the country in April with six donkeys and two ponies being seized by the authorities in Co Donegal the following month. Also that month, the ISPCA had to first locate and then rescue an injured pony on the Sugarloaf mountain in Co Wicklow.