Two dead horses with gruesome wounds were discovered along a country road earlier in the week – People have been giving their reaction to the news.

The animals, a horse and a pony, were found dumped outside a gate in Deadmans Ash Lane, Sarratt.

Julie Blake is the founder Cecil’s Horse Sanctuary based in Elstree.

She along with her volunteers have stabled around 60 horses which were all rescued but has said she could not say how many she has saved over the past 17 years.

Ms Blake says many of the horses are males and usually worthless in comparison to the medical costs that owning a horse can accrue.

She said “These horses need castration, they are colts that are like teenagers, they want to fight and do everything with the mares.

“What happens is these animals are breeding or messing things up, and the owners just get rid of them because of it.

“These people just don’t care, and they leave it for people like us to pick up a mop and clean up the mess.  

“This breaks my heart, and I don’t want to know about the details of the story.

“I get so upset when this happens, my ‘girls’ (volunteers) knew about it and stopped me from reading into it.”

Ms Blake has said the case in Sarratt appeared to be a lot more common in Hertfordshire than many people think – Many of Ms Blake’s horses were rescued after being dumped by owners.

A spokesperson for the RSPCA said: “It is distressing to hear that two dead horses have been found in such a way. We would urge anyone who has any information regarding this incident to contact the police or the RSPCA.

“Sadly, we do receive a lot of calls where dead, and sometimes dying horses have been found dumped like rubbish, due to the cost of treating them or properly disposing of the body.”

The RSPCA added: “Dead horses dumped on public or private land are the responsibility of the council or landowner to remove, but if there are suspicions that an animal has been mistreated or suffered before they died, we would call for people to contact us with information.

“Nationally, welfare charities are picking up the pieces of an ongoing horse crisis and our cruelty line received 1,000 more calls about neglected and abandoned horses in 2018, than in 2017.”

If you have any further information about this or are concerned for any animal’s welfare, please contact the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.

If you would like to help Julie Blake and her volunteers in caring for unwanted horses, then you should visit: https://www.cecilshorsesanctuary.org/how-you-can-help