Dedham horse owner finds mouldy bread in field

Johanna Lesley Bayliss-Fuller, who has four horses in a field in Dedham, was shocked after finding a load of the bread in her horses’ water troughs.

The trough is far from the footpath so she believes whoever left the gone off bread would have ventured off the footpath behind the Duchy field.

She discovered the bread in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Ms Bayliss-Fuller said: “I was disgusted and frankly quite angry.

“It was actually blue with mould.

“I have one who is rather greedy and will do almost anything for food.

“The bread should have just gone straight in the bin.

“I appreciate not everyone understands why horse owners don’t want people feeding their horses.

“I don’t believe there’s any malice, people think they’re being kind or it’s a nice thing to do with their children on a day out.

“The general public simply aren’t aware of the huge implications something they believe so harmless truly has.”

She said she cannot be sure, at this time, whether any of the five horses in the field have eaten any of the bread.

Ms Bayliss-Fuller added: “Horses can’t be sick, so if something doesn’t agree with them they get colic, left untreated this can lead to a painful death.

“One horse here is retired and can’t chew hard food such as apples or carrots as he has no front teeth.

“This is a serious danger for him. It’s also for the public’s safety, horses are big, fast animals and can be very unpredictable.

“Some horses bite, food can cause fights. People, their dogs and children could get seriously hurt.

“There’s a plethora of reasons not to feed horses that don’t belong to you.

“It really is just safer all round to enjoy watching them graze peacefully.”