Army horses loose on London streets

The spokesperson on Vine made the point these hirses are carefully bred for their role
I rode a retired race horse for a couple of years. Huge skittish thoroughbred but very kind. You couldn’t take the race out if him though - he was at the front of any canter or his instincts took over
My Labrador loves nothing more than retrieving from earth. Thst spaniel flushes birds at any opportunity. My previous German shepherd guarded us - gently, the most loyal dog x

Apologies - predictive text took retrieving from water to retrieving from earth

The spokesperson on Vine made the point these hirses are carefully bred for their role

You can't breed out the flight instinct, though.

Nor can you breed in tolerance of being kept in very unnatural conditions most of the time without them reacting to a bit of freedom to move. . Those stalls really bother me

Most horses are kept in unnatural circumstances. The only ones I can think of that aren’t are probably moor ponies or American mustangs but the latter are periodically rounded up and sent to kill pens if they can’t be rehomed. Now that horses/ponies are no longer used for war or transport ( or mining) they’ve reinvented themselves for sport and leisure. I would imagine the stallions used to produce these beautiful black horses are chosen for both temperament and conformation. I love seeing them in ceremonial parades such as the Queens funeral. I was always surprised when we had our fully turned out pony that hated being in a stable how happy the thoroughbreds were in their stables, although I must admit that they were big enough for them to lie down. Even then there’s the worry that they’ll get cast. Very good at injuring themselves are horses.

We're lucky enough to have two groups of Exmoor ponies living in an almost 'wild' situation not too far from us. I have a soft spot for Exmoors as I learned to ride on one and so did my daughter. The groups near us are owned by a trust which looks after this endangered breed, and they carry out conservation grazing in the two areas (as well as elsewhere in the UK). It's lovely to see them living in such circumstances and how they interact with one another.

They live in the dunes near us. They’re beautiful, aren’t they. In winter the cattle graze the dunes and are great for helping the biodiversity of the area. I don’t mind walking though them in the dunes, something I’d never do in an enclosed field.The ones I like are the ponies they graze at Wicken Fen ( I can’t remember their name).

Konik

I used to live very close to Wicken Fen and remember when the Konik ponies were introduced to graze the land and help maintain the habitat for wildlife. DH was on the management committee and there were some local objections to introducing ponies from Eastern Europe rather than using British native ones. They are now a tourist attraction.