Sad ponies.

I spent eight hours today at Darent Hospital sitting in the same chair. I was booked in for chemo at 10am , having had this changed from Monday . Apparently my kidney functions were low and the pharmacist had to change the dosage yet again. The drugs were ready at 11am so an hour was spent on waiting. The story of my life in this hospital.

I have to return on Thursday for more blood tests to analyse the renal functions and have been told i must wait for the results and any further treatment. I am expected to hang around for a few hours but have decided we should leave after blood test and they can phone us with the results and we will return if necessary.

We returned home from the hospital driving through the adjoining private prestigious housing development that overlooks Darent Country Park.
A lot of the surrounding land is owned by travellers who live in mobile type homes and keep their horses on their land. There is a large travellers (gypsies) community in this area

Sadly, the horses are not well cared for and some spend their lives tethered to the ground on a short leash. We have in the past seen a horse tethered when if has snowed heavily. Animal rescue volunteers often feed these poor animals.
It is disgusting that this is not illegal and apparently not a welfare problem.

We saw this beautiful little foal that appeared to be in a cage and quickly stopped the car. On closer inspection it could be seen that the ponies were not contained and had access to an area of scrubland. They were desperate to reach the greenery that was in fact in a caged area. The mum had pushed open the railings and was almost through.

One hopes that these adorable ponies are cared for, but I doubt it. It is very distressing to see these beautiful animals often neglected and mistreated by their owners, who have ethnic minority rights . Surely the animals have rights too.