HORSES specially trained for disabled riders have been beaten and abused in a shocking attack at a riding school in Co Derry.
The animals at the Fort Riding Centre for Disabled in Maghera were targeted over the weekend.
Volunteers at the centre believe a group of youths broke into the property on Saturday.
A number of horses and ponies were left with injuries around their bodies and rope marks on their necks.
Volunteer riding instructor Noeleen O’Hagan says the animals were left so traumatised by the beatings that they were frightened when the staff approached them.
She added: “This is not the first time this has happened. We went down on Sunday to check the horses and put more water in for them and the padlock on the gate was broken.
“The young ones had chased the horses onto a laneway and there were visible marks on the horses where they had beaten them and a couple of horses have suffered cuts.
“They have obviously had ropes around their necks because there are marks form the blue rope.
“This has been going on for years. We actually had a horse stabbed a couple of years ago – this is not the first time and it may not be the last but it needs to stop.
“People say we need to get CCTV but we get no Government funding and everything and anything we do is done by volunteers. We don’t have the the funds to get CCTV.
“The horses were extremely distressed, so much so that they wouldn’t even come near us and we work with them all the time, they were very scared.”
Noeleen says the knock-on effect of the attack touches disabled adult and children, many of whom have little other activities they can access.
She explained: “We offer riding lessons to children and adults with all kinds of disabilities, it’s a free service and we are all volunteers.
“For most of our riders this is the only thing that is available for them to do.
“Our horses are specially picked and it takes a long time to get a horse into our routine so an incident like this puts them completely off their way of going.
“I’d tell the people who did this to come and see what we are doing her, and see how valuable what we do is. Maybe that would show them what impact their actions are having on others.”
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