I APPRECIATE some of the suggestions in Ms MacGillivray’s letter entitled: ‘Horses are not necessarily suffering’ (Daily Echo, August 15).

For example she informs us it is not a good idea to stand behind a horse and she has done some research on ragwort and the Cinnabar moth’s life cycle. I hope she may feel moved to organise some pulling of ragwort on the airfield as that would be particularly useful. I also endorse her support for the RSPCA.

However I suspect, at the time of writing her letter to the Daily Echo, this lady has never been anywhere near Hamble Airfield. If she had, she might have noticed all the equines are tethered (unlike the photograph in the Echo) and she might have commented on the fact that only a very tiny number has continuous access to water.

I have to take issue with a number of erroneous statements she makes. First: Gypsy horses have different mouths and teeth to other horses. The equines on Hamble Airfield are a totally mixed bunch of types and hence sizes and shapes. There are vanner cobs of course but their mouths and teeth are no different from other equines.

She adds: Gypsies have ‘ancient rights’ to graze on common land ‘denoted by long established boundaries’. Where does she get this from? It sounds as though it might have come from Tolkien!

Hamble Airfield is not common land but private land owned by Persimmon. I suppose ‘ancient rights’ has a better ring to it than ‘fly grazing’!

She hopes the horses removed from the disused airfield recently ‘were not used as horsemeat’.

Horses are moved to and from the airfield regularly by dealers. That has always been the case.

To be slaughtered for horsemeat, a horse has to have been passported and few, if any, of these will have a passport. I hope their fate is better than life incarcerated on the airfield but sadly the animals’ destinies may well continue to be unpleasant.

Finally, Ms MacGillivray concludes with large green flies and gives us instructions on what to do if we stumble across any horse ‘remains’. If she is talking about dismembered horses I should like to refer her to the appalling find of horse parts near Bursledon Station back in March 2014.

I would suggest Ms MacGillivray looks at the full picture and in the meantime puts her useful suggestions into practice. Visit Hamble Airfield.

NAME & ADDRESS SUPPLIED.