Organiser of Tracy Cooper’s New Forest Drive at Brockenhurst hits out at animal cruelty claims

The organiser of a traveller horse drive through the New Forest which saw at least one animal put down has claimed it was “another year of great company, driving horses and fun”.

Tracy Cooper was in charge of the event which bears her name that saw hundreds of travellers from all over the UK descend on the New Forest to take part in the two-day drive.

As the A&T has reported, a pony had to be euthanised on Saturday after breaking its leg.

Witnesses said the pony had been driven across a cattle grid on Woodlands Road, Ashurst.

Police attended the accident and a local vet put the animal out of its misery.

Today (Monday) Ms Cooper posted a message online claiming reports of animal cruelty among some of those taking part were “absolute rubbish”.

In it she said: “Another year of great company, driving horses and fun on our New Forest drive. So many new faces again this year.

“We had an absolute blast of a weekend. Thank you for all the support and everyone that attended. Looking forward to the next one.

“In regards to the Facebook posts I have been sent, the majority are absolute rubbish. We did have someone attend the drive whose horse sadly broke their leg which led to the horse being put down.

“This incident didn’t actually happen during our drive. We have people stay in the New Forest around the time of the year as it’s a holiday to them and they venture out with the horses whenever they like, which obviously is not our responsibility to monitor them at these times.

“They are grown adults. The person whose horse it was, he was an elderly person and wasn’t driving his horse fast.

“He had never been down here to the New Forest before and didn’t know the roads very well. He took his eyes off the road for a second to turn and ask the person following him a question and when he turned back around it was a matter of it being too late.

“It wasn’t intentional. He didn’t have the money to pay to have his horse put down which you can imagine would be quite a shameful thing for someone. People need to bare (sic) in mind it was an accident and not listen to Chinese whispers or fake accounts.

“The poor elderly man has already lost his horse and doesn’t need people slandering him.”

Tracy added: “Unfortunately when you are putting on events with animals who have minds of their own and large amounts of people, accidents will happen.

“We can only try our best to ensure it runs as smoothly as possible but we can’t monitor every single person.”

She hit out at criticism, saying horses were also injured during a point-to-point event held in the New Forest and claimed her event was “well organised and planned”.

She added: “Let’s not forget what a spectacle it is with the beautiful and well looked after animals that attend this event.”

A number of readers contacted the A&T sharing concerns about the drive.

“We got stuck behind some of them in the Forest and were horrified by what we saw,” one said. “Some of the ponies looked too weak and little to be in a trap. It was so hot out there. The condition of some of them was terrible. I rehabilitate horses in the most terrible of conditions, and some of them were pretty much along the lines of what I’m used to rehabilitating, to be honest.”

The river and bank at Balmer Lawn in Brockenhurst was closed by Forestry England after it was discovered that it had been vandalised with nails strewn all over the grass and broken glass scattered over the bank and thrown in the river. Three trees had also had gallons of diesel thrown over them.

Travellers from all over the UK come to the New Forest to take part in the drive, which was previously known as the Danny Cooper Drive.