The Argus - News, Sport, Brighton and Hove Albion and Entertainment for Brighton, Hove and Sussex

A matter of control

From the The Argus, first published Friday 15th Dec 2006.

Like Alice Funnell, writing in The Argus, (Letters, December 6) I, too, was appalled to read of the accident in Coldean Lane which resulted in the death of a horse and a dreadful experience for a van driver.

However, she failed to mention that the horse involved was not "roaming the woods" but being quietly ridden down the road in Stanmer Park when it was attacked by the two dogs.

All park users should behave reasonably and with consideration for others but unleashed dogs who attacked and then pursued their victim for nearly a mile into Coldean Lane hardly come into this category. This was not playing but hunting.

Ms Funnell's list of hazards to be faced by park users makes me amazed she enters the park at all, especially with her baby and "little dogs".

Regular visitors to the park will know horses are kept there not so Sam Murphy can "make money" but to allow city residents to enjoy keeping and riding horses within a reasonable distance of their homes. If Ms Murphy's only interest is in making money, she could hardly have chosen a more difficult way to do it.

She and the horse's owner must be distraught over this horrible accident, which would not have happened had the dogs been subject to the control needed by owners of such aggressive breeds.