The Horses of Holme Wood

Bradford Council regularly monitors horse numbers on its Holme Wood estate, with workers and police carrying out late night raids to round them up. Alan Dein meets the animal owners and explores their bitter battle with the council as they tether horses in parks, alleys and even their own gardens. Gaz has tried dogs, cats and guinea pigs. Last week when his seven kids wanted a new pet he picked up a £50 horse form a mate on the street. The horse is now in his back garden and during the day he risks the council's wrath by moving it into the park outside his home. It is a huge council estate but his home is let by a private landlord and although he has no income he's asking that landlord if he can build a stables for Sausage in his garden! The estate is literally teeming with horses and no one bats an eyelid at one more joining their ranks. Across the road Pip is engaged in a game of cat and mouse with council officials as he tries to hide his horses. Eviction notices have been served on his parents and he's received an anti-social behaviour order for having horses loose on the estate. His Mum won't have him back home after a bitter argument which ended with the police being called. He's now homeless and out of school. And then there's nine year old Holly Leigh who has long dreamed of owning a horse. That dream has just come true and Billy is now in the garden of her small council home. The Holme Wood estate is home to about 10,000 people and pets of all variety, from horses to pigs, snakes, lizards and monkeys. But it's the horses that are causing the problems... Producer: Sue Mitchell.

You can listen to The Horses of Holme Wood online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Horses of Holme Wood is an episode from Lives in a Landscape by BBC.

This episode is 27:37 long.

This episode was published on Dec 12, 2014.

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