Travellers have flocked to a small market town in their droves for the first day of a world-famous horse fair with aerial photos showing fields packed with caravans for the four-day event. The Appleby Horse Fair, near Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria, is one of the world’s largest horse fairs with 30,000 visitors expected in the town over the next few days. At least 10,000 of them will be from gypsy, Roma, and traveller communities.
Some have arrived in modern caravans but others have chosen to be a lot more traditional and have travelled either by horse and cart or by horse and wooden wagon.
With the sunshine beating down people let their horses cool off by riding them in the River Eden, which runs through the town.
It used to be thought that the fair started in 1685 with a charter to the borough of Appleby from King James II, and this is what is reported by Visit Cumbria.
But other reports suggest that recent research has shown that the charter was cancelled before it was ever enacted.
Sometimes it is known as “the New Fair” because of Appleby’s medieval borough fair, held at Whitsuntide, which last took place in 1885.
The “New Fair” began in 1775 for horse dealers and sheep and cattle drovers to sell their animals.
It had become a major traveller event by the early 1900s and attracts families from across the UK and Europe.
There have been several attempts to close it down, including back in 1967 when the local authority said there was poor sanitation.
And as the event gets more popular the people who live nearby have got increasingly unhappy, and have complained about congestion and poor behaviour.
The RSPCA held an investigation back in 2007 after a horse drowned in the river as it was being washed.
Cumbria Police works to ensure the safety of the event but this isn’t an easy task as a town that usually has around 3,000 residents has a 900 percent increase in its numbers, when the 30,000 visitors arrive.
Mail Online reports that nine animal welfare charities – which are all members of the National Equine Welfare Council (NEWC) – work together at Appleby to support the protection and wellbeing of the horses at the event.
The NEWC advised that due to high temperatures expected over the next few days fairgoers should “make sure their horses get plenty of extra rest and rehydration to help them stay happy and healthy”.
RSPCA chief inspector Rob Melloy said: “The weather plays a huge role in the fair and the forecast says it’s going to be a hot one.
“Just as it’s important for us to drink plenty and not work too hard in hot weather, it’s important for our horses.
“They need to have regular access to water, be drinking after being worked and be tied up in the shade.”
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He added: “Owners may need to have more patience than normal as horses sometimes don’t want to drink if they are in an overstimulating environment.
“Due to the nature of any horse fair, where animals are traded, and especially given that Appleby comes off the back of Kirkby Stephen, owners may not know how much their horse has been worked beforehand so we want to encourage people to err on the safe side and not overdo it, especially in the conditions.
“Day trippers should not be bringing their dogs to the Fair. Most people know by now that leaving a dog in a car on a hot day can be fatal but unbelievably some people still take the risk and we’ve had to rescue dogs at 14 of the past 15 events.
“This isn’t the only danger though, we now know that exercising your dog on a hot day can be just as hazardous, so please don’t put your pet or yourself in that position.”
On Monday, a man, who is thought to be a traveller, took a pony into a nearby pub ahead of the fair much to the bemusement of astonished drinkers.
The incident happened at the Crown and Cushion Pub in Appleby.
One onlooker said: “You can’t believe the audacity of these people to bring a horse trotting straight into a pub.
“No one blames the landlord, there’s nothing he can do when his pub has been completely taken over, it’s a question of mob rule and there’s nothing he could have done.
“Every year we go from a peaceful town to being overrun by drink-related disorder in the streets that make the place look like a town from the Wild West.”
