IPSWICH: The owner of an elderly horse was left devastated after finding out it had been viciously attacked by two dogs in a private field.

Tammy, a Welsh Cob cross, was attacked on the field in Sproughton Road on March 14, two years after it suffered a similar attack which left it needing 1,000 stitches.

The 42-year-old horse received a letter from the Queen in June 2008 when she turned the equivalent human age of 100 and had a long history as a riding pony before she was retired.

Tammy couldn’t repel the attack from two Staffordshire bull terriers as, due to her old age, she has arthritis and can no longer run.

Owner Kate Wild has had her for 18 years and used to ride her at Hawkins Farm in Mendlesham.

She said: “A lot of people remember Tammy because she was their first ride.

“I used to ride her an awful lot.

“I adore her because I used to ride her at the school and had a good 12 years of riding her before she couldn’t do it anymore.

“She’s 42 and I expect her to die of old age, not from a bite.”

Miss Wild was alerted to the incident by the landlady of the yard where the horse is kept and went straight there from her home in Peppercorn Way.

She said she is now keen to find out who the dogs belong to.

She added: “What more can you do to stop people letting their dogs go in a private field?

“I would want the same justice if it was my own child.”

Police were looking for the owners on paths near Riverside Road and next to the Anglian Water Plant but were unable to find them.

n Should the owners of dogs which attack other animals face tougher penalties? Write to Your Letters, The Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN. Alternatively, send an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk