"In all around fifty horses were presented at the market, although only
around a third of them were sold in the ring. The ring itself being made up
of a few portable railings. All horses going into the ring were led."

On the 4th of April EMW  visited Southall market in the borough of Ealing.
On arrival in Southall, our journey took us through the busy high street,
filled with clothes shops and take away food outlets , not the sort of
place you would expect to find a livestock market. However, at the end of
the high street, we spotted a palomino pony being led down an ally way. We
were directed into a small car park and walked from here through to the
market itself.
   Southall market consists of rows of tying rails with boards in between
for creating stalls. There are a few pens round the edge of the market,
which on this day contained youngsters.
  The horses were all in reasonable condition although one stallion was
quite stressed. A few horses had hay nets, none had  bedding and only the
horses in the pens had access to water.
In all around fifty horses were presented at the market, although only
around a third of them were sold in the ring. The ring itself being made up
of a few portable railings. All horses going into the ring were led.
  A very brief description of each animal sold, was given prior to the
auction. i.e. a grey gelding, the rest seemed to be guess work. We
witnessed plenty of dealing in the car park and around the market itself.
  It struck us that this market was stuck in a bit of a time warp and was
running for the sake of tradition rather than profit. We will be asking the
auctioneers to provide hay and water for each horse and will be receiving
updates from EMW volunteers.