"Oh, many a time have I, a five years' child... leaping through flower groves of yellow ragwort...."

WILLIAM Wordsworth made it sound an idyllic scene of rural life. But not for horses and other livestock, for ragwort (Senecio jacobea) - commonly known as stinking Willy or mare's fart - can kill them.

Which reminds me: it was a pleasure to see the puckish grin on the face of Ken Holmes, the Selby horse dentist and raconteur at large, in last Tuesday's Evening Press. It put a face to the voice, so often heard on local radio telling waggish tales of country life; recalling for me Walter Gabriel, the sage of Ambridge, in The Archers, BBC radio's everyday story of country folk.

However, Ken does not always have his tongue in cheek when he is passing on his rustic words of wisdom; he has a pet hobby-horse, which he often gets on to warn of the harm that this not unattractive, but insidious, yellow daisy-like weed can do to horses. If it is left unchecked to go to seed in verges, hedgerows and fields, and is eaten by horses, they are almost certain to develop a disease of the liver and suffer painful death. A national daily recently carried a report about a heartbroken young girl whose pony had to be put down because of acute liver failure, caused by eating ragwort.

Contractors employed by the NYCC Highways Department regularly remove ragwort from the verges of the county's roads before it turns to seed to blow away and propagate. And Ryedale residents are being asked by their district council to uproot it - with gloved hands - from highways and paths. But in York, it seems, it is allowed to flourish.

Like Ken, I love horses. I have never owned one, but envy those who do. So, when I saw clumps of ragwort blooming in the Acomb and Foxwood areas, I notified the ward councillor, who is not one to let grass - or weeds - grow under his feet, and he immediately passed the information to the responsible City of York Council officer. That was more than two weeks ago, and the weed is still growing. But, as we have come to expect, the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly.

H M Queen Elizabeth and most members of the Royal Family also love horses, so perhaps I should, like Ken Holmes, write to her. I feel sure we'd get a positive response. Perhaps a troop of the Household Cavalry might be sent to do battle with the foul weed.