BRC, Rider magazine and the BHS

[honetpot]

So the new magazine which comes free with my BRC membership comes through the door. Now I know to fund it they have done a deal with a company to sell advertising space so it costs the BHS less to produce it, which seems like a good idea, but the BHS aims are to educate and promote horse welfare.
The magazine seems to me full of ads for horse feed, supplements, there was a full page of a rather pretty rug.
We have huge welfare problems with horse suffering from diseases from being over weight, my farrier came today and said he had had more laminitis than ever this year.
At the other end of the spectrum we have people spending up to £15 for a bag of feed but somehow think that spending more than £3 on a bale of hay makes it expensive or if they have a behaviour problem you give a horse a supplement instead of looking a why there is a problem.
Feed supplements do not have to prove their claims as they are not medicines.
Now Rider may have published articles on feeding for health but the drip, drip of all these adverts make people think we have to feed these or we are not looking after our animals.
If this was a commercial magazine fine, you do not have to buy them. This magazine is being sent to ‘grassroots’ riders by a horse welfare charity, so these feeds by association are being endorsed by them.
I just think it leads to confusion of the horse welfare message.

 

[Kaylum]

Education is the key we run farrier talks on laminitis which includes a foot dissection. The talk includes a vet and a feed company who actually say that the food does not provide protection against it. These talks are very popular and last time we sold out. We are a small charity put try to help with owner education.

Your right that every magazine does not rely on sales all they want are adverts for their revenue.

 

[JFTDWS]

Why on earth do they insist on sending out magazines anyway? It's an archaic and unnecessary idea, which necessitates seeking advertising revenue to cover costs. And that revenue is always going to come from snake oils / high profit margin products with scant regard for horsemanship or actual welfare

 

[Annagain]

I'm with you on that but can understand why - equine nutrition is big business now and by overcomplicating it companies can sell a lot more feed than they would have - and in turn buy more advertising space. I'd rather they put the publication online and cut their costs rather than sell advertising like they do. It seems to be more advertising than article these days and I hardly ever read it.

I also find it a bit odd that BRC have always been so strict on vaccination rules until now. For years they were the only organisation that checked passports and were really strict on the dates and the seven clear day rule - saying it's because they're dealing with amateurs and need to educate as much as anything. Then as soon as there's a crisis and other bodies move to 6 monthly jabs they do nothing and offer no guidance to event organisers - simply saying they have to abide by the venue's rules. When the venue is a farmer's field that gets used once a year there are no rules and the 'amateur' event organisers are hung out to dry with nothing provided to back up a decision to stick to annual (which some are unhappy with) or moving to six monthly (which others are unhappy with).