Horse Sales

[caramac]

I am going to write a letter to Lord Rooker who is the Minister of State for Animal Welfare about the Amersham case and I also want to bring up horse welfare in general.

One thing that concerns me is that several people have posted that you see horses in as bad a condition and worse, than the Amersham horses in sales rings up and down the country day in, day out. How can this happen? Are there not welfare officers in attendance to check these things out, especially if it is the same people always trying to sell thin horses. And couldn't the auctioneer refuse to sell an animal that was in bad condition?

If it was a pet shop trying to sell thin pets in poor condition they would soon be shut down. Why are horses different? I just can't get my head around it that if it is the case that thin and cruelly treated animals are paraded around in front of hundreds of people and nobody does a thing to stop it.

Please excuse me if I am being naive and if I am way off the mark then please correct me. But if this is the case then it is something I want to bring up in my letter to him. I just need to make sure that my facts are straight. Something needs to be done to improve welfare for all equines.

 

[BigRed]

I think the problem is that horses have to be really, really seriously starving before the RSPA, ILPH type people can step in. They know the exact boundary that has to be crossed before they do anything. They want it to be so bad that they can confiscate the horse and take it away from the owner. If it is just a bit on the thin side, they know that all they can do is complain to the owner and then the horse disappears off the radar.

It is far from ideal, but how exactly do you define "thin". How do you define poor foot care ? My horse gets shod every 5 weeks, people will post on this board that they wait till their horses shoes fall off before the farrier comes in. They do not believe they are being cruel. I think they are being negligent.

Is it cruel to turn a horse out in a muddy field, or is it cruel to leave it in a stable 24/7 ?

These are the problems the RSPCA officers have to deal with.

 

[SALLYT]

Tracey01 - I understand what you are saying, its a fine line on what is considered cruel but perhaps "thin"should described as mal nourished.

Turning out or leaving in is not cruel so longs as the horse has access to adequate water and feed, the way those horses at Amersham have been treated is cruel and I'm afraid that your post came over rather flippant in light of this- apologies if that was not intended, but my horse goes at least 8 weeks between the farrier some go longer and yes some wait until the point that they can not wait any longer, but in the mean time they are fed and watered and cared for- I'm sorry I don't think that they are being cruel or negligent again that's just IMO.

Now starving a horse, beating a horse to within an inch of its life is !.

We do need tighter laws on what is to be considered as "cruel" , but I feel it all boils down to the punishment the individual recives which IMO is no where near enough and how long the case is left before appropriate action is taken to end the suffering.

 

[MagicMelon]

I hate the fact that they do have to be pretty awful before the RSPCA do something. But I dont think this is the RSPCA's fault, the government need to give them more power so they can react quicker and also give the owners proper punishments!

With regards to the example of leaving horses out or stabled 24/7, this *can* be cruel in SOME cases. I complained to the RSPCA about a heap of thoroughbreds who were kept in a very muddy (it was in a valley with a river which flooded often) field, none had rugs on, some were in foal I believe, no shelter and feed-wise nothing was regular. Bearing in mind this was in the middle of a Scottish Winter they were frozen! Food-wise, occcassionally they'd dump a big bale in the middle of the field but with so many horses I doubt they all got much and it got filthy straight away. The worst bit was hard feed - every nown and again, they'd dump ENTIRE bags of mix into troughs for them! So these horses who could have no hay etc. for ages were allowed to gorge themselves on hard feed! Colic waiting to happen me thinks!

However, the RSPCA could do nothing (I was not the only one to complain) as apparently they weren't thin enough. I think the owner got fed up with the complaints as they were moved soon after. I heard later that apparently he'd WON them all in poker games with the local racehorse breeder!!