More social licence questions - Horseball

CanteringCarrot said:
What?

I'm not even going there with the slave stuff or kids. I just meant that animal cruelty laws may "apply to horses" but are poorly upheld and enforced. Just a statement.
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Thats the point child cruelty is tolerated far too much because there is no alternative (or the alternative is worse) than leaving them in very poor conditions … it’s a helluva lot easier to remove a horse than a child…I’m comparing child laws with animal laws neither of which have the teeth they need and yet the comparison with slaves is obsurd to me…
 
blitznbobs said:
To compare the two is offensive to people who were enslaved.
1) horses do not have capacity in the way humans do…
2) slaves were worked at minimum ‘full time ‘ hours most horses don’t do enough work to keep them fit.
3) there are anti cruelty laws which apply to horses … if you don’t look after them, feet, teeth, feed, medical care then there are laws in place to stop you owning them - no such laws existed for people
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Many horses were and are worked well above their capacity which shortens their life and causes harm

With slaves some did hard physical work but others were kept almost like pets as an amusing entertainment. Both were slavery. At the time when slaves were used, 'free' workers would have been doing equally long very hard hours but we understand the difference. It's is not the nature of the work or the conditions in which human beings are kept which makes it slavery but the removal of freedom and any choice in their work and life. You wouldn't say someone kept in sexual slavery was OK because they only work a couple of hours a night. Regular health checks and visits to a dentist wouldn't make it right.

There's no practical difference, what is different is that we regard humans and animals as different and expect human beings to have more rights

It would be offensive to people to compare because they would expect human beings to be treated differently and would not expect animal rights to be considered as equal and require the same self determination.
 
blitznbobs said:
Thats the point child cruelty is tolerated far too much because there is no alternative (or the alternative is worse) than leaving them in very poor conditions … it’s a helluva lot easier to remove a horse than a child…I’m comparing child laws with animal laws neither of which have the teeth they need and yet the comparison with slaves is obsurd to me…
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Ok.
 
I think our attiftudes to horse work has changed, horse power was once essential, so putting a horse in shafts, or taking a pony down a mine was economic necissity, and people would see working horses daily, long hours.

I think now the only working horses I see, that the public can view on a daily basis are racehorses. I live near Newmarket and the horsewalks run along the back of the town next to traffic and you can watch the lots go out as you wait at the traffic lights. They make a lot of people a living.
There is a lot of research on racehorse welfare, but not so much on other sports, because there is no real funding.There is an incentive though to keep working sport horses well, just because they take time to train, and are hard to replace at a competitive level.
I think there is a arguement that they are better looked after as a group than companion equines often bought with little knowledge of horse management skills, just because someone wants to feel good about themselves.
Given a choice I think all of the equines I have known would be happier eating than doing anything else, my old mare would hop on the lorry if we were moving fields, not so keen is she got a whiff we were going to a show.

Just a comment about child welfare. I have been to a few Safe Guarding courses, and one showed a real life case where the intervetion was eventually prompted by the RSPCA called about a dog in the yard. The family were already known to the police and social services.
 
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