Opinions please! Emaciated and lame horse on TV.

Meowy Catkin

Meowy Catkin

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A few weeks ago I saw the end of a TV programme where a very lame and skinny horse was ridden. I emailed an official complaint to the TV channel and they finally replied. I am very disappointed with their reply, they didn't even get the name of the programme right.

Would you please look at the clip from the programme and tell me your thoughts. If it is ok with you I would like to include your posts in my reply to the TV channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eijRIzNDQQY

Skinny, lame horse at 2.10.

Their reply:

Thanks for your e-mail regarding ‘Wags, Kids and World Cup Dreams’ broadcast on 9 June.


Firstly, please accept our apologies for the delay in replying. We know our correspondents appreciate a quick response and we are sorry you have had to wait on this occasion.


I understand you felt it was inappropriate for a lame horse to be ridden at the end of the programme as the weight may’ve been painful for the animal to withstand.


Animal cruelty is a subject we take extremely seriously and we’d never broadcast any programme that appears to condone or encourage any behaviour that could be construed as abusive towards an animal. We wouldn’t have broadcast this piece if we had felt the horse was suffering due to its being ridden.


While we try to provide a wide range of programmes across our television output that'll be of interest to every section of our audience, there'll inevitably be times, hopefully rare, when what's on offer doesn't meet your own particular standards and I'm sorry that you've been disappointed on this occasion.


Nevertheless, feedback like your own helps to inform the discussion about a programme's tone and content and the reactions of our audiences are closely studied by our producers and senior management to ensure the right judgement is being made about what is acceptable to the audience in general.


With this in mind, I’d like to take this opportunity to assure you that I’ve recorded your comments onto our audience log. This is an internal daily report of audience feedback which is circulated to many BBC staff including senior management, producers and channel controllers.


The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.


Thanks once again for taking the time to contact us.
 
That horse is suffering whether ridden or not, looks terrible. Obviously in alot of pain. Did the cameramen not have eyes,or a concience?? It looks skeletal no animal expertise is needed to see that. I could not believe the clip when I saw it. Disgusting.
 
It's a difficult one. You only saw the end of the program - did you miss the parts where they showed the difficult living conditions of the family?

Do you show the emaciated horse as journalism and a representation of the problems that so many countries still face, or do you hide it and pretend it doesn't exist and all horses all across the world are very well cared for?

ETA: It does bug me though that the response seems to be claiming that the animal wasn't in a poor condition. That's a bit hard to believe.
 
Yes, I only saw the last bit of the programme. However the horse isn't just a bit skinny it's a walking skeleton and hopping lame. The boy says 'no, not that one, that one's horrible' implying that they did have horses in better condition there. I don't think they should have shown a horse in that state being ridden.
 
You might find that as theprogramme was in Belize(?) all of their horses might be in that sort of condition like in parts of Africa etc. so that would be normal to them.. I have seen horses working in parts of the world that we would NEVER use because they were too skinny, or lame or whatever. Sadly you can't change the World but you could find out if there are any horse charities working there and send them some money, like do a car-boot or something.
 
Jesus christ. When I read the post I didn't think the horse would be this bad!

For those who can't bear to watch 'worlds strictest parent'. Go straight to 2.10. The horse is pretty emaciated and to me looks about 9 tenths lame, which is serious and the animal would be in agony!

That horse needs worming, feeding and should be receiving veterinary treatment, and the programme should be fined for encouraging that family to take advantage of the horse in the way it did. I'm sorry, yes, they are obviously poor people, living in a third world country and of course I know this goes on, but FFS, this is an ‘entertainment’ programme and you simply cannot make and broadcast 'entertainment' in the UK at the expense of animal neglect and welfare.
 
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Their response clearly skated around the mane issue here, intentional cruelty to the animal no, neglect most definitely yes but not my the makers of the programme.

I can't for life of me believe that the makers of this programme can't recognise or admit to using a neglected unhealthy animal when clearly the horse is desperate need of care but many of them will be like that over there, its life that is being documented.

OP - Please do right back to them again with everyone’s feedback, it might not help the horse in this case but in future, it could, every voice must be heard and will count for something one day, if people scream load enough.:)
 
That someone could stand by and watch the suffering of that horse is truly grevious. I didn't watch or listen to this programme, just the brief clip of the horse, so I don't know what the programm was representing - but there is certainly material there for a programme on educating those horse owners.
 
Is this the same programme where there was a very large (25 stone + woman) trying to get on a 13hh (ish) pony from the back of a truck?
I only asked as I put it on a turned it straight back off again so not sure.
Absolutely shocking.
My 8 year old daughter was sitting next to me watching that and even she asked why they were riding a skinny lame horse!
 
Kenzo said:
OP - Please do right back to them again with everyone’s feedback, it might not help the horse in this case but in future, it could, every voice must be heard and will count for something one day, if people scream load enough.:)
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I will email the BBC all your comments and a link to this thread tomorrow. Please post if you would like your opinion included.
 
The horse is clearly suffering due to severe emaciation and lameness. There is no way in the world any rider should have been put on that horse. Please do include my comments to the BBC (my qualifications if relevant are BHSAI, HND Eqquine Studies and 5 years as an equine veterinary nurse)
 
That horse was not in a fit condition to be ridden. It is clearly very underweight and lame.

In this country, someone riding a horse in such poor condition could be liable for prosecution under section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 for causing unnecessary suffering.

While clearly in some developing countries welfare standards are lower than in this country, as impoverished owners need their horses to work to feed their families, this does not appear to be the case here, as the boy had no pressing need to ride that horse.

It is my opinion that the BBC acted poorly in broadcasting this footage, without proper regard for animal welfare.
 
Cuffey said:
Why not pass the link to The Brooke, World Horse welfare and SPANA for them to comment
http://www.spana.org/
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I support Spana and along with other charities they are doing a great job to improve working conditions, veterinary care, farriery and provide medical treatment for working animals abroad along with support for the people who own and need these animals. Spana has some great packages that you can gift.

However, I am appalled at the BBC's use of this. Good luck in trying to get someone to listen!
 
I watched but didn't listen to the clip posted. However it definitely appeared to me that there was absolutely no need for the boy to ride the horse, it was not part of its normal day's work. I would even go so far as to say that the boy appeared to ride the horse for the benefit of the camera. It is disgraceful that the BBC allowed this to happen in order for them to film it. I hope that they paid the family a large enough fee to enable them to afford veterinary care for this and any other horses that they own. You may certainly tell the BBC that IMO that horse was emaciated and that it was downright cruelty to encourage any-one to ride it.
 
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