Wind turbines and horses

I saw that on my facebook too, its truly shocking, but im just not entirely convinced, seems like a good bit of scare mongering really, There are three huge turbines over the hill from us, and a herd of show horses live on the hill underneath with sheep and none of them are deformed in the slightest Lol!!
 
Er, okay. There are three huge wind turbines about a mile or two away from my yard and another livery yard even closer, within half a mile of said wind turbines. All the horses, at our yard and the other one, look fine to me. As do the sheep I always see grazing beneath the turbines.

And my teeny case study is a better sample than theirs, as it's TWO whole yards, not one!
 
We had a wind turbine near my old yard, nothing like this had ever happened and they used to winter polo ponies in the same field.
 
Why arn't the any references in the blog post? Was the 15 day old foal brought with its dam?

Can you assert '...Carbon Dioxide is not a pollutant, nor is it the cause of Global Warming,' without providing any evidence for either statment.
 
i have no idea if this is true or not (seems a bit far-fetched to me) but in the interests of being open-minded.....

- as doriangrey said it only affected the growing horses

- they appear to think it is related to vibrations through the ground. The ground in Portugal is considerably dryer than here and therefore I would have thought sound waves would pass through easier than over here???

- different sized turbines will produce different vibration frequencies so it may be only a specific frequency that causes a problem??

- if any of the above is true then I would be interested to know if any other studs near wind farms in Portugal have similar problems
 
Apparently, the 'research' has been rubbished by their peers. With Demark producing 30% of it's power by wind farms, there is little evidence of a proliferation of horses with mangled feet. Denmark has the highest ratio of horses per person in Europe, so I think they would have noticed.
 
Oh for gods sake. See this in sheep some years and not in others. Its a deficiency or squished in the womb, and it always comes right with no treatment other than moving around a straighten from me when passing or occasionally a wee splint to straighten their legs. Certainly can't believe it has anything to do with a wind farm!
 
But they are not born with the deformity? Anyway, it looks like epiphysitis (rickets) which can be caused by overfeeding of foals or nutritional imbalances, although the report says there has been no change in management.
 
Not read the full report but when they say no change in management - a deficency could be down to fodder from a different field or a dud batch of suppliments or imbalances..
 
I think the phrase was "no significant change in management" - even a minor change (different hay supplier or something) could have an effect like that....
 
I haven't read the full report but what they are saying (I think), is that the vibration is causing an increase in the rate of growth of bone (the same thing happens in epiphysitis which is why I mentioned it). This means the tendons can't keep up with the growth rate and that's why the hooves bend under. In mature horses bone growth is completed. I have no idea what's causing it.
 
I agree, could be caused by so many different factors - I'd be tempted to blame nutrition. Interesting anyway, but only using one farm as a sample is just too unreliable.
 
Agree, more likely to be management / nutrition than the wind-turbines.
The valley where my parents live (Germany) is lettered with wind turbines. May not be a pretty sight but so far, there has been no ill effect to horses or other lifestock... in more than 10 years.
Mind you, I must admit some of the villagers do look a bit weird ;-P
 
As with any study it's not worth a hill of beans until it's been peer reviewed and proved by repetition on a statistically significant scale.
Same goes for any claims of 'alternative' therapies, and don't even get me started on religion...
 
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