By Jennifer Felt
The mare, already old at five years, was pulling a cart
burdened with five-gallon water jugs, a load so heavy that I
was surprised she could haul it any distance let alone the many
miles she had traveled that day.
As the horse stumbled and stopped, I could see that her
bridle, woven from coarse rope, had worn its way through her
coat of hair and pierced the skin, leaving raw open flesh where
the rope continued to rub. Dark black scars, crusty reminders
of old wounds, surrounded the fresh ones. Light pink skin
covered her nose, muzzle and face, the result of constant
exposure to the sun. I had never seen a sunburned horse before.
The smallness of her frame was emphasized by her jutting ribs;
she was skinny, very skinny. After she recovered from the
stumble, I noticed that she favored her right front leg and
poised her left in a position of rest. Her owner jumped off,
grabbed the reins and pulled with all his might. She would not
budge.
This was my opening. I walked slowly over. "Buenos dias,
señor..."
Although this mental snapshot is from Honduras, the
situation for horses, donkeys and mules is much the same in
most developing countries, where equines are an integral part
of the rural economy. They plow the fields, pull the loads, and
carry the farmers and their families from place to place.
The heavy reliance on these animals, of course, is part of
the problem. The combination of overwork, overloads, poor
equipment, internal and external parasites, debilitating
pressure sores, and leg, foot, and hoof injuries practically
guarantees that these animals will live short and miserable
lives.
Even the environment conspires against their welfare. In
countries such as Honduras, water is frequently scarce and
therefore a valuable commodity—to be consumed and used only by
humans. What's more, shade is scarce and so spread out that
many of the horses find themselves tied to a fence or working
in the fields all day in the direct sun. Many, like the poor
mare mentioned above, sustain severe sunburns.
To combat this suffering, Humane Society International,
along with our partner The HSUS's Rural Area Veterinary
Services (RAVS), formally launched the Working Equine Welfare
program with a trip to the Attacama Desert region of northern
Peru in late 2002. Over the course of two weeks, we treated
nearly 800 animals. A few months later, in early 2003, we
traveled to the even more remote Peten region of Guatemala
where RAVS has been working since 1995, bringing veterinary
care to nine communities.
The Working Equine Welfare program not only brings modern
veterinary care to areas where little or no such service
previously existed, but it also educates and trains the local
populace to ensure continued improvement in the conditions
under which these animals struggle. HSI/RAVS does this by
identifying "horse technicians" in each community and training
them to treat common equine ailments. We even include the
children— future horse owners, after all—through interactive
humane education classes in the local schools. The idea here is
to promote a basic equation: better animal care equals economic
benefit.
As owners start to see that their horses are healthier and
living longer, they come to realize that the extra effort to
care for these animals is not a high price to pay. And, as I
pointed out to my Honduran friend, many of the solutions are
simple to employ— shade can be created by leaning a few palm
leaves over a home. Mixing molasses (readily found in the
community) with other feed items can provide much needed
nutrients. Local plants can help ease the pain of sunburns.
Padding can be created by layering inexpensive cloth to protect
against a makeshift bridle made from course rope.
Through years of working in Guatemala, we've seen that
owners truly care about the welfare of their animals and
eagerly make changes in how they treat them based on
suggestions such as those I shared with my Honduran friend. In
the Peten region, where RAVS has focused its efforts, horses
now are healthier, able to do far more work, and are living
much longer than five years (the common lifespan in Honduras, I
found).
HSI's Working Equine Welfare program will return to Northern
Peru in 2003, and a second trip will be made to Guatemala as
well. Plans are underway to expand into Honduras as soon as
funds become available.
Jennifer Felt is Humane Society
International's Program Manager for Latin America and the
Caribbean.
