Why We Believe Charity Begins at Home

Only hours away from her next destination - the abattoir - Beauty's future made an about turn when a lady felt compelled to visit her local UK auction that day.

Caroline saw a horse tied to a truck - thin, covered in open sores and looking for all the world like she was on her last legs - all those who saw her muttered at her pitiful condition before walking away. Luckily for Beauty, Caroline was adamant that she couldn't walk away as all the others had done and despite the fact that she already had another two horses at home, managed to negotiate a price for her with the owner. The timely appearance of two RSPCA inspectors ensured that the owner closed the deal quickly and with no further haggling.

Shortly after Beauty's arrival, Caroline managed to track down one of Beauty's previous owners, a polo player, who gave Caroline the mare's life history...

Beauty had been born in Argentina, arriving in the UK as a 7 year old and played polo at the "highest level" and was “a phenomenal polo pony”. The sad irony here is that Caroline actually paid less money to secure Beauty than the price players paid to ride her in one 'chukka' (7 minutes) - £350!

At the age of 15 Beauty was passed onto a polo club where one of their younger players fell in love with her and bought her for polo and Pony Club events. After her owner's parents divorced, she was sold as a brood mare and from there the trail sadly goes cold - until that fateful day at the beginning of September this year when luckily for Beauty, Caroline listened to and acted on the gut instinct that she had to visit that sale on that particular day.

You can read their story and the progress they have made together here -

http://beautythehorse.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/3/

Rescue or Rip-Off?

There have been many discussions on various equine forums about rescuing French horses from the abattoirs. There have, in the past, been heated personal debates between the “Rescuers” (those members of French Rescue Sites) and the “Antis” (those against rescuing from the meat market). Listed below are the reasons why the “Antis” are against French rescue:-

Charity begins at home
We are not against rescuing horses in need, far from it, but we would rather sort out the dozens of horses that need rescuing on our own doorstep than rescuing horses from other European countries.Every week there are markets in the UK where horses are sold for a pittance, to abattoirs, or dealers out to make a quick buck. For the price of a 'rescued' French horse, several UK horses could given future. Much has been written about the “second hand” market for racehorses, why not rehabilitate one of these before looking to the rest of Europe to rescue?

Bred for meat
Many horses are bred for meat. This is a concept which is hard to imagine in the UK where the horse has different status. We do not eat horse meat but for many Europeans it’s part of their daily diet as our UK diet includes beef, pork or lamb. Why do the “rescuers” only, therefore, ''rescue'' horses? Why not cattle, pigs or sheep?

There is no Bad Lorry
One of the clever marketing ploys some of these French Rescue websites publish is that all the French horses destined for slaughter have to endure illegal and brutal trips to Italy. It makes no economic sense whatsoever for the farmers to travel horses long distances all the way to Italy for slaughter when the local abattoir offers a similar return without the expense of long haul transportation. Some will travel to Italy,but those that do will be well within the current welfare guidelines.

They are there for a reason
Horses end up at low-grade dealing farms for a reason. Sound, correct horses will cost more than the meat value. You have to ask yourself why and how the horse did end up there at such a low price. Usually it will be because of a permanent injury, conformation defects, illnesses or a difficult temperament, none of which are conducive to a comfortable and safe future.

Not in any danger
Many of the horses advertised for “rescuing” on some of the French Rescue websites have not been and would never be in any danger. In some instances, it is just a clever marketing ploy to make a quick buck for the owners/participants of some of these websites.

Goods do not fit the description
A lot of the time, because the horses have not actually been viewed by the French Rescue Sites, the information on the original advertisements may not be accurate. What you think you are “rescuing” and what walks off the lorry when your horse arrives could quite literally be two different horses.

No Vet Checks
When purchasing one of these horses, the “rescuers” think it unnecessary to have a vet check. Often these horses, bought from pictures only, have serious illnesses or injuries hidden by careful photography. If these horses were vet checked prior to purchase, the “rescuers” may think again about rescuing that particular animal. Equines seriously unfit to travel have been forced to endure the long haul journey into the UK.

No Home Checks
Approach a legitimate horse charity and ask if you can re-home a horse. Yes, you will be asked for a re-homing fee, but you will also be put through stringent home checks. These home-checks will entail someone coming out to visit where you will be keeping the horse and written references from someone who knows you personally. These French Rescue sites do not require these type of home checks, their philosophy seems to be as long as the horses are rescued, it doesn’t matter where they end up. Sadly, in many cases, the horses end up worse off here in the UK then they would have if remaining in France.

To sum up, whichever side of the fence you sit on the one common ground we all have is our love for horses and we all should work together to stop lining these low grade dealers pockets who will continue to sell horses under the guise of 'rescue'. The French farmers will continue to offer horses for sale at inflated prices because the “rescuers” keep buying them. The more bought, the more the French farmers will offer for sale. This supports the stance of all the major UK equine charities who are against buying horses out of the meat chain.

INAG for Equine support WHW Make A Noise and On the Hook Campaign to try and halt the appalling journeys suffered by horses and donkeys across other parts of Europe to slaughter.

The Inception

Since 2006, there have been increasing numbers of French horses, ponies and donkeys imported into the UK supposedly being 'rescued' from the French abattoirs.
Several UK forum sites sprang up and jumped on the bandwagon. Unfortunately it soon became apparent that the sites were hiding simple horse trading under the guise of 'rescue'. Emotional blackmail was commonplace to encourage soft-hearted horse lovers to purchase these animals. Phrases frequently used include;
'Save these horses from the dreadful three day journeys to Italy';
'Don't let this baby go on the Bad Lorry';
'Save this boy from the dinner plate'
and similar entreaties. All sites used the well documented 3 to 5 day trips to Italy from the Eastern Bloc as something to 'save' the French horses from, when the reality is from the NW of France to the furthest slaughterhouse in Southern Italy would take less than 24 hours, the maximum legal journey time under current EU regulations. Notwithstanding the financial aspect of such a journey would make it commercially unviable and highly unlikely.

The 'rescue' sites mostly buy from dealers, not 'fattening' farms. The breeders and 'fat' farms raise and fatten horses in much the same way as cattle. The young meat horses on the sites are the smaller poorer examples of the breed who will have been rejected by the commercial meat farmers because of their lack of size. These commercial breeders and farmers know their market, and breed accordingly. However, now a new more lucrative market has emerged from the 'rescue sites', it is worth their effort to supply more horses, as higher prices are commanded from these sites than from the abattoir. Taking a horse out of the meat chain at an inflated price does not reduce the numbers that go to slaughter, it simply encourages more production, and more horses facing slaughter.

As a rule, the meat youngsters are totally unhandled, unpredictable and in the case of the heavier breeds, very powerful. It is a recipe for disaster for them to go into the inexperienced hands that make up the majority of the UK forum purchasers.

The horses on the sites in dealers' yards are the bottom end of the market. Invariably lame, sick or aged, these horses and ponies are kept short term in groupage on the dealing yards/farms. The dealer collects unwanted local animals from their owners. If they cannot be sold to someone else in the interim, the ones that have no prospect of a future will eventually go to the abattoir. Riding schools frequently offload onto these farms, and the sound/safe animals will probably find French homes the same way dealers animals in the UK do. Because of the culture here in France, horses go to the abattoir where in the UK these same horses would be put down at home, by a vet or a knacker. There is more information on that here; http://equinerescuefrance.wordpress.com/2008/09/27/the-facts-of-life-and-death-in-france/

Increasingly, the dealers have cottoned onto the fact that there are English people who will pay more than meat money if their heartstrings are tugged, so they use someone to put the equines on the French sites where the English sites source their horses. Many of these horses are in no immediate danger of going to slaughter, it is a myth perpetrated by the sites, both English and French, to try and force a sale of these animals.

Those that are likely to go to the abattoir are frequently misrepresented. The photographs taken by these dealers/agents on the French websites often are done in such a way as to hide the illness/deformities. Their ages are frequently lied about, describing a horse or pony as early to mid teens when in fact these animals are often late twenties or older.

Some of the 'rescue' tales make for grim reading. One old pony died in transit. Another old mare went down so often on the journey that she was very ill and in need of intensive veterinary treatment on arrival. One foal was so deformed that it was euthanased with days of arrival. Two have been euthanased as a result of strangles present on importation. One was euthanased after being forced to endure several operations on twisted limbs.

A small proportion of 'rescued' horses are lucky and find a good, lifelong home, but as the sites prey on less experienced owners, many of these unfortunate animals disappoint by failing to live up to expectation, and are sold or passed on to disappear into an already overpopulated UK equine market roundabout.

Currently, many of these horses come into the UK under the cover of the Tripartite Agreement, which is outdated and open to abuse. http://www.inagforequines.org/tripartite.htm

Our aims are to prevent the never ending tales of misery and suffering endured by these equines by pushing for changes to the regulations and tightening up their implementation.