Right. As my name has come up, I'm going to wade in.
Flash Harry - you are about the closest so far, although to be fair, a number of people have been a little bit right here and there as well.
The only bit that Flash got wrong was that I did not get a call from a trainer. It was from a member of the local community (yes folks, be aware that LOTS of different people have access to training yards for lots of different reasons and some of them actually notice things - be careful of what you leave lying around as I hear some very funny stories sometimes.....). However, I digress.
I try to remain relatively (!) objective, so asked the person to send me photographic evidence. They did. It was not what I'd call pretty.
I am a qualified equine sports therapist, but will happily acknowledge that I am not a trained animal welfare officer, so I thought it best to hand the matter over to people who are and notified the Horse Care Unit at the Grassy Park SPCA.
The SPCA had their hands full dealing with another crisis at the time, so in the interim I went down there to see for myself.
Again, I am not a welfare officer, so I cannot give you any absolutes, but what i saw concurred with the pictures I'd been sent. As I fully acknowledge that assessing neglect is not my profession, I took a number of photographs to document what I saw. I am perfectly happy to say that IMHO some horses looked OK-ish, but some did not. I forwarded those to the relevant authorities and let them decide whether they felt action needed to be taken.
The NHA conducted an inspection the following day, which happened to be a Sunday - draw from that whatever conclusions you like. To the best of my knowledge, the NHA conducted their own investigations and subsequently called for an Inquiry which was concluded last Thursday, the results of which were made public in a press release last Friday. I was not involved in the investigations, I was not involved in the inquiry, I was not called to give any testimony and I heard the charges as well as the results along with everyone else when the press release was published. Zenyatta, if you re-read the NHA press release, you will see that there were two separate charges - one was relating to the condition of the horses in his care and the other was relating to not being forthcoming about the whereabouts of one of the horses. There were also two separate penalties. As mentioned above, it appears that Mr McDonald is going to appeal the second penalty, which is his right and good luck to him.
The SPCA have also inspected the premises. Unfortunately by the time they got there, the horse that caused the most concern had vanished. However, they conducted their own inspection and investigation and, as per the Argus report, are pursuing their own case.
Again, I am not an animal welfare officer, but it would seem from the NHA inquiry and subsequent press release as well as the fact that the SPCA have stated their intention to pursue the matter via legal channels, that both organisations have separately come to the conclusion that matters were concerning enough for them to get involved. That seems fairly conclusive to me.
Zenyatta obviously feels differently despite not having see the horses himself, so I'd be most interested firstly to know the animal welfare qualifications and experience that you base this assessment on and secondly how you judge a horse's welfare as you seem to think your system is more correct than the NHA and SPCA? Also, and this is really more to satisfy my personal curiosity - exactly how thin does a horse need to be before you deem it to be worthy of concern? Is it OK for a trainer to have 1 thin horse in his care? Two? Three? When does it become a worry to you ? Do you judge purely on the body weight, or do you also take into consideration things like internal parasites, hydration levels, feet, etc? Do the horses all need to be in the same state all at the same time? Exactly how thin does a horse have to be before you judge it to be of concern?
I have done my own nosing around and it would seem that a number of neighbouring trainers (not only the name that is being alluded to in this thread) have been trying to check on the horses as and when they could and do what they can to help. I cannot unfortunately divulge names, because as we've seen, the immediate conclusion is that everyone is out to get Mr Mac's boxes. Yup, trying to help his horses when he's not around and donating feed and bedding definitely smacks of competitive envy and nastiness to me. Not.
Hopefully it now makes sense why i was asked to report the matter as very few people actually have the balls to stand up and be counted. And those that do are accused of having ulterior motives. Of course right and wrong is merely a matter of perspective, but considering that the NHA has taken action and the SPCA has taken action, then judging by those two standards (which really are industry and general welfare standards), it seems that there were sufficient grounds for people to be concerned and to ask for help.
Of course there are two sides to every story. That is why the Inquiry was held so that questions could be asked and answers given. It is also why Mr McDonald has the right to appeal, which he is exercising.
But as this is not a trial by public forum, rather than squabble over who has heard what from who, why don't we let the relevant authorities settle matters the way they see fit? That is their job after all.
Flash Harry Wrote:
> the story i here is second hand but the follow is
> told me
>
> a trainer near mcdonald yard contact robin to say
> he is concern about the welfare of horse in the
> yard. this trainer who is no basil marcus is help
> with left over and feed and see that some time
> mcdonald is not at the yard for days. robin go
> through and see the condition of horse so she
> phone spca and nha stipe to come assist. the rest
> go forward from their. i here the condition of
> horse is bad zenyatta but as i say i no see
> myself. what i do say is how bad must the horse be
> if mcdonald send to slaughter. i say he do this to
> hide how bad horse is. if horse is a bit thin and
> not to bad then why not phone horse care unit or
> sell as hack?
>
> now i read lots about owner not pay as reason for
> horse condition. no one now if this is the
> problem. if he only have 12 horse i doubt he can
> make the living from them any way even with out
> bad payer. he is quick to slaughter horse why will
> he keep other horse from owner who dont pay? i ask
> again why do the nha only act when horses are
> starving. their is more to this story
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