World Horse Welfare launches urgent appeal to help Soweto's scrapheap horses
World Horse Welfare launches urgent appeal to help Soweto's scrapheap horses Leading international horse charity World Horse Welfare has launched an urgent appeal for donations to help improve the miserable lives of Soweto's 3,000 working horses and their poverty stricken owners. |  |
At the end of the working day, they drop with exhaustion and sleep anywhere they can, even in the dirt and mud of the scrapheaps where they live; surrounded by broken glass, metal and rubbish.
The carts they pull are so crudely made that the only way of braking is for the driver to let the cart jolt forward painfully into the legs of the horse. This happens day in, day out and the wounds they sustain have no time to heal. The harnesses have seen better days too. When they split or break, their owners repair them as best they can with thin wire, but the wire cuts into horses' skin and causes horrific injuries.
 | "The people who own horses in Soweto aren't cruel, but they lack the basic horse-care knowledge," says Ian Kelly, Director of International Training. "They are desperate to make some sort of living. That's why they and their horses have to be out working every hour possible. No work means no food on the table for their families. "We need to raise £98,283 to fund our training programme throughout 2009 to teach people in Soweto how to look after their horses properly. Every student is gifted a set of essential farriery or saddlery tools and the skills they are taught in farriery and harness-making from the experts in our international training team will last them a lifetime. |
As each student passes on his skills to more people eager to learn from them, more horses will live free from unnecessary pain."
One of our first students to enrol on World Horse Welfare's Soweto training programme is Themba Tshabalala, who owns six horses. He says that the three training modules he has attended have changed the way he looks after them. "I now know about hoofcare and how to spot problems early. I have been asked by friends about the course and they are now coming to find out more about it. I always tell them that the best way to look after your horse is the way we are being taught by World Horse Welfare."
To make a donation call 0800 458 4727 or visit World Horse Welfare's Website
Added on: 20/02/09.
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