Browsing my Twitter feeds today, I came across ‘tweets’ by two organisations which seem to sum up the equine world and the complete lack of knowledge and understanding of the animal they both claim to represent.
The first was a Dutch equestrian magazine ‘Bit’ (@Bitpaarden) with an article on which feed concentrates to give to your horse, how and when. The advice was given by a so-called expert in equine nutrition who, I am sure, would most likely advocate that roughage is best but… As is so often the case, this so-called expert does not discount the provision of concentrates and thus clearly does not understand the digestive system of the horse, what infrequent feeding and the feeding of inappropriate feedstuffs does to the horse (I don’t need to go into that here, it is well enough documented elsewhere on this site and others that know the real effects of concentrates on the horse’s metabolism).
The second was a charity called ‘World Horse Welfare’ (@HorseCharity) giving the chance to win tickets to the Hickstead Derby. This is a notoriously difficult course and was described by Clare Balding as
[The British Jumping Derby is] one of those events a bit like the Grand National where it’s not just the runners and riders that make the headlines but the course itself. It’s an iconic showjumping contest, the like of which you won’t find anywhere else in the world, no other course asks this much of a test of horse and rider and no other course creates this type of drama.
‘…no other course asks this much of a test of horse…’ Is this the sort of thing to which, as a welfare charity, we should be giving people the chance of winning tickets?