In Loving Memory of Khun-Phan,Mission
Phuket Horse Rescue Seeks to Remedy Abuse and Neglect in Horses Used Commercially.
Phuket Island, Thailand.
At this time, there are no laws protecting horses, or any animals in Thailand, from abuse or neglect. There are NO minimum standards for horse owners, no land requirements-nothing.
Currently, PHR cares for four horses (two others have passed on) and is seeking help in establishing itself as a registered charity within Thailand.
At this time, PHR CANNOT accept monetary donations within Thailand as it is not a registered charity. It currently costs about 20,000 Baht a month to operate the Rescue.
Volunteer visiting equine experts are needed for dentistry, hoof trimming, (correct tools needed too!) diagnosis, advice and support !
The conditions in Thailand that many animals are forced to endure are sickening. In the winter and spring of 2006, I witnessed and took pictures of grotesquely, abusively neglected and seriously ill horses, pictures that would make you cry and that in the US or Great Britain would land the proprietor in jail and unable to ever own horses again.
Neglect consisted of everything from feeding cow food and filthy water to maggots allowed to fester in wounds, a foal unable to stand, literally rotting on a stall floor and a seriously ill gelding starving to death from some undiagnosed illness and unable to walk because of hooves twice the normal length, distorted from neglect.
A lack of compassion for animals is prevalent in the general Thai public. For instance, tigers are allowed to be kept in grossly inedequate, department store zoos. Baby elephants are routinely beaten so as to be subdued and their mothers killed. Next time you pay to take a picture of a cute baby elephant surfing at Bang Tao Beach, ask where its mother is.
This is a side to Thailand that is not advertised or readily visible to tourists and we strongly urge any visitors to please, DO NOT patronize any kind of animal attractions including zoos or elephant camps.
Philosophy
Horses deserve quality of life and that includes space to move and opportunities to be horses.
At PHR, they are kept in a natural manner on a two rai plot (3200 Sq. meters). Allowed to mingle 24 hours a day, they are NEVER locked into stalls except at feeding times and are encouraged to move about their shelter and field as much as possible and do not ever experience the swelling and stiffness that so many horses suffer from with traditional, locked in boxes most of the time- horse keeping practices.
How this cruel habit of incarceration remains acceptable with people that honestly love horses, is a complete mystery to me.
Barefoot trims are performed on hooves as needed and there are patches about the exercise field of varying grades of gravel to provide a naturally abrasive footing. It is found the hooves are self cleaning and rarely suffer fungal infections.
In keeping with a natural philosophy, horses at PHR are not shod. Equine hooves pump blood with every step they take which is yet another reason to not confine horses in stalls for any length of time.
Many vets received training before it was known just how important hooves are to the circulatory system and thus may be ill trained about one of a horse's important functions.
It is shown that horses onto whose hooves are hammered metal plates can suffera measurable reduction in blood pressure. The rubbery frog, along with compression and release of the hoof walls in the action of walking-like a bellows- pumps blood but a shod horse's ability to achieve this natural function is severely curtailed.
Because the natural flexibility and shock absorbency is inhibited by application of rigid metal plates NAILED in the hoof wall, joints, tendons and bones, indeed the entire horse suffers undue mechanical stresses. Additionally the natural thin wedge shape seen on wild horses is purposely reshaped into a thicker brick to facilitate the nails. I have no doubt if race horses were no longer shoed, on-track mortality and break down rates would plummet.
I realize most find this view radical while I find the ingrained belief that shoeing isn't harmful most remarkable. I ask one consider that shoeing is still acceptable, nurtured into prevalancy since the iron age because it takes at least nine months to a year for a new, undamaged hoof to grow in- trimmed correctly. Most are not willing to have use of a horse restricted for that length of time.
And isn't it possible that farriers perpetuate the practice because it affects their livelihood and actively lobby for laws in GB, EU and the US, seemingly well-intentioned on protection by forbidding horse owners to trim hooves themselves- but really only reinforcing the practice and protecting their jobs ? I hope shoeing will soon go the way of another just until recently acceptable practice, cat-declawing and ultimately declared cruel and abolished.
It's also being discovered that high-carb grain and high-sugar content green-grass grazing diets are wreaking havoc with insulin levels and thus a large percentage of horses suffer from I.R. ( insulin resistance ) causing varying degrees of hoof ailments, namely laminitus, just as human diabetics can suffer from limb dysfunction.
I plead to anyone who may doubt the damage chronic shoeing causes to read further;
Why Shoes are Detrimental to Hooves
The Horses
Pony-Boy ...
...Is the most recent addition to the yard; a very small, muffy-maned bay Thai breed stallion. Friend of the PHR, (FoPHR) Janet called the afternoon of September 15, 2009 and said she'd help to capture a small pony, obviously cared for but running loose amongst the traffic on west By-Pass Road. Locals will know how dangerous this four-laned highway is where traffic routinely reaches speeds of 150 kph or more.
I was able to get there and assist her until the owner showed up, who then admitted he hadn't the time to properly care for, "Nume" and so relinquished ownership of the pony to myself.
Pony-Boy is a strong-spirited little thing and has lived without horse company for some time so first thing he did upon arrival was try to attack Siam through the fence. Siam is an enormous horse four times Pony-Boy's size and though gelded, easily asserted dominance. So the next day, fence mending had to be done.
It was all very exciting!
Beautiful-Girl and Siam watch Pony-Boy Arrive
Pony-Boy may need....masculine altering, but luckily we have a small field with a hastily erected shelter he can have to himself while hopefully learning to be part of a herd.
Update: Pony-Boy can jump close to one meter fences easily!!
Lamburg....
....A gelding, is a Little-Brown-Horse, (though really pony-sized, don't let him know that as he is the alpha horse ) and is dark bay with a bushy mane and generous tail. Probably a Thai and western mixed-breed, built like a miniature thoroughbred and born around 2001 in Phuket, long time local horse-people tell me his first name was Beauty.
I met Lamburg and seeing he was miserable and wanting to save him from future rentals, purchased him on February 15, 2005 and continued boarding him at a stable near Bang Tao beach. It was a year later after I came to Thailand to reside permanently that I came to notice the lack of care and compassion the horses endured at the rental stable, and the outright abusive neglect suffered by horses at the neighboring, "stud farm" facility.
One day the stable manager bragged to me about Lamburg,"He'll eat anything, pizza, beer- anything we give him!"
Healthy and energetic, but was taught to bite by a prior owner along with other badly aggressive manners but he is much improved after over three years of loving, non-threatening care. He has some dressage and jumping skills and is quite lively to ride. Under 60 kilos is his weight limit.
Lamburg was a beach rental pony for many years at two different stables. He wore a bitted bridle and ill-fitting saddle and bridle while entertaining oversized tourists for hours every day. However, no one ever noticed that he misbehaves and hates the bit as it is painful. Turns out Lamburg is a well mannered mount under just a halter. He was also mis-saddled at some point and bears the scar on his spine from that misfortune so has a permanent sensitivity to saddling. Thanks to a kind donation from Olga in Malaysia we now have a bitless bridle. Thank you Olga! We would love to also have a "treeless" ( soft, not rigid form) saddle that fits him properly.
Lamburg can have an allergy to the dust or mold in old hay. First, his eyes will water, then he'll start coughing. If he's allowed continued access to the hay, he'll begin to have difficulty breathing which he shows by propping a forefoot up on a rail in an effort to get air into his lungs. We keep a shot of antihistamine around just in case it ever gets life threatening. So, if he starts showing symptoms, the hay needs to be soaked in water for an hour and he has to be kept away from the other horse's hay. Luckily, fresh, clean hay has been available lately so he's allowed free-range to be the alpha-male of our small herd.
He loves all treats but gains weight easily so just small amounts, please. Bannanas are his favorite.
Siam...
...Is a very tall, handsome, and leggy Thoroughbred gelding with an obvious Arabian influence. His colouring is a rare Strawberry-Cream Roan and he has a forehead star and silky blondish mane and tail. His forelock is very long and from the way he peeks out from behind it, his nickname is Pretty-Boy.
Siam was rescued from a Nai Yang beach rental stable, since closed, where
he was leased to unwary tourists in his crippled, unstable and dangerous condition. Still, he ran like the wind.
A caring English/German couple bought him out of that situation and since November of 2007, have entrusted his care to PHR.Born around 2003 and like all racehorses, Siam probably began competing before he finished growing and because he is so big, possibly the joints did not form properly so now it seems he cannot lock one or both of his rear legs. This may be related to surgery scars on the left stifle, or he may have had a catastrophic fall.
If he falls asleep without parking his rear end against support, he gradually begins sliding back until he loses his balance and wakes up with a start.
He also has a problem with the left rear leg behaving, "woodenly." As there is no portable x-ray on Phuket, I cannot be sure of the exact injuries. He cannot buck his rear up very high and has to be careful to not lose his balance if asked to walk backwards. All together, he walks rather clumsily and can sit down suddenly, like a dog would do if his weight gets shifted back, especially on uneven terrain. His trot is even worse but his gait seems to normalize completely when he wants to gallop.
Though I fear he'll fall, I do not believe he suffers with pain as he often gets frisky and bounds around comically. Even if Siam is able to carry a rider, for safety's sake- ( their's and his,) probably never should.
He is a very good boy and is quite well mannered on a lead, but may aggressively threaten to bite if he feels you've intruded upon him without invitation, especially when he's eating. Usually it is just bluster and so far, tiny warning nips. He'll often show quite the snarl but then gives you a soft little kiss. He's actually very sweet.
Beautiful-Girl...
Update; September, 2009
Chai, the horse's groom has done an excellent job with Beautiful-Girl as she is no longer an untrained wild-child and is now allowing a rider. Being trained with a bitless bridle, she's doing very, very well. However because of her pastern angle is set too low, she will only be able to carry riders at a walk or else I fear she will suffer injuries.
Now to get her to load into an enclosed truck!!
Beautiful had another milestone this month when her tail finally grew out long enough to be trimmed !
( Introduction) Beautiful-Girl is a sweet tempered Chestnut with a broad blaze, probably mixed Thoroughbred mare. Just barely a horse at 14 1/2 hands, she was born around 2002. Not much is known about her beginnings, but in 2005 she was found languishing in a stall, circling it endlessly in boredom. Untrained, she was about to be sent to breed at the nearby stud farm where the conditions were sickeningly appalling. ( This is where the sick horses were sent to keep their neglect from public view, it closed about a year later.)
Reportedly, at one time she was tied up and sustained head injuries when she tried to break away. This may be why she is blind in the right eye, has nerve damage on the poll (top of head) and exhibits some signs of neurological dysfunction. An untrained wild child-
she spent most of her developmental stage locked in a stall with no exercise. When at first allowed into a paddock, it seemed she did not know how to run properly. Perhaps from this abusive neglect, her pasterns ( ankles) are slung too flat so she suffers often from shoulder soreness. Beautiful-Girl loves to run though, and often races at a breathtaking speed around the exercise field.
She cannot be enclosed or restrained in any way or suffers violent panic attacks. An apparent horse savant, she can undo any gate latch that isn't securely tied shut.
Because of her blindness, Beautiful-Girl has the most endearing way of looking at you with a sideways tilt of the head. She is very loving and the only horse here that doesn't occasionally try to bite. Just stay away when she's eating as she has a nasty rear roundhouse kick and remember she can't see you if you're on her right side, so watch for that head swinging around (how I finally figured out she was half-blind) or her 400 kilogram body might run you over... !
Angie ...
.....Was put down Thurday, April 16, 2009 at 10:30 AM. Please read more about her life's end on the memorial page.Good-bye sweetest Angie.
"Angelina Jolie, A Damn Fast Racehorse Used To Be"...Like Siam, is a Strawberry Roan and became so instantly attached to Siam upon his arrival that I wonder if she might be his mother! Her mane is a slightly redder shade than his but when viewed together, they look very much alike.
She doesn't like to be touched by other horses and has the most hideous bellow," Weeeow, don't touch me!"
Born around 1992, she's a small Thoroughbred horse but from the brandings and location of spur and whip marks was raced at least for a short time. Most likely she was bred many times.
Angie has a bad habit called cribbing; biting on surfaces that is changing the shape of her teeth. The rescue desperately needs expert dentistry help to deal with this before she can no longer chew food properly which can lead to many digestive problems and colic, even death.
She was found in the same beach rental stable,
..also rotting-reportedly she didn't leave the stall for many years. Filthy, covered in mange and so severely depressed from inactivity, she didn't react to anything. When I asked her name, I was told, " Bad Skin."
Angie has a chronically swollen rear leg due to lymphangitus that swells even more under stress. Her left front ankle joint is calcified from arthritis and is so rigidly fixed, she cannot trot properly though I have seen her turn it on and gallop for fun on rare occasions. Often it is suggested, because of her appearance, she should be put down but I feel as long as she enjoys her stable dramas, eats eagerly, walks OK on a general basis, her ailments are no more detrimental to her happiness than my chronically sore shoulder is to me- she has a right to her life.
Angie's mate, Khun-Phan died suddenly September, 2007 and the next morning she was down laying on her bad side with the leg severely swollen. She seemed to not want to go on. A call was made that if she didn't get up soon, we would ask her if she wanted to be put down.. But with some IV fluids and consoling, she soon got up, deciding to live and was strong enough to spend some time roaming purposefully around the field apparently looking for Khun-Phan.
Next to Angie's stall at the rental stable was Khun-Phan and he was the one who started it all...
Khun Phan...
..Was a loving, affectionate gigantic Draft/Standardbred gelding who hobbled over one day
and by putting his muzzle in my hand, asked me to help him.
He was the identical twin of Lamburg, only literally twice the size!
Sadly, horribly Khun Phan passed away September 20, 2007. His memorial page has more detail on his life and death but he too was rotting, confined in a stall.
Lame, his front hooves were severely chipped and mishapen from laminitus. Several stable workers told me that the previous year, the stable owner's son, a vet in training- had clipped them so short, they bled.
He recovered from this atrocious care and was on a special diet for laminitus, possibly on his way to soundness when he died quite unexpectedly from what is thought to have been an intestinal rupture.
I cry often, thinking of his loving demeanor and lost life, how happy he was and missing him terribly and think I always will..
It is because, and for Khun Phan's Memory, that Phuket Horse Rescue is formed.
Paid Staff Needed
Thai National Expert groom (full time)
Thai Nationals Only; Handyman/Gardener (weekly basis)
Volunteer Staff Needed
Equine experts desperately needed for training , dentistry, hoof trimming, (correct tools needed too!) diagnosis, advice, etc..
Lawyer to prepare documents to apply for Charitable Foundation Status.
Thai translator to help procure hay, feed and other supplies with no "Farang" Tax.
EXPERIENCED grooms. Please note: riding on and actually caring for horses are two very different things.
Horse sitters, no contact necessary.
Picketeers and letter writers to pressure existing rental stables into better treatment of horses and lobby for national legislature to protect their welfare.
At this time there are no laws protecting horses from abuse or neglect, NO standards of minimum care or facilities.
Wish List
Visiting equine experts needed for dentistry, hoof trimming, injury diagnosis, advice,support. Bringing various remedies and tools in would be much appreciated. Anyone have portable X Ray ?
Pangola or any grass hay delivered, or a RELIABLE SOURCE and a reasonably rated large truck rental.
Because tropical grasses have low nutritional value and contain oxylates that leach calcium from horses, a supplemental feed is needed. CP 001 R Race Horse Feed (Thai) is OK. Currently it is 480 baht a bag, delivered (USD $14.50) and the Rescue uses 12 bags a month.
A donation of feed is possible by depositing money into Kasikorn Bank, account # 001-1-23830-0, (Perfect Companion Group Co., Ltd..) (66) 02 670-9600. Please contact Kuhn Mee, mobile 089-129-9886 ( English and Thai, Bangkok) or Kuhn Piya ( Thai, Phuket ) 083-490-2184 to inform them of the donation and then please, let me know. It takes about 2 weeks to be delivered.
What's really needed is a more direct path to feed, CP-001 R is manufactured in neighboring Surat Thani but I have to get it through a distributor, Perfect Companion Pet.., from Bangkok, 12 hours away.
Small pea rock, (small enough to comfortably sit on) makes a suprisingly good stall bedding and keeps the stable cleaner and fresher smelling. Larger diameter gravel is needed for areas outside the stable that becomes muddy in wet season.
One handed hoof-nippers, trim knife. Pete Ramey Do-it-yourself hoof trimming instructional DVD's
Files for teeth, mouth speculum.
Antisceptics and disinfectants available by the gallon at Super-Cheap; Plain bleach, Deetol, Povidine concentrate aka Betadine,Iodine tincture, Gentian Violet.
Imaverol concentrate, Malaseb foam ( available in local vet clinics) or other fungicidal skin remedies. Shampoos, mane and tail conditioner.
KoperTox ( Copper napthenate) for hoof fungus. Apple-cider Vinegar, Chlorine dioxide (CL2, aka " White Lightening") Magnesium Sulphate ( Epsom salts ). Hoof soaking boots.
De-wormers, Panacur ( Fenbendazol ) and Eqvalan ( Ivermectin ).
2 wheeled, tilting wheelbarrow. Assorted rakes, brooms, buckets.
Plastic brushes for grooming.
Mosquito netting.
Nails. 4 inch diameter tree railings or planks to repair stable, fences. Barbed wire.
1/2 inch cotton rope.
Water storage tank.
Nagasunt fly repellent power (available at drug stores).
Sterile cotton, rubbing alcohol, 20 ml syringes, 18 gauge needles, 5 inch wide, rolled bandaging.
Antibiotics.
A .32 or above caliber gun or rifle, or bolt gun. The Rescue has had two experiences where horses needed to be put down, but enough sedative was not available. It takes 85, 000 mg of Nembutal to stop the breathing of an average sized 500 kg horse. Gunshot, administered correctly, is humane and is both a USDA and EU recommended method of euthansia.
A Taxi-Ride to SuperCheap. ( Best discount venue on Phuket ! )
.
Truck or car. Any wreck will do!
Any style home on 2-5 Rai with a 3-10 year lease ( or just land) with MONTHLY payment. Fantasize near an uncrowded beach, Phuket, Krabi, Phang-Nga, etc..(But really any inexpensive, quiet location is of interest.) Please, no busy roads to cross.
Cargo ship or freight airliner to rescue us all, load it all up and take us far, far away from Asia.