dear brooke

8/17/2019 Dear Brooke

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Dear Brooke,

I do so enjoy your Tweets and follow them closely. They are informative andmanage to convey the plight of working equines in the developing world withsincerity and compassion.

I am fortunate enough to have seen rsthand the Brooke in operation and can!e in no dou!t a!out their mission to eradicate the mistreatment and su"ering of equines worldwide. # tough call !y any stretch of the imagination$

The veterinary care and training o"ered !y them does much to alleviate thesu"ering of !oth animals and people who have the misfortune of !eing !orn intoregions of the world less fortunate than our own. %ay you continue to !estalwarts for working animals everywhere.

I responded to one of your tweets that resonated with me in my role as a &addle,'arness ( 'orse )ollar %anufacturer. *e share concerns a!out working animalswith my interests conned to the apparatus that ena!les them to apply their

strength in the form of draught.In the developed world, injuries to working equines are indeed rare. 'arnessrelated injuries +'I- as a consequence of defective equipment i.e. harness,saddles, collars etc. are thankfully just as rare.easons for this are simple enough to eplain. /irstly, in our modern world,dependency upon working animals has all !ut vanished, the advent of the0infernal1 com!ustion engine put paid to that along with many of the a2liatedtrades people needed to provide for them .&econdly, those that continue to work, are fortunate enough to !e adequatelyequipped allowing them to work unhindered and with minimum discomfort.Being appropriately harnessed and hitched up to implements3carts3wagonsdesigned for mo!ility, along with knowledgea!le handlers and reasona!le

working hours much of the potential for su"ering is kept at !ay.

The tweet that caught my eye was 0fancy doing some fund raising for workinghorses and donkeys overseas14%y response was to ask if the working horses and donkeys in question were usedcoste"ectively. By this I meant had any insitu surveys !een made to assess theoutput and e2ciency of working equines4

5our reply was to assure me that your 0welfare and veterinary team workincredi!ly closely to inform and train owners and service providers1 6f this I haveno dou!ts, !ut I remain none the wiser.

# request for funding !egs the question of how funds are managed. #re theyfocused on welfare and3or training4 If welfare is the central focus, and I takewelfare to mean the physical well!eing of working equine, then will funding to !eapplied to veterinary training programmes perse4 If so, this then raises anotherquestion. Is welfare solely dependent upon veterinary input4In recent years I have come to realise that this is not the case.

7et me try to eplain. The term 0working horses and donkeys1 suggests just that.I.e. equines capa!le of draught or load !earing activities. /or equines to engagein such activity there are rules of engagement or certain criterion that needs to!e complied with./irst and foremost, animals are required to !e t, healthy and physically a!le.

/undamentally an owner3user3 veterinary undertaking.



&econdly, and perhaps of equal signicance is the means !y which draught ismade possi!le, namely the harness. 'ere too, a set of long esta!lishedprinciples needs to !e o!served and adhered to. This is the work of harnessspecialists.8iven the a!ove, it would seem safe to say that the welfare and well!eing ofworking equines is not solely dependent upon veterinary input. 9quines a!ility towork is also heavily dependent upon a range of a2liated skills that requires theknowledge and input of specialist trade3craftspeople. 'arness development is akey skill requiring a profound understanding of equine draught.

The success of working equines lies in its harness, its design, suita!ility andtting. *ithout it, equines serve little purpose.#ppropriate skills1 training is essential and not only !enecial to equines !ut alsotheir owners3users.&kills training in harness production o"ers up the opportunity of potentialemployment, !usiness startups and the provision of a local service designed toaccommodate the needs of local equine users who depend upon their animals fortheir livelihoods.

This !rings me !ack to funding. *hat proportion of funds raised is likely to !estreamed into training programmes4 *hen you say your welfare3veterinary teamwork closely with owners and service providers, what form of training is appliedand in what su!jects4 *hat qualications do trainers3service providers have intheir given roles4

These are pertinent questions that, to date, I have had little success in ndinganswers to.

It has !een esta!lished that the welfare3well!eing of working equines is largelyreliant upon vets. Included under 0welfare1 is the treatment 'I, most of whichare preventa!le.

In treating such injuries and !eing aware of their cause, the vet, unacquaintedand illequipped as he3she is, is una!le to take the necessary steps of makingadjustments to the o"ending harness nor is it part of their remit to do so. &o faras I am aware, harness development, its dynamics and production methods playno part in the core curriculum of veterinary training.In the same respect, it must !e said that saddle3harness3collar makers receive notraining in the treatment of stulous withers$#t this point, I hope it can !e agreed that the provision of welfare !ecomesdivided !etween the vet and the harness specialist. *ith the same o!jectives inmind, !oth take two very di"erent approaches to the same su!ject, namely thewelfare and well!eing of working equines, yet neither of them can claim any

independent success in resolving the issues !efore them.:erhaps there is more to !e gained !y closer cooperation !etween vets and skillstrainers. If equines could speak, I am sure they would welcome this approach. I appreciate you referring me to your we!site where it was suggested moreinformation could !e found. This I have done. 5our new we!site is impressive andvery user friendly, even to a fum!ling, novice 0techy1 like me.

The information contained therein was !oth enlightening and clear tounderstand. It does not however, deliver any denitive answers to the questionsI was asking. I found little information on the harnessing of working equines ortraining programmes designed to address this important issue.It was interesting to note that the Brooke does not appear to have an inhouse

authority to deal with the enduring and largely misunderstood su!ject of equineharnessing.



;isits made to 7uor and <enya in =>?= conrmed this. *hen I asked to !eintroduced to yourharness specialist, I was informed there was no such a person present within theBrooke. /urther information revealed that harness and harness relatedinjuries3issues came under the um!rella of veterinary care44/urther conrmation of this came at a harness development seminar hosted !ythe Donkey &anctuary in 'oniton, Devon that same year and attended !y Brookerepresentatives.

The following year, in =>?@, at a oneday masterclass I presented at #cton &cott'istoric *orking /arm in &hropshire on the dynamics of equine draught andharnessing methods, this was further corro!orated !y a mem!er of the Brookeoverseas team who was in attendance. The event was well attended !yrepresentatives from &:#A#, the Donkey &anctuary and *'* all of whom foundit informative and highly relevant to overseas projects they were involved in.

I hope this will help emphasise the need for greater focus in skills trainingprogrammes and closer cooperation !etween all parties in the quest to improveto the lives of !oth working equines and their owners3users where the need isgreatest.If any of the a!ove is found to !e of interest can I urge you to read the attachedreport I pu!lished in =>>. It still remains very relevant today.httpsC33www.scri!d.com3doc3@?=>@E3'arnessDev&uevey

6n a nal note. I am currently in negotiation with a small charity operating inFganda. It is hoped that later this year a skills training project in harness

production will take place where a newly designed donkey collar, one capa!le of!eing produced locally will !e introduced.7ast year I attempted to present this to animal welfare charities in the F< !yasking if anyone was interested in trialling it. egretta!ly, there was noresponse.

*ishing you every success in your endeavours. Best *ishes,

Terry Davis +&addle, 'arness ( 'orse )ollar %aker-

dear brooke

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