CARE FOR CARRIAGE HORSES
Since starting we have helped the carriage horses working in Jakarta’s heat and busy traffic. The carriage horses’ welfare are of much concern to us as they are pushed over their limits with little care provided. Often the owners and handlers don’t have much knowledge about horse care and the carriage horses are literally worked to their very early death, when normally with better care, horses can reach a very old age. The horses in Jakarta are found tied up under bridges and other very unsuitable areas where the horses can’t rest nor graze.
For many years we have offered and provided free veterinary care for carriage horses in Jakarta and developed a Standard Operational Procedure for the carriage horses. With the help of the organization Animal People, we developed a proper sanctuary and care center for the horses on donated land in West Jakarta. Meanwhile we were striving to obtain a ban from the Jakarta government to use carriage horses in Central Jakarta, which was realized in 2010. This is because, not only the welfare of the horses is at stake, but the use of these horses in Central Jakarta also endangers the traffic and general safety of people.
Even though the ban was realized sadly, in 2015 we seen carriage horses again being used in the center of Jakarta.
We were shocked to learn about the extremely cruel methods used by some horse handlers to ‘treat’ the horses, such as the force feeding of pepper water to ‘cure’ a cold or a flu, the puncturing of the front muscles with sharp bamboo sticks after which a rope is passed through the hole. This is, to ‘clean the blood’ and many more horrendous practices. We have rescued two carriage horses who both had been exposed to these cruel practices and were adopted by an amazing horse center, where horses are cared for in the most natural way – Havana Horses in Central Java.
As the workload for the carriage horses is enormous, we actively approached other specialized horse welfare organizations to ask for assistance as the horses in Indonesia really need a focused program on its own. Yet, no organization has been willing to come and work in Indonesia so far to help address the suffering of carriage horses.
We conducted a tour in 2010 and 2011 to visit different areas in Java, Bali and Lombok where carriage horses are used.
Our team treated horses in Semarang, Jepara, Jogjakarta, Salatiga, Kuta (Bali) , Mataram and The Gili Islands. Since 2015 we have actively assisted the Gili Horse Clinics in collaboration with the Gili Eco Trust. Since 2016, we only assisted with medicines or other practical needs if required yet the clinics on The Gili Islands are well organized and very important as the welfare issues on these islands are huge.
Then in October 2020
we rescued some horses in the most horrific condition since the welfare of all carriage horses during the pandemic had become even worse and the suffering had just become unbearable!
Then in December 2020
we were invited by the head of agriculture in South Jakarta and that’s when we started our pilot project. A lot has been accomplished since then and we are very grateful to Dr. Drh. Hasudungan , head of the South Jakarta Agriculture Department, for starting this pilot project with us! Now our collaboration has spread to other areas in Jakarta and we are very hopeful that the situation will change.
There is still so much work to do, but we are highly motivated to keep on fighting to improve the welfare of all these suffering horses . We hope that the government continues to collaborate and support our program and that eventually we can improve the welfare of all working horses nation wide!
In March 2022
we signed an MoU with the DKI Jakarta department of agriculture to collaborate further.
Our pilot project has been sponsored by SPANA and we have received a lot of financial support from Animals Australia for emergency relief for the horses as well as the horse owners .
Between October 2020 – July 2021 we rescued 11 horses in total, despite all our efforts, 3 did not make it but 7 are enjoying their retirement to the fullest after they recovered.
We have a sponsorship program to support for our rescued horses! If you are interest in joining our program please email: sponsor_domestic@yahoo.com
