Horse welfare, use not abuse

185 Pages·2015·4.145 MB·English

by  Hall, Christopher

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foreword by hrh The princess royal se
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his book is dedicated to the protection of horses, ponies and donkeys and is based on T
first-hand international experience from a lifetime spent with horses – hunting, racing
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and welfare – whether with The Pony Club, The Jockey Club or international horse charity.
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Horse Welfare, Use not Abuse is about all equines from The Pony Club to the highest
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levels of performance – racing, show jumping, eventing and endurance riding. In his
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travels, Christopher has met the leaders of most of the equestrian sports both nationally
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and internationally.
From a position of authority, he provides an insight into the high stakes world of
racing where winning is everything and calls for tougher measures to fight drug abuse,
condemning outright all those who use drugs to achieve victory.
Horses are beautiful animals that can work with their owners to the best effect; it is c
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only right that they should all be cared for with respect so that the partnership is more
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equal, one of working together and free from abuse.
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Picture of the author with his wife Susanna, and Bushranger winner of 11 races ha
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£18.99/$27.95
World Horse Welfare
will benefit from the
sale of every copy
of this book
Whittles Publishing chrisTopher hall
horse Welfare,
use not abuse
Christopher hall
Whittles Publishing
Published by
Whittles Publishing Ltd.,
Dunbeath,
Caithness, KW6 6EG,
Scotland, UK
www.whittlespublishing.com
© 2015 C. Hall
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, recording or otherwise
without prior permission of the publishers.
ISBN 978-184995-163-0
Printed by
‘I can hear the creak of the saddle and the clop and clink of hoofs as we
cross the bridge over the brook by Dundell Farm; there is a light burning
in the farmhouse window, and the evening star glitters above a broken
drift of half-luminous cloud. ‘Only three miles more, old man’, I say,
slipping to the ground to walk alongside of him for a while.’
(Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Siegfried Sassoon)

Contents
Contents .......................................................................................................... vii
Introduction .................................................................................................... ix
Beginnings ............................................................................................. 1
The professional circuit ....................................................................... 9
At the races .......................................................................................... 19
The Jockey Club .................................................................................. 36
The Disciplinary Committee ............................................................. 43
The Appeal Board ............................................................................... 56
Another world ..................................................................................... 62
Europe ................................................................................................... 76
Into Africa ............................................................................................ 86
Latin America ...................................................................................... 95
The law and education ..................................................................... 102
Where are we now? .......................................................................... 109
Our farms ........................................................................................... 122
Horses and us tomorrow ................................................................. 135
A brief history of World Horse Welfare ................................................... 145
Index ................................................................................................................ 147

aCknoWledgements
I now have a chance to thank many people for their help and encouragement in
the writing of this book.
My wife, Susanna, was advised by one of her flat mates before we became
engaged, ''Why not marry the man, look after him and be a mother to his horses?''
What a result, and thank goodness she did because we have been able to do so
many of the things referred to in this book together. I have been very fortunate.
While I was the Jockey Club Disciplinary Chairman I worked closely with
Nigel McFarlane who was in charge of that department and knows the rules of
racing so well. He has been invaluable in correcting a number of errors that I had
made. Horse racing is a great sport but it is not immune from problems some of
which I have taken the liberty of raising - I hope in a useful way.
Roly Owers has been highly effective since becoming Chief Executive of World
Horse Welfare in 2008 and I must thank him and all his team, in particular the
Field Officers, the Farm Managers in UK and the HQ staff who were always ready
to help and advise. There is a great feeling of personal involvement both in the
UK and across the world and I pay tribute to all those who carry out the charity's
work, in particular in Central America, South Africa, Lesotho and Senegal. I am
very proud to have been part of it and thank all those that I worked with for their
support.
Bob Whittington has helped me collect my thoughts and kept ''my nose to the
grindstone" as I worked on the text, Without his advice, interest and involvement
the book, much of which is based on the diaries that I kept at the time, would
never have been written.
Finally, I must thank my publisher, Keith Whittles, for his interest, enthusiasm
and tolerance waiting for the finished manuscript.
There are so many other people that I may not have named but who have
influenced me about the essential goodness of those who care for their horses and
donkeys and for that I will always be grateful
Christopher Hall

vii

introduCtion
It is hard for me to think of a more satisfying pastime than riding my horse across
beautiful countryside. For some, though, it seems hard to consider working with
horses without breaking all laws of compassion and inflicting cruelty in a drive to
make money.
My life had revolved around two things – the law and my love of horses –
until, in my second ‘career’, the two became inextricably linked. Working with the
leading charity World Horse Welfare, I applied what I had learned as a lawyer to my
all-consuming passion for the protection and welfare of horses in the glamorous
worlds of show jumping and racing, and then to the desperate plight of ordinary
working horses at home and around the globe.
I would not have traded for anything my time with the Jockey Club, which
was in complete control of racing when I became a member in 1990. There were
daily challenges, complaints, furious rows and accusations from all quarters: if
we weren’t incompetent amateurs, we were defending the indefensible – cruelty
to the very animals we claimed to cherish. We interfered too much in the use of
whips, or didn’t interfere enough. We were portrayed as cowards in the face of
criticism from professionals with vested interests. One thing, though, is certain:
for better or for ill, depending on one’s point of view, we were, at least, in control.
As different nations become more dominant and different types of racing become
more attractive to the public, what organisation, if any, has that same grip on
British racing affairs today?
While the jockeys, trainers, show jumpers and eventers I have encountered
have a great love of horses, there are always exceptions who hit the headlines,
breaking the rules, even resorting to drug abuse to gain that extra yard, and who
are prepared to offend repeatedly, dragging the sport’s reputation down with them.
The only way to beat the drug abusers is to make the penalties so severe that it
is not worth taking the risk; plans to increase suspensions and to prevent those
convicted and their horses from ever associating with professional competitors,
even banning offenders from teaching or producing competition horses, must
surely be welcomed. But make no mistake: we are playing a catch-up game as the
drugs masking the abuse become ever more sophisticated and the rewards for the
ix