QUEST EQUINE WELFARE INC.

Unfortunately we don't make it to this page to share our news as often as we'd like to, and we apologise for that. We hope that site visitors who are interested in keeping abreast of our news have figured out the listings that appear at the bottom of the home page, which notify of page updates. Time is always in such short supply... we will try to do better!

As a rule we try to post as much positive information as we can on our site because, to be honest, we have observed that sharing confronting information can very often lose you an audience, and at the end of the day, it is very important to Quest's aims that we are successful in sharing information and spreading awareness. However, we feel that there must be some balance, both in the interests of presenting the equine welfare situation within Australia realistically, and in the interests of representing accurately all aspects of Quest's work. For these reasons, we thought that we might regularly share with our site visitors some day-to-day happenings in 'Quest's world'. We try to keep the pages of the rehabilitating horses in care at our shelter up to date with their progress and news, but don't manage to squeeze in much else as far as general daily news goes.

This train of thought was sparked by a visit to a horse today.  When it’s geographically possible for us to do so, committee members do try to attend horses whose welfare has been raised with us as a concern by a member (or members) of the public. This is a reasonably regular occurrence as, (and especially the case in small towns), people are often concerned about the consequences to themselves of reporting a neighbour's/acquaintance's/local horse.

These visits usually result in one of three outcomes; the owner is grateful for the offer of assistance and is prepared to work with us to restore the health of their horse/s, the owner surrenders the horse into care or has the horse euthanased, or, the owner is intractable and the authorities are then involved. Either way, these visits are never pleasant, and as everyone who is involved in animal welfare would know, it is taxing to see case after case of similar scenarios, and it's very easy to feel like nothing will ever change.

Interestingly, and it’s something that I’d really like to gain an understanding of, there are often common threads amongst these situations. A very common one is that the owner will often repeatedly tell you how much they ‘love’ their horse. They will often refuse free treatment offered that would benefit their horse as it is ‘their’ horse, and very often, they seem to very genuinely not truly ‘see’ the sorry state of their horse when it is very obvious to others. Of course there are a large proportion of these owners who simply don’t care, but there are also a large number who appear to be unable to acknowledge the situation for what it is, and are unable to see the suffering. We definitely need a psychologist on the committee! It’s a completely puzzling phenomenon to me, and how can you help when the owner profess’ to care deeply for their animal, but genuinely sees no problem?

Anyhow, I digress. I went to see such a horse today, and yes, the owner believes that the horse is loving life. I did not physically touch this poor boy as I noticed on approaching him that he had quite a profuse discharge from his nose, and he gave off an odour that was so bad that I gagged repeatedly. I recognised the odour immediately as one I have smelled before, the same as a dead sheep carcass or the like. Even after returning home I had to change my clothes as the smell had clung to them.

Please be reassured that the process’ are in motion, and that this horse will have an outcome very shortly.

Another very frustrating aspect in many of these situations we see is that more often than not, the horse is not actually ‘tucked away’ somewhere. There are always people who have seen the horse and who have been aware of the horse’s condition for some time, even if they have only driven past it. Which brings to mind another horse we visited, (pictured at right), who was living in the back yard of a house in a suburban street. I wonder how many people saw this poor girl over the years before somebody finally sought help for her?

Why do these people not seek help for the animal? Is it the old ‘it’s none of my business’ mentality? Well, it actually IS everybody’s business if a fellow human being is causing suffering to an animal, and it is also our responsibility to do something about it.

The Quest committee members have no more legal powers than any other citizen, no more knowledge that isn't publicly available, and no more free time than anyone else. There is an all too common statement that 'someone should do something about that', well, that 'someone' could be you, even if it only means a phone report to the RSPCA. We are always happy to support anyone who finds themselves in the position where they feel morally obliged to seek help for an animal, as welfare agencies are few and far between, and without the help of the public many horses go on to suffer for way too long. There is no reason why any member of the public cannot seek to have a welfare concern dealt with.

Every time someone drives past a horse like this and does nothing, it is reinforced to the owner that there is no cause for concern and that society condones this treatment of their animal. We must make it known that no, it is NOT ok, and that community members will NOT accept animal abuse/neglect in their midst. If you don’t speak for the animal, who will? Seeking help does not need to be a personal confrontation with the owner, anonymous reporting is accepted by the RSPCA, and all it costs is a phone call.

The horse pictured above is well known in his local area. How long has he been clinging on in this state???

Please, do not turn a blind eye.