Welcome to Day 10!

Time to move on — literally!  We are going to now focus on moving the horse from place to place.  While we take travel to and from work or new places as part of our daily life, it may not be this easy for our horses!  Asking a herd animal that values “friends, forage and freedom” to allow itself to be locked up in a trailer, blind about where it is going, and be happy about it is a bit much!  And yet, with patience, training and experience, along with best practices for management, many horses will tolerate transportation quite well.

We will also look at the changing or ending of a career for a horse and what this means to the animal’s welfare.  Many horses can go on to new careers or new lives after their racing or competitive career is over, so this unit will take a look at some of the issues surrounding that phase.

End of Life decisions are rarely easy for a horse owner to make, but it is one of our most important obligations to ensure the welfare of the horse and minimize/end suffering and pain (current or future).  So part of the material for today covers this area as well. Our last section of the Code is a rather sad one, but it is one of our most important ones as well as it is an obligation that goes along with ownership of animals. Humane treatment is equally important at this stage, as it is for any other stage of the horse’s life.

You may also want to take some time this week (or you will have time next week as well for this) and go back over the course discussions to see what other postings have been made, and clip any discussions you want to keep for your future reference or for good ideas on things to help with future management.