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September 2015 THE HORSE TheHorse.com
ISTOCK.COM
PAT RAIA
I
n March 2014, law enforcement authorities in New York discovered
33 horses residing on a Hamptonburgh farm without access to food or
water. Further investigation revealed that one additional horse had died
in its stall and two others had died elsewhere on the property.
"Evidently, the farm operator was boarding (the horses for customers) and not feeding
them," says Gene Hecht, chief investigator for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals in Orange County, New York.
Prosecutors eventually charged the farm's operator with multiple counts of animal cruelty.
This case is just one example of the hundreds focused on horses' well-being every year. Many
more go unprosecuted.
While equine advocates agree horse abuse is always unacceptable, some don't see eye to
eye on which welfare issues are most urgent or why the horse industry as a whole should be
concerned. In this article we'll take a look at the issues industry players are worried about and
what's being done to address them.
The Equine
Industry's Top
WELFARE
ISSUES
A rundown of equine welfare issues currently plaguing
the U.S. industry and what's being done to address them
The so-called unwanted horse
population, which some equine
advocates say includes an
overabundance of wild mustangs,
continues to be a major welfare
issue.