QUEST EQUINE WELFARE INC.

Published on the Quest Facebook page a few days ago. We thank our subscribers for taking the time to add their thoughts to the below post. They made some interesting points and comments which we thought worth sharing.

Original post:

"Does anyone know of an equine focused publication, (meaning a horse magazine that profits from horses through their business), whose moral compass and love of horses is greater than their drive to achieve sales?

Chances are that if you are reading this, you do have some comprehension of the magnitude of equine welfare issues within Australia, and are well informed enough that if you yourself needed assistance, or were seeking assistance for a friend, you would know what your options were. However, this is not the norm. The vast majority of both the wider community, including the equine community, are blissfully unaware of the extent of equine neglect in this, the ‘lucky country’, and it seems that some sectors of the equine industry itself conspire for this to be the case.

As a 100% volunteer run organisation that has no funds available to fund exposure of our material, our quest over the years to raise the issues, and to promote awareness and change, has been frustrating to say the least.

An example of a response, received only this morning, but with the same theme as most:

...every time I viewed it, it left a sour taste in my mouth (obviously that's what it's meant to do) but I just didn't feel comfortable running it in my publication which is always positive and uplifting. These photos will shock and bring people down.

It is not our policy to shock, or to “leave a sour taste” in people’s mouths, but to inform. Included with the text of the proposed article were a few photos depicting very happy outcomes for a couple of the horses we have had through care. Yes, their ‘before’ photos were included, as were their ‘after’ ones, which showed them as happy, healthy horses. The photos however were incidental to the text, which we feel, carried some very important information and messages.

It’s very disillusioning when our own industry turns its back on what is a very real and very widespread issue.

Viewing these scenario’s from a ‘business’ perspective, it’s hard to understand that readers would not commend, respect , and support a ‘horse magazine’ that gives some exposure to, and acknowledgement of Australia’s equine welfare issues ... as “distasteful” as they may be.

Or are the publishers right? Does the ‘horse loving’ community really not want to know??"

Judging by the feedback given by some of our subscribers, it seems that publishers may be reading their market incorrectly. Many of their consumers do want to be informed, or at least be given the opportunity to be informed.

... I've learnt more about horse welfare issues in this country through people on Facebook leading me to websites such as yours, than I ever have in about 18 years of buying horse magazines...

Belinda

... I think more needs to be done to educate potential owners on the true responsibilities of owning a horse.

Melissa

... I think that there is a lot of entrenched ideas from the horse community that people do want to know about this issue, I for one, (as much as it breaks my heart to see them),  want to know that these horses can be cared for and now are having a good quality of life. I hope you can keep doing what you doing, and know that if you cant get it out in the magazines, then facebook is the next best thing as that will certainly get people talking.

Melissa

... People do find the before and after photos confronting, but a picture says a 1000 words. Yep, it may upset them, but hopefully they won't forget, and it may just help save a horses life or make people take a good hard look at there own horses and question there duty of care.

Lee

... Melissa I totally agree "more needs to be done to educate potential owners on the true responsibilities of owning a horse" ..not just the potential ones, the ones already out there having no idea what they are doing. I do bodywork on horses and so get to see a lot more things than I previously thought existed. The amount of information that is so wrong that is being told to those that really do want to do the right thing by their horses is unbelievable. And of course there are those that know better, but do the wrong thing anyway.

Karen

... I can think of one article in a horse magazine that was about horse welfare, but it was an older one that I found once... published in the late 80's or early 90's! Definitely time for another one...

Belinda

... I've obviously been living under a rock as I had no idea that the mistreatment of horses was so rife throughout our lucky country. I have seen ads in horsey mags pleading for help for horses in third world counties, never in OZ.

Nicole

... Well I reckon that this horse magazine has a certain level of responsibility to keep their readers well informed; meaning that they should be reporting a wide variety of topics concerning equine ownership in Australia. To purposefully put a 'feel good' filter on what is being published is a blatent failure in their duty of care to their readers and more importantly - to horses.

Beth

... I think if horse related magazines where more open to showing both sides and not just the good, but take the bad as a chance to educate the public on where these people went wrong and how we can stop this happening to our own horse, the horses would be the ones that will benefit.

Melissa

... How can we make the wider community stand up and listen... Hmm been working on that one for a long time now. Good luck with the effort and getting valuable information into the horse magazines that need to be responsible for all equines, not just the nice looking ones that do well at shows.

Mary