Horses have been of great value to humans many thousands of years, as transport and beasts of burden of one type or another.
These days, many domesticated horses would be found in competitive sports involving horse-and-rider combinations.
And in some cases, it seems, there is little to no concern for the wellbeing of these magnificent animals: routinely confined to stables 23 hours out of 24, never allowed to form friendships or graze freely, as horses need to do – and routinely dosed with sedatives before track work, because the conditions they’re kept in (not surprisingly) make them highly stressed and hard to control.
Sedation before being ridden is not only bad for the horses’ health, it’s very dangerous for the people who ride them, because a sedated horse is far more likely to trip and fall.
a UK government data sheet for the most common equine tranquilliser globally, acepromazine maleate, states: “do not, in any circumstances, ride horses within the 36 hours following administration of the product”.
It sounds like there needs to be much tighter regulation of the use of acepromazine – and a campaign for horses to be free-range.
[Edit: My apologies for not noticing initially that it was April Fool’s Day when I created this topic. That date should not be assumed to have any relevance to the topic.]
