BlindLove February 2023 Report

BlindLove, based in South Africa, provide a safe, loving forever home to horses in need; as well as improving the lives of all animals in the surrounding disadvantaged communities through education and access to essential veterinary services.

They have sent us an update on their February activity in Thaba’nchu:

The main focus of this program (which is being funded by Animal Aid Abroad) with the cart horses in Thaba’Nchu is to provide much needed support to the horse owners in the form of access to basic veterinary services, owner welfare education, and the repairing / replacing of harnesses. Most injuries we see can be attributed to ill fitting harnesses. We are also looking at different ways to provide horse feed to the owners.

These horse owners live in extremely difficult circumstances due to the undermining effects of poverty and rely on these horses 100% to provide income for themselves and their families. We currently have over 80 working horse owners on our database, each owning between 6-20 horses!

The horses in these communities are the hardy Basotho pony and for generations these communities have used horses, not only to get between villages, but as cart horses offering much needed services to these communities; transporting children to school, firewood, building materials, furniture, and water, as a cheaper alternative to motorised transport.

During the month of Feb 2023, the team from Agripreneur Farmers Institute started heading out each week and introducing themselves to the horse owners. Developing a good relationship with these horse owners is key to improving the lives of this hard working horses. They are a group of 4 young Agricultural College graduates living in Thaba’nchu, and will be the ones going out each week to hold our outreach clinics with the owners, their horses and the vets. One member of their team, Boitumelo Legegeru also completed her Equine Welfare Training Course last year through The Cart Horse Protection Association.

In total there were 32 horses seen during Feb. Owners contacts details were saved, horses were given a body condition score, harnesses were checked and adjusted were we could. The team also started talking to the owners about their needs, as well as chatting to them about issues surrounding the welfare and care of their horses: what could they themselves try and do to improve the lives of their horses, as responsible owners?

February is also the month when the new CCS Vets ( Compulsory Community Service) get placed at the State veterinary clinic in Thaba’nchu, so our Director Philippa Du Toit made contact with them and they have agreed to hold once a month veterinary clinics with the cart horses and our team. These will take place on the last Wednesday of every month, starting with the first one on the 29th March.

Philippa also purchased the first 3 month supplies of basic meds for wounds, injuries and control of internal and external parasites.

Harness repair / replacing of harnesses is also one of our major focus areas this year. Since last year we have been chatting to various experts about the best possible harness design, in terms of simplicity and cost, the horses owners included, as their feedback is very important!

Last year we actually made up a couple of harnesses using straps we had woven ourselves from recycled baling twine! We did fit a prototype to a pair of working horses in Thaba’Nchu, in order to get feedback from owners, but they weren’t happy with the weave and said it rubbed the horses too much.

We have decided to go with thick nylon webbing as used successfully by a couple of other welfare organisations. Philippa has bought the first couple of rolls and we are measuring and working on getting the first few made. Any buckles, rings and D-rings needed will also be made by us. We are trying desperately to get the owners to agree to no more blinkers, as these often cause more damage than actually serving any purpose!

At each weekly outreach photos are taken of each horse and over the next few months we will share before and after stories and photos, as it is still too early on in the program to see much progress. All the stepping stones however have been set in place now for progress to start happening!

Thank you Animal Aid Abroad! Without your funding we would not have been able to purchase the medical supplies and the webbing for the harnesses!