Project Romania – helping one million horses

In 2004 the ILPH visited Romania to carry out research for its transportation to slaughter campaign. It quickly became apparent that whilst Romanian farmers were heavily reliant on horses to work the land and transport them to and from their fields, the horse management skills so carefully mastered by their forefathers had been lost during the Communist era. As a result, a vast proportion of the population of around one million horses was suffering from poor farriery, worn out harnessing and inadequate specialist equine veterinary knowledge. The working horses were suffering needlessly due to a lack of education.

Project Romania began in 2006 after two years of rigorous research into exactly what the Romanian population needed to improve the overall welfare of their horse population. The Campaigns Team and International Training developed a five year programme aimed at providing vets, veterinary students, farriers, saddlers and horse owners with specialist equine knowledge aimed at improving overall welfare in Romania. Working with some of the UK’s leading horse vets, farriers and saddlers, course attendees learn about the most up-to-date techniques, appropriate to the equipment and drugs available to them in Romania. All of the courses are free to attend and are promoted through the Veterinary Faculties, the dedicated website www.ilph.ro, word of mouth, as well as via the media.

Having successfully completed the first two veterinary seminars of 2007 in Bucharest and Cluj Napoca focusing on orthopaedics, the Campaigns Team is currently working on the first seminar aimed at Official Government Vets, which will cover topics such as disease prevention and management, transportation and law enforcement.

October will see the ILPH return for a second set of veterinary seminars in Iasi and Timisoara with a focus on Alimentary Tract Diseases.

Key Facts

There are around one million horses in Romania. To provide some perspective the human population is around 27 million; in the UK we have around 1.3 million horses and a population of around 60 million people. The vast majority of these are working horses; either working the land for subsistence farmers (these are small strips of land that tend to provide food for the local community) or horses working in the forests. They are also used to transport their owners to and from their land, which is many cases is 10-15km away from their home. Although vets are required to undertake a four year degree, there is no specialist equine training as part of this qualification. Few villages have a farrier with any formal training; most rely on the local carpenter or blacksmith to shoe their horses using outdated practices. The Romanian’s have a long and proud history or the partnership between man and horse. Many of the horseshoes and harnesses made by previous generations demonstrate elite craftsmanship. However, during the Communist era, these skills were lost when horses were replaced with tractors. It is essential that this new generation of horse owners are re-educated so that horses have a long and useful future in Romania.

To read more about Project Romania please log onto www.ilph.ro

Click here to read more about the work of the ILPH’s International Training department in Romania

ACT NOW!  Campaigning is the business of changing attitudes, generating support and making a difference.  Please get in touch with us to find out how you can help please get in touch with Emma Seel in the Campaigns Team on 01953 497266 or e-mail: emma@ilph.org