RED DEER – Jennifer Woods likes to tell the story of the horse owners who wanted to familiarize their animal with travelling.
They made a short trip to town with the horse in the trailer, and after running errands, took the vehicle and trailer, with the horse still inside, through a car wash.
The horse refused to enter a trailer after that experience.
Those are the kind of incidents the Alberta livestock and animal welfare consultant hopes to prevent with a new course on horse hauling.
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It will be available in March and covers selecting the correct trailers, fitness to travel, proper loading and unloading, towing vehicles, horse behaviour in transit and emergency preparedness.
“More horses are killed post accident,” she told the recent Alberta Horse Owners and Breeders Conference in Red Deer.
Two other education programs are also planned.
The Alberta Equine Federation will release a horse rehabilitation guide in February. It was developed in the United States and has been adapted to Canadian conditions to help people who rehabilitate horses rescued from neglect or abuse situations.
The guide includes nutrition, farrier care, health, euthanasia, laws and regulations, understanding the behaviour of abused horses, winter care and owner responsibilities.
It will be available on the federation’s website.
As well, a recommended handling guide and welfare assessment for horses will be available this fall.
Written by the American Meat Institute with input from animal behaviourist Temple Grandin, the guide is for people who send horses to processors.
It discusses transportation, fitness to transport, trailer design, handling and processing requirements at the plant.
