Horse Drawn Carriages in Melbourne | Animals Australia Unleashed

Aimee VIC • Posts: 957

1 11 Jul 2009

Does anyone else get as pissed off as me about this? angry

Whenever I go to the city, my ears send warning signals to my brain as soon as the "clip clop, clip clop" of trotting feet come into my field of perception and I just want to scream!
Those animals look so miserable, and they can be worked up to 12 hours a day, in 37 degrees of heat! I have seen one near-accident when they did a u-turn and the horses slipped on the wet concrete, and I've seen one of the operators wacking a horse on it's side when it showed signs of protesting (kicking/stomping its feet- probably out of boredom).

Anyway, so I got talking to a homeless man one day who felt the same way I did and he suggested I do what he did and complain to the Melbourne council, which is located on Swanston Street. When I did make an official complaint, I was told there had been quite a few made. The only thing that will get rid of these morons is if the council bans horse-drawn carriage rides.

It's something really easy to do- if you just drop in to the council and register a complaint next time you're in town. Say whatever about it you don't like
eg.
It's wrong to use animals as transport (most of the time they just stand there, waiting, bored.
No regulations can ever make it acceptable (http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25335053-2862,00.html)
It's an outdated practice
It's offensive
It's cruel to animals
It's very bad for a horse to be on concrete all day
it makes you sad- whatever you want!

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jack VIC • Posts: 1463

2 11 Jul 2009

the other day i saw the horses roped to a street lamp as the driver was whacking the feather hat onto the poor horse they looked so miserable and overworked

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RaV3N WA • Posts: 2152

3 11 Jul 2009

I can't say I've seen many horse drawn carriages here in Perth, and I'm very glad for that! However up at my local weekend markets they do have camel rides.... From what I have seen their owner looks after them, giving them snacks of fresh fruit, not hitting/whacking them, and I'm pretty sure he has an age limit for riders (no fatty boombas this way). Even though all these precautions are taken, they are still walking on concrete walkways for a good part of the day. Makes me sad.

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Jamison VIC • Posts: 271

4 12 Jul 2009

jack said:

the other day i saw the horses roped to a street lamp as the driver was whacking the feather hat onto the poor horse they looked so miserable and overworked

Yes, and the drivery person was standing there watching us protest against kfc. lol. he looked so shocked.... what if we were to go and follow one of those horse drawn carts around? lol.

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.ellehcoR VIC • Posts: 663

5 12 Jul 2009

Grrr! Its one of the few things i hate about the city.

I used to work with horses regularly and have seen that these animals can experience happiness and bliss, as well as pain and depression. Of course I've made complaints in the past to the council, and they reply with their bs excuses that are profit driven rarther than in the interests of welfare.
Horse drawn carriages in the city used to be only at christmas time, but now its in all months. that means being exposed to all sorts of weather, traffic and public conditions.

I recall when the show 'rspca animal rescue' was featured on tele, they often had check-ups on horses pulling carriages in melbourne city. the officers didnt do anything. which dissapoints me as the rspca has the publics attention.

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Kirrilly VIC • Posts: 2092

6 12 Jul 2009

I've complained at least twice when I've seen them in the city, but yeah, it's all about money to everyone involved. I guess the best we can do is make people more aware so they lose business?

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_Matt VIC • Posts: 1567

7 12 Jul 2009

Kirrilly said:

I've complained at least twice when I've seen them in the city, but yeah, it's all about money to everyone involved. I guess the best we can do is make people more aware so they lose business?

it's strange though. i mean, it's not like the cruelty is in any way hidden.. is it? people see the horses in the heat and rain and can easily see they are in a polluted area for the majority of the day. Also, people must surely realise if cars in the city are at risk of an accident, horses are too. Even the drivers don't seem to care really if the public see them hurting the horses. It's extremely strange that people don't figure these things out for themselves.

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Jamison VIC • Posts: 271

8 12 Jul 2009

Matt.Y said:

Kirrilly said:

I've complained at least twice when I've seen them in the city, but yeah, it's all about money to everyone involved. I guess the best we can do is make people more aware so they lose business?

it's strange though. i mean, it's not like the cruelty is in any way hidden.. is it? people see the horses in the heat and rain and can easily see they are in a polluted area for the majority of the day. Also, people must surely realise if cars in the city are at risk of an accident, horses are too. Even the drivers don't seem to care really if the public see them hurting the horses. It's extremely strange that people don't figure these things out for themselves.

Its because they're encouraged to be ignorant. They don't make the connection, because thats the way they grow up. Horses are there TO be ridden, they were BRED for that purpose is what they're told, and they never connect horse drawn carts to unhappiness because in all the movies people are riding around in horse drawn carts and its all romatic, and the horses 'don't feel pain' (I once went riding and was told that spurs are ok because to the horses they feel like having a gentle slap) Whips aren't bad because 'horses can't feel pain', even though they obviously can.

If people actually made the connection to how bad this is, then it wouldn't exist, just in the same way as factory farming. If people could connect animals with humans, realise that they feel pain and have emotions, there would be no (or little) abuse of animals (because there are some sickos out there)

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.ellehcoR VIC • Posts: 663

9 12 Jul 2009

Jamison said:

Matt.Y said:

Kirrilly said:

I've complained at least twice when I've seen them in the city, but yeah, it's all about money to everyone involved. I guess the best we can do is make people more aware so they lose business?

it's strange though. i mean, it's not like the cruelty is in any way hidden.. is it? people see the horses in the heat and rain and can easily see they are in a polluted area for the majority of the day. Also, people must surely realise if cars in the city are at risk of an accident, horses are too. Even the drivers don't seem to care really if the public see them hurting the horses. It's extremely strange that people don't figure these things out for themselves.

Its because they're encouraged to be ignorant. They don't make the connection, because thats the way they grow up. Horses are there TO be ridden, they were BRED for that purpose is what they're told, and they never connect horse drawn carts to unhappiness because in all the movies people are riding around in horse drawn carts and its all romatic, and the horses 'don't feel pain' (I once went riding and was told that spurs are ok because to the horses they feel like having a gentle slap) Whips aren't bad because 'horses can't feel pain', even though they obviously can.

If people actually made the connection to how bad this is, then it wouldn't exist, just in the same way as factory farming. If people could connect animals with humans, realise that they feel pain and have emotions, there would be no (or little) abuse of animals (because there are some sickos out there)

wow i love reading peoples responces happy

i think also whats irritating is despite people clearly seeing the cruelty involved in the horse-drawn carriages, their mind does not process "oh thats horrible", rarther "zohmygod a pony, how cuteeeee".

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_Matt VIC • Posts: 1567

10 12 Jul 2009

.ellehcoR said:

wow i love reading peoples responces happy

i think also whats irritating is despite people clearly seeing the cruelty involved in the horse-drawn carriages, their mind does not process "oh thats horrible", rarther "zohmygod a pony, how cuteeeee".

Agreed. I think when we look at, say pigs, we don't see cute little noses and curly tails like lots of other people; we see sow stalls and factory farms - or at least I do. It's probably got to do with the research that we've done into all this area of animal welfare/rights, and so, we're more vigilant than a lot of other people when it comes to registering the cruelty than lots of other people. So with the issue of horses, like Jam said, we don't romanticize the whole issue but we remember the videos and photos we've seen on what goes on out of sight.

No doubt, lots of the research I�ve done into animal rights has given me a MUCH more negative view of the world, however, it's all worth when I see/will see the changes that we all desire.

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