Hi everyone, I wanted to make this post to discuss my experiences with horses in tourism as I have just been to Indonesia and saw some terrible things that made me want to speak up. First of all, this post will be quite long and possibly upsetting and I also included some photos that I took as well as pictures from the internet which are similar to what I saw in real life. I would really appreciate if you could take the time to read what I wrote and look at the pictures I included. When visiting Mount Bromo (an active volcano in a national park) there were many native ponies around for tourists to ride on and take photos with but many of them seemed to be in pretty bad condition. They were all pretty small and worked for basically the whole day, sometimes carrying large heavy adults or carrying 2 people or kids at a time. As soon as our jeep got close to the areas where the ponies were, the handlers would gallop up to your car to show off and make the experience seem appealing to tourists. What I saw was pretty heartbreaking as these ponies all had their heads tied up really tightly and could barely move throughout the day. There were also over a hundred of them and while they were waiting for customers, the handlers wouldn’t get off and stand with them but always kept sitting on their backs or cantering around to attract people meaning that the ponies never really got to rest at all. Some of the ponies had their manes and tails dyed, some were extremely skinny, many had visible skin and hoof problems and there were too many ponies that were obviously limping around, still being forced to carry tourists. Basically, the horses were supposed to carry you up to the crater of the volcano, which wasn’t even a difficult hike btw, and then they would canter back down with their handler to get down as fast as possible and find someone new to carry. I also saw one guy who wanted to get a video of himself going faster on the horse, so the handler just whipped the pony into trot and the guy filmed himself while bouncing around on the ponys back while holding on to the saddle and I could tell he had never ridden a horse before. Since the volcano is also in the middle of a national park which is basically a desert (theres only sand and a bit of grass for many kilometers) I also wondered how these ponies got fed and when they got water to drink. I was there for an entire day and never saw a pony getting any food or water even while working in this hot weather. Another destination I went to where I saw a lot of horses was in the city center of Yogyakarta, which was pretty famous for its horse carriages. These small ponies were working in the middle of the busy city streets trotting on the pavement and roads for the whole day while pulling a carriage with up to 6 or 7 people at a time. We all know that its not very good for horses to run on roads, but these ponies did it for hours every day without proper hoof care and also had to navigate through the cars and motorbikes. One really heartbreaking scene I saw was when one of the carriage ponies was pulling a family down a downhill road, and kept slipping down this road. The poor pony then tripped, and then continued to be pushed down the hill by the front of the carriage as it rolled down and he was unable to stop himself. Also at Malioboro street, a popular street for nightlife and shopping, there were rows ans rows of horses waiting for customers, standing their with their heads down and their ribs poking out from their sides and I truly don’t know how any human can see this and not notice what is wrong with this. As I walked around the city for 2 whole days, I saw 1 singular feeding station: a rusty metal bowl tied to a tree in a parking lot where the horses could eat a little bit of grain. Although I understand that these people need to make a living, and use these ponies to get money from tourists, I still think there would be a better way to do this than to hurt the poor horses everyday and eventually work them to death. To be honest, I woould have loved to ride one of the ponies in the desert and watch the view of the volcanic crater while cantering through the sand, but I don’t think I could have dealth with the guilt that I would have felt if I tried to get on the back of one of those ponies. I wish I could have known this before my trip so I could at least give them some treats, but I tried to pat any of the horses I could to give them some love when I got the chance. It was truly heartbreaking to see all the potential as I could just imagine all of these ponies being a little girls best friend somewhere else in the world if they had just been luckier and born somewhere else. Even my mom (who is not an equestrian btw) said that she wanted to ride in one of the carriages but didn’t only because I made such a big deal out of it and kept complaining about how I felt so bad for the horses. Its truly shocking how it is so normal for horses to be mistreated and how people don’t even notice due to how uneducated they are. I’m really sorry for writing such a long text, but I just wanted to share my opinion on this subject and also share my experiences so I can hear what you think about this. If you actually read all the way to the bottom, I also want to say thank you for spending time reading this and please tell me what you think🖤

My experiences with horses for tourism💔 - 2

My experiences with horses for tourism💔 - 3

My experiences with horses for tourism💔 - 4

Trail Horse Question

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DannahR

Equestrian PRO

@Kate S. oh wow that is truly crazy. The fact that they need to call someone to evaluate whether a vet is needed at all😯

1 like

07/17/24-12:51

Kate S.

PS Squad

@DannahR that's a good point! The less common they are the worse it is. I live in a very rural area with lots of horses, and there is still very little understanding/awareness. The sheriff's department asked if I was willing to be a person to call by them to evaluate whether a vet needs to be called when they have reports of equine abuse. I said "yes" though I haven't yet had any calls or anything. While I do not want to be a decider for removing horses, I guess a lot of the police here don't even know when a vet is needed or not, and they would make the ultimate decision about charges.

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07/16/24-13:12

Keep exploring the community!