Animal Welfare Moldova, Republic of Project #49398

Natural horsemanship for Moldova's village horses

by 'EcoVisio' Public Association

Summary

This project will train at least 10 local natural horsemanship practitioners as multipliers to improve the life of 100 horses from Moldovan villages and their owners over the course of the next 2 years. We plan to create a natural horsemanship program that will be kind to the horses and will be effective for the horse owners, in order to save the village horses from being used, beaten and sent to the slaughterhouses into extinction in the next decade or so.

$18,000
total goal

$14,780
remaining

66
donors

0
monthly donors

2
years

Challenge

In Moldova, after their first 2 years of life, most village horses will never run free again in their lives. They start pulling improvised wagons and are "broken" into ridding as early as at 2-3 years. The common practice is violent and based on fear, horses are beaten into submission, with bits often welded from scrap metal, extremely painful to the horse. Horses become unpredictable, defensive and even aggressive, making it difficult and dangerous having them around the household.

Solution

With the help of our natural horsemanship expert friends from Europe and the US, we plan to help grow 10 local natural horsemanship practitioners to further multiply and spread the knowledge and impact for the better the life of at least 100 Moldovan horses. Sharing best practices about horse related activities like eco tourism visits and carriage rides, horse interaction therapy and even horse interaction mentorship, we can restore the horses into pillars of resilience for the villages.

Long-Term Impact

Starting even a small community that practices Natural horsemanship provides instantly a healthy alternative for horse communication and education to all horse owners in the area. It also creates a space for accumulating best practices (for choosing best affordable tack, hoof care, dealing with defensive or aggressive horse habits, etc) and most important allows more people to join the community to grow, self-improve and improve the life of many more horses in the villages of Moldova.