Coastal Horse Care Unit

AIM

To improve equine welfare throughout rural KZN.

MISSION

To protect horses from abuse and alleviate their suffering by rehabilitating, campaigning and educating. A world where horses are used but not abused.

THE FARM

The unit is based on a farm in Cato Ridge. The horses that are surrendered to us stay on the farm and are worked with by staff and volunteers until they are ready to be put on the adoption list. Rural horses who are seriously ill or injured come to the farm for intensive medical treatment until they are healthy enough to be returned to their owners.

INSPECTORATE

Our inspector handles all incoming complaints and also helps with pre- and post-home inspections of horses fostered and adopted from us. She is also training several of the other staff so that they can get a good grasp on the laws surrounding animal welfare and eventually become qualified inspectors themselves.

RURAL OUTREACH

VISION

To improve the welfare of rural working horses through education of rural horse owners and holding equine clinics. Endeavoring to educate and assist in taking much-needed services to rural areas, thus achieving better health standards for working horses. Engaging with government departments to assist with veterinary services and creating an environment where horses are seen as valuable animals in the workings of subsistence farming. Horses in the rural areas are mainly working horses which are used primarily for herding of cattle as well as transport.

OBJECTIVE

We currently hold mobile clinics at 18 sites throughout KZN. We attend to approximately 5000 horses per year. There are an estimated 11000 rural working horses in KZN. While we are at these mobile clinics we interact with the owners/riders. Through research and engagement with the rural horse owners, we have established various needs and services required by the horse owners to address welfare issues. Therefore, we have implemented training workshops which are done infield and more intense skilled-training camps which we do at the training centre on our farm in Cato Ridge.

Our current training camps are targeted at rural horse owners and cover various aspects of horse care. To achieve our goals, the CHCU has established the Emahhashini Training Centre where we provide formal training to horse owners. Candidates are trained in basic horse care as well as making saddles, bridles, farriery (trimming and shoeing horses) and wound care. This is not only a skill-transfer initiative by our charity, we also hope to facilitate community-selected candidates, in setting up businesses (small one-stop ‘spaza shops’) to service rural horses in their communities (this initiative will also assist with alleviating poverty and skill-transfers) as rural horse owners currently have no access to basic requirements. Education is very important, but education without resources will fail.

We as a horse welfare will require assistance from corporate companies to assist in helping to set up these trained rural owners in business. We would also need to rely on sponsors/government to assist in making these businesses sustainable with the introduction of a mentorship program by these interested government or corporate companies. These community-selected trained rural owners will require input from corporate to make this initiative sustainable. This initiative will not only help horses in the rural areas but will also help skill transfer and job creation in these rural areas. Our goal is to create an environment where the current input by Coastal Horse Care Unit will diminish and the communities will be self-sufficient.

RURAL CHILDREN'S CAMPS

Children in the rural areas are also not left out of our training initiative, as they are the future, and we have had great success in the camps held at Emahhashini Training Centre. These camps focus on topics like safe handling of horses, basic wound care, correctly fitting the tack (saddles/bridles) and maintenance, safer riding techniques and feeding of horses. We also expose these rural horse-riding children to all aspects of the equine industry, thus giving them options for career opportunities they might consider.

EMAHHASHINI TRAINING CENTRE

Our training centre can hold up to 20 students at a time, with separate facilities for 2 caregivers who do the cooking and cleaning for the students. There is a lecture room that seats 20+ students comfortably and there is a workshop where the practical training is done which can seat up to 40 students. All other practical training is done on the farm with the horses on our farm. Our charity relies on sponsorship for this training.

RURAL RACING

Assist with ensuring that Welfare Standards are adhered to by attending rural horse racing meetings in KZN.