Lockdown

Here we go again… As winter comes and coronavirus infection rates go up, many countries all over the world go back into lockdown. 

I spent the first one in France. Riding stables and livery yards were closed to the public, including horse-owners, and I found myself having to abandon my horse for two months. I was assured by the yard owners that he would be cared for. I believed them. I waited with trepidation for the rare pictures of him that were sent to me every other week. And I yearned for the moment when lockdown would finally end and I would be reunited with him. 

Just before lockdown, the vet had seen him and done a coprology. The results came back after I lost access to the stables. His worm count was 500 eggs per gram and the vet strongly recommended that he should be dewormed, all the more so since his blood tests were not great. 

I asked the yard owners if they could do it. I begged them to do it for almost two months. I was given many excuses. 500 eggs per gram wasn’t that much. The wormer had to be got from the vet and the vet was only coming from emergencies. Horses survive very well with worms. The yard owners had other things on their plate. My horse not being in immediate danger, he was not a priority. 

I, stupidly, accepted all those excuses. Just a few days before the end of lockdown, I got a call from the yard owner saying they had wormed my horse. I was sent the bill for the wormer. Finally, I thought with relief. 

Was I too trusting, too naïve? Was I maybe a little neglectful? I believed them and did not think of having another coprology done. I felt that, given the circumstances and in spite of the rare pictures and news, the livery yard had not dealt too badly with the situation, especially compared to what had happened in other stables. 

Moreover, my horse, when I was reunited with him, was very overweight, due to lack of exercise and spring grass. Nothing about him suggested that he still had worms. His feet were very overgrown, so I focussed on that first, then on getting him back into shape. 

Fast forward a few months. After our move to England, my horse started dropping weight. He was not emaciated, but definitely ribby. And it wasn’t getting any better. I put it down to the stress of the move. 

A bit later, having had to see the vet due to an emergency, another coprology was done. The results came as a shock. 1400 eggs per gram. The general consensus was that my horse had not been wormed by the French yard owners – which, given the fact that he can be head-shy and aggressive is not, in hindsight, so surprising. 

I had been lied to. And I had, due to circumstances but also to my own complacency, neglected the health of my horse. I cannot even be sure of what really happened during lockdown. Neglect. I’m furious against the livery yard and against myself as well, for having let it happen. And I am not the only horse-owner who had to deal with the consequences of lockdown on their horse’s health. 

This pandemic is a human tragedy. And I do think that human lives have priority over the rest. However, is it really necessary to jeopardise the well-being of the animals we are responsible for? 

In France, lockdown has started again. Though this time permission has been granted for owners to visit their horse, a minority of livery yards still refuse access. Some because the law in not clear and they are afraid of potential sanctions. Some because they are afraid of the virus. Some because everything is much simpler when annoying horse-owners aren’t around to watch their every move. 

And this is sad. Because it is not only the welfare of horses that is at stake but also the mental health of many people. Separating owners from their horses, especially since stables hold less risks for contamination than, say, supermarkets and schools, feels both gratuitous and unfair. We all have to make sacrifices. We all have to make concessions. But do those sacrifices have to involve the welfare of horses?